Yesterday’s rsyslog work log:
2008-01-28
– added capability to record last known exec location in debug stack dump
– added some doc on how to handle massive amounts of database inserts
with rsyslog
– some more testing and cleanup with the queue class (pretty stable now)
– cleanup to prepare for release
– PID file is now also written in debug mode
– fixed a segfault issue with the rsyslog shutdown exit debug message when
in release build
– added “runtime instrumentation” feature to ./configure
– some more cleanup
– add Michael Biebl’s autoconf patch for netsnmp – thks!
– released 3.10.3 – finally ;)
– implemented the $ActionResumeRetryCount config directive
– added queue between main queue and action executor (currently
works in “direct” mode only, else crashes)
– added $ActionQueueFilename config directive
– added $ActionQueueSize config directive
– added $ActionQueueHighWaterMark config directive
– added $ActionQueueLowWaterMark config directive
– added $ActionQueueDiscardMark config directive
– added $ActionQueueDiscardSeverity config directive
– added $ActionQueueCheckpointInterval config directive
– added $ActionQueueType config directive
– added $ActionQueueWorkerThreads config directive
– added $ActionQueueTimeoutshutdown config directive
– added $ActionQueueTimeoutActionCompletion config directive
– added $ActionQueueTimeoutenQueue config directive
– added $ActionQueueTimeoutworkerThreadShutdown config directive
– added $ActionQueueWorkerThreadMinimumMessages config directive
– added $ActionQueueMaxFileSize config directive
– added $ActionQueueSaveonShutdown config directive
weekend rsyslog work log
Past two day’s rsyslog work log:
2008-01-26
– improved SIGSEGV handler a bit (now we get a core dump)
– partially fixed bug that caused rsyslogd to stall processing enqueued messages
after turning off DA mode and before any new message were arrived (if a new
message arrived, everything went back to normal, so it was a temporary halt)
2008-01-27
– fixed the situation where message processing could be stalled for some period
after DA mode turn off
– reduced number of unnecessary wakeups of DA worker thread when high water mark
is not yet reached
– fixed a cosmetic issue in timeoutValue calculation (just used for displaying)
– fixed a bug when shutting down DA queue
– some more fixing and cleanup on the queue shutdown sequence
– fixed queue termination in case bSaveOnShutdown is 0
– implemented the $MainMsgQueueSaveOnShutdown config directive
– implemented the $MainMsgQueueWorkerThreadMinimumMessages config directive
– implemented the $MainMsgQueueTimeoutWorkerThreadShutdown config directive
rsyslog work log 45
Yesterday’s rsyslog work log:
2008-01-25
– restructured queue shutdown so that the queue timeout is properly applied before
terminatiing the queue
– disk-assisted queue mode finally begins to look good ;)
– added debug-support environment variable RSYSLOG_DEBUGLOG
– fixed worker timeout which was accidently not set (and thus 0)
rsyslog work log … finally
Long time no rsyslog work log post. But this time its a rather long one:
2008-01-14
– removed no longer needed “Initialized” logic and variable
– worker shutdown sequence enhanced to try different ways to shut
down and terminate workers if none helps (this protects against
badly written output plugins which hold the queue for too long)
– implemented $MainMsgQueueTimeoutActionCompletion config directive
– implemented $MainMsgQueueTimeoutEnqueue config directive
– implemented $MainMsgQueueTimeoutShutdown config directive
– some cleanup
– removed $MainMsgQueueImmediateShutdown config directive and handling,
this has been superseeded by the Timeout params. Backward compatibility
is no concern, no version with that directive was ever released.
– released 3.10.2
– fixed a bug with standard template definitions – thanks to
varmojfekoj for spotting it
– implemented config file handlers for
* $MainMsgQueueHighWaterMark
* $MainMsgQueueLowWaterMark
* $MainMsgQueueDiscardMark
* $MainMsgQueueDiscardSeverity
but did NOT yet implement the functionality behind these directives!
