Concepts of Persistent Messaging

This document provides a brief introduction to the concepts of the persistent store and its role in EntireX for providing persistent messaging within the client/server model. It covers the following topics:

The table Persistent Store Drivers lists the implementation choices available to each operating system for accessing the physical persistent store. See also Using Persistence and Units of Work, Broker UOW Status Transition and Managing the Broker Persistent Store under z/OS | UNIX | Windows | BS2000 | z/VSE.


Client Server Model: Persistent Messaging

EntireX provides persistent messaging within the client/server model. This is achieved by storing all persistent messages on disk so that if a system failure occurs, messages will automatically be recovered allowing applications to be restarted without any loss of data. The section Using Persistence and Units of Work describes implementation issues and how to use persistence and units of work in EntireX Broker. Units of work can also be used without persistence; units of work which are the vehicle for persistent messaging.

The following figure illustrates the concept of persistent messages.

graphics/persist.png

Persistence in an EntireX Broker's unit of work (a group of logically related messages) has the following four variations:

  • Both the unit of work and its status have persistence.

  • The unit of work does not have persistence, but its status does.

  • The unit of work has persistence, but its status does not.

  • Neither the unit of work nor its status has persistence.

The status of a message is information about the message rather than the actual message data itself. This enables the sender to determine the progress of the message and determine if it has been received by the partner and whether processing was successfully completed. This gives applications the option of having the Broker kernel store only the message status and not the message itself, provided the application has been written to resend data from a known point in the event of system failure. This option can afford significant performance benefits over storing the whole message data.

To support transaction control in a coordinated operation of distributed systems, EntireX can group logically related messages into "units of work" that are committed to the EntireX Broker for further transmission when complete. In case of failure on the server side, the receiving program can backout the whole unit of work; this makes it available for processing later or by another server.

Definitions of Persistent Messaging Terms

UOW

A unit of work (UOW) is a set of one or more messages that are processed as a single unit. The sender of a UOW adds messages to the UOW and then indicates that the UOW is complete (COMMIT). The UOW and its messages are not visible to the receiver until the sender has committed the UOW. Once the UOW is committed, the receiver can receive the messages, and can indicate when the UOW is complete (COMMIT).

Persistent Store

The persistent store is used for storing unit-of-work messages to disk. This means message and status information can be recovered after a hardware or software failure to the previous commit point issued by each application component.

Persistent Store Drivers

A persistent store driver is an executable, or a load module, that implements access to the physical persistent store. There is one persistent store driver for each persistent store type. The following table shows the persistent store options:

Persistent Store Type Description Operating System Notes
Adabas Uses Adabas database. UNIX, Windows, z/OS, BS2000, z/VSE Adabas, Software AG's ADAptable dataBASe, is a high-performance, multithreaded, database management system.
DIV Uses IBM Data In Virtual facility on z/OS. z/OS This persistent store option is implemented as a VSAM linear data set.
CTREE c-tree© is an embedded local database that can be used as your persistent store. UNIX and Windows c-tree© is the fast and reliable embedded database of FairCom Corporation®.

See also Managing the Broker Persistent Store under z/OS | UNIX | Windows | BS2000 | z/VSE and also PSTORE-TYPE under Broker Attributes.

UOW Lifetime

Each UOW has a lifetime value associated with it. This is the period of time that the UOW is allowed to exist without being completed. This time starts when the UOW is initially created and runs until the UOW is completed. A UOW is completed when it is successfully:

  • cancelled or backed out by its sender, or

  • cancelled or committed by its receiver.

If the UOW is in ACCEPTED status when this lifetime expires, the UOW is placed into a TIMEOUT status. Lifetime timeouts will not occur when the UOW is in either RECEIVED or DELIVERED status.

A special "pseudo-clock" is maintained for UOW lifetimes. This clock is implemented in such a way that it only runs when the Broker is active. This prevents a UOW lifetime from expiring while the Broker is down or otherwise unavailable.

Persistent UOW

Persistence is an attribute of a UOW (unit of work). If a UOW is persistent, its messages are saved in the persistent store when the sender COMMITs the UOW and they are retained until the receiver COMMITs or CANCELs the UOW, or until its lifetime expires. If the Broker or system should fail after the UOW is committed by the sender, the UOW (and its conversation) will be restored to their last, stable status when the Broker restarts.

Persistent Status

Persistent status is an attribute of a UOW (unit of work). If a UOW has persistent status, the status of the UOW is maintained in the persistent store, and is updated whenever the status changes. The persistent status remains in the persistent store after the UOW is completed, until its status lifetime has expired.

A persistent status value represents a multiple of the UOW lifetime value. Thus if a UOW has a lifetime of 5M (whereby M stands for minutes) and a persistent status value of 4, the status of the UOW would be deleted 20M (5M*4) after the UOW was completed.

Availability of Persistent Store

Warning:
The persistent store must be available before you attempt to start or restart the Broker; otherwise your Broker will not initialize.

