DISTRIBUTED MESSAGING SYSTEM WITH CONFIGURABLE ASSURANCES

• US 20090133038A1
• Filed: 06/27/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Morris, Mitchell G., Hill, Richard D., Srinivasan, Krishnan, Chkodrov, Gueorgui, Critchley, Craig A., Tarnavski, Tihomir, Gurunath, Pramod
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,847 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for configuring assurances within distributed messaging systems. A defined set of message log and cursor components are configurably activatable and deactivatable to compose a variety of different capture assurances, transfer assurances, and delivery assurances within a distributed messaging system. A composition of a capture assurance, a transfer assurance, and a delivery assurance can provide an end-to-end assurance for a messaging system. End-to-end assurances can include one of best effort, at-most-once, at-least-once, and exactly once and can include one of: durable or non-durable. Using a defined set of activatable and deactivatable message log and cursor components facilities more efficient transitions between desired assurances. In some embodiments, a composition of a capture assurance, a transfer assurance, and a delivery assurance provides durable exactly-once message delivery.

Claims

1. A componentized messaging system with configurable assurances, comprising:

a message log configured to store messages, the message log including one or more processors, system memory, and message log components for composing any of an extensible set of capture protocols to capture messages from message producers, the extensible set of capture protocols configured to provide any of a variety of different message capture assurances from within a set of message capture assurances, the set of message capture assurances varying in the use of a durable store and varying in the use of transactions;

a cursor configured to track the progress of consumers through messages in the message log, the cursor including one or more processors, system memory, and cursor components for composing any of an extensible set of delivery protocols to deliver messages to message consumers, the extensible set of delivery protocols configured to provide any of a variety of different message delivery assurances from within a set of message delivery assurances, the set of message delivery assurances varying in the use of a durable store and varying in the use of transactions; and

wherein the message log and the cursor each also include further components for interoperating with one another to compose any of an extensible set of transfer protocols to transfer messages from the message log to the separate cursor, the extensible set of transfer protocols configured to provide any of a variety of different message transfer assurances from within a set of message transfer assurances, the set of message transfer assurances varying in the use a time window and varying in the use of acknowledged delivery.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message log components for implementing an extensible set of capture protocols include:

a transaction buffer, the transaction buffer configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in composing a selected capture protocol, from among the set of extensible capture protocols, the transaction buffer activated to provide transactional behavior to a selected capture protocol and the transaction buffer deactivated to provide non-transactional behavior to a selected capture protocol; and

a durable store, the durable store configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected capture protocol, from among the set of extensible capture protocols, the durable store activated to provide durable storage to a selected capture protocol and the durable store deactivated to provide volatile storage to a selected capture protocol.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein one of the transaction buffer and durable store is activated and one of the transaction buffer and durable store is deactivated.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the cursor components for implementing an extensible set of delivery protocols include:

a transaction component, the transaction component configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in composing a selected delivery protocol, from among the set of extensible delivery protocols, the transaction component activated to provide transactional behavior to a selected delivery protocol and the transaction component deactivated to provide non-transactional behavior to a selected delivery protocol; and

a durable state component, the durable state component configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected delivery protocol, from among the set of extensible delivery protocols, the durable state component activated to provide durable cursor state to a selected delivery protocol and the durable state component deactivated to provide volatile cursor state to a selected delivery protocol.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein one of the transaction component and durable state component is activated and one of the transaction component and durable state component is deactivated.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message log and the separate cursor components for interoperating with one another to implement an extensible set of transfer protocols include:

message acknowledgment components, the message acknowledgement components configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected transfer protocol, from among the set of extensible transfer protocols, the message acknowledgment components activated to provide message acknowledgement behavior for a selected transfer protocol and the message acknowledgement components deactivated to prevent message acknowledgement behavior for a selected transfer protocol; and

time window components, the time window components configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected transfer protocol, from among the set of extensible transfer protocols, the time window components activated to provide retention of a window of messages for a selected transfer protocol and the time window components deactivated to prevent retention of a window of messages for a selected transfer protocol.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein one of the message acknowledgment components and time window components is activated and one of the message acknowledgment components and time window components is deactivated.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message log components and cursor components are configurably activated and deactivated to provide one of:

best effort message delivery, at-most-once message delivery, at-least-once message delivery, and exactly-once message delivery.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message log components and cursor components are configurably activated and deactivated to provide one of:

durable message delivery or volatile message delivery.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the message log components and cursor components are configurably activated and deactivated to provide durable exactly-once message delivery.

