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Policies

Aerospike allows reading and writing with great flexibility. With an Aerospike client policy, you can create read-modify-write patterns of optimistic concurrency, control the time to live, and choose whether to write a record based on the existence of the same record.

Operations of this type are very quick, because information like the generation and time-to-live are stored in the primary key index. No extra work is needed to retrieve the data object.

These policies affect both database operations and client operations. Many policies are used to send the appropriate wire protocol commands to the server. Other policies (like maxRetries) affect client operation.

These policies exist with each client, and have slightly different APIs. After understanding which policies you need for your application, please see the client-specific documentation for precise syntax.

Set Default Client Policies

You can create default client policies for each AerospikeClient instance. The following example demonstrates how to set policy defaults in the Java client. For language-specific examples, see the documentation for your client.

// Set client default policies.
ClientPolicy clientPolicy = new ClientPolicy();
clientPolicy.readPolicyDefault.replica = Replica.MASTER_PROLES;
clientPolicy.readPolicyDefault.consistencyLevel = ConsistencyLevel.CONSISTENCY_ALL;
clientPolicy.readPolicyDefault.socketTimeout = 100;
clientPolicy.readPolicyDefault.totalTimeout = 100;
clientPolicy.writePolicyDefault.commitLevel = CommitLevel.COMMIT_ALL;
clientPolicy.writePolicyDefault.socketTimeout = 500;
clientPolicy.writePolicyDefault.totalTimeout = 500;

// Connect to the cluster.
AerospikeClient client = new AerospikeClient(clientPolicy, new Host("seed1", 3000));

Set Per-Transaction Client Policies

To set policies on a per-transaction basis, pass the desired policy settings to the individual API call. For example, to perform writes with the master commit level:

// Make a copy of the client's default write policy.
WritePolicy policy = new WritePolicy(client.writePolicyDefault);

// Change commit level.
policy.commitLevel = CommitLevel.COMMIT_MASTER;

// Write record with modified write policy.
client.put(policy, key, bins);

If the policy specified in the transaction call is not null, that policy overrides the corresponding policy defined at the client connection level. If the transaction policy is null, the corresponding default client policy will be used.

Server Policies

You can override client-selected per-transaction data consistency levels on the server using dynamically changeable server configuration parameters at the namespace level.

Refer to the consistency override configuration parameters in the reference page: read-consistency-level-override and write-commit-level-override.

Policy Definitions

The following section describes the Aerospike Java client policies. Other clients use similar constructs.

Replica

Replica (Policy.replica) specifies which replica the client will access during the single record operation:

  • SEQUENCE (default) Try node containing key's master partition first. If connection fails, all commands try nodes containing replicated partitions. If socketTimeout is reached, reads also try nodes containing replicated partitions, but writes remain on master node.
  • PREFER_RACK Try node on the same rack as the client first. If there are no nodes on the same client rack, use SEQUENCE instead.
  • MASTER Use node containing key's master partition.
  • MASTER_PROLES Distribute reads across nodes containing key's master and replicated partitions in round-robin fashion. Writes always use node containing key's master partition.
  • RANDOM Distribute reads across all nodes in cluster in round-robin fashion. Writes always use node containing key's master partition.

By default, all client reads are first directed to the master replica (Replica.SEQUENCE), however, you may want to spread the reads over all available replicas. The performance impact of reading a hot key can be reduced along the order of the replication factor. Set the replica policy to Replica.MASTER_PROLES to distribute reads across master and proles.

AP Data Consistency Level

Consistency level (Policy.consistencyLevel) specifies how many replicas the server is to consult internally to determine the most-recent record value, and return it to the client:

The consistencyLevel configurations do not apply to namespaces with strong-consistency set to true.

  • CONSISTENCY_ONE(default) Read a single replica before returning.
  • CONSISTENCY_ALL Read from all node holding a unique version of the record's parent partition.

The default client behavior when reading a record (including read and operate functions) is to read only one replica (ConsistencyLevel.CONSISTENCY_ONE).

