.. index:: HAClient


9. High Availability 
====================

The AMPS Python Client provides an easy way to create highly-available
applications using AMPS, via the ``HAClient`` class. ``HAClient``
derives from ``Client`` and offers the same methods, but also adds
protection against network, server, and client outages.

Using ``HAClient`` allows applications to automatically:

-  Recover from temporary disconnects between client and server.

-  Failover from one server to another when a server becomes
   unavailable.

Because the ``HAClient`` automatically manages failover and
reconnection, 60East recommends using the ``HAClient`` for applications
that need to:

-  Automatically reconnect and resume work in the case of disconnection.

-  Ensure no messages are lost or duplicated after a reconnect or
   failover.

-  Persist messages and bookmarks on disk for protection against client
   failure.

You can choose how your application uses ``HAClient`` features. For
example, you might need automatic reconnection, but have no need to
resume subscriptions or republish messages. The high availability
behavior in ``HAClient`` is provided by implementations of defined
interfaces. You can combine different implementations provided by 60East
to meet your needs, and implement those interfaces to provide your own
policies.

Some of these features require specific configuration settings on your
AMPS instance(s). This chapter mentions these features and describes how
to use them from the AMPS Java client. You can find full documentation
for these settings and server features in the *User Guide*.

.. include:: ./ha-overview-python.inc
Reconnection with HAClient
--------------------------

The most important difference between ``Client`` and ``HAClient`` is
that ``HAClient`` automatically provides a reconnect handler.

This description provides a high-level framework for understanding the
components involved in failover with the ``HAClient``. The components
are described in more detail in the following sections.

The ``HAClient`` reconnect handler performs the following steps when
reconnecting:

-  Calls the ``ServerChooser`` to determine the next URI to connect to
   and the authenticator to use for that connection.

   If the connection fails, calls ``get_error`` on the ``ServerChooser``
   to get a description of the failure, sends an exception to the
   exception listener, and stops the reconnection process.

-  Calls the ``DelayStrategy`` to determine how long to wait before
   attempting to reconnect, and waits for that period of time.

-  Connects to the AMPS server. If the connection fails, calls
   ``report_failure`` on the ``ServerChooser`` and begins the process
   again.

-  Logs on to the AMPS server. If the connection fails, calls
   ``report_failure`` on the ``ServerChooser`` and begins the process
   again.

-  Calls ``report_success`` on the ``ServerChooser``.

-  Receives the bookmark for the last message that the server has
   persisted. Discards any older messages from the ``PublishStore``.

-  Republishes any messages in the ``PublishStore`` that have not been
   persisted by the server.

-  Re-establishes subscriptions using the ``SubscriptionManager`` for
   the client. For bookmark subscriptions, the reconnect handler uses
   the ``BookmarkStore`` for the client to determine the most recent
   bookmark, and resubscribes with that bookmark. For subscriptions that
   do not use a bookmark, the ``SubscriptionManager`` simply re-enters
   the subscription, meaning that it is entered at the point at which
   the ``HAClient`` reconnects.

The ``ServerChooser``, ``DelayStrategy``, ``PublishStore``,
and ``BookmarkStore`` are all extension points
for the ``HAClient``. You can adapt the failover and recovery behavior
by setting a different object for the behavior you want to customize on
the ``HAClient`` or by providing your own implementation.

For example, the convenience methods in the previous section customize
the behavior of the ``PublishStore`` and ``BookmarkStore`` by providing
either memory-backed or file-backed stores.

The reconnection process runs on the thread that discovers the
disconnection. This means that, in the event that an application
thread discovers the disconnection as a result of a call to
the Python AMPS client, that call may not return until a
connection is re-established (or until the server chooser
indicates failure, in which case the application will
receive an exception).

The Python client includes a ``retry_on_disconnect`` setting that
controls this retry behavior when the client is disconnected. When
set to ``True`` (the default), any call to the Client that results
in a command being sent to AMPS may block until a connection is
re-established.  When set to ``False``, the ``HAClient`` will
retry the connection a single time and throw an exception
if the connection cannot be re-established.

