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=head1 Message Passing for the Non-Blocked Mind |
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|
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=head1 Introduction and Terminology |
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|
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This is a tutorial about how to get the swing of the new L<AnyEvent::MP> |
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module, which allows us to transparently pass messages to our own process |
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and to other processes on another or the same host. |
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|
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What kind of messages? Well, basically a message here means a list of Perl |
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strings, numbers, hashes and arrays, anything that can be expressed as a |
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L<JSON> text (as JSON is used by default in the protocol). Here is an example: |
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|
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[123, ["a", "b", "c"], { foo => 'bar' }] |
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|
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When using L<AnyEvent::MP> you should usually use a string as first element |
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of a message, which describes the type of the |
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message. That element is called a I<tag> in L<AnyEvent::MP>, as some |
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API functions (C<rcv>) support matching it directly. So supposedly you want to |
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send a ping message with your current time to something, this is how such a |
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message might look like (in Perl syntax): |
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|
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['ping', 1251381636] |
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|
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The next interesting question is: Between which entities are those messages |
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being I<passed>? They are I<passed> between I<ports>. I<ports> are just sources |
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and destinations for messages. How do these ports relate to things you know? |
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Well, each I<port> belongs to a I<node>, and a I<node> is just the UNIX process |
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that runs your L<AnyEvent::MP> application. |
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|
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Each I<node> is distinguished from other I<nodes>, that run on the same host or |
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multiple hosts in a network, by it's I<node ID>. A I<node ID> can be manually |
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assigned or L<AnyEvent::MP> will assign one it self for you. |
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|
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Here is a visualisation about how I<nodes>, I<ports> and UNIX processes |
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relate to each other. The setup consists of two nodes (more are of |
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course possible): Node C<A> (in UNIX process 7066) with the ports C<ABC> and C<DEF>. |
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And the node C<B> (in UNIX process 8321) with the ports C<FOO> and C<BAR>. |
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|
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|
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|- PID: 7066 -| |- PID: 8321 -| |
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| | | | |
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| Node ID: A | | Node ID: B | |
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| | | | |
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| Port ABC =|= <----\ /-----> =|= Port FOO | |
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| | X | | |
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| Port DEF =|= <----/ \-----> =|= Port BAR | |
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| | | | |
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|-------------| |-------------| |
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|
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The strings for the I<port ids> here are just for illustrative purposes. Even |
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if in reality I<ports> in L<AnyEvent::MP> are also identified by strings they |
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can't be choosen manually and are assigned randomly. These I<port ids> should |
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also not be used directly for other purposes than referring to an endpoint for |
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messages. |
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|
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The next sections will explain the API of L<AnyEvent::MP> by going through a |
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few simple examples. Later some more complex idioms are introduced, which are |
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maybe useful to solve some real world problems. |
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|
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=head1 Passing Your First Message |
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|
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As start lets have a look at the messaging API. The next example is just a |
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demo to show the basic elements of message passing with L<AnyEvent::MP>. |
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It shout just print: "Ending with: 123". So here the code: |
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|
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use AnyEvent; |
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use AnyEvent::MP; |
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my $end_cv = AnyEvent->condvar; |
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my $port = port; |
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|
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rcv $port, test => sub { |
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my ($data) = @_; |
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$end_cv->send ($data); |
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}; |
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|
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snd $port, test => 123; |
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|
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print "Ending with: " . $end_cv->recv . "\n"; |
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|
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It already contains most functions of the essential L<AnyEvent::MP> API. |
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|
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First there is the C<port> function which will create a I<port> and will return |
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it's I<port id>. |
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|
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That I<port id> can be used to send and receive messages. That I<port id> is a |
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simple string and can be safely passed to other I<nodes> in the network to |
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refer to that specific port (usually used for RPC, where you need to |
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tell the other end which I<port> to send the reply to). |
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|
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Next function is C<rcv>: |
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|
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rcv $port, test => sub { ... }; |
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|
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It sets up a receiver callback on a specific I<port> which needs to be |
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specified as the first argument. The next argument, in this example C<test>, is |
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a I<tag> match. This means that whenever a message, with the first element |
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being the string C<tag>, is received the callback is called with the remaining |
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parts of that message. |
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|
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Messages can be send with the C<snd> function, which looks like this in the |
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example above: |
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snd $port, test => 123; |
