Basic information about the context usage …

BASIC

MqContextC - the class known as ctx or context is the application-handle of the application-server and also the main data-handle …

The context is the package-item with the required features and created by the implementation-layer-programmer. The context can be a client or a server.

HOWTO client-context

The client-context-creation is triggerd by the software-workflow on demand. The client is calling the MqLinkCreate to create a connection to the server using the connection-arguments to specify the target.

The life-cycle of a client is:

ContextCreate	create and initialize the MqContextC ...
LinkCreate	make ctx to a parent-context and setup a new client-server-link …
SendTT	MqContextC - append a native PRIMITIVE TYPE value to the send-data-package …
ReadTT	read a PRIMITIVE TYPE from the read-data-package …
LinkDelete	close the client-server-link …
ContextDelete	Destructor - delete a MqContextC instance …
Exit	delete the context and exit the current process or thread …

HOWTO server-context

The server-context-creation is always triggerd by the MqLinkCreate command of the client. The server is usually using a factory-constructor to call the MqContextCreate and finally to call the MqContextDelete.
The server-context is fully under control of the client.

The life-cycle of a server is:

SETUP	define a class and add the setup/cleanup code
IServerSetup	define the server-setup-interface (callback) used on startup …
ServiceCreate	create a link between a service-token and a service-callback …
IServerCleanup	define the server-cleanup-interface (callback) used on cleanup …
ServiceDelete	delete a service. …
STARTUP	define the factory and start the listener
FactoryAdd	add a new MqFactoryC identified by factory-identifier and defined by factory-constructor …
FactoryNew	create a new MqContextC from a MqFactoryC …
LinkCreate	make ctx to a parent-context and setup a new client-server-link …
ProcessEvent	enter the event-loop and wait for an incoming service-request. …
WORK	process the service-calls and exit on end
ReadTT	read a PRIMITIVE TYPE from the read-data-package …
SendTT	MqContextC - append a native PRIMITIVE TYPE value to the send-data-package …
Exit	delete the context and exit the current process or thread …

MqContextC CTOR and DTOR

command	alias
`(constructor,static) MqContextC [MqContextC Create ?tmpl:MqContextC="MK_NULL"?]`	`tclmsgque::MqContextC new ?tmpl:MqContextC=""?`
`(destructor) $ctx Delete`	`rename $ctx ""`

ADVANCED client/server

MqContextC - setup and manage a client-server-link …

The client-server-link connect two context, a client-parent-context and a server-parent-context. The link can be local (connect two context on the same host) or can be remote (connect two context on different hosts). On-Top the parent-context multiple child-context are allowed.

  !on remote host!                                  !on local host!

      server1---------x                     x----------server2
         |            |                     |             |
         |     child-context-1       child-context-2      |
         |            |                     |             |                      server
 parent-context-1-----x                     x-----parent-context-2
         |                                                |
 (MqConfigS::server)                 (example: MqConfigS::server --fork --uds … --file …)
         |                                                |
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
         |                                                |
      (--tcp)                                  (--pipe, --uds, --tcp)
         |                                                |
 parent-context-1-----x                     x-----parent-context-2
         |            |                     |             |                      client
         |     child-context-1       child-context-2      |
         |            |                     |             |
         x------------x--------client-------x-------------x

                           !on local host!

Definition of a "client-context"

every new client-parent-context create a new client-server-link and perform the connect system-call.
every new client-server-link start a new server-object and creating a new server-parent-context
every deletion of the client-parent-context stop the previous started server-object and delete the server-parent-context
the client-context get all the error/warning/info messages from the server-context

Definition of a "server-context"

every new server-parent-context is created by request from the client-parent-context:
in remote mode every new server-parent-context wait for a tcp or uds connection request using the accept system-call.

client --tcp --host REMOTE_HOST --port REMOTE_PORT ... or

client --uds --file MYFILE ...

in local mode new server-parent-context is started by the client-parent-context as pipe:
client @ server
- a server-context have to implement the IServerSetup and the MqFactoryC interface.
- a server-context have to enter the event-loop and wait for incoming service-request using MqProcessEvent together with the MQ_WAIT_FOREVER.

Definition of a "parent-context"

the parent is the first context created and is created with MqLinkCreate
every new parent-context on the client create a new communication to a server.
every new parent-context on the client connect to a new parent-context on the server
every new parent-context on the server create a new thread or process.
the parent-context control the socket communication interface

Definition of a "child-context"

the child-context is the second or more context and is created with MqLinkCreateChild.
every new child-context on the client create a new child-context on the server.
every new child-context is totally independent from the parent-context setup and is able to serve its own services.
the child-context is using the parent-context as a tunnel.
the child-context is using the the thread or process of the parent-context.
the parent of a child-context can be a parent-context or an other child-context. A tree like structure is created.
the child-context is using the communication interface from the parent-context.
if a context is deleted (parent or child) the depending context (parent or child) is deleted too.

