[erlang-questions] how: mnesia with simultaneous permanent node failure (EC2)

Paul Mineiro paul-trapexit@REDACTED
Wed Dec 12 01:31:43 CET 2007


sorry, wrong mnesia_schema.patch attached to the last message.

correct one here.

-- p

On Tue, 11 Dec 2007, Paul Mineiro wrote:

> in order to get my disaster recovery situation managed on EC2, i went
> ahead and wrote mnesia_schema:del_table_copies/2, which allows one to
> remove multiple tables in one operation.
>
> attached are the patches to mnesia_schema.erl and mnesia_dumper.erl (also,
> to be pleasant should these concepts be accepted, mnesia.erl should be
> patched so that mnesia:del_table_copies/2 exists, but the meat is here).
>
> also attached are the original script indicating "2 out of 3" node failure
> where recovery was not possible, and a new script demonstrating the use of
> the new call.
>
> i'm not an mnesia expert so for all i know this is a really bad idea for
> reasons i'm not seeing at the moment.  therefore, any input from mnesia
> gurus would be greatly appreciated.
>
> thanks,
>
> -- p
>
> On Sat, 1 Dec 2007, Paul Mineiro wrote:
>
> > hi.
> >
> > i'm thinking about using mnesia on EC2, but i'm having problems figuring
> > out disaster recovery.
> >
> > some background: on EC2, you can start as many machines (instances) as you
> > like.  if you lose one, you can start another, but it'll have a different
> > hostname.  when you lose an instance, you lose whatever was stored on the
> > drive.
> >
> > i was trying to figure out what i would do with a distributed mnesia
> > database when i lost a node.  i came up with a procedure based upon
> > mnesia:del_table_copy/2 of the schema on the lost node which seems to work
> > (attached as test-disaster-one).
> >
> > however when i tried to apply the procedure to simultaneous loss of two
> > nodes, i ran into a problem; calling mnesia:del_table_copy/2 of schema
> > requires all other nodes to be active, and is this scenario i have lost
> > two nodes simultaneously (attached as test-disaster-two).
> >
> > any input from mnesia gurus would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > thanks,
> >
> > -- p
> >
> > Optimism is an essential ingredient of innovation. How else can the
> > individual favor change over security?
> >
> >   -- Robert Noyce
>
> Optimism is an essential ingredient of innovation. How else can the
> individual favor change over security?
>
>   -- Robert Noyce

Optimism is an essential ingredient of innovation. How else can the
individual favor change over security?

  -- Robert Noyce
-------------- next part --------------
--- /sw/lib/erlang/lib/mnesia-4.3.5/src/mnesia_schema.erl	2007-03-27 06:37:32.000000000 -0700
+++ mnesia_schema.erl	2007-12-11 16:20:30.000000000 -0800
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 	 cs2list/1,
          del_snmp/1,
          del_table_copy/2,
+         del_table_copies/2,
          del_table_index/2,
          delete_cstruct/2,
          delete_schema/1,
@@ -104,7 +105,7 @@
 	 do_delete_table_property/2,
  	 do_write_table_property/2]).
 
--include("mnesia.hrl").
+-include_lib("mnesia/src/mnesia.hrl").
 -include_lib("kernel/include/file.hrl").
 
 -import(mnesia_lib, [set/2, del/2, verbose/2, dbg_out/2]).
@@ -1214,6 +1215,86 @@
 	    end
     end.
 