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This will send the message C<['test', 123]> to the I<port> with the I<port id> |
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in C<$port>. The receiver got a I<tag> match on C<test> and will call the |
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callback with the first argument being the number C<123>. |
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|
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That callback then just passes that number on to the I<condition variable> |
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C<$end_cv> which will then pass the value to the print. But I<condition |
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variables> are out of the scope of this tutorial. So please consult the |
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L<AnyEvent::Intro> about them. |
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|
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But passing messages inside one process is boring, but before we can continue |
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and take the next step to interprocess message passing we first have to make |
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sure some things have been setup. |
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|
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=head1 System Requirements and System Setup |
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|
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Before we can start with real IPC we have to make sure some things work on your |
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system. |
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|
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First we have to setup a I<shared secret>: for two L<AnyEvent::MP> I<nodes> to |
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be able to communicate with each other and authenticate each other it is |
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necessary to setup the same I<shared secret> for both of them (or use TLS |
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certificates). |
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|
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The easiest way is to set this up is to use the F<aemp> utility: |
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|
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aemp gensecret |
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|
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This creates a F<$HOME/.perl-anyevent-mp> config file and generates a random |
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shared secret. You can copy this file to any other system and then communicate |
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over the network (via TCP) with it. You can also select your own shared secret |
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(F<aemp setsecret>) and for increased security requirements you can even create |
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a TLS certificate (F<aemp gencert>), causing connections to not just be |
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authenticated, but also to be encrypted. |
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|
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Connections will only be successful when the I<nodes> that want to connect to |
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each other have the same I<shared secret> (or successfully verify the TLS |
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certificate of the other side). |
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|
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B<If something does not work as expected, and for example tcpdump shows |
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that the connections are closed almost immediately, you should make sure |
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that F<~/.perl-anyevent-mp> is the same on all hosts/user accounts that |
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you try to connect with each other!> |
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|
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Thats all for now, there is more fiddling around with the C<aemp> utility |
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later. |
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|
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=head1 Passing Messages Between Processes |
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=head2 The Receiver |
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Lets split the previous example up into two small programs. First the |
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receiver application: |
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#!/opt/perl/bin/perl |
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use AnyEvent; |
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use AnyEvent::MP; |
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use AnyEvent::MP::Global; |
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initialise_node "eg_simple_receiver"; |
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my $port = port; |
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AnyEvent::MP::Global::register $port, "eg_receivers"; |
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rcv $port, test => sub { |
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my ($data, $reply_port) = @_; |
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print "Received data: " . $data . "\n"; |
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}; |
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AnyEvent->condvar->recv; |
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|
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=head3 AnyEvent::MP::Global |
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|
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Now, that wasn't too bad, was it? Ok, lets step through the new functions |
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and modules that have been used. For starters there is now an additional |
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module loaded: L<AnyEvent::MP::Global>. |
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|
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That module provides us with a I<global registry>, which lets us share data |
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among all I<nodes> in a network. Why do we need it you might ask? |
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|
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The thing is, that the I<port ids> are just random strings, assigned by |
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L<AnyEvent::MP>. We can't know those I<port ids> in advance, so we don't know |
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which I<port id> to send messages to if the message is to be passed between |
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I<nodes> (or UNIX processes). To find the right I<port> of another I<node> in |
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the network we will need to communicate that somehow to the sender. And |
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exactly that is what L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> provides. |
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|
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=head3 initialise_node And The Network |
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|
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Now, lets have a look at the next new thing, the C<initialise_node>: |
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initialise_node "eg_simple_receiver"; |
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Before we are able to send messages to other nodes we have to initialise |
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ourself. The first argument, the string C<"eg_simple_receiver">, is called the |
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I<profile> of this node. A profile holds some information about the application |
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that is going to be a node in an L<AnyEvent::MP> network. |
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|
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Most importantly the profile allows you to set the I<node id> that your |
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application will use. You can also set I<binds> in the profile, meaning that |
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you can define TCP ports that the application will listen on for incoming |
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connections from other nodes of the network. |
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|
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Next you can configure I<seeds> in profile. A I<seed> is just a TCP endpoint |
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which tells the application where to find other nodes of it's network. To |
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explain this a bit more detailed we have to look at the topology of an |
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L<AnyEvent::MP> network. The topology is called a I<fully connected mesh>, here |
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an example with 4 nodes: |