ADVANCED master/slave

MqContextC - create and manage a slave context …

The master-slave-link is used to create a mesh of nodes defined by different parent-context. The master control the slave.

The master-slave-link is used to perform the following tasks:

report error messages from the slave-context to the master-context
to create a slave-child-context if a master-child-context is created
to delete a slave-context if a master-context is deleted

In difference to the client-server-link the master-slave-link connect two independent parent-context in the same process or thread (e.g. node). This leads to the restriction that only the master-context can be a server-context because only one server-context per node is possible.

   node-0   |           node-1/2        |   node-3/4/5
===================================================================

| <- client/server link -> | <- client/server link -> |

             | <-- master/slave link --> |

                           |- client1-0 -|- server3 ...
             |-  server1  -|
             |             |- client1-1 -|- server4 ...
  client0-0 -|
             |-  server2  -|- client1-2 -|- server5 ...

Definition of the "master-context"

the master-context is a parent-context without a child-context available.
the master-context is a client-context or a server-context.
the link between the master-context and the slave-context is done using MqSlaveWorker or MqSlaveCreate

Definition of the "slave-context"

the slave-context is a parent-context without a child-context available.
the slave-context is a client-context.
the slave-context lifetime is controlled by the master-context.
the slave-context report all error-messages to the master-context.
the slave-context is identified by a unique-slave-id starting with 0.
a special form of a slave-context is a worker-context

Definition of the "worker-context"

the worker-context is a slave-context using the image of the master-context self.
the master-context can be a server-context or a client-context.
the worker-context is created using MqSlaveWorker
the worker-context is identified by a unique-slave-id starting with 0.

Definition of the "slave-id"

the slave-id is defined at enum MqSlaveE
a slave is identified in his master-context by a slave-id
the slave-id work like a defined well-known-port-number in /etc/services
the slave-id is an integer value with valid values > 0
it is a good practice to plan the usage of your slave-id(s)

slave

slave-id	value	definition
MQ_SLAVE_MAX	1024	internal: the maximum slave-id … .
MQ_SLAVE_USER	10	internal: start of user-defined-slave-id .
MQ_SLAVE_LOOPBACK	0	internal: the loopback-slave-id, (call my own services) .
MQ_SLAVE_FILTER	1	internal: the filter-slave-id, (on a master get the filter-slave) .
MQ_SLAVE_MASTER	1	internal: the master-slave-id, (on a slave get the master) .
MQ_SLAVE_OTHER	1	internal: on the master-ctx get the slave-ctx and on the slave-ctx get the master-ctx .

range

range	definition
0 <= slave-id < MQ_SLAVE_MAX	range of valid slave-id's
0 <= slave-id < MQ_SLAVE_USER	internale usage
MQ_SLAVE_USER <= slave-id < MQ_SLAVE_MAX	external usage

Definition of the "LOOPBACK" (0) slave

   client   |           server            |
===========================================

| <--- client/server --->  | <-- loop --> |

            | <------ master/slave -----> |

  client -- | -- server -- | -- client -- #
                   ==             ==      #
                 server -- | -- client -- #

the loopback has always the slave-id = 0 .
the loopback has the same class as the parent, if reflection is not available the MqFactoryInitial is used.
the loopback is used to call a service on the same process or thread.
the loopback is a special filter without an additional process or thread to be started.
the loopback is only internal accessible
the service called by the loopback need the same attention as the service called by the filter, the context of the service is the loopback-context.
the loopback can call MqServiceCreate to create a new link between a service-token and a service-method, by default all services from the master-context (the owner of the loopback) are also accessible by the loopback.
in the service use MqSlaveGetMaster to get the master-context from the loopback-context.

Example from MyLoopServer.tcl → create a new loop-server

package require tclmsgque::MqMsgque
namespace import tclmsgque::MqMsgque::*

::oo::class create MyLoopServer {
  superclass MqContextC
  export variable

  # factory startup
  constructor {{tmpl ""}} {
    my variable mydata;
    next $tmpl
    my ConfigSetServerSetup ServerSetup
    # set the "mydata" attribute to the master-context
    set mydata  "Hello World";
  }

  # service to serve all EXTERNAL requests for token "HLWO"
  method HLWO_srv {} {
    # get the "loopback" context
    set loop  [my SlaveGet LOOPBACK]
    # call the LOOP service on the SAME server
    $loop Send "W" "LOOP"
    # answer HLWO with string-return from LOOP
    my Send "R" "C" [$loop ReadSTR]
  }