13. The system as recited in claim 1T, wherein the separate client-side components for implementing the durable transaction-based delivery protocol include:

a transaction component, the transaction component configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected delivery protocol, from among the set of extensible delivery protocols, the transaction component activated to provide transactional behavior to the durable transaction-based delivery protocol; and

a durable state component, the durable state component configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected delivery protocol, from among the set of extensible delivery protocols, the durable state component activated to provide durable cursor state to the durable transaction-based delivery protocol.

11. A componentized messaging system with configurable assurances, the componentized messaging system configured to provide durable, exactly once delivery of messages to a plurality of clients, the system comprising

a message log, the message log including one or more processors, system memory, and configurable message storage components for implementing any of extensible set of capture protocols to capture messages from message producers, the message log components configured to implement a durable transaction-based capture protocol for capturing messages from message producers;

a separate client-side cursor, the separate client-side cursor separate from the message log, the separate cursor including one or more processors, system memory, and cursor components for implementing an extensible set of delivery protocols to deliver messages to message consumers, the cursor components configured to implement a durable transaction-based delivery protocol for delivering messages to message consumers; and

wherein the message log and the separate cursor each also include components for interoperating with one another to implement an extensible set of transfer protocols to transfer messages from the message log to the separate cursor, the interoperating components configured to implement a transfer protocol providing message acknowledgment behavior and retention of a window of messages.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the message storage components for implementing the durable transaction-based capture protocol include:

a transaction buffer, the transaction buffer configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected capture protocol, from among the set of extensible capture protocols, the transaction buffer activated to provide transactional behavior for the durable transaction-based capture protocol; and

a durable store, the durable store configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected capture protocol, from among the set of extensible capture protocols, the durable store activated to provide durable storage for the durable transaction-based capture protocol.

14. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein interoperating components for implementing a transfer protocol providing message acknowledgment behavior and retention of a window of messages include:

message acknowledgment components, the message acknowledgement components configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected transfer protocol, from among the set of extensible transfer protocols, the message acknowledgment components activated to provide message acknowledgement behavior for the transfer protocol; and

time window components, the time window components configurably activatable and deactivatable to assist in implementing a selected transfer protocol, from among the set of extensible transfer protocols, the time window components activated to provide retention of a window of messages for the transfer protocol.

15. In a distributed messaging system including a message log and a cursor, a method for configuring an end-to-end message assurance for message transfer from message providers to message consumers, the method comprising:

an act of receiving runtime configuration data indicating a combination of a capture assurance, a transfer assurance, and a delivery assurance that are to provide a desired end-to-end message assurance for message transfer in the distributed messaging system;

an act of formulating a message log component configuration from the runtime configuration data, the message log component configuration for activating and deactivating appropriate message log components to compose the capture assurance and to compose a first portion of the transfer assurance to interoperate with a corresponding second portion of the transfer assurance provided by cursor components;

an act of formulating a cursor component configuration from the runtime configuration data, the cursor component configuration for activating and deactivating appropriate cursor components to compose the delivery assurance and to compose the corresponding second portion of the transfer assurance to interoperate with the first portion of the transfer assurance provided by the message log components; and

an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement the desired end-to-end message assurance for the distributed messaging system, including;

an act of sending the message log component configuration to the message log to instruct the message log to compose the capture assurance and the first portion of transfer assurance; and

an act of sending the cursor component configuration to the cursor to instruct the cursor to compose the delivery assurance and the second portion of the transfer assurance.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the act of receiving runtime configuration data indicating a combination of a capture assurance, a transfer assurance, and a delivery assurance comprise receiving runtime configuration data indicating a combination of a capture assurance, a transfer assurance, and a delivery assurance that are to provide durable exactly-once message delivery.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement the desired end-to-end message assurance for the distributed messaging system comprises an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement the desired end-to-end message assurance for a message queuing system.

18. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement the desired end-to-end message assurance for the distributed messaging system comprises an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement the desired end-to-end message assurance for a publish/subscribe messaging system.

19. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement the desired end-to-end message assurance for the distributed messaging system comprises an act of instructing the distributed messaging system to compose the capture assurance, the transfer assurance, and the delivery assurance at the message log and cursor so as to implement one of:

best effort message delivery, at-most-once message delivery, at-least-once message delivery, and exactly-once message delivery and one of;

durable message delivery and volatile message delivery.

20. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising

an act of the message log activating and deactivating the message log components as instructed in the message log component configuration to compose the capture protocol and the first portion of the transfer protocol;

and

an act of the cursor activating and deactivating the cursor components as instructed in the cursor component configuration to compose the delivery protocol and the second portion of the transfer protocol.