Message state maintenance at a message log

• US 7,945,819 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2008
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hill, Richard D., Srinivasan, Krishnan, Chkodrov, Gueorgui, Critchley, Craig A., Tarnavski, Tihomir, Gurunath, Pramod, Morris, Mitchell G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel; Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Manoskey; Joseph D
• Application Number:
  US12/263,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20090132868A1
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 714/18, 714/20, 714/38, 714/49, 714/50, 714/51
• US Class Current: 714/49
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for maintaining message state at a message log. Messages are accumulated at a message log in accordance with a message retention policy. Any of a variety of message capture assurances can be used when capturing a message from a message producer within a message log. A message becomes visible to message consumers after the outcome of writing the message is known (either failure or success). Messages are requested using (e.g., monotonically increasing) sequence numbers. Messages are also dropped from the message log in accordance with the message retention policy.

Claims

1. In a componentized messaging system including a sending computer system with a message log, a second different receiving computer system with a cursor, and a computer network, wherein the sending computer system and the receiving computer system are connected to the network, the componentized message system for delivering messages from a message producer to a message consumer, the message log for capturing messages for delivery to the message consumer, the cursor maintaining message state for the message consumer such that message consumer state is maintained separate from the sending computer system, a method for maintaining message log state, the method comprising:

an act of a computing system receiving a first message from the message producer that is to be stored in the message log, wherein the computing system includes one or more processor;

an act of the computing system assigning a sequence number for the first message;

an act of the computing system indicating in the message log that a write status of the first message is in doubt without making a first portion of the message log corresponding to assigned sequence numbers of messages having write status in doubt visible to a cursor, comprising;

partitioning the message log into at least the first portion of the message log corresponding to the assigned sequence numbers of messages having write status in doubt and a second portion of the message log corresponding to sequence numbers of messages having write status not in doubt; and

withholding visibility of the first portion of the message log from the cursor;

an act of the computing system attempting to write the first message to the message log;

an act of the computing system indicating the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log, wherein success results in the assigned sequence number corresponding to the first message within the message log, and wherein failure results in the assigned sequence number not corresponding to any message within the message log;

an act of the computing system updating the write status of the first message to successful or failed based on the indicated success or failure of writing the first message to the message log respectively; and

an act the computing system making the second portion of the message log visible to the cursor subsequent to updating the status of the message and updating the second portion of the message log to include the assigned sequence number of the first message.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of configuring the message log to retain messages in accordance with a drop oldest policy, the drop oldest policy indicating a threshold for an amount of storage space used to store messages in the message log such that when the threshold is reached, an older message is removed from the message log when it is requested that a new message be stored in the message log.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

an act of determining that the threshold would be exceeded by storing the first message in the message log; and

an act of dropping a previously received message from the message log in response to the determination so as to free up storage space for the first message.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

act of configuring the message log to retain messages in accordance with a drop on acknowledgement policy, the drop on acknowledgement policy indicating that a message can be deleted when the cursor acknowledges receipt of the message.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

an act of receiving an acknowledgement range from the cursor subsequent to making the second portion of the message log visible to the cursor, the acknowledgment range acknowledging receipt of a range of sequence numbers within the message log, the range of sequence numbers including the assigned sequence number; and

an act of freeing up space within the message log corresponding to the range of sequence numbers in response to receiving the acknowledgement range.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising prior to receiving the first message:

an act of providing an exactly once assurance for writing the first message to the message log, including;

an act of receiving a transaction ID for participating in a transaction to capture the first message within the message store; and

an act of enlisting in the transaction based on the transaction ID.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the act of indicating the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log comprises an act of indicating if the transaction committed or aborted, committing the transaction resulting in the assigned sequence number corresponding to the first message within the message log, aborting the transaction resulting in the assigned sequence number not corresponding to any message within the message log.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

an act of aborting the transaction;

an act of expressly indicating in the message log that the assigned sequence number does not correspond to any message;

an act of receiving a second transaction ID for participating in a second transaction to capture the first message within the message store subsequent to aborting the first transaction;

an act of enlisting in the second transaction based on the second transaction ID;

an act of assigning a second sequence number for the first message;

an act of committing the second transaction resulting in the second sequence number corresponding to the first message within the message log; and

an act of making a portion of message log corresponding to the second sequence number visible to the cursor.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of successfully writing the message to a durable data store prior to indicating the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the write status of the first message is in doubt when the sequence number has been assigned to the first message and storage space in the message log has been reserved for the first message, but it is unknown whether a write of the first message to the message log has succeeded or failed.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein partitioning the message log into the first and second portions comprises:

an act of maintaining a head that represents a beginning sequence number of the message log state;

an act of maintaining a tail that represents a sequence number in the message log state before which the write status of all message writes is known;

an act of maintaining a write index that represents a last attempted sequence number corresponding to a last message write attempt;

an act of associating sequence number assigned to messages occurring between the head and the tail with the second portion of the message log; and

an act of associating messages occurring between the tail and the write index with first portion of the message log.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein indicating the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log comprises:

an act of updating the tail such that the assigned sequence number of the first message occurs between the head and the tail.