– implemented $MainMsgQueueDiscardMark and $MainMsgQueueDiscardSeverity
(but serverity needs to be specified numerically for the time being)
– also implemented $MainMsgQueueDiscardMark logic on dequeue, changed
defaults
– implemented $MainMsgQueueDiscardMark == 0 –> disable Discard logic
– implemented $MainMsgQueueSize == 0 –> no limit on queue size
– begin disk assisted queue memory queue modes (not fully implemented
yet)
2008-01-15
– disk assisted queue works quite well, except for startup from disk queue
– changed startup of disk assisted mode to allow for higher concurrency,
most importantly allow the input to continue enqueue msgs while the
disk queue is initialized. This may help somewhat with UDP and other
lossy sources
– improved shutdown processing – in-memory queue is now drained to disk
– first shot at queue restore on startup, but could not finish before
I need to leave ;)
2008-01-16
– fixed a compile-time bug in release mode spotted by Michael Biebl
– queue is now able to restore persisted state on startup (but still some
fine tuning to be done)
– re-released 3.10.2 due to bug reported by Michael Biebl
– cleaned up queue disk startup
– implemented dynamic startup and shutdown of worker threads based on
current activity
– some cleanup and fixes
– some more cleanup and flagged places where we need to implement
DA-input-only mode
2008-01-17
– changed obj_t destructor interface
– worked on threading
– fixed sync issue on shutdown process if need to persist pure memory
queue to disk
– adapted DA logic to the ability to shut down all workers for inactivity
2008-01-18
– created an in-depth description of DA assisted queue mode
– snapshot of new thread coding – DA mode still does not work, but need
to save
2008-01-19
– seperated mutex for queue size management from those for queue thread
management
– some further cleanup on the mutexes
2008-01-20
– begun object model redesign for clearer design of queue class, causes
creation of wti and wtp classes
– initial creation of wti class (worker implementation missing)
2008-01-21
– continued implementing wti class
– added some mutex-support to srUtils
– initial creation of wti class (still under development)
2008-01-22
– continued to work on queue
– implemented debug interface
2008-01-23
– added mutex debug instrumentation
2008-01-24
– improved debugging support (faster, less memory used, function invocation
count is maintened)
– redesigned queue to utilize helper classes for threading support. This is finally
in a running state for regular (non disk-assisted) queues, with a minor nit
at shutdown. So I can finally commit the work again to CVS…
rsyslog status
I’ve not posted anything the past days – not because I don’t do anything but because I am terrible busy with new features. The new massively multithreading engine is giving me a somewhat harder time than I expected (and I have to admit a design flaw which I am recovering from). Everything else is currently being pushed away by my desire to finish store-and-forward enabled actions by the end of the month. I am no longer sure I’ll meet that deadline, but at least I’ll try.
Updates to the blog will hopefully resume soon, as will new releases. I’ll post work logs soon.
So you now know at least what’s going on… BTW: I am looking for some test environments where store-and-forward and/or high performance (running on as many cores as possible) is in high demand.
Atlantis now set to launch February, 7th
NASA has announced that Atlantis launch date will be no earlier than February, 7th. Unfortunately, I am currently extremely busy with my rsyslog project and don’t have the usual time to report on launch progress. I hope to be able to resume the usual coverage soon. In the mean time, please let me quote NASA’s shuttle home page:
Technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida have completed the installation of the replacement feed-through connector in the engine cutoff sensor system to the internal connector. The feed-through connector passes the wires from the inside of the tank to the outside.
The pins in the replacement connector have been skillfully soldered to create a connection that allows sensors inside the tank to send signals to the computers onboard Atlantis.
The work is being done on Launch Pad 39A in anticipation of a launch date for mission STS-122 now targeted for Feb. 7 at 2:47 p.m. EST.
Atlantis’ main objective during its STS-122 mission to the Internaltional Space Station is to install and activate the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory, which will provide scientists around the world the ability to conduct a variety of experiments in life, physical, and materials science, Earth observation and solar physics.
Shuttle Endeavour’s STS-123 mission will deliver Kibo, the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s laboratory module, and Dextre, Canada’s new robotics system to the space station. The launch of Endeavour is targeted for mid-March.
NASA managers will meet in the coming weeks to address the schedule of remaining shuttle flights beyond STS-123.
