Failure-controlled message publication and feedback in a publish/subscribe messaging environment

• US 8,793,322 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2011
• Issued: 07/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Beardsmore, Anthony P., Levell, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US13/031,226
• Publication Number:
  US 20120215873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,255 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

Control and/or feedback are provided for message publication in a publish/subscribe messaging environment. A number of different aspects are disclosed, and an embodiment may include one or more of these aspects. In each aspect, each subscribing application has an associated importance level for a subscription, and this importance level may vary among subscriptions for different message topics. Each published message has an associated topic. In some aspects, each published message also has associated criteria, where the criteria are specified with regard to message classification. In preferred embodiments, the message classification comprises importance criteria specifying requirements for importance level of subscribers registered for the topic of that message. Feedback can be provided regarding whether a message publication meets the importance criteria. Control over message publication can be based on whether a message publication meets the importance criteria.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of failure-controlled message publication and feedback in a publish/subscribe messaging environment, comprising:

receiving, at a message broker, a message published by a message publisher, the message having associated therewith a topic and classification criteria for determining whether to publish the message;

consulting, by the message broker, a subscription registry to locate registered subscriptions of a plurality of message subscribers that have registered with the message broker to receive published messages having the topic, each registered subscription specifying subscriber classification information pertaining to the subscriber;

comparing, by the message broker, the subscriber classification information in the located subscriptions to the classification criteria associated with the message to determine whether requirements of the classification criteria associated with the message are met by the located subscriptions; and

responsive to determining, by the comparing, that the requirements are not met, notifying the message publisher that the message was not published to any subscribers, and otherwise performing;

publishing the message, by the message broker, to each of the plurality of message subscribers for which the consulting located the registered subscriptions even though the subscriber classification information for at least one of the plurality of message subscribers for which the registered subscriptions were located does not meet the requirements of the classification criteria for publishing the message; and

notifying the message publisher that the message was published successfully to subscribers.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the registered subscriber classification information comprises an importance level for receiving published messages having the registered topic associated therewith.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the importance level is an integer value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the classification criteria associated with the message comprises importance criteria.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the classification criteria associated with the message is specified as one or more parameters, which together specify requirements for the publishing of the message.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the classification criteria associated with the message is specified as one or more rules, which together specify requirements for the publishing of the message.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the registered subscriber classification information is usable for ordering, and wherein the publishing publishes the message in a decreasing order of the subscriber classification information in the registered subscriptions which were located.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein notifying the publisher is replaced by notifying a third party, the third party adapted for monitoring whether the published messages are published successfully.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the classification information is stored in a repository in association with the published message.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

recording information pertaining to the publishing of the message from the message broker to each of the plurality of message subscribers for which the consulting located the registered subscriptions; and

including at least a portion of the recorded information in the notification to the message publisher.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein subscriptions to a highest value of the subscriber classification information are limited to a particular subset of the message subscribers.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing an audit capability for published messages associated with at least one topic by:

registering requested subscriptions that specify any of the at least one topic and a highest value of the subscriber classification information only if the subscriber requesting the subscription is an auditing subscriber; and

including, in the classification criteria for each published message associated with any of the at least one topic, a requirement that the auditing subscriber is registered to receive the published messages.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the classification criteria associated with the message comprises importance criteria; and

the subscriber classification information comprises an importance level for receiving published messages having the registered topic associated therewith; and

further comprising providing an audit capability for published messages associated with at least one topic by;

registering an auditing subscriber to receive published messages having associated therewith any of the at least one topic, each registered subscription for the auditing subscriber specifying a highest importance level as the subscriber classification information; and

specifying, in the classification criteria for each published message associated with any of the at least one topic, a requirement that at least one subscriber having the highest importance level is registered to receive the published messages.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the auditing subscriber is a durable subscriber, the durable subscriber characterized by being subsequently sent all messages which were published to other subscribers while the durable subscriber is disconnected from the message broker yet retains an active registered subscription for which the registered topic matches the topic associated with the published message.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