Regardless of the ``retry_on_disconnect`` setting, a call
to ``publish`` will result in the message being stored in
the ``PublishStore`` for the client if one is set.


Choosing Store Durability
-------------------------

.. index:: Method; create_file_backed(), createFileBacked(), Method; createMemoryBacked(), 
    create_memory_backed(),

If your application needs reliable publish to AMPS, install a
``PublishStore`` in the ``HAClient``. If your application needs to
resume replays from the transation log, install a ``BookmarkStore`` in
the ``HAClient``.

These stores provide the following capabilities:

-  A bookmark store tracks received messages, and is used to resume
   subscriptions that replay from the transaction log.

-  A publish store tracks published messages, and is used to ensure that
   messages are persisted in AMPS.

The AMPS client provides a memory-backed version of each store and a
file-backed version of each store. The store interface is public, and an
application can create and provide a custom store as necessary. An
``HAClient`` can use either a memory backed store or a file backed store
for protection. Each method provides resilience to different failures:

-  Memory-backed stores provide recovery disconnection from AMPS by
   storing messages and bookmarks in your process’ address space. This
   is the highest performance option for working with AMPS in a highly
   available manner. The trade-off with this method is there is no
   protection from a crash or failure of your client application. If
   your application is terminated prematurely or, if the application
   terminates at the same time as an AMPS instance failure or network
   outage, then messages may be lost or duplicated. The state of
   bookmark replays will be lost when the application shuts down.
   Messages in the publish store when the application shuts down
   will not be maintained through a restart, so the application will
   not be able to attempt any necessary redelivery when the application restarts.

   A memory bookmark store should only be used by one instance of a client at
   a time.

-  File-backed stores provide recovery after client failure and
   disconnection from AMPS by storing messages and bookmarks on disk. To
   use this protection method, the ``create_file_backed`` method
   requests additional arguments for the two files that will be used for
   both bookmark storage and message storage. If these files exist and
   are non-empty (as they would be after a client application is
   restarted), the ``HAClient`` loads their contents and ensures
   synchronization with the AMPS server once connected. The performance
   of this option depends heavily on the speed of the device on which
   these files are placed. When the files do not exist (as they would
   the first time a client starts on a given system), the ``HAClient``
   creates and initializes the files, and in this case the client does
   not have a point at which to resume the subscription or messages to
   republish.

   A store file should only be used by one instance of a client at
   a time.

   When using file-backed stores, 60East recommends periodically removing
   unneeded entries by calling the ``prune()`` method. The precise strategy
   that your application uses to call ``prune()`` depends on the nature of the
   application. Most applications call ``prune()`` when the application exits.

   Most applications call ``prune()`` when the application exits.

   There are two basic strategies that applications follow while the
   application runs:

   * Install a resize handler and call ``prune()`` after a specified number
     of resize operations, or when the store reaches a specific size.

   * Call ``prune()`` after a specific number of messages are processed (for
     example, every 10,000 messages received or every 1,000 updates completed).

   Regardless of the strategy, it is best to call ``prune()`` when the application
   is idle, since the ``prune()`` call rewrites the log file.


The store interface is public, and an application can create and provide
a custom store as necessary. While clients provide convenience methods
for creating file-backed and memory-backed ``HAClient`` objects with the
appropriate stores, you can also create and set the stores in your
application code. For the AMPS Python Client, stores are implemented in
C++. You can implement stores using C++, and use the technique described
in Chapter 12 Using the C++ client, to set the store on the client.

Starting in 5.3.2.0, the underlying AMPS client contains a recovery point
adapter interface to make it easier to add a custom persistence layer
to a cookmark store. The distribution includes a recovery point adapter
that can store bookmark recovery information in an AMPS state of the
world topic.

The ``HAClient`` provides convenience methods for creating clients and
setting stores. You can also construct an ``HAClient`` and set the store
implementations you choose.

In this example, we create several clients. The first client uses memory
stores for both bookmarks and publishes. The second client uses files
for both bookmarks and publishes. The third client uses a file for
bookmarks. The third client does not set a store for publishes, which
means that AMPS provides the default store (and no outgoing messages are
stored). The final client does not specify any stores, and so has no
persistence for published messages or bookmark subscriptions, but can
take advantage of the automatic failover and reconnection in the
``HAClient``.

