[rules-users] Drools Fusion inconsistencies at increasing event throughputs

Vieri vieri.emiliani at gmail.com
Tue Mar 25 03:28:43 EDT 2014


Dear Drools Experts,


*Short version*


   1. Cron-based rules triggers (more than once) for a full second, rather
   than once every defined period;
   2. After some time, event creation from the drl seems to hang. The "time
   to hang" decreases as we increase the throughput of incoming events;
   3. The two issues seem to be somehow related (well, maybe).

*Full version*


 We are testing Drools Fusion to implement CEP functionalities in our
platform. We are performing these tests using Drools 6.0.1.Final.

As a basic test case, we set up a synthetic stream of events, and defined a
couple of rules to implement a simple throughput metric. Here's the
complete drl:


*package* it.intext.unity.test



*import* it.intext.unity.test.SynthEvent;

*import* java.util.Date;



*global* org.slf4j.Logger logger;



*declare* SynthEvent

    @role( event )

    @timestamp( timestamp )

*end*



*declare* EventCounter

      @role( event )

      @timestamp( timestamp )

      id          : *long*

      key         : String

      timestamp   : Date

*end*





// Business rules

*rule* "Create counter"

*when*

$e : SynthEvent() *from* entry-point "synth"

*then*

entryPoints["counters"].*insert*(*new* EventCounter( $e.getId(), "event",
$e.getTimestamp() ) );

*end*



// Metrics

*rule* "Count epm"

      // Emit count every 10s, accumulate over 1m

timer ( cron: 0/10 * * * * ? )

      *when*

            Number( $count : intValue ) *from* *accumulate*(

              EventCounter( key == "event" ) over window:time( 60s
)*from*entry-point
"counters", count(1) )

      *then*

logger.debug("epm = {}", $count );

*end*


The SynthEvent class is very basic:


*public* *class* SynthEvent {



      *long* id;

      Date timestamp;

      List<String> meta;

      ... // Getters/Setters and constructors omitted

}


Now, the test is performed running the session in one thread (code below)


      *private* *void* process(*final* KieSession session) {

            *new* Thread(){

                  *public* *void* run() {

                        session.fireUntilHalt();

                  };

            }.start();

      }



while feeding the events on a second thread (code below)


      *private* *void* feed(*final* KieSession session) {

            *new* Thread(){

                  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")

                  *public* *void* run() {

                        *try* {

                             *int* counter = 0;

                             *while*(*true*) {

                                   counter++;

                                   session.execute(CommandFactory.
*newInsert*(createEvent(), *null*, *false*, "synth"));

                                   Thread.*sleep*(getSleepRate());

                                   *if* ((counter % 1000) == 0) {

                                         *logger*.debug("Total events: {}",
counter);

                                   }

                             }

                        } *catch* (InterruptedException e) {

                             *logger*.warn("{}", e);

                        }

                  };

            }.start();

      }

I expected the cron rule "count epm" to trigger once every 10 seconds. But
here's an extract from the log (running at 5 events per second +/- 20%):

[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:10.008
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 1
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:10.075
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:10.262
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 3
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:10.507
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 4
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:10.678
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 5
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:10.871
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 6
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 50
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.042
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 51
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.231
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 52
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.405
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 53
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.647
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 54
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.823
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 55
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 04:56:20.992
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 56



As you can see, the "count epm" rules fires once per incoming event for a
full second (e.g. for the second cycle we see the first activation at
04:56:20.001 and the last one at 04:56:20.992).

This is not a major issue, since it can be solved with a sort-of
publish/subscribe pattern which, BTW, increases the system stability (if
anyone is interested I can post more details on the list).

Anyhow, the test ran for more than 20' consistently until we decided it was
enough.


Now, the problem is that as we increase the throughput (e.g. 50 events per
second), the test runs for a few minutes before it becomes inconsistent.
The evidence is that the first rule stops to trigger, and EventCounter
aren't created anymore. Here's a log extract:

[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:37:40.008
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 199
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:37:40.017
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 200
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:37:40.034
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 201
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:37:40.058
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 202
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:37:40.076
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 203
*... here the system is stable as we get about 3K events per minute as
expected*
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:36.022 (StreamTester.java:run:70) Total events:
3000
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:40.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2999
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:40.016
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2998
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:40.024
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2999
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:40.034
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2998
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:40.047
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2999
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:38:40.057
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2998
...
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:39:50.974
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 3008
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:39:50.988
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 3007
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:39:50.996
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 3008
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:39:55.842 (StreamTester.java:run:70) Total events:
7000
*... Somewhere in between the system becomes inconsistent and the number of
events decreases to 0*
 [DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:00.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2734
 [DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:00.017
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2733
 [DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:00.037
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 2732
...
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:50.937
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 181
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:50.953
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 180
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:50.975
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 179
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:50.997
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 178
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:55.438 (StreamTester.java:run:70) Total events:
10000
 [DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:41:00.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 0
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:41:10.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 0

We added a quick rule to count "live EventCounter"

*rule* "Count live counters"

    timer ( cron: 0/60 * * * * ? )

      *when*

          Number( $count : intValue ) *from* *accumulate*(

              EventCounter( key == "event" ) *from* entry-point "counters",
count(1) )

      *then*

          logger.debug("Live counters = {}", $count );

*end*



and, again, the evidence is that when things go wrong the EventCounter
events aren't created anymore.

[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:40:55.438 (StreamTester.java:run:70) Total events:
10000
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:41:00.001
(Rule_Count_live_counters1625367465.java:defaultConsequence:14) Live
counters = 0
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:41:00.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 0
[DEBUG] 2014-03-25 07:41:10.001
(Rule_Count_epm442808096.java:defaultConsequence:14) epm = 0

Adding a debug line in the "Create counter" rule confirm this hypotesis
(after a while the rule won't trigger anymore). Modified rule is:


*rule* "Create counter"

    *when*

      $e : SynthEvent() *from* entry-point "synth"

    *then*

      entryPoints["counters"].*insert*( *new* EventCounter( $e.getId(),
"event", $e.getTimestamp() ) );

      *if* (Math.random() < 0.01) logger.debug("New event: {}", $e.getId());

*end*


When the system becomes inconsistent, we stop seeing "New event" log lines.


What are we missing? Any suggestion? Anyone experienced the same problems
we have?

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Vieri
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