forwarding the published message, by the message broker, to each of at least one additional message broker to which the message broker is communicably coupled in a cluster environment, each additional message broker having a plurality of registered message subscribers that have registered subscriptions therewith to receive published messages, each registered subscription specifying a topic and subscriber classification information;

receiving, at the message broker from each of the at least one additional message brokers, feedback regarding whether the registered subscribers of the additional message broker contribute to meeting the requirements of the classification criteria associated with the published message; and

consolidating the feedback received from each of the at least one additional message brokers with results of the consulting, for use by the comparing to determine whether the requirements of the classification criteria associated with the message are met by the located subscriptions when taken together with the received feedback; and

wherein publishing the message by the message broker further comprises notifying, by the message broker, each of the additional message brokers to publish the message to all subscribers of the additional message broker which have registered for receiving published messages having the topic associated with the message.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the consulting, the comparing, and the publishing are carried out in context of a transaction; and

further comprising;

committing the transaction responsive to determining, by the comparing, that the requirements are met;

rolling back the transaction responsive to determining, by the comparing, that the requirements are not met.

17. A system for failure-controlled message publication control and feedback in a publish/subscribe messaging environment, comprising:

a computer comprising a processor; and

instructions which are executable, using the processor, to implement functions comprising;

receiving, at a message broker, a message published by a message publisher, the message having associated therewith a topic and classification criteria for determining whether to publish the message;

consulting, by the message broker, a subscription registry to locate registered subscriptions of a plurality of message subscribers that have registered with the message broker to receive published messages having the topic, each registered subscription specifying subscriber classification information pertaining to the subscriber;

comparing, by the message broker, the subscriber classification information in the located subscriptions to the classification criteria associated with the message to determine whether requirements of the classification criteria associated with the message are met by the located subscriptions; and

responsive to determining, by the comparing, that the requirements are not met, notifying the message publisher that the message was not published to any subscribers, and otherwise performing;

publishing the message, by the message broker, to each of the plurality of message subscribers for which the consulting located the registered subscriptions even though the subscriber classification information for at least one of the plurality of message subscribers for which the registered subscriptions were located does not meet the requirements of the classification criteria for publishing the message; and

notifying the message publisher that the message was published successfully to subscribers.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the functions further comprise:

recording information pertaining to the publishing of the message from the message broker to each of the plurality of message subscribers for which the consulting located the registered subscriptions; and

including at least a portion of the recorded information in the notification to the message publisher.

19. A computer program product for failure-controlled message publication control and feedback in a publish/subscribe messaging environment, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code configured for;

receiving, at a message broker, a message published by a message publisher, the message having associated therewith a topic and classification criteria for determining whether to publish the message;

consulting, by the message broker, a subscription registry to locate registered subscriptions of a plurality of message subscribers that have registered with the message broker to receive published messages having the topic, each registered subscription specifying subscriber classification information pertaining to the subscriber;

comparing, by the message broker, the subscriber classification information in the located subscriptions to the classification criteria associated with the message to determine whether requirements of the classification criteria associated with the message are met by the located subscriptions; and

responsive to determining, by the comparing, that the requirements are not met, notifying the message publisher that the message was not published to any subscribers, and otherwise performing;

publishing the message, by the message broker, to each of the plurality of message subscribers for which the consulting located the registered subscriptions even though the subscriber classification information for at least one of the plurality of message subscribers for which the registered subscriptions were located does not meet the requirements of the classification criteria for publishing the message; and

notifying the message publisher that the message was published successfully to subscribers.

20. The computer program product according to claim 19, the computer readable program code further configured for providing an audit capability for published messages associated with at least one topic by:

registering requested subscriptions that specify any of the at least one topic and a highest value of the subscriber classification information only if the subscriber requesting the subscription is an auditing subscriber; and

including, in the classification criteria for each published message associated with any of the at least one topic, a requirement that the auditing subscriber is registered to receive the published messages.