Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

Table of Contents

Protocol negotiation

 

Note
titleProtocol Negotiation

In order to use the existing Geode client/server infrastructure, we will be leveraging the current Geode "cache server" component.  In the current server implementation, the server expects an initial "handshake" byte, which tells the server the client protocol and how it should be handled. A client, using the new protocol, can connect with the Geode server by sending a protocol byte. Initially, we will support the following two protocols:

  • byte - 110: Message will contain the whole request or response. 
  • byte - 111: If the message is large then client or server can divide the message into the set of small messages. Then they need to collect all the small message and parse the whole request or response.

We may add additional protocol definitions here to indicate the use of an alternative serialization mechanism.  For instance bytes 112 & 113 might indicate the but require the server to use Protobuf for serialization of client/server messages.  How we handle other serialization libraries will be addressed when the pluggable-serialization architecture is roughed out.

Protocol Field Definitions

Understanding the message definitions it is advised that one references the Protocol Field Definitions page and Supported Data Type Definitions.


Message Definition

A message is a series of bytes which contains the request or response. If the message is large, then we will have provision to divide the message into small messages. In that case, client/server needs to collect all messages to parse the request/response.

...

Message definition grammar

In order to consistently define messages the Extended Backus–Naur form grammar will be used.

Usage
Notation
definition=
alterationalternation|
optional[ ... ]
repetition{ ... }
grouping( ... )

Generic Message definition

Every message will message (except for connection initializing handshakes, which are necessarily insulated from future changes to the message structure) will adhere to the following generic message definition. A Message will comprise of a MessageHeader and either a Request or Response component.

Message = MessageHeader  (Request Request Response)Description
MessageHeadervariable size, type = MessageHeaderThe MessageHeader corresponding to this Message.
Requestvariable size, type =   RequestThis field will contain the Request component.
Responsevariable size,

type = Response

 

This field will contain the Response component.

MessageHeader

The Message header is a fixed size header which contains the size of a message, boolean flag to indicates whether a message is partial, and correlation id for that request message. The correlation id is used for the dual purpose here.

  • If a message is sent in multiple sub-messages, then it will be used for combining the whole message. 
  • It will be used for correlating the request to its response.
MessageHeader = Size CorrelationId isPartialMessage hasMetaDataDescription
SizefixedSize = 4 bytes, type = int32Size of request or response
CorrelationIdfixedSize = 4 bytes, type = int32The correlationID used to track a request/response
isPartialMessagefixedSize = 1 byte, type = booleanIs this a partial message
hasMetaDatafixedSize = 1 byte, type = booleanDoes the message have meta data associated with it


Anchor
Request
Request
Request

The request would contain the fixed size request header, optional metadata and request API parameterswill contain an operation specific request structure

Request = RequestHeader [MetaData] RequestAPI
  Notes
Description
RequestHeadervariable size, type = RequestHeaderThe RequestHeader corresponding to this Request
MetaDataoptional, variable size, type = MetaDataThis field is optional and will be populated if the MessageHeader.hasMeta is true

RequestAPI

variable size, type = variable

The Api specific Request message. Here are some examples of Request messages.

PutRequest | GetRequest | PutAllRequest | GetAllRequest |ServerConfigRequest | ClientConfigRequest | AuthRequest

RequestHeader

The request header contains the ApiId, ApiVersion, and hasMetaData flag to indicate whether the request contains some metadata.

RequestHeader = ApiId apiVersionDescription
ApiIdfixedSize = 2 bytes, type = int16The Api ID for the Request. Supported ID's are defined on the API's page
apiVersionfixedSize = 1 byte, type = int8The version of the API being used.

Anchor
Response
Response
Response

The response would contain contains the fixed size response header, optional metadata and return values.  response object corresponding to the request, or an error response object.

This field is optional and will be populated if the MessageHeader.hasMeta is true

Response =

ResponseHeader [MetaData]

APIResponse

Description
ResponseHeadervariable size, type = ResponseHeaderThe ResponseHeader corresponding to this Response
MetaDataoptional, variable size, type = MetaData
APIResponsevariable size, type = variable

The Api specific Reponse message. Here are some examples of Response messages

PutResponse GetResponse | PutAllResponse | GetAllResponse | ServerConfigResposneServerConfigResponse | ClientConfigResponse | AuthResponse | ErrorResponse

...

Anchor
ErrorResponse
ErrorResponse
ErrorResponse

The response header will have resposneType, which indicates its partial response, full response or error. A hasMetaData flag indicates whether the response contains some metadata.

ResponseHeader = ResponseTypeId | ErrorCodeDescription
ResponseTypeIdfixedSize = 2 bytes, type = int16The ResponeTypeId corresponding to either a Full or Partial message
ErrorCodefixedSize = 2 bytes, type = int16The error code for the error that occurred. A list of error codes can be found on the page Error Codes

...

server will raise an error when it failed to execute API request from the client. The error response wraps an error object detailing the failure.