.. code:: python

    # Memory publish store, memory bookmark store
    memoryClient = AMPS.HAClient("lessImportantMessages")

    # File-backed publish store, file-backed bookmark store
    diskClient = AMPS.HAClient("moreImportantMessages",
              "/mnt/fastDisk/moreImportantMessages.outgoing",
              "/mnt/fastDisk/moreImportantMessages.incoming")

    # No-op publish store, file-backed bookmark store
    subscriberClient = AMPS.HAClient("subscriber", no_store=True)
    subscriberClient.set_bookmark_store(     \
                AMPS.MMapBookmarkStore("/mnt/fastdisk/bookmark.store"))

    # No-op publish store, no-op bookmark store
    # Failover behavior only.
    streamReader = AMPS.HAClient("streamReader",no_store=True)

**Example 9.1:** *HAClient creation example*

.. include:: ./sow_bookmark_store.inc
Capacity Planning and Store Sizing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When an application uses a file-backed store, it is important to make
sure that there is enough space available on the file system to
be able to manage the store.

For logged bookmark stores, an application needs to keep a bookmark record for
each message received, each message discarded, and the persisted
acknowledgments delivered by the server approximately once a second.
Each bookmark entry consumes roughly 70 bytes of storage *plus* the length
of the subscription ID for the subscription receiving the message. The logged
bookmark store retains entries until an application explicitly calls
``prune()``. The capacity needed for a logged bookmark store will
depend on the strategy that the application uses for pruning the file.

For a file-backed publish store, the application needs to be able to
store published messages until the AMPS server that the publisher is
connected to acknowledges those messages as persisted. The volume of
messages that needs to be stored depends on the failover policy for
the server -- that is, the maximum amount of time that the server will
allow a downstream instance to fail to acknowledge a message before
the server downgrades that connection to ``async`` acknowledgment.
By default, AMPS does not downgrade connections: this policy must
be set explicitly using the AMPS actions. As an example, if the
server is configured to downgrade connections that are more than
120 seconds behind, then -- for disaster recovery -- the application
must be have the capacity to store 120 seconds of published messages
at peak publishing load. However, unlike the logged bookmark store, a
file-backed publish store removes messages from the store and reuses
the space once AMPS has acknowledged the message.

Connections and the ServerChooser 
----------------------------------

.. index:: HAClient Client, Client Interface, ServerChooser Interface,

Unlike ``Client``, the ``HAClient`` attempts to keep itself connected to
an AMPS instance at all times, by automatically reconnecting or failing
over when it detects that the client is disconnected. When you are using
the ``Client`` directly, your disconnect handler usually takes care of
reconnection. ``HAClient``, on the other hand, provides a disconnect
handler that automatically reconnects to the current server or to the
next available server.

To inform the ``HAClient`` of the addresses of the AMPS instances in
your system, you pass a ``ServerChooser`` instance to the ``HAClient``.
``ServerChooser`` acts as a smart enumerator over the servers available:
``HAClient`` calls ``ServerChooser`` methods to inquire about what
server should be connected, and calls methods to indicate whether a
given server succeeded or failed.

.. index:: Method; connect_and_logon(), connect_and_logon() method,

The AMPS Python Client provides a simple implementation of
``ServerChooser``,called ``DefaultServerChooser``, that provides very
simple logic for reconnecting. This server chooser is most suitable for
basic testing, or in cases where an application should simply rotate
through a list of servers. For most applications, you implement the
``ServerChooser`` interface yourself for more advanced logic, such as
choosing a backup server based on your network topology, or limiting the
number of times your application should try to reconnect to a given
address.

