Changeset - 9666bcd95c5d
[Not reviewed]
0 1 0
mh - 3 years ago 2022-03-04 15:33:17
contact@maxhenger.nl
WIP: Finish train of thought in documentation
1 file changed with 20 insertions and 3 deletions:
0 comments (0 inline, 0 general)
docs/runtime/sync.md
Show inline comments
 
@@ -17,14 +17,12 @@ To keep the complexity of the runtime to a reasonable minimum, the following req
 
As we will see there are several types of messages that can be exchanged. Among them we have:
 

	
 
- Data messages: these messages contain the data that is "transmitted from and to PDL code". For each `put` a data message is annotated by the runtime and sent along to the receiving component, which will then hopefully retrieve the data with a `get`. These messages are conceptually sent over channels.
 
- Sync messages: these messages are sent between components to communicate their consensus-state. These messages are not necessarily associated with channels.
 
- Control messages: these messages are sent between components to ensure that the entire runtime is reliably facilitating data exchange. That is: they ensure that the language is working as intended. As an example: sending a port to a different component requires a bit of bookkeeping to ensure that all involved components are aware of the port exchange.
 

	
 

	
 

	
 
The remainder of this document tries to describe the various technical aspects of synchronous communication and component orchestration.
 

	
 
## Brief Description of Schedulers
 

	
 
Each component conceptually has its own thread of execution. It is executing a program with at any given point in time a particular memory state. In reality there are a limited number of threads that execute components. Making sure that components are scheduled correctly is based on the fact that components are generally executing programs that are blocked at some point: a message needs to be received, or a port is blocked so we cannot send any information. At that point a component is considered "sleeping". Should another component, scheduled on a particular thread, send a message to this sleeping component, then it is "woken up" by putting it into the execution queue.
 

	
 
@@ -123,7 +121,26 @@ Note that this broadcasting of synchronous messages is essentially a component-t
 
2. The sync message must not be taken into account by the recipient if it has not accepted any messages from the sender yet. Ofcourse this can be achieved in various ways but a simple way to achieve this is to send the sync message over ports.
 

	
 
## Annotating Data Messages
 

	
 
These port mappings are also sent along when sending data messages. We will not go into details but here the mapping makes sure that messages arrive in the right order, and certain kinds of deadlock or inconsistent protocol behaviour may be detected. This port mapping is checked for consistency by the recipient and, when consistent, the target port is updated with its new mapping.
 

	
 
As we'll send along this mapping we will only consider the ports that are shared between the two components. But in the most general case the transmitting ports of the component do not have knowledge about the peer component. And so the sent port mapping will have to contain the annotation for *all* transmitting ports. Receiving port mappings only have to be sent along if they received a message, and here we can indeed apply filtering. Likewise, if the recipient of a port mapping has not yet received anything on its receiving port, then it cannot be sure about the identity of the sender.
 
\ No newline at end of file
 
As we'll send along this mapping we will only consider the ports that are shared between the two components. But in the most general case the transmitting ports of the component do not have knowledge about the peer component. And so the sent port mapping will have to contain the annotation for *all* transmitting ports. Receiving port mappings only have to be sent along if they received a message, and here we can indeed apply filtering. Likewise, if the recipient of a port mapping has not yet received anything on its receiving port, then it cannot be sure about the identity of the sender.
 

	
 
This leads to problems both for ensuring the correct ordering of the messages. For finding consensus it is not. Suppose that a port `a` sends a message to a port `b`. Port `b` does not accept it. Upon trying to find consensus we see that `a` will submit an entry in its port mapping, and `b` does not submit anything at all. Hence no solution can be found, as desired.
 

	
 
For the message ordering we require from the receiver that it confirms that, for all of the shared channels, it has the same mapping as the sender sends along. Suppose a component `A` has ports `a_put` and `b_put`, while a component `B` has ports `a_get` and `b_get` (where `a_put -> a_get` and `b_put -> b_get`). Suppose component `A` sends on `a_put` and `b_put` consecutively. And component `B` only receives from `b_get`. Then since `a_get` did not receive from `a_put` (hence did not learn that component/port ID pair of `a_put` is associated with `a_get`), the component `B` cannot figure out that `a_get` should precede a `b_get`. Likewise component `A` has no way to know that `a_put` and `b_put` are sending to the same component, hence it cannot indicate to component `B` that `a_get` should precede `b_get`.
 

	
 
There are some simple assumptions we can make that makes the problem a little bit easier to think about. Suppose again `a_put -> a_get` and `b_put -> b_get`. Suppose `a_put` is used first, where we send along the mapping of `a_put` and `b_put`. Then we send along `b_put`, again sending along the mapping. Then it is possible for the receiving component to accept the wrong message first (e.g. `b_get`, therefore learning about `b`), but it will be impossible to get from `a_get` later, since that one requires `b_put` (of which we learned that it matches `b_get`) to not have sent any messages.
 

	
 
Without adding any extra overhead (e.g. some kind of discovery round per synchronous interaction), we can take three approaches:
 

	
 
1. We simply don't care. It is impossible for a round where messages are received out of order to complete. Hence we temporarily allow a component to take the wrong actions, therefore wasting some CPU time, and to crash/error afterward.
 
2. We remove the entire concept of ordering of channels at a single component. Channels are always independent entities. This way we truly do not have to care. All we care about is that the messages that have been sent over a channel arrive at the other side.
 
3. We slightly modify the algorithm to detect these problems. This can be done in reasonable fashion, albeit a bit "hacky". For each channel there is a slot to receive messages. Messages wait there until the receiver performs a `get` in the PDL code. So far we've only considered learning about the component/port IDs that constitute a channel the moment they're received with a `get`. The algorithm could be changed to already learn about the peer component/port ID the moment the message arrives in the slot.
 

	
 
We'll go with the last option in the current implementation. We return to the problematic example above. Note that messages between components are sent in ordered fashion, and `a_put` happens before `b_put`. Then component `B` will first learn that `a_put` is the peer of `a_get`, then it performs the first `get` on the message from `b_put` to `b_get`. This message is annotated with a port mapping that `a_put` has been used before. We're now able to detect at component `B` that we cannot accept `b_get` before `a_get`.
 

	
 
Concluding:
 

	
 
- Every data message that is transmitted needs to contain the port mapping of all `put`ting ports (annotating them appropriately if they have not yet been used). We also need to include the port mapping of all `get`ting ports that have a pending/received message. The port mapping for `put`ting ports will only include their own ID, the port mapping for `get`ting ports will include the IDs of their peer as well.
 
- Every arriving data message will immediately be used to identify the sender as the peer of the corresponding `get`ter port. Since messages between components arrive in order this allows us to detect when the `put`s are in a different order at the sender as the `get`s at the receiver.
 
\ No newline at end of file
0 comments (0 inline, 0 general)