ErrorResponse = ErrorDescription
errortype = ErrorThe error message

Anchor
Error
Error
Error

The server will raise the error when it failed to execute API request from the client. The error code and message should help the client to diagnose the issue.

ErrorResponse = errorMessageerrorCode messageDescription
errorCodetype = intNumeric code referencing the type of failure
messagetype = StringerrorMessagevariable size, type = StringThe error message

Anchor
Value

The Value is serialized bytes for the Geode region value. It contains value header and series of bytes. Using value header, we can send a big serialized object in more than one chunk. 

Value = {ValueHeader value}Description
ValueHeadervariable size, type = ValueHeaderThe ValueHeader corresponding to this Value entry
valuevariable size, type = bytesSerialized Value Object which Geode can understand

ValueHeader

The value header contains the value bytes size, and a flag indicates whether it contains all the value bytes. 

ValueHeader = Size hasPartialBytesDescription
SizefixedSize = 4 bytes, type = int32Number of serialized bytes
hasPartialBytesfixedSize = 1 byte, type = booleanWhether this contains partial bytes of value

MetaData

The purpose of a metadata to pass defined key value pair with request and response. That will be optional for a client. If there is any metadata associated with request or response, then need to set "hasMetadata" flag to "true" in request or response header. After that send metadata in the following format.

MetaData = NumberOfMetadata { MetadataKeyId MetadataKeyValue} Description
NumberOfMetadatafixedSize = 2 bytes, type = int16The number of MetaDataKeyId : MetaDataKeyValue combinations
MetadataKeyIdfixedSize = 2 bytes, type = int16Supported MetaDataKeyId's can be found in the table "Supported MetaData - MetaData KeyId"
MetadataKeyValuevariable size, type = variableThe MetaData value for the KeyId. The supported dataType can be found in the table "Supported MetaData - MetaData Value Type"

Supported MetaData

 We would have following pre-defined key and value for a metadata. Note this list will grow over time.

MetaData for Requests

Request MetaData Key
MetaData KeyId
MetaData Value example
MetaData Value Type
Description
JSON_KEY

1

true

fixedSize = 1 byte, type = boolean

Geode will expect key as JSON string(or bytes) and it will convert that string into PDX key.

If the response requires a key, then it will convert the PDX key to JSON string(or bytes) back.

JSON_VALUE

2

 

true

fixedSize = 1 byte, type = boolean

Geode will expect Value as JSON string(or bytes) and it will convert that string into PDX value.

If the response requires a value, then it will convert PDX value to JSON string(or bytes) back.

EVENT_ID

3

 

EventId {

uniqueId: type = String

ThreadId:type=int64

SequenceId: type=int64

}

variable size, type = bytes

The eventid is used to identify same region event in Geode. Geode keeps map of "uniqueId + threadId" Vs

"SequenceId" to know whether region event has been already seen or not.

 

MetaData for Responses

...

Response MetaData Key

...

MetaData KeyId

...

MetaData Value example

...

MetaData Value Type

...

Description

Value
EncodedValue

Some data being sent between the client and server, for the most part these rely on protobuf for proper serialization, except for CustomEncodedValues

EncodedValue = (one of the below)Description
intResult32-bit signed integer
longResult64-bit signed integer
shortResult16-bit signed integer
byteResult8-bit signed integer
booleanResultTrue or False.
doubleResult64-bit floating point number.
floatResult32-bit floating point number.
binaryResultA binary blob to be stored in the region.
stringResultCharacter string
customEncodedValueData which doesn't use protobuf serialization

Anchor
CustomEncodedValue
CustomEncodedValue
CustomEncodedValue

EncodedValue represents a serialized value in a format that Geode can understand. It is used for both keys and values in database requests.

Value = ValueHeader valueDescription
encodingTypetype = EncodingTypeThe encoding type of the following bytes.
valuetype = bytesSerialized Value Object which Geode can understand

Anchor
EncodingTypes
EncodingTypes
EncodingType

Currently supported types are:

NameDescription
JSONUTF-8 encoded string, containing a JSON document that will be deserialized in the same way as the REST API.

Anchor
Entry
Entry
Entry

This structure represents a pair of data corresponding to a key and associated value.

Entry = EncodedValue ErrorDescription
keytype = EncodedValueData referencing the corresponding value
valuetype = EncodedValueData associated to the corresponding key

Anchor
KeyedError
KeyedError
KeyedError

Some responses may contain multiple errors keyed to different inputs.  This object enables this behavior.

KeyedError = EncodedValue ErrorDescription
keytype = EncodedValueKey corresponding to this error
errortype = ErrorDetails about the failure

Request and Response Definitions

The request and response messages are further broken down by category and can be found on the following pages.

Connection API

Initial operations for correctly setting up a connection can be found here

Region API

Operations for getting, creating, and modifying data regions can be found here

Locator API

Connections to locators behave a bit differently from normal cache server connections.  For more details and information about locator operations, visit this page.

 

...

1

...

fixedSize = 1 byte, type = boolean

[optional]The server accepted and forwarded the request to the appropriate

node holding the affected cache entry.  A smart client should refresh its partitioned

...