Introduction

The PSTORE must be available for the Broker to start. Subsequently, Broker will continue to function even if the PSTORE becomes unavailable and applications issuing non-persistent commands will continue without interruption. However, Broker will not be able to process commands relating to persistence until the PSTORE becomes available again.

Users issuing commands involving persistence - for example units of work with persistence - are notified of the unavailability of the PSTORE through an ACI return code. In addition, persistent commands being processed at the point of unavailability are backed out, and details of the PSTORE problem are written to the Broker log file.

There are several reasons for the PSTORE becoming unavailable. Examples:

  • unavailability of the PSTORE file(s)

  • capacity of PSTORE file being exceeded

  • in the case of Adabas, termination of the database

Disconnect the Persistent Store

You can remove the state "No new Units of Work" - that is, no new persistent data - using CIS. If the PSTORE capacity is exceeded, an error message is written to the Broker log file. You must use Command and Information Services (CIS) to ensure that users cannot issue further commands creating new units of work.

During the time the PSTORE is unavailable, there is no timeout processing for unit-of-work records kept in the PSTORE. In addition, some in-memory resources relating to persistent items, such as conversation control blocks, are also retained until the PSTORE becomes available again and normal processing is resumed for all commands.

See executable command request DISCONNECT-PSTORE under ETBCMD: Executable Command Requests.

Connect the Persistent Store

Subsequently, you can use CIS to make the PSTORE available again, allowing users only to issue commands consuming records from the PSTORE rather than producing new ones. After a period of operation in this state, the contents of the PSTORE will be reduced sufficiently, and you can remove the state "No new Units of Work" through CIS.

See executable command request CONNECT-PSTORE under ETBCMD: Executable Command Requests.

Migrating the Persistent Store

Introduction

The contents of EntireX Broker's persistent store can be migrated to a new persistent store in order to change the PSTORE type or to use the same type of PSTORE with increased capacity.

The migration procedure outlined here requires two Broker instances started with a special RUN-MODE parameter. One Broker unloads the contents of the persistent store and transmits the data to the other Broker, which loads data into the new PSTORE. Therefore, for the purposes of this discussion, we shall refer to an unload Broker and a load Broker.

This procedure is based on Broker-to-Broker communication to establish a communication link between two Broker instances. It does not use any conversion facilities, since the migration procedure is supported for homogeneous platforms only.

graphics/persstore.png

Configuration

The migration procedure requires two Broker instances, each started with the RUN-MODE attribute. The unload Broker should be started with the following attribute:

RUN-MODE=PSTORE-UNLOAD

The load Broker should be started with the following attribute:

RUN-MODE=PSTORE-LOAD

These commands instruct the Broker instances to perform the PSTORE migration.

Note:
The attribute PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS must be defined in both Broker instances to specify the transport address of the load Broker. The unload Broker must know the address of the load broker, and the load Broker must in turn know the address of the unload Broker.

Example:

Broker ETB001 performs the unload on host HOST1, and Broker ETB002 performs the load on host HOST2. The transmission is based on TCP/IP. Therefore, Broker ETB001 starts the TCP/IP communicator to establish port 1971, and Broker ETB002 starts the TCP/IP communicator to establish port 1972.

For ETB001, attribute PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS = HOST2:1972:TCP is set, and for ETB002, attribute PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS = HOST1:1971:TCP is set to establish the Broker-to-Broker communication between the two Broker instances.

In addition to attributes RUN-MODE and PARTNER-CLUSTER-ADDRESS, a fully functioning Broker configuration is required when starting the two Broker instances. To access an existing PSTORE on the unloader side, you must set the attribute PSTORE = HOT. To load the data into the new PSTORE on the loader side, you must set the attribute PSTORE=COLD. The load process requires an empty PSTORE at the beginning of the load process.

Note:
Use caution not to assign PSTORE = COLD to your unload Broker instance, as this startup process will erase all data currently in the PSTORE.

For the migration process, the unload Broker and the load Broker must be assigned different persistent stores.

A report can be generated to detail all of the contents of the existing persistent store. At the end of the migration process, a second report can be run on the resulting new persistent store. These two reports can be compared to ensure that all contents were migrated properly. To run these reports, set the attribute PSTORE-REPORT = YES. See PSTORE under Broker Attributes for a detailed description, especially for the file assignment.

Migration Procedure

The migration procedure is made up of three steps.

Step 1

The unload Broker and the load Broker instances can be started independently of each other. Each instance will wait for the other to become available before starting the unload/load procedure.

The unload Broker instance sends a handshake request to the load Broker instance in order to perform an initial compatibility check. This validation is performed by Broker according to platform architecture type and Broker version number. The handshake ensures a correctly configured partner cluster address and ensures that the user did not assign the same PSTORE to both Broker instances. If a problem is detected, an error message will be issued and both Broker instances will stop.

