gitlab-org--gitlab-foss/lib/gitlab/exclusive_lease.rb
2016-03-24 13:51:33 +01:00

62 lines
2.6 KiB
Ruby

module Gitlab
# This class implements an 'exclusive lease'. We call it a 'lease'
# because it has a set expiry time. We call it 'exclusive' because only
# one caller may obtain a lease for a given key at a time. The
# implementation is intended to work across GitLab processes and across
# servers. It is a 'cheap' alternative to using SQL queries and updates:
# you do not need to change the SQL schema to start using
# ExclusiveLease.
#
# It is important to choose the timeout wisely. If the timeout is very
# high (1 hour) then the throughput of your operation gets very low (at
# most once an hour). If the timeout is lower than how long your
# operation may take then you cannot count on exclusivity. For example,
# if the timeout is 10 seconds and you do an operation which may take 20
# seconds then two overlapping operations may hold a lease for the same
# key at the same time.
#
# This class has no 'cancel' method. I originally decided against adding
# it because it would add complexity and a false sense of security. The
# complexity: instead of setting '1' we would have to set a UUID, and to
# delete it we would have to execute Lua on the Redis server to only
# delete the key if the value was our own UUID. Otherwise there is a
# chance that when you intend to cancel your lease you actually delete
# someone else's. The false sense of security: you cannot design your
# system to rely too much on the lease being cancelled after use because
# the calling (Ruby) process may crash or be killed. You _cannot_ count
# on begin/ensure blocks to cancel a lease, because the 'ensure' does
# not always run. Think of 'kill -9' from the Unicorn master for
# instance.
#
# If you find that leases are getting in your way, ask yourself: would
# it be enough to lower the lease timeout? Another thing that might be
# appropriate is to only use a lease for bulk/automated operations, and
# to ignore the lease when you get a single 'manual' user request (a
# button click).
#
class ExclusiveLease
def initialize(key, timeout:)
@key, @timeout = key, timeout
end
# Try to obtain the lease. Return true on success,
# false if the lease is already taken.
def try_obtain
# Performing a single SET is atomic
!!redis.set(redis_key, '1', nx: true, ex: @timeout)
end
# No #cancel method. See comments above!
private
def redis
# Maybe someday we want to use a connection pool...
@redis ||= Redis.new(url: Gitlab::RedisConfig.url)
end
def redis_key
"gitlab:exclusive_lease:#{@key}"
end
end
end