rsyslog work log
The past day’s rsyslog work log:
2008-01-11
– undid part of yesterdays stage work – q worker 0 does not have management
chores, will use another solution (not needed yet)
– begun to permit queue to terminate without being drained
– fixed a starvation condition in queueWorker (pthread_yield() was needed)
could not be seen with any previously released code, came up during
new development
– added $MainMsgQueueImmediateShutdown config directive
– some name cleanup
– added non-circular file stream mode
– added some debug instrumentation to obj_t type, so that invalidly passed
objects can be detected (else we use the jump table and do not know why
everything messes up)
– file stream objects are now persistent on immediate queue shutdown (queue itself
is not yet fully persisted)
– support for object property bags added
– queue can now persist disk queue information on immediate shutdown
– added function to de-serialize a property bag (untested as other code is yet
missing)
– support for de-serializing strm objects added
– partial ability to read a disk queue back in (not completed, but would like
to save source for the weekend)
2008-01-13
– support for reading back persisted queue information completed
– added $MainMsgQueuePersistUpdateCount config file directive
– renamed $MainMsgQueuePersistUpdateCount config file directive to
$MainMsgQueueCheckpointInterval
– changed queue shutdown procedure a bit – stage work for queue shutdown
timeout setting
rsyslog work log update
rsyslog work log for Jan, 9th and 10th (sorry, forgot to post yesterday):
2008-01-09
– implemented new GetSize() handler for config files
– implemented $MainMsgQueueMaxFileSize configuration directive
– implemented queue object method to set the file name prefix
– implemented $MainMsgQueueFilePrefix configuration directive
– created a generic stream class (for file access)
– changed queue class to use stream class
– some cleanup on object model
2008-01-10
– changed queue file name generation (to be more generic)
– made queue file names better readable
– added buffered output to stream class
– data record support added to stream output writer
– added write functions for several types to stream class
– changed objSerialize methods to work directly on the stream class
– prepared for 3.10.1 release
– changed some config parameters and some cleanup
– released 3.10.1
– fixed a bug that caused a segfault on startup when no $WorkDir directive
was specified in rsyslog.conf
– fixed a bug that caused a segfault on queues with types other than “disk”
– removed the no longer needed thread TermSyncTool
– re-released 3.10.1
– implemented strm object serializer (untested as the code required for test
is not yet present – hen/egg problem…)
– some cleanup
– implemented management function for worker thread 0 in order to change
queue workers dynamically — stage work
STS-122 Launch in early February?
As it looks, Atlantis will launch no earlier than February, 2nd on its STS-122 mission to the international space station. Some new problems have popped up and also been fixed since my last blog post. Unfortunately, I am currently quite busy with some of my projects and so I could not follow as closely as I usually did. However, I checked the status today and all in all it seems to look quite OK.
Tomorrow is another NASA PRCB meeting (they are each week on Thursdays). I expect that we will see an official status update on potential launch dates. In the mean time, tests on the external feedthrough connector removed from Atlantis’ external tank are being conducted. This is not yet completed and it will be interesting to see the test results.
At the launch pad, the cables have been soldered to the connector, giving them a solid connection. This very same fix was applied to Atlas rockets with similar issues some years ago.
In short, there actually is currently not much to report. The wizards at NASA are working very hard to find the actual root cause and a good fix for the ECO sensor issue. There is not much definite know today because it all depends on the outcome of testing and analysis. So lets stay tuned for what’s going on…
Vodafone Customer Service Misery…
I wanted to share my experience with Vodafone Germany’s customer service. And, yes, I have to admit I am a bit upset…
The story begun just after Christmas, roughly two weeks ago. I ordered a phone online and the shop said it would take around two business days. With the holiday period, I wasn’t much surprised that nothing happened in 2007, but I had expected a delivery early this year. Well… it took some time, but last Friday a delivery man showed up in the office, of course when I was away. But he couldn’t leave the phone for me, because he was required to collect money for it (that’s fine), but could not find out how much (that sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it?). He promised to find out and come back either the same day or this Monday.
Well, of course nobody showed up. Being patient as I am ;), I waited until today before I even wanted to have a casual look what’s going on. The confirmation mail I received after my order contained a web link that should provide status information. Nice. Not so nice is that all I could get out of that page was the fact that the application developer had obviously forgotten to handle some Java exceptions (“javax.servlet.ServletException: Error while looking for EJB” – not exactly what I was looking for…).
OK, software can be buggy, so not a big deal. I called their hotline. Well, I tried to. First thing was that there was no phone number listed at all. Bad. So I resorted to the general Vodafone hotline. The expected happend: I ended up in he wait queue and was served that nice music. But, after roughly three minutes, the unexpected happend: “all of our Agents are still busy, please call us again later” the computer voice said – and quickly hung up the phone. Ummm… not nice. So was I supposed to call back again and start at the beginning of the queue? Looks so (oh man, would I like to have the QUEUE_ENQUE_IN_FRONT setting available to me…). I have to admit that at this point in time I was already a bit annoyed.
I called again. The very same happened. Some time later, I called back again… hangup, too. At this point, I sent a quite angry email to their contact address. I have to admit that it was brief and somewhat impolite and I expressed my expectation that the mail would most probably go to /dev/null immediately. Guess what? I got an auto-responder reply. Of course, a human reply is yet to be seen…
I tried to call the hotline again from time to time, but always I received a hangup after an apparent three-minute timeout (their system seems to be even more impatient than me). So it is obviously impossible to contact Vodafone customer service at all.
Maybe that should staff up their call center – or look for a phone provider who is capable to handle a larger caller queue…