Step 2

The unload Broker instance reads all PSTORE data in a special non-destructive raw mode and transmits the data to the load Broker instance. The load Broker instance writes the unchanged raw data to the new PSTORE. A report is created if PSTORE-REPORT=YES is specified, and a valid output file for the report is specified.

Step 3

The unload Broker instance requests a summary report from the load Broker instance to compare the amount of migrated data. The result of this check is reported by the unload Broker instance and the load Broker instance before they shut down.

When a Broker instances is started in RUN-MODE=PSTORE-LOAD or RUN-MODE=PSTORE-UNLOAD, the Broker instances only allow administration requests. All other user requests are prohibited.

Notes:

  1. The contents of the persistent store are copied to the new persistent store as an exact replica. No filtering of unnecessary information will be performed - for example, UOWs in received state. The master records will not be updated.
  2. Before restarting your Broker with the new persistent store, be sure to change your PSTORE attribute to PSTORE=HOT. Do not start your broker with the new persistent store using PSTORE=COLD; this startup process will erase all of the data in your persistent store.
  3. After completing the migration process and restarting your Broker in a normal RUN-MODE, it is important not to bring both the new PSTORE and the old PSTORE back online using separate Broker instances; otherwise, applications would receive the same data twice. Once the migration process is completed satisfactorily, and is validated, the old PSTORE contents should be discarded.

Persistent Store Report

You can create an optional report file that provides details about all records added to or deleted from the persistent store. This section details how to create the report and provides a sample report.

Configuration

To create a persistent store report, use Broker's global attribute PSTORE-REPORT with the value YES.

When the attribute value YES is supplied, all created or deleted persistent records will be reported if the output mechanism is available.

If the value NO is specified, no report will be created.

The report file is created using the following rules:

BS2000

LINK-NAME ETBPREP assigns the report file. Format REC-FORM=V, REC-SIZE=0, FILE-TYPE ISAM is used by default.

UNIX

Broker creates a file with the name PSTORE.REPORT in the current working directory. The file name PSTORE.REPORT.LOAD will be used if Broker is started with RUN-MODE=PSTORE-LOAD.

The file name PSTORE.LOAD.UNLOAD will be used if Broker is started with RUN-MODE = PSTORE-UNLOAD.

If the environment variable ETB_PSTORE_REPORT is supplied, the file name specified in the environment variable will be used.

If Broker receives the command-line argument -p, the token following argument -p will be used as the file name.

Windows

Same as UNIX.

z/OS

DDNAME ETBPREP assigns the report file. Format RECFM=FB, LRECL=121 is used.

z/VSE

Logical unit SYS003 and logical file name ETBPREP are used. Format RECORD-FORMAT=FB, RECORD-LENGTH=121 is used.

Sample Report

The following is an excerpt from a sample PSTORE report.

EntireX 10.5     PSTORE Report      2016-10-18 10:46:18    Page     1

Identifier        Elements  Total length  Record Type   Date       Time          Action     Remaining Postpone Attempts
0000000000000000        1           760   Master        2016-10-18 10:46:18.529  Created
0010000000000001        1          5022   Conversation  2016-10-18 10:46:36.216  Created
0010000000000002        1          5022   Conversation  2016-10-18 10:46:36.216  Created
0010000000000003        1          5022   Conversation  2016-10-18 10:46:36.217  Created
0010000000000001                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:46:48.036  Postponed            6
0010000000000001                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:47:18.470  Accepted             6
0010000000000002                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:47:57.856  Postponed            6
0010000000000002                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:48:27.476  Accepted             6
0010000000000003                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:48:27.477  Postponed            6
0010000000000003                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:48:57.480  Accepted             6
0010000000000003                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:48:57.481  Postponed            5
0010000000000003                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:49:27.484  Accepted             5
0010000000000001                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:52:25.505  Deleted
0010000000000002                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:52:25.506  Deleted
0010000000000003                          Conversation  2016-10-18 10:53:26.508  Deleted

The following fields are provided in the report:

  • Identifier provides the UOWID (record ID).

  • Elements gives the number of messages per UOW when creating or loading records.

  • Total Length gives the size of the raw record when creating or loading records.

  • Record Type describes the type of the data. Following types are currently supported:

    • Cluster: a special record for synchronization purposes

    • Conversation: a unit of work as part of a conversation

    • Master: a special record to manage the persistent store

  • Date and time of the action

  • Action describes the action of Broker. The following actions are currently supported:

    • Accepted: UOW status was changed from POSTPONED to ACCEPTED

    • Created: record is created

    • Deleted: record is deleted

    • Postponed: UOW status was changed from DELIVERED to POSTPONED

    • Loaded: record is loaded (Broker instance with RUN-MODE = PSTORE-LOAD)

    • Unloaded: record is unloaded (Broker instance with RUN-MODE = PSTORE-UNLOAD)

  • Remaining postpone attempts.