To connect to AMPS, you provide a ``ServerChooser`` to ``HAClient`` and
then call ``connect_and_logon()`` to create the first connection:

.. code:: python

    memoryClient = AMPS.HAClient("myClient")

    # primary.amps.xyz.com is the primary AMPS instance, and
    # secondary.amps.xyz.com is the secondary
    chooser = AMPS.DefaultServerChooser()
    chooser.add("tcp://primary.amps.xyz.com:12345/fix")
    chooser.add("tcp://secondary.amps.xyz.com:12345/fix")
    memoryClient.set_server_chooser(chooser)
    memoryClient.connect_and_logon()
    ...
    myClient.disconnect()
                        
**Example 9.2:** *Multiple HAClient creation example*

.. index:: Disconnection, Method; disconnect(), Method;
    connect_and_logon(),

Similar to ``Client``, ``HAClient`` remains connected to the server until
``disconnect()`` is called. Unlike ``Client``, ``HAClient``
automatically attempts to reconnect to your server if it detects a
disconnect and, if that server cannot be connected, fails over to the
next server provided by the ``ServerChooser``. In this example, the call
to ``connectAndLogon()`` attempts to connect and login to
``primary.amps.xyz.com``, and returns if that is successful. If it
cannot connect, it tries ``secondary.amps.xyz.com``, and continues
trying servers from the ``ServerChooser`` until a connection is
established. Likewise, if it detects a disconnection while the client is
in use, then ``HAClient`` attempts to reconnect to the server with which
it was most recently connected; if that is not possible, then it moves
on to the next server provided by the ``ServerChooser``.

The default ``ServerChooser`` simply provides the next URL in the
sequence. This strategy works for many applications. If you need a
different strategy, you can implement your own logic for failover by
creating a class derived from ``ServerChooser``.

Setting a Reconnect Delay and Timeout
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. index:: ReconnectDelayStrategy, reconnection delay, reconnection
    timeout,

You can control the amount of time between reconnection attempts and 
set a total amount of time for the ``HAClient`` to attempt to reconnect.

The AMPS Python client includes a method for setting a delay strategy on
a client, ``set_reconnect_delay_strategy``. This method accepts an
instance of any type that provides the methods
``get_connect_wait_duration`` and ``reset``, as described in the API
documentation.

While you can easily implement your own delay strategy, the client also
provides two delay strategies:

-  ``FixedDelayStrategy`` provides the same delay each time the
   ``HAClient`` tries to reconnect.

-  ``ExponentialDelayStrategy`` provides an exponential backoff until a
   connection attempt succeeds.

To use either of these classes, you simply create an instance, set the
appropriate parameters, and install that instance as the delay strategy
for the ``HAClient``. For example, the following code sets up a
reconnect delay that starts at 200ms and increases the delay by 1.5
times after each failure. The strategy allows a maximum delay between
connection attempts of 5 seconds, and will not retry longer than 60
seconds.

.. code:: python

    theClient = AMPS.HAClient("myClient")

    theClient.set_reconnect_delay_strategy(      \
       AMPS.ExponentialDelayStrategy(            \
                       initial_delay=200,        \
                       maximum_delay=5000,       \
                       backoff_exponent=1.5,     \
                       maximum_retry_time=60000) \
                     )

Implementing a Server Chooser
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.. index:: ServerChooser Interface,

As described above, you provide the ``HAClient``
with connection strings to one or more AMPS servers using a
``ServerChooser``. The purpose of a ``ServerChooser`` is to provide
information to the ``HAClient``. A ``ServerChooser`` does not manage the
reconnection process, and should not call methods on the ``HAClient``.

A ``ServerChooser`` has two required responsibilities to the
``HAClient``:

-  Tells the ``HAClient`` the connection string for the server to
   connect to. If there are no servers, or the ``ServerChooser`` wants
   the connection to fail, the ``ServerChooser`` returns an empty
   string.

   To provide this information, the ``ServerChooser`` implements the
   ``get_current_uri()`` method.

-  Provides an ``Authenticator`` for the current connection string. This
   is especially important for installations where different servers
   require different credentials or authentication tokens must be reset
   after each connection attempt.

   To provide the authenticator, the ``ServerChooser`` implements the
   ``get_current_authenticator()`` method.

The ``HAClient`` calls the ``get_current_uri()`` and
``get_current_authenticator()`` methods each time it needs to make a
connection.