During cluster reconfiguration, reading a single replica may not return the most recently-written version. If you wish the server to provide "duplicate resolution", which is to contact replicas and find the most recent version, including updating the master's copy, set the consistency level policy to ConsistencyLevel.CONSISTENCY_ALL.

note

The potential performance degradation due to reading all replicas is only significant during cluster reconfiguration.

Linearize Read

If enabled, the linearize read policy (Policy.linearizeRead) forces reads to be linearized for server namespaces that support strong consistency mode.

Send Key

If enabled, send key (Policy.sendKey) sends the user-defined key in addition to hash digest on both reads and writes. If the key is sent on a write, the key will be stored with the record on the server and returned to the client on primary and secondary index queries.

Socket Timeout

Socket timeout (Policy.socketTimeout) specifies socket idle timeout in milliseconds when processing a database command.

If socketTimeout is not zero and the socket has been idle for at least socketTimeout, both maxRetries and totalTimeout are checked. If maxRetries and totalTimeout are not exceeded, the transaction is retried.

If both socketTimeout and totalTimeout are non-zero and socketTimeout > totalTimeout, then socketTimeout will be set to totalTimeout.

If socketTimeout is zero, there will be no socket idle limit.

Total Timeout

Total timeout (Policy.totalTimeout) specifies total transaction timeout in milliseconds.

The totalTimeout is tracked on the client and sent to the server along with the transaction in the wire protocol. The client will most likely timeout first, but the server also has the capability to timeout the transaction.

If totalTimeout is not zero and totalTimeout is reached before the transaction completes, the transaction will abort with a timeout exception.

Max Retries

Max retries (Policy.maxRetries) specifies the maximum number of retries before aborting the current transaction. The initial attempt is not counted as a retry.

If maxRetries is exceeded, the transaction will abort with a timeout exception.

note

Database writes that are not idempotent, such as add(), should not be retried because the write operation may be performed multiple times if the client timed out previous transaction attempts. It's important to use a distinct WritePolicy for non-idempotent writes which sets maxRetries to zero.

Default for read: 2 (initial attempt + 2 retries = 3 attempts)

Default for write/query/scan: 0 (no retries)

Sleep Between Retries

Sleep between retries (Policy.sleepBetweenRetries) is the milliseconds to sleep between retries. Enter zero to skip sleep. This field is ignored when maxRetries is zero. This field is also ignored in async mode.

The sleep only occurs on connection errors and server timeouts which suggest a node is down and the cluster is reforming. The sleep does not occur when the client's socketTimeout expires.

Reads do not have to sleep when a node goes down because the cluster does not shut out reads during cluster reformation. The default for reads is zero.

The default for writes is also zero because writes are not retried by default. Writes can wait for the cluster to reform when a node goes down. Immediate write retries on node failure have been shown to consistently result in errors. If maxRetries is greater than zero on a write, then sleepBetweenRetries should be set high enough to allow the cluster to reform (>= 500ms).

Write Mode

The write mode (WritePolicy.recordExistsAction) specifies how to handle writes where the record already exists.

  • UPDATE (default) Create or update record. Merge write command bins with existing bins.
  • UPDATE_ONLY Update record only. Fail if record does not exist. Merge write command bins with existing bins.
  • REPLACE Create or replace record. Delete existing bins not referenced by write command bins.
  • REPLACE_ONLY Replace record only. Fail if record does not exist. Delete existing bins not referenced by write command bins.
  • CREATE_ONLY Create only. Fail if record exists.

AP Write Commit Level

The commit level policy (WritePolicy.commitLevel) specifies how many replicas the server must write successfully before successfully returning to the client:

The commitLevel configurations do not apply to namespaces with strong-consistency set to true.

  • COMMIT_ALL (default) Commit all replicas before returning. Required for strong consistency mode.
  • COMMIT_MASTER Return after committing only the master replica and replicate the prole replica(s) asynchronously. In strong consistency mode, COMMIT_MASTER will cause an error.

The default client behavior when modifying a record (including write, remove, operate, and UDF functions) is to confirm that all replicas were successfully written before returning success from the write-related API. This default policy (CommitLevel.COMMIT_ALL) provides the highest level of write consistency.

