Chapter 7. Configuring Data Grid to handle network partitions

Network partitions are the result of error conditions in the running environment, such as when a network router crashes. When a cluster splits into partitions, nodes create a JGroups cluster view that includes only the nodes in that partition. This condition means that nodes in one partition can operate independently of nodes in the other partition.

Data Grid suspects that nodes have crashed after the following number of milliseconds:

FD_ALL.timeout + FD_ALL.interval + VERIFY_SUSPECT.timeout + GMS.view_ack_collection_timeout

When it detects that the cluster is split into network partitions, Data Grid uses a strategy for handling cache operations. Depending on your application requirements Data Grid can:

To preserve data consistency, Data Grid can put caches into DEGRADED mode if you configure them to use either the DENY_READ_WRITES or ALLOW_READS partition handling strategy.

Data Grid puts caches in a partition into DEGRADED mode when the following conditions are true:

When caches are in DEGRADED mode, Data Grid:

DEGRADED mode guarantees consistency by ensuring that write operations do not take place for the same key in different partitions. Additionally DEGRADED mode prevents stale read operations that happen when a key is updated in one partition but read in another partition.

If all partitions are in DEGRADED mode then the cache becomes available again after merge only if the cluster contains a majority of nodes from the most recent stable topology and there is at least one replica of each entry. When the cluster has at least one replica of each entry, no keys are lost and Data Grid can create new replicas based on the number of owners during cluster rebalancing.

In some cases a cache in one partition can remain available while entering DEGRADED mode in another partition. When this happens the available partition continues cache operations as normal and Data Grid attempts to rebalance data across those nodes. To merge the cache together Data Grid always transfers state from the available partition to the partition in DEGRADED mode.

7.2.1. Degraded cache recovery example

This topic illustrates how Data Grid recovers from split clusters with caches that use the DENY_READ_WRITES partition handling strategy.

As an example, a Data Grid cluster has four nodes and includes a distributed cache with two replicas for each entry (owners=2). There are four entries in the cache, k1, k2, k3 and k4.

With the DENY_READ_WRITES strategy, if the cluster splits into partitions, Data Grid allows cache operations only if all replicas of an entry are in the same partition.

In the following diagram, while the cache is split into partitions, Data Grid allows read and write operations for k1 on partition 1 and k4 on partition 2. Because there is only one replica for k2 and k3 on either partition 1 or partition 2, Data Grid denies read and write operations for those entries.

When network conditions allow the nodes to re-join the same cluster view, Data Grid merges the partitions without state transfer and restores normal cache operations.

Configure Data Grid to use a partition handling strategy and merge policy so it can resolve split clusters when network issues occur. By default Data Grid uses a strategy that provides availability at the cost of lowering consistency guarantees for your data. When a cluster splits due to a network partition clients can continue to perform read and write operations on caches.

If you require consistency over availability, you can configure Data Grid to deny read and write operations while the cluster is split into partitions. Alternatively you can allow read operations and deny write operations. You can also specify custom merge policy implementations that configure Data Grid to resolve splits with custom logic tailored to your requirements.

Partition handling configuration

<distributed-cache>
   <partition-handling when-split="DENY_READ_WRITES"
                       merge-policy="PREFERRED_ALWAYS"/>
</distributed-cache>

{
  "distributed-cache": {
    "partition-handling" : {
      "when-split": "DENY_READ_WRITES",
      "merge-policy": "PREFERRED_ALWAYS"
    }
  }
}

distributedCache:
  partitionHandling:
    whenSplit: DENY_READ_WRITES
    mergePolicy: PREFERRED_ALWAYS

ConfigurationBuilder builder = new ConfigurationBuilder();
builder.clustering().cacheMode(CacheMode.DIST_SYNC)
       .partitionHandling()
       .whenSplit(PartitionHandling.DENY_READ_WRITES)
       .mergePolicy(MergePolicy.PREFERRED_NON_NULL);

Partition handling strategies control if Data Grid allows read and write operations when a cluster is split. The strategy you configure determines whether you get cache availability or data consistency.

Merge policies control how Data Grid resolves conflicts between replicas when bringing cluster partitions together. You can use one of the merge policies that Data Grid provides or you can create a custom implementation of the EntryMergePolicy API.

Configure Data Grid to use custom implementations of the EntryMergePolicy API when handling network partitions.

Custom merge policy configuration

<distributed-cache name="mycache">
   <partition-handling when-split="DENY_READ_WRITES"
                       merge-policy="org.example.CustomMergePolicy"/>
</distributed-cache>

{
  "distributed-cache": {
    "partition-handling" : {
      "when-split": "DENY_READ_WRITES",
      "merge-policy": "org.example.CustomMergePolicy"
    }
  }
}

distributedCache:
  partitionHandling:
    whenSplit: DENY_READ_WRITES
    mergePolicy: org.example.CustomMergePolicy

ConfigurationBuilder builder = new ConfigurationBuilder();
builder.clustering().cacheMode(CacheMode.DIST_SYNC)
       .partitionHandling()
       .whenSplit(PartitionHandling.DENY_READ_WRITES)
       .mergePolicy(new CustomMergePolicy());

Detect and resolve conflicting entries to manually merge embedded caches after network partitions occur.