Each time a connection succeeds, the ``HAClient`` calls the
``report_success()`` method of the ``ServerChooser``. Each time a
connection fails, the ``HAClient`` calls the ``report_failure()`` method
of the ``ServerChooser``. The ``HAClient`` does not require the
``ServerChooser`` to take any particular action when it calls these
methods. These methods are provided for the ``HAClient`` to do internal
maintenance, logging, or record keeping. For example, an ``HAClient``
might keep a list of available URIs with a current failure count, and
skip over URIs that have failed more than 5 consecutive times until all
URIs in the list have failed more than 5 consecutive times.

When the ``ServerChooser`` returns an empty string from
``get_current_uri()``, indicating that no servers are available for
connection, the ``HAClient`` calls the ``get_error()`` method on the
``ServerChooser``, if one is provided, and includes the string returned
by ``get_error()`` in the generated exception.

Heartbeats and Failure Detection 
---------------------------------

.. index:: Heartbeat,

Use of the ``HAClient`` allows your application to quickly recover from
detected connection failures. By default, connection failure detection
occurs when AMPS receives an operating system error on the connection.
This system may result in unpredictable delays in detecting a connection
failure on the client, particularly when failures in network routing
hardware occur, and the client primarily acts as a subscriber.

The heartbeat feature of the AMPS client allows connection failure to be
detected quickly. Heartbeats ensure that regular messages are sent
between the AMPS client and server on a predictable schedule. The AMPS
client and server both assume disconnection has occurred if these
regular heartbeats cease, ensuring disconnection is detected in a timely
manner. To use heartbeating, call the ``set_heartbeat`` method on
``Client`` or ``HAClient``:

.. code:: python

    memoryClient = AMPS.HAClient("importantStuff")
    ...
    memoryClient.set_heartbeat(3)
    memoryClient.connect_and_logon()
    ...

**Example 9.3:** *Heartbeat example*

.. index:: Method; set_heartbeat(), set_heartbeat() method,

Method ``set_heartbeat`` takes one parameter: the heartbeat interval. The
heartbeat interval specifies the periodicity of heartbeat messages sent
by the server: the value ``3`` indicates messages are sent on a
three-second interval. If the client receives no messages in a
six-second window (two heartbeat intervals), the connection is assumed
to be dead, and the ``HAClient`` attempts reconnection. An additional
variant of ``set_heartbeat`` allows the idle period to be set to a value
other than two heartbeat intervals. (The server, however, will always consider
a connection to be closed after two heartbeat intervals without any traffic.)

Notice that, for ``HAClient``, ``setHeartbeat`` must be called before
the client is connected. For ``Client``, ``setHeartbeat`` must be called
after the client is connected.

.. caution::

   Heartbeats are serviced on the receive thread created by the AMPS
   client. Your application must not block the receive thread for longer
   than the heartbeat interval, or the application is subject to being
   disconnected.

Considerations for Publishers
-----------------------------

.. index:: Method; publish(), publish() method, Store interface, 
    Method; get_unpersisted_count(), get_unpersisted_count() method,

Publishing with an ``HAClient`` is nearly identical to regular
publishing; you simply call the ``publish()`` method with your message’s
topic and data. The AMPS client sends the message to AMPS, and then
returns from the ``publish()`` call. For maximum performance, the client
does not wait for the AMPS server to acknowledge that the message has
been received.

When an ``HAClient`` sets a publish store, the publish store retains a
copy of each outgoing message and requests that AMPS acknowledge that
the message has been persisted. The AMPS server acknowledges messages
back to the publisher. Acknowledgments can be delivered for multiple
messages at periodic intervals (for topics recorded in the transaction
log) or after each message (for topics that are not recorded in the
transaction log). When an acknowledgment for a message is received, the
HAClient removes that message from the bookmark store. When a connection
to a server is made, the ``HAClient``\ automatically determines which
messages from the publish store (if any) the server has not processed,
and replays those messages to the server once the connection is
established.