13. In a componentized messaging system including a sending computer system with a message log, a second different receiving computer system with a cursor, and a computer network, wherein the sending computer system and the receiving computer system are connected to the network, the componentized message system for delivering messages from a message producer to a message consumer, the message log for capturing messages for delivery to the message consumer, the cursor maintaining message state for the message consumer such that message consumer state is maintained separate from the sending computer system, a method for maintaining message log state, the method comprising:

an act of a computing system, that includes one or more processors, accumulating a plurality of messages from the message producer in the message log in accordance with a message retention policy, including;

receiving a first message from the message producer that is to be stored in the message log;

assigning a sequence number for the first message;

indicating in the message log that a write status of the first message is in doubt without making a first portion of the message log corresponding to assigned sequence numbers of messages having write status in doubt visible to a cursor, comprising;

partitioning the message log into at least the first portion of the message log corresponding to the assigned sequence numbers of messages having write status in doubt and a second portion of the message log corresponding to sequence numbers of messages having write status not in doubt; and

withholding visibility of the first portion of the message log from the cursor;

attempting to write the first message to the message log;

indicating the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log, wherein success results in the assigned sequence number corresponding to the first message within the message log, and wherein failure results in the assigned sequence number not corresponding to any message within the message log;

updating the write status of the first message to successful or failed based on the indicated success or failure of writing the first message to the message log respectively; and

making the second portion of the message log visible to the cursor subsequent to updating the status of the message and updating the second portion of the message log to include the assigned sequence number of the first message; and

an act of the computing system providing messages to the cursor in response to message requests, including;

an act of receiving a read request for a message from the cursor, the read request including a specified sequence number within the message log, the read request being for the next message subsequent to a specified sequence number within the message log;

an act of identifying the next sequence number after the specified sequence number that corresponds to a message; and

an act of returning the next sequence number and the corresponding message to the cursor.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the act of accumulating a plurality of messages in accordance with a message retention policy comprises an act of accumulating messages in accordance with a drop oldest message retention policy.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the act of accumulating a plurality of messages in accordance with a message retention policy comprises an act of accumulating messages in the message log in accordance with a drop on acknowledgment policy, the drop on acknowledgement policy providing an assurance that the cursor receives messages stored in the message log at least once.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

an act of receiving an acknowledgement range from the cursor subsequent to returning the next sequence number and the corresponding message to the cursor, the acknowledgment range acknowledging receipt of a range of sequence numbers within the message log, the range of sequence numbers including the next sequence number; and

an act of freeing up space within the message log corresponding to the range of sequence numbers in response to receiving the acknowledgement range.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the act of identifying the next sequence number after the specified sequence number that corresponds to a message comprises an act of identifying a sequence number that is visible to the cursor.

18. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the act of identifying the next sequence number after the specified sequence number that corresponds to a message comprises an act of passing over one or more other sequence numbers that do not correspond to messages, the one or more other sequence numbers being between the specified sequence number and the next sequence number in the message log.

19. A componentized messaging system for delivering messages from a message producer to a message consumer, the componentized message system comprising:

a sending computer system, the sending computer system comprising;

one or more processors;

system memory; and

a message log

a receiving computer system, the receiving computer system comprising;

one or more processors;

system memory; and

a cursor that is configured to maintain message state for the message consumer such that message consumer state is maintained separate from the sending computer system;

a computer network, wherein the sending computer system and receiving computer are connected to the network; and

wherein the sending computer system further comprises one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for implementing a method for maintaining message log state, wherein the computer-executed instructions, when executed at one of the processors of the sending computer system, cause the sending computer system to perform the method, including performing the following;

accumulate a plurality of messages from the message producer in the message log in accordance with a message retention policy, including;

receiving a first message from the message producer that is to be stored in the message log;

assigning a sequence number for the first message;

indicating in the message log that a write status of the first message is in doubt without making a first portion of the message log corresponding to assigned sequence numbers of messages having write status in doubt visible to a cursor, comprising;

partitioning the message log into at least the first portion of the message log corresponding to the assigned sequence numbers of messages having write status in doubt and a second portion of the message log corresponding to sequence numbers of messages having write status not in doubt, and

withholding visibility of the first portion of the message log from the cursor;

attempting to write the first message to the message log; and

indicating the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log, wherein success results in the assigned sequence number corresponding to the first message within the message log, and wherein failure results in the assigned sequence number not corresponding to any message within the message log;

update the write status of the first message to successful or failed based on the indicated success or failure of writing the first message to the message log respectively; and

make the second portion of the message log visible to the cursor subsequent to updating the status of the message and updating the second portion of the message log to include the assigned sequence number of the first message; and

provide messages to the cursor in response to message requests, including;

receiving a request for a message from the cursor, the request including a specified sequence number within the message log, the request being for the next message subsequent to a specified sequence number within the message log;

identifying the next sequence number after the specified sequence number that corresponds to a message; and

returning the next sequence number and the corresponding message to the cursor.

20. The componentized messaging system of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed at one of the processors of the sending computer system, cause the sending computer system to:

receive an acknowledgement range from the cursor subsequent to making the portion of message log corresponding to the assigned sequence number visible to the cursor, the acknowledgment range acknowledging receipt of a range of sequence numbers within the message log, the range of sequence numbers including the assigned sequence number; and

free up space within the message log corresponding to the range of sequence numbers in response to receiving the acknowledgement range.

21. The componentized messaging system of claim 19, wherein the computer-executable instructions further comprise computer-executable instructions that when executed at one of the processors of the sending computer system, cause the sending computer system to:

provide an exactly once assurance for writing the first message to the message log, including;

receiving a transaction ID for participating in a transaction to capture the first message within the message store; and

enlisting in the transaction based on the transaction ID.

22. The componentized messaging system of claim 21, wherein the computer-executable instructions, that when executed at one of the processors of the sending computer system, cause the sending computer system to indicate the success or failure of writing the first message to the message log comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed at one of the processors of the sending computer system, cause the sending computer system to indicate if the transaction committed or aborted, committing the transaction resulting in the assigned sequence number corresponding to the first message within the message log, aborting the transaction resulting in the assigned sequence number not corresponding to any message within the message log.

23. The componentized messaging system of claim 19, further comprising:

a durable store at the sending computer system, the durable store for storing messages that are successfully written to the message log.