179 lines
6.8 KiB
Markdown
179 lines
6.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: "docs"
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page_title: "Semaphore"
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sidebar_current: "docs-guides-semaphore"
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description: |-
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This guide demonstrates how to implement a distributed semaphore using the Consul KV store.
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---
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# Semaphore
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A distributed semaphore can be useful when you want to coordinate many services, while
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restricting access to certain resources. In this guide we will focus on using Consul's support for
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sessions and Consul KV to build a distributed
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semaphore. Note, there are a number of ways that a semaphore can be built, we will not cover all the possible methods in this guide.
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To complete this guide successfully, you should have familiarity with
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[Consul KV](/docs/agent/kv.html) and Consul [sessions](/docs/internals/sessions.html).
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~> If you only need mutual exclusion or leader election,
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[this guide](/docs/guides/leader-election.html)
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provides a simpler algorithm that can be used instead.
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## Contending Nodes in the Semaphore
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Let's imagine we have a set of nodes who are attempting to acquire a slot in the
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semaphore. All nodes that are participating should agree on three decisions
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- the prefix in the KV store used to coordinate.
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- a single key to use as a lock.
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- a limit on the number of slot holders.
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### Session
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The first step is for each contending node to create a session. Sessions allow us to build a system that
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can gracefully handle failures.
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This is done using the
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[Session HTTP API](/api/session.html#session_create).
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```sh
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curl -X PUT -d '{"Name": "db-semaphore"}' \
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http://localhost:8500/v1/session/create
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```
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This will return a JSON object contain the session ID.
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```json
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{
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"ID": "4ca8e74b-6350-7587-addf-a18084928f3c"
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}
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```
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-> **Note:** Sessions by default only make use of the gossip failure detector. That is, the session is considered held by a node as long as the default Serf health check has not declared the node unhealthy. Additional checks can be specified at session creation if desired.
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### KV Entry for Node Locks
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Next, we create a lock contender entry. Each contender creates a kv entry that is tied
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to a session. This is done so that if a contender is holding a slot and fails, its session
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is detached from the key, which can then be detected by the other contenders.
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Create the contender key by doing an `acquire` on `<prefix>/<session>` via `PUT`.
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```sh
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curl -X PUT -d <body> http://localhost:8500/v1/kv/<prefix>/<session>?acquire=<session>
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```
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`body` can be used to associate a meaningful value with the contender, such as its node’s name.
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This body is opaque to Consul but can be useful for human operators.
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The `<session>` value is the ID returned by the call to
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[`/v1/session/create`](/api/session.html#session_create).
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The call will either return `true` or `false`. If `true`, the contender entry has been
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created. If `false`, the contender node was not created; it's likely that this indicates
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a session invalidation.
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### Single Key for Coordination
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The next step is to create a single key to coordinate which holders are currently
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reserving a slot. A good choice for this lock key is simply `<prefix>/.lock`. We will
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refer to this special coordinating key as `<lock>`.
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```sh
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curl -X PUT -d <body> http://localhost:8500/v1/kv/<lock>?cas=0
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```
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Since the lock is being created, a `cas` index of 0 is used so that the key is only put if it does not exist.
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The `body` of the request should contain both the intended slot limit for the semaphore and the session ids
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of the current holders (initially only of the creator). A simple JSON body like the following works.
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```json
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{
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"Limit": 2,
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"Holders": [
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"<session>"
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]
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}
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```
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## Semaphore Management
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The current state of the semaphore is read by doing a `GET` on the entire `<prefix>`.
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```sh
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curl http://localhost:8500/v1/kv/<prefix>?recurse
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```
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Within the list of the entries, we should find two keys: the `<lock>` and the
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contender key ‘<prefix>/<session>’.
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```json
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[
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{
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"LockIndex": 0,
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"Key": "<lock>",
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"Flags": 0,
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"Value": "eyJMaW1pdCI6IDIsIkhvbGRlcnMiOlsiPHNlc3Npb24+Il19",
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"Session": "",
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"CreateIndex": 898,
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"ModifyIndex": 901
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},
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{
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"LockIndex": 1,
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"Key": "<prefix>/<session>",
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"Flags": 0,
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"Value": null,
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"Session": "<session>",
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"CreateIndex": 897,
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"ModifyIndex": 897
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}
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]
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```
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Note that the `Value` we embedded into `<lock>` is Base64 encoded when returned by the API.
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When the `<lock>` is read and its `Value` is decoded, we can verify the `Limit` agrees with the `Holders` count.
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This is used to detect a potential conflict. The next step is to determine which of the current
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slot holders are still alive. As part of the results of the `GET`, we also have all the contender
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entries. By scanning those entries, we create a set of all the `Session` values. Any of the
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`Holders` that are not in that set are pruned. In effect, we are creating a set of live contenders
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based on the list results and doing a set difference with the `Holders` to detect and prune
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any potentially failed holders. In this example `<session>` is present in `Holders` and
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is attached to the key `<prefix>/<session>`, so no pruning is required.
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If the number of holders after pruning is less than the limit, a contender attempts acquisition
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by adding its own session to the `Holders` list and doing a Check-And-Set update of the `<lock>`.
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This performs an optimistic update.
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This is done with:
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```sh
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curl -X PUT -d <Updated Lock Body> http://localhost:8500/v1/kv/<lock>?cas=<lock-modify-index>
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```
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`lock-modify-index` is the latest `ModifyIndex` value known for `<lock>`, 901 in this example.
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If this request succeeds with `true`, the contender now holds a slot in the semaphore.
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If this fails with `false`, then likely there was a race with another contender to acquire the slot.
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To re-attempt the acquisition, we watch for changes on `<prefix>`. This is because a slot
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may be released, a node may fail, etc. Watching for changes is done via a blocking query
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against `/kv/<prefix>?recurse`.
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Slot holders **must** continuously watch for changes to `<prefix>` since their slot can be
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released by an operator or automatically released due to a false positive in the failure detector.
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On changes to `<prefix>` the lock’s `Holders` list must be re-checked to ensure the slot
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is still held. Additionally, if the watch fails to connect the slot should be considered lost.
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This semaphore system is purely *advisory*. Therefore it is up to the client to verify
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that a slot is held before (and during) execution of some critical operation.
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Lastly, if a slot holder ever wishes to release its slot voluntarily, it should be done by doing a
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Check-And-Set operation against `<lock>` to remove its session from the `Holders` object.
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Once that is done, both its contender key `<prefix>/<session>` and session should be deleted.
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## Summary
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In this guide we created a distributed semaphore using Consul KV and Consul sessions. We also learned how to manage the newly created semaphore.
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