For reliable publishers, the application must choose how best to handle
application shutdown. For example, it is possible for the network to
fail immediately after the publisher sends the message, while the
message is still in transit. In this case, the publisher has sent the
message, but the server has not processed it and acknowledged it. During
normal operation, the ``HAClient`` will automatically connect and retry
the message. On shutdown, however, the application must decide whether
to wait for messages to be acknowledged, or whether to exit.

Publish store implementations provide an ``unpersisted_count()`` method
that reports the number of messages that have not yet been acknowledged
by the AMPS server. When the ``unpersisted_count()`` reaches ``0``,
there are no unpersisted messages in the local publish store.

For the highest level of safety, an application can wait until the
``unpersisted_count()`` reaches ``0``, which indicates that all of the
messages have been persisted to the instance that the application is
connected to, and the synchronous replication destinations configured
for that instance. When a synchronous replication destination goes
offline, this approach will cause the publisher to wait to exit until
the destination comes back online or until the destination is downgraded
to asynchronous replication.

For applications that are shut down periodically for short periods of
time (for example, applications that are only offline during a weekly
maintenance window), another approach is to use the ``publish_flush()``
method to ensure that messages are delivered to AMPS, and then rely on
the connection logic to replay messages as necessary when the
application restarts.

For example, the following code flushes messages to AMPS, then warns if
not all messages have been acknowledged:

.. code:: python

    client = AMPS.HAClient("ha-publisher",
             "/mnt/fastDisk/moreImportantMessages.outgoing",
             "/mnt/fastDisk/moreImportantMessages.incoming")
    ...
    client.connect_and_logon()

    # Publish messages
    ...


    # We think we are done, but the server may not
    # have received or acknowledged all messages yet.

    # Wait for the server to have received all messages.
    # The program could also specify a timeout in this
    # command to avoid blocking forever if the network
    # is down or all servers are offline.

    client.publish_flush()

    # Print warning to the console if messages have
    # been published but not yet acknowledged as
    # persisted

    if (client.get_unpersisted_count() > 0):
        print( "all messages have been published, " \
            + " but not all have been persisted" )
        
    client.disconnect()
                        
**Example 9.4:** *HAPublisher*

.. index:: Method; disconnect(), disconnect() method, Method; publish(), 
    publish() method, Method; get_unpersisted_count(),
    get_unpersisted_count() method

In this example, the client sends each
message immediately when ``publish()`` is called. If AMPS becomes
unavailable between the final ``publish()`` and the ``disconnect()``, or
one of the servers that the AMPS instance replicates to is offline, the
client may not have received a persisted acknowledgment for all of the
published messages. For example, if a message has not yet been persisted
by all of the servers in the replication fabric that are connected with
synchronous replication, AMPS will not have acknowledged the message.

Before shutting down the client, the code does two This code first
flushes messages to the server to ensure that all messages have been
delivered to AMPS.

The code next checks to see if all of the messages in the publish store
have been acknowledged as persisted by AMPS. If the messages have not
been acknowledged, they will remain in the publish store file and will
be published to AMPS, if necessary, the next time the application
connects. An application may choose to loop until
``get_unpersisted_count()`` returns ``0``, or (as we do in this case)
simply warn that AMPS has not confirmed that the messages are fully
persisted. The behavior you choose in your application should be
consistent with the high-availability guarantees your application needs
to provide.

.. caution::

   AMPS uses the name of the ``HAClient`` to determine the
   origin of messages. For the AMPS server to correctly
   identify duplicate messages, each instance of an
   application that publishes messages must use a distinct
   name. That name must be consistent across different runs
   of the application.

If your application crashes or is terminated, some published messages
may not have been persisted in the AMPS server. If you use the
file-based store—in other words, if you provide file names for
persistent storage when you create the ``HAClient``—the ``HAClient``
will recover the messages, and once logged on, will correlate the
message store to what the AMPS server has received, re-publishing any
missing messages. This occurs automatically when ``HAClient`` connects,
without any explicit consideration in your code, other than ensuring
that the same file name is used to create the ``HAClient`` if recovery
is desired.

.. warning::

    AMPS provides persisted acknowledgment messages for
    topics that do not have a transaction log enabled.
    However, the level of durability provided for topics with
    no transaction log is minimal. Learn more about
    transaction logs in the *User Guide*.


