def initialize(self):
        """Instantiates the cache area to be ready for updates"""
        if self.collname not in self.current_kv_names():
            r = self.request('post',
                             self.url+"storage/collections/config",
                             headers={'content-type': 'application/json'},
                             data={'name': self.collname})
            r.raise_for_status()
        # initialize schema
        re = self.request('post',
                          self.url+"storage/collections/config/"+self.collname,
                          headers = {'content-type': 'application/json'},
                          data=self.schema)
        re.raise_for_status()
        logger.info("initialized Splunk Key Value Collection %s with schema %s"\
                        % (self.collname, str(self.schema)))
        if self.collname not in self.current_kv_names():
            raise EnvironmentError('expected %s in list of kv collections %s' % (self.collname, str(self.current_kv_names())))
Instantiates the cache area to be ready for updates