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

Wolfgang Laun wolfgang.laun at gmail.com
Tue Mar 25 04:12:22 EDT 2014


A rule with timer will only continue firing if its first true state
remains constant. This means that you can't do what you want to do
this way. (You might set up a rule with a repeating or cron timer that
inserts a Trigger fact that triggers the accumulate and is retracted,
or do some similar haque.)

The session.execute(command) is a rather roundabout way for inserting
facts. If you want to be fast,  use session.insert(.).

Don't use rules for keeping track what's going on, or the Heisenberg
effect will spoil your efforts. It's better to set up insert/retract
listeners, e.g. for maintaining counters of facts per class. This
might give you a better idea of what goes on and wrong. (We'd all be
interested to hear more about the effect you've described!)

Cheers
-W



On 25/03/2014, Vieri <vieri.emiliani at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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