.. include:: ./detecting-early-failover-python.inc

Considerations for Subscribers
------------------------------

``HAClient`` provides two important features for applications that
subscribe to one or more topics: re-subscription, and a bookmark store
to track the correct point at which to resume a bookmark subscription.

Resubscription With Asynchronous Message Processing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Any asynchronous subscription placed using an ``HAClient`` is
automatically reinstated after a disconnect or a failover. These
subscriptions are placed in an in-memory ``SubscriptionManager``, which
is created automatically when the ``HAClient`` is instantiated.

When a re-subscription occurs, the AMPS Python Client re-executes the
command as originally submitted, including the original topic, options,
and so on. AMPS sends the subscriber any messages for the specified
topic (or topic expression) that are published after the subscription is
placed. For a ``sow_and_subscribe`` command, this means that the client
reissues the full command, including the SOW query as well as the
subscription.

Resubscription With Synchronous Message Processing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The ``HAClient`` (starting with the AMPS Python Client version 4.3.1.1)
does not track synchronous message processing subscriptions in the
``SubscriptionManager``. The reason for this is to preserve the iterator
semantics. That is, once the ``MessageStream`` indicates that there are
no more elements in the stream, it does not suddenly produce more
elements.

To resubscribe when the ``HAClient`` fails over, you can simply reissue
the subscription. For example, the snippet below re-issues the subscribe
command when the message stream ends:

.. code:: python

    while still_need_to_process:
     # Exiting the for loop is the end of stream.
     # For a subscribe, this likely means that the
     # client has disconnected.
     try:  
       for message in client.subscribe("messages"):
         # process messages here
         # check condition on still_need_to_process
         if still_need_to_process == False: break
     except AMPS.DisconnectedException as e:
         pass

**Example 9.5:** *Resubscription*

Bookmark Stores
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In cases where it is critical not to miss a single message, it is
important to be able to resume a subscription at the exact point that a
failure occurred. In this case, simply recreating a subscription isn't
sufficient. Even though the subscription is recreated, the subscriber
may have been disconnected at precisely the wrong time, and will not see
the message.

To ensure delivery of every message from a topic or set of topics, the
AMPS ``HAClient`` includes a ``BookmarkStore`` that, combined with the
bookmark subscription and transaction log functionality in the AMPS
server, ensures that clients receive any messages that might have been
missed. The client stores the bookmark associated with each message
received, and tracks whether the application has processed that message;
if a disconnect occurs, the client uses the BookmarkStore to determine
the correct resubscription point, and sends that bookmark to AMPS when
it re-subscribes. AMPS then replays messages from its transaction log
from the point after the specified bookmark, thus ensuring the client is
completely up-to-date.

``HAClient`` helps you to take advantage of this bookmark mechanism
through the ``BookmarkStore`` interface and ``bookmarkSubscribe()``
method on ``Client``. When you create subscriptions with
``bookmarkSubscribe()``, whenever a disconnection or failover occurs,
your application automatically resubscribes to the message after the
last message it processed. ``HAClients`` created by
``createFileBacked()`` additionally store these bookmarks on disk, so
that the application can restart with the appropriate message if the
client application fails and restarts.

To take advantage of bookmark subscriptions, do the following:

-  Ensure the topic(s) to be subscribed are included in a transaction
   log. See the *User Guide* for information on how to specify the
   contents of a transaction log.

  .. index:: SubId,

-  Use ``bookmark_subscribe()`` instead of ``subscribe()`` when
   creating a ``subscription()``, and decide how the application will
   manage subscription identifiers (SubIds). If you are using a
   ``Command`` object, you can simply set the bookmark on that object.

  .. index:: Method; discard(), discard() method,

-  Use the ``discard()`` method in message handlers to indicate 
   when a message has been fully processed by the application,
   that is, when the application does not need to receive
   the message again if the application fails over.

