View Source Unique Job In Cluster

Precondition

Global jobs depend on global, only allowed to be added statically.

  1. Fully Connected Cluster

    Because it depends on global's name registration service, the name server must maintain a fully connected network.

    For example, if node N1 connects to node N2 (which is already connected to N3), the global name servers on nodes N1 and N3 ensure that N1 and N3 are also connected. In other words, the command-line flag -connect_all false cannot be used.

  2. Same Global Configuration

    All nodes' global_quorum_size and global_jobs must have the same value. This ensures that the global task manager can transfer between nodes when the network splits.

Configuration

global_jobs

Erlang 

%% sys.config
[
   {ecron, [
      {global_jobs, [
         %% {JobName, CrontabSpec, {M, F, A}}
         %% {JobName, CrontabSpec, {M, F, A}, PropListOpts}
         %% CrontabSpec
            %%  1. "Minute Hour DayOfMonth Month DayOfWeek"
            %%  2. "Second Minute Hour DayOfMonth Month DayOfWeek"
            %%  3. @yearly | @annually | @monthly | @weekly | @daily | @midnight | @hourly
            %%  4. @every 1h2m3s
                  
         {basic, "*/15 * * * *", {io, format, ["Runs on 0, 15, 30, 45 minutes~n"]}}         
     ]}     
    }
].

Elixir

Configure ecron in your config.exs file with job specifications:

# config/config.exs
config :ecron,  
  local_jobs: [
    # {job_name, crontab_spec, {module, function, args}}
    # {job_name, crontab_spec, {module, function, args}, PropListOpts}
    # CrontabSpec formats:
    #  1. "Minute Hour DayOfMonth Month DayOfWeek"
    #  2. "Second Minute Hour DayOfMonth Month DayOfWeek"
    #  3. @yearly | @annually | @monthly | @weekly | @daily | @midnight | @hourly
    #  4. @every 1h2m3s
    
    {:basic, "*/15 * * * *", {IO, :puts, ["Runs on 0, 15, 30, 45 minutes"]}}   
  ]

The same format as local_jobs, default is []. This means only running local jobs without running global task manager and monitor processes.

global_quorum_size

The ecron application lives on at least global_quorum_size nodes in the same cluster, which can be regarded as a healthy cluster. The global task manager only runs on a healthy cluster.

If you want to guarantee always no more than one global task manager even when the cluster has a network split, you should set it to "half plus one". For example:

Run on majority:

  1. ABC 3 nodes in one cluster.
  2. global_quorum_size=2.
  3. (ABC) cluster splits into 2 parts (AB =|= C).
  4. The global task manager would run on the AB cluster (AB is the healthy cluster now).
  5. C node only runs local jobs without global jobs.

Run on majority:

  1. ABC 3 nodes in one cluster.
  2. global_quorum_size=2.
  3. (ABC) cluster splits into 3 parts (A =|= B =|= C).
  4. Every node only runs local jobs without global jobs (all nodes are unhealthy).

Run on every node if brain split:

  1. ABC nodes in one cluster.
  2. global_quorum_size=1.
  3. (ABC) cluster splits into 3 parts (A =|= B =|= C).
  4. The global task manager would run on every node (we have three healthy clusters now).
  5. But the global task manager only runs one in the same cluster.

Implementation

  1. The top supervisor ecron_sup starts first.
  2. Nothing will happen if the global_jobs is empty.
  3. ecron_sup would start_link ecron_monitor worker (gen_server) if global_jobs is not empty.
  4. ecron_monitor subscribes to node's up/down messages by net_kernel:monitor_nodes(true) when it initializes.
  5. Enter ecron_monitor main loop:
    • Checking if there are enough ecron processes in the cluster (global_quorum_size).
    • Trying to terminate the global_job manager process when the cluster's ecron number is less than global_quorum_size.
    • Otherwise, trying to start a global_job manager process. This gen_server registers by global:register_name/2.
    • All the nodes are rushing to register this global jobs manager process; only one node will succeed, other nodes' ecron_monitor would link to this process if the process already exists.
    • The ecron_monitor should receive a notification when a node goes down/up or the global_job manager has terminated.
    • Go to step 5 again when notified.
     NodeA             NodeB             NodeC
   supervisor        supervisor        supervisor
       |                |     |            |
    monitor          monitor  |          monitor
         \              |     |            /
          \           [link]  |           /
           \            |     |          /
           [link]-----GlobalJob-----[link]

NodeB has won the race and spawned the global manager process, other nodes' ecron_monitor only link to this manager.