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Created by totten@tottenOwner

Implement reconnect/replay-on-write for database connections

Currently, CiviCRM always connects to a singular DSN. For epic:ro-db, we seek compatibility with a split DB architecture in which one routes MySQL requests to (a) read-only slave DBs and/or (b) read-write master DB. This issue specifically proposes a "reconnect-on-write" or "replay-on-write" (RPOW) mechanism as a general, global baseline.

Technical Overview

One possible technique is to sprinkle flags/hints into the application to indicate which use-cases should be served by slave/rodb or by master/rwdb. Some of this sprinkling is likely happen, but we have a large, open-ended application (with several built-in subsystems and several third-party extensions/addons). Auditing all of these is somewhat daunting task.

RPOW aims to provide a generic baseline that relies primarily on MySQL semantics (and doesn't require auditing every use-case carefully). The general idea is:

  1. Connect optimistically to the read-only slave (expecting a read-only use-case). We can continue using the RODB as long as requests are read-oriented (e.g. SELECT).
  2. If there is an actual write operation (e.g. UPDATE), then reconnect to the read-write master.

Dynamically switching to the read-write master is not quite as simple as it sounds:

  • Some SQL statements (eg SET @foo and CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE) can be legitimately used in a read-oriented operation (e.g. advanced querying/reporting) -- but they may also be prelude to a write-operation (e.g. building a temp-table with a list of targets and then updating each one). We allow these to execute on the RODB -- but, when/if we reconnect to RWDB, then we replay those statements.

  • To support replay, we must be able to classify any SQL statement into one of three buckets:

    • READ (Ex: SELECT * FROM foo): The SQL statement has no side-effects; it simply reads data.
    • BUFFER (Ex: SET @user_id = 123): The SQL statement has no long-term, persistent side-effects; it can, however, have temporary side-effects during the present MySQL session.
    • WRITE (Ex: TRUNCATE foo): The SQL statement has long-term, persistent side-effects and must be executed on the master. (Generally, if we can't demonstrate that something is READ or BUFFER, then we assume it is WRITE.)

  • The MySQL query language has interesting edge-cases (e.g. SELECT @foo := id FROM bar FOR UPDATE) that should be handled correctly.

  • We don't know anything about the delay in sync'ing between RODB and RWDB. After making a write, we'll continue sending all requests (reads or writes) to RWDB for some period of time. (Ex: After updating a contact in RWDB, the user's browser gets a cookie -- and, for the next 60 seconds, any additional reads should hit RWDB.)

Limitations and Assumptions

  • RPOW makes sense if user's are primarily reading from MySQL. Stock CiviCRM relies extensively on MySQL for caching and session-state, which leads to frequent writes. However, if you use the Redis integration for caches/sessions/prevnext, then this is significantly reduced.
  • RPOW aims to mitigate/reduce the need for sprinkling use-case specific hints. However, there may still be scenarios where one wants to sprinkle hints. In particular: the contact-edit screen uses optimistic-locking (which reads the last-modified timestamp before authorizing updates); for correct oplocking, there should be a hint that any POST requests to the contact-edit screen need the RWDB.

Relevant Tasks / Patches / Subtasks

The following are types of patches / subtasks we may expect:

  • Adding a new DB driver -- an admin can opt-in to using RPOW behavior by setting CIVICRM_DSN to a special value (and registering DSNs for both RODBs and RWDB).
  • Adding a unit-test to ensure correct classification of a range of SQL examples.
  • Maintaining a cookie or session-variable to indicate that a user needs to be temporarily directed to RWDB by default.
  • Updating existing use-cases to reduce gratuitous writes or to send hints about specific write-oriented use-cases.

NOTE: I've currently got a draft project in https://github.com/totten/rpow ; however, I'm filing this issue here because some of this work will need to come back into core.

Pull Requests

Edited by totten
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