  # service to serve all INTERNAL requests for token "LOOP"
  method LOOP_srv {} {
    # get the "master" context
    set master  [my SlaveGetMaster]
    # answer LOOP with data from MASTER->mydata attribute
    $master variable mydata
    my Send "R" "C" $mydata
  }

  # setup a server-context - called for every new server-context
  method ServerSetup {} {
    # EXTERNAL: link the "HLWO" service with "HLWO_srv"
    my ServiceCreate "HLWO" HLWO_srv
    # INTERNAL: link the "LOOP" service with "LOOP_srv"
    [my SlaveGet MQ_SLAVE_LOOPBACK] ServiceCreate "LOOP" LOOP_srv
  }
}

tclmsgque::MqMsgque Main {

  # create "MyLoopServer" factory... and the instance
  set srv   [[MqFactoryC Add MyLoopServer] New]

  try {
    $srv LinkCreate $argv
    $srv ProcessEvent MQ_WAIT_FOREVER
  } on error {} {
    $srv ErrorCatch
  } finally {
    $srv Exit
  }
}

Performance analyse

The performance-test is created with:

pipe
- Nhi1Exec perfclient.c --parent --wrk ? @ perfserver.c
spawn, fork, thread
- Nhi1Exec -r=uds perfserver.c --spawn|fork|thread
- Nhi1Exec -r=uds perfclient.c --parent --wrk ?
the number of workers are set with the –wrk option
the cpu is a xeon with 4/8
the performance is calculated as worker-context-created / time-in-sec with a ~2sec (default) measurement period.

performance-test code:

The test-setup is done as:

  perfclient                                worker                            perfserver
  ==========                                ======                            ==========
  |
  |- loop --wrk x
    |- MqSlaveWorker(...)               ->  worker[1] 
    |- MqSend(worker[1],"E","STR0..")   ->  PerfWorker_I160(...)
                                            |- loop endless
                                              |- MqContextCreate(...)
                                              |- MqLinkCreate(...)      <->   MqContextCreate(...)
                                              |- MqContextDelete(...)   <->   MqContextDelete(...)
  |- sleep x sec
  |- loop --wrk x
    |- MqSend(worker[1],"C"..,"END0")   ->  PerfWorker_END0(...)
    |                                       |- stop loop
    |- "callback" - add number to all   <-  |- return #context

Using the worker-code:
// asynchronous call

static enum MkErrorE PerfWorker_STR0( MQ_SERVICE_CALL_ARGS ) {

MK_BFL largv = NULL;

MK_BFL pargv = NULL;

MK_I32 num = MqReadI32_e(mqctx);

pargv = MkBufferListDup(MqReadBFL_e(mqctx));

enum MkErrorE ret = MK_OK;

if (num == -1) num = 999999; // endless

// start test until "doNext" is "false" or "num" exceeds

for (int i=0; doNext && i<num; i++) {

// CREATE the context

MQ_CTX ctx = MqContextCreate(NULL, mqctx);

largv = MkBufferListDup(pargv);

MqLinkCreate_C (ctx, largv) {

MqContextErrorMove(mqctx,ctx);

MqContextDelete(ctx);

goto error;

}

//MqSend(ctx,"E","MARK:C","start");

MkBufferListDelete(largv);

// DELETE the context

MqContextDelete(ctx);

// count the loops

worker_count++;

// give PerfWorker_END0 time to update "doNext"

MqProcessEvent(mqctx, MQ_WAIT_NO, MK_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT);

}

end:

//printV("ret=%i, Delete=%p\n", ret, largv)

MkBufferListDelete(largv);

MkBufferListDelete(pargv);

if (doNext == true) {

// finish the test WITHOUT "END0" -> test on --num, answer required.

MqSend_E(mqctx, "R", "I", worker_count);

}

return ret;

error:

if (doNext == true) {

ret = MkErrorStack_1X(mqctx);

} else {

ret = MkErrorReset_1X(mqctx);

}

goto end;

}

performance-test results:

results generated using the debug environment

setup	–wrk	# worker-context	performance	info
pipe	1	2500	1000	the pipe start a new worker-context with spawn
spawn	1	2500	<1000	same as pipe but use network-protocoll
fork	1	3800	4000	the fork is faster than spawn
thread	1	16500	9000	the thread is faster than fork
pipe	4	8000	4500	the worker scale linear up to number of processors
spawn	4	7600	<4500	-
fork	4	23200	11500	-
thread	4	55500	27500	-
pipe	8	10000	5500	the additional scaling up to the max hyper-threading does not really help
spawn	8	9100	<5500	-
fork	8	23200	11500	-
thread	8	55500	27500	-