If a lower write latency is desired and the application can tolerate a lower write consistency level (with the possibility of 'dirty reads,' which is when an older value returns if a read of the same record is done from a non-master replica before the replica is committed), set the commit level policy to CommitLevel.COMMIT_MASTER. Since Aerospike 5.7, if the client is pushing a higher rate of COMMIT_MASTER transactions than the server's replication system can handle then the server will push back by converting these transactions to COMMIT_ALL.

Write Generation Policy

The generation policy (WritePolicy.generationPolicy) specifies how to handle record writes based on record generation.

Record generation is an internal counter that uses integer values and that Aerospike increments every time you update a record. ("Generation" in this context does not mean "the act of generating", but "version".) When a record is inserted, the counter starts at 1. Therefore, a record for which the counter is currently at, say, 5, has been updated four times. Client applications cannot directly change the value of the counter. Reading a record does not cause Aerospike to increment its counter.

When Aerospike is in Available and Partition-tolerant (AP) mode, Aerospike resets a record's counter to 1 after it has been updated 64K times. When Aerospike is in strong-consistency mode, it resets a record's counter to 1 after the record has been updated 1K times.

Client applications can use this counter to coordinate a read-modify-write sequence of operations with other client applications.

For example, suppose a client application needs to read data from a record, modify the data, and then write the modified data back into the record. Reading the record requires a lock on it, as does writing to the record. However, during the time the client app modifies data, it holds no lock on the record. Another client app can update the same record before the first client app is able to obtain a write lock and write the modified data.

If the generation policy is set to GEN_EQUAL or GEN_GT:

  1. During the read operation, the client app also reads the value of the generation counter for the record.

  2. After the client app modifies the data and obtains a write lock on the record, it reads the current value of the counter.

  3. One of the following situations occurs:

    • If the generation policy is set to GEN_EQUAL:

      • If the generation value sent by client is equal to the generation value on the server, then the client app writes the modified data to the record.
      • If the generation value sent by client is not equal to the generation value on the server, the client app does not perform the write operation. The client app can retry the sequence of read-modify-write operations.
    • If the generation policy is set to GEN_GT:

      • If the generation value sent by client is strictly greater than the generation value on the server, the client app writes the modified data to the record.
      • If the generation value sent by client is not greater than the generation value on the server, the client app does not perform the write operation. The client app can retry the sequence of read-modify-write operations.
    • If the generation policy is set to NONE:

      • The client app does not read the value of the counter when reading data from the record.
      • After modifying the data that it read, it writes the modified data to the record.
    • With the generation policy set to GEN_EQUAL or GEN_GT, write operations fail with error code 3, AS_ERR_GENERATION. In this case,the fail_generation and the generic client_write_error stats will tick on the server.

  4. Possible values:

    • If the value is set to NONE (default):
      • Client apps do not use the record-generation counter to restrict writes.
    • If the value is set to EXPECT_GEN_EQUAL:
      • Client apps update or delete records where the generation value sent by client is equal to the generation value on the server.
      • Otherwise, write operations fail, and client apps can retry them.
    • If the value is set to EXPECT_GEN_GT:
      • Client apps update or delete records where where the generation value sent by client is less than the generation value on the server.
      • Otherwise, write operations fail and client apps can retry them.
      • This value is useful for when you want to restore records from a backup, and want to write only records for which you have an older version.
    • With the value set to EXPECT_GEN_EQUAL or EXPECT_GEN_GT, write operations fail with error code 3, AS_ERR_GENERATION. In this case,the fail_generation and the generic client_write_error stats will tick on the server.

Expiration (Time To Live)

Record expiration (WritePolicy.expiration), or time to live (TTL), is the number of seconds the record will live before being removed by the server. Expiration values:

  • -2 Do not change ttl when record is updated.
  • -1 Never expire.
  • 0 Default to namespace configuration variable "default-ttl" on the server.
  • > 0 Actual ttl in seconds.

Durable Delete

If enabled, durable delete (WritePolicy.durableDelete) leaves a tombstone when a record is deleted. This prevents deleted records from reappearing after node failures.