+del_table_copies(Tab, Ns) when is_list(Ns), Ns /= [] ->
+    schema_transaction(fun() ->
+			      do_del_table_copies(Tab, Ns)
+		       end).
+
+do_del_table_copies(Tab, Ns) ->    
+    TidTs = get_tid_ts_and_lock(schema, write),    
+    insert_schema_ops(TidTs, make_del_table_copies(Tab, Ns)).
+
+make_del_table_copies(Tab, Ns) ->
+    ensure_writable(schema),
+    Cs = incr_version(val({Tab, cstruct})),
+    NStorList = [{Node, mnesia_lib:schema_cs_to_storage_type(Node, Cs)} 
+	       || Node <- Ns ],
+    Cs2 = lists:foldl(fun({Node, Storage}, Acc) ->
+			      new_cs(Acc, Node, Storage, del)
+		      end,
+		      Cs,
+		      NStorList),
+    case mnesia_lib:cs_to_nodes(Cs2) of
+	[] when Tab == schema ->
+	    mnesia:abort({combine_error, Tab, "Last replica"});
+	[] ->
+	    ensure_active(Cs),	    
+	    dbg_out("Last replica deleted in table ~p~n", [Tab]),
+	    make_delete_table(Tab, whole_table);
+	_ when Tab == schema ->
+	    ensure_active(Cs2),
+	    lists:foreach(fun(Node) -> ensure_not_active(Tab, Node) end, Ns),
+	    verify_cstruct(Cs2),
+	    Ops = remove_nodes_from_tabs(val({schema, tables}), NStorList),
+	    [{op, del_table_copies, [{N,ram_copies} || N<-Ns], cs2list (Cs2)} | Ops];
+	_ ->
+	    ensure_active(Cs),
+	    verify_cstruct(Cs2),
+	    [{op, del_table_copies, NStorList, cs2list(Cs2)}]
+    end.
+
+remove_nodes_from_tabs([], _NStorList) ->
+    [];
+remove_nodes_from_tabs([schema|Rest], NStorList) ->
+    remove_nodes_from_tabs(Rest, NStorList);
+remove_nodes_from_tabs([Tab|Rest], NStorList) ->    
+    {Cs, IsFragModified} = 
+	lists:foldl(fun({Node, _}, {AccCs, AccIsFragModified}) ->
+			    {NewCs, NewFM} = mnesia_frag:remove_node(Node, 
+								     AccCs),
+			    {NewCs, NewFM or AccIsFragModified}
+		    end,
+		    {incr_version(val({Tab, cstruct})), false},
+		    NStorList),
+
+    case lists:any (fun ({ _, X }) -> X =/= unknown end, NStorList) of
+	false ->
+	    case IsFragModified of
+		true ->
+		    [{op, change_table_frag, {del_node, N}, cs2list(Cs)} ||
+		      {N, _} <- NStorList] ++
+		     remove_nodes_from_tabs(Rest, NStorList);
+		false ->
+		    remove_nodes_from_tabs(Rest, NStorList)
+	    end;
+	true ->
+	     Cs2 = lists:foldl(fun({_, unknown}, Acc) -> Acc;
+				  ({Node, Storage}, Acc) ->
+				    new_cs(Acc, Node, Storage, del)
+			       end,
+			       Cs,
+			       NStorList),
+	    case mnesia_lib:cs_to_nodes(Cs2) of
+		[] ->
+		    [{op, delete_table, cs2list(Cs)} |
+		     remove_nodes_from_tabs(Rest, NStorList)];
+		_Ns ->
+		    verify_cstruct(Cs2),
+		    [{op, del_table_copies, NStorList, cs2list(Cs2)}|
+		     remove_nodes_from_tabs(Rest, NStorList)]
+	    end
+    end.
+
 new_cs(Cs, Node, ram_copies, add) ->
     Cs#cstruct{ram_copies = opt_add(Node, Cs#cstruct.ram_copies)};
 new_cs(Cs, Node, disc_copies, add) ->
@@ -1226,7 +1307,7 @@
     Cs#cstruct{disc_copies = lists:delete(Node , Cs#cstruct.disc_copies)};
 new_cs(Cs, Node, disc_only_copies, del) ->
     Cs#cstruct{disc_only_copies = 
-               lists:delete(Node , Cs#cstruct.disc_only_copies)};
+	       lists:delete(Node , Cs#cstruct.disc_only_copies)};
 new_cs(Cs, _Node, Storage, _Op) ->
     mnesia:abort({badarg, Cs#cstruct.name, Storage}).
 
@@ -1865,6 +1946,29 @@
 	    {true, optional}
     end;
 
+prepare_op(Tid, {op, del_table_copies, NStorList, TabDef}, _WaitFor) ->
+    Cs = list2cs(TabDef),
+    Tab = Cs#cstruct.name,
+    
+    if
+	%% Schema table lock is always required to run a schema op.
+	%% No need to look it.
+	node(Tid#tid.pid) == node(), Tab /= schema -> 
+	    Self = self(),
+	    Pid = spawn_link(fun() -> lock_del_table(Tab, [N || {N,_}<-NStorList], Cs, Self) end),
+	    put(mnesia_lock, Pid),
+	    receive 
+		{Pid, updated} -> 
+		    {true, optional};
+		{Pid, FailReason} ->
+		    mnesia:abort(FailReason);
+		{'EXIT', Pid, Reason} ->
+		    mnesia:abort(Reason)
+	    end;	
+	true ->
+	    {true, optional}
+    end;
+
 prepare_op(_Tid, {op, change_table_copy_type,  N, FromS, ToS, TabDef}, _WaitFor)
   when N == node() ->
     Cs = list2cs(TabDef),
@@ -2108,7 +2212,21 @@
     unlink(whereis(mnesia_tm)),
     exit(normal).
 
-set_where_to_read(Tab, Node, Cs) ->
+set_where_to_read(Tab, NodeList, Cs) when is_list(NodeList) ->
+    case lists:member(mnesia_lib:val({Tab, where_to_read}), NodeList) of
+	true ->
+	    case Cs#cstruct.local_content of
+		true ->
+		    ok;
+		false ->
+		    mnesia_lib:set_remote_where_to_read(Tab, NodeList),
+		    ok
+	    end;
+	_ ->
+	    ok
+    end;
+
+set_where_to_read(Tab, Node, Cs) when is_atom(Node) ->
     case mnesia_lib:val({Tab, where_to_read}) of 
 	Node ->
 	    case Cs#cstruct.local_content of
@@ -2264,6 +2382,16 @@
     Tab = Cs#cstruct.name,
     mnesia_lib:set({Tab, where_to_read}, Node);
 
+undo_prepare_op(_Tid, {op, del_table_copies, NStorList, TabDef}) ->
+    case lists:member (node (), [N || {N,_} <- NStorList]) of
+        true ->
+            Cs = list2cs(TabDef),
+            Tab = Cs#cstruct.name,
+            mnesia_lib:set({Tab, where_to_read}, node ());
+        false ->
+            ok
+    end;
+
 
 undo_prepare_op(_Tid, {op, change_table_copy_type, N, FromS, ToS, TabDef}) 
         when N == node() ->


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