The following example creates a bookmark subscription against a
transaction-logged topic, and fully processes each message as soon as it
is delivered:

.. code:: python

    class MessagePrinter(object):
        def __init__(self, client):
            self._client = client

        def __call__(self, message):
           print (message.get_data())
           self._client.discard(message)

        
    ...

    client = AMPS.HAClient(
        "aClient",
        "/logs/aClient.publishLog",
        "/logs/aClient.subscribeLog")

    # Create ServerChooser, populate chooser, connect client
    ...

    client.execute_async(                        \
        AMPS.Command("subscribe")                            \
            .set_topic("myTopic")                            \
            .set_bookmark(AMPS.Client.Bookmarks.MOST_RECENT) \
            .set_sub_id("MySubID"),                          \
            MessagePrinter(client))

**Example 9.6:** *HAClient subscription*

In this example, the client is a file-backed client, meaning that
arriving bookmarks will be stored in a file (``aClient.subscribeLog``).
Storing these bookmarks in a file allows the application to restart the
subscription from the last message processed, in the event of either
server or client failure.

.. tip::

     For optimum performance, it is critical to discard every 
     message once its processing is complete. If a message is
     never discarded, it remains in the bookmark store. During
     re-subscription, ``HAClient`` always restarts the
     bookmark subscription with the oldest undiscarded
     message, and then filters out any more recent messages
     that have been discarded. If an old message remains in
     the store, but is no longer important for the
     application’s functioning, then the client and the AMPS
     server will incur unnecessary network, disk, and CPU
     activity.

The fourth parameter, ``sub_id``, specifies an identifier to be used for
this subscription. Passing ``None`` causes ``HAClient`` to generate one
and return it, like most other ``Client`` functions. However, if you
wish to resume a subscription from a previous point after the
application has terminated and restarted, the application must pass the
same subscription ID as during its previous run. Passing a different
subscription ID bypasses any recovery mechanisms, creating an entirely
new subscription. When you use an existing subscription ID, the
``HAClient`` locates the last-used bookmark for that subscription in the
local store, and attempts to re-subscribe from that point.

.. index:: Method; subscribe(), subscribe() method, Parameters; NOW,
   NOW parameter

-  ``Client.Bookmarks.NOW`` specifies that the subscription
   should begin from the moment the server receives the subscription
   request. This results in the same messages being delivered as if you
   had invoked ``subscribe()`` instead, except that the messages will be
   accompanied by bookmarks. This is also the behavior that results if
   you supply an invalid bookmark.

.. index:: Parameters; EPOCH, EPOCH parameter,

-  ``Client.Bookmarks.EPOCH``
   specifies that the subscription should begin from the beginning of
   the AMPS transaction log (that is, the first entry in the oldest
   journal file for the transaction log).

  .. index:: Parameters; MOST_RECENT, MOST_RECENT parameter,

-  ``Client.Bookmarks.MOST_RECENT`` specifies that the
   subscription should begin from the last-used message in the
   associated ``BookmarkStore``. Alternatively, if this subscription has
   not been seen before, it instructs the subscription to begin with
   ``EPOCH``. This is the most common value for this parameter, and is
   the value used in the preceding example. By using ``MOST_RECENT``,
   the application automatically resumes from wherever the subscription
   left off, taking into account any messages that have already been
   processed and discarded.

When the ``HAClient`` re-subscribes after a disconnection and
reconnection, it always uses ``MOST_RECENT``, ensuring that the
continued subscription always begins from the last message used before
the disconnect, so that no messages are missed.

Conclusion
----------

With only a few changes, most AMPS applications can take advantage of
the ``HAClient`` and associated classes to become more highly-available
and resilient. Using the ``PublishStore``, publishers can ensure that
every message published has actually been persisted by AMPS. Using
``BookmarkStore``, subscribers can make sure that there are no gaps or
duplicates in the messages received. ``HAClient`` makes both kinds of
applications more resilient to network and server outages and temporary
issues, and, by using the file based ``HAClient``, clients can recover
their state after an unexpected termination or crash. Though
``HAClient`` provides useful defaults for the ``Store``,
``BookmarkStore``, and ``ServerChooser``, you
can customize any or all of these to the specific needs of your
application and architecture.
