code: @JsonIgnore
  	public String getIdentifier() {
  
  		String tags = "";
  
  		Map<String, String> sortedTags = new TreeMap<>();
  		sortedTags.putAll(getTags());
  		if(!sortedTags.isEmpty()) {
  			StringBuilder tagListBuffer = new StringBuilder("{");
  			for (String tagKey : sortedTags.keySet()) {
  				tagListBuffer.append(tagKey).append('=').append(sortedTags.get(tagKey)).append(',');
  			}
  
  			tags = tagListBuffer.substring(0, tagListBuffer.length() - 1).concat("}");
  		}
  
  		String namespace = getNamespace();
  		Object[] params = { namespace == null ? "" : namespace + ":", getScope(), getMetric(), tags };
  		String format = "{0}{1}:{2}" + "{3}";
  
  		return MessageFormat.format(format, params);
  	}
docs: To return an identifier string, the format is &lt;namespace&gt;:&lt;scope&gt;:&lt;name&gt;{&lt;tags&gt;}
  
  @return  Returns a metric identifier for the metric.  Will never return null.