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N1--N2 |
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| \/ | |
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| /\ | |
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N3--N4 |
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Now imagine another I<node> C<N5>. wants to connect itself to that network: |
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N1--N2 |
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| \/ | N5 |
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| /\ | |
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N3--N4 |
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The new node needs to know the I<binds> of all of those 4 already connected |
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nodes. And exactly this is what the I<seeds> are for. Now lets assume that |
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the new node C<N5> has as I<seed> the TCP endpoint of the node C<N2>. |
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It then connects to C<N2>: |
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N1--N2____ |
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| \/ | N5 |
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| /\ | |
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N3--N4 |
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C<N2> then tells C<N5> the I<binds> of the other nodes it is connected to, |
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and C<N5> builds up the rest of the connections: |
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|
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/--------\ |
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N1--N2____| |
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| \/ | N5 |
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| /\ | /| |
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N3--N4--- | |
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\________/ |
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Finished. C<N5> is now happily connected to the rest of the network. |
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=head3 Setting Up The Profiles |
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Ok, so much to the profile. Now lets setup the C<eg_simple_receiver> I<profile> |
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for later. For the receiver we just give the receiver a I<bind>: |
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aemp profile eg_simple_receiver setbinds localhost:12266 |
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And while we are at it, just setup the I<profile> for the sender in the second |
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part of this example too. We will call the sender I<profile> |
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C<eg_simple_sender>. For the sender we will just setup a I<seed> to the |
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receiver: |
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aemp profile eg_simple_sender setseeds localhost:12266 |
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aemp profile eg_simple_sender setbinds |
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You might wonder why we setup I<binds> to be empty here. Well, there can be |
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exceptions to the I<fully> in the I<fully connected mesh> in L<AnyEvent::MP>. |
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If you don't configure a I<bind> for a node's profile it won't bind itself |
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somewhere. These kinds of I<nodes> will not be able to send messages to other |
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I<nodes> that also didn't I<bind> them self to some TCP address. For this |
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example, as well as some cases in the real world, we can live with this |
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limitation. |
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|
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=head3 Registering The Receiver |
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|
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Ok, where were we. We now discussed the basic purpose of L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> |
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and initialise_node with it's relations to profiles. We also setup our profiles |
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for later use and now have to continue talking about the receiver example. |
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|
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Lets look at the next undiscussed line(s) of code: |
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my $port = port; |
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AnyEvent::MP::Global::register $port, "eg_receivers"; |
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|
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The C<port> function already has been discussed. It just creates a new I<port> |
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and gives us the I<port id>. Now to the C<register> function of |
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L<AnyEvent::MP::Global>: The first argument is a I<port id> that we want to add |
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to a I<global group>, and it's second argument is the name of that I<global |
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group>. |
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|
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You can choose that name of such a I<global group> freely, and it's purpose is |
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to store a set of I<port ids>. That set is made available throughout the whole |
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L<AnyEvent::MP> network, so that each node can see which ports belong to that |
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group. |
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|
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The sender will later look for the ports in that I<global group> and send |
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messages to them. |
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|
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Last step in the example is to setup a receiver callback for those messages |
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like we have discussed in the first example. We again match for the I<tag> |
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C<test>. The difference is just that we don't end the application after |
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receiving the first message. We just infinitely continue to look out for new |
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messages. |
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|
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=head2 The Sender |
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|
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Ok, now lets take a look at the sender: |
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|
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#!/opt/perl/bin/perl |
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use AnyEvent; |
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use AnyEvent::MP; |
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use AnyEvent::MP::Global; |
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|
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initialise_node "eg_simple_sender"; |
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my $find_timer = |
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AnyEvent->timer (after => 0, interval => 1, cb => sub { |
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my $ports = AnyEvent::MP::Global::find "eg_receivers" |
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or return; |
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|
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snd $_, test => time |
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for @$ports; |
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}); |
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AnyEvent->condvar->recv; |
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|
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It's even less code. The C<initialise_node> is known now from the receiver |
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above. As discussed in the section where we setup the profiles we configure |
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this application to use the I<profile> C<eg_simple_sender>. |
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|
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Next we setup a timer that repeatedly calls this chunk of code: |
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|
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my $ports = AnyEvent::MP::Global::find "eg_receivers" |
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or return; |
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|
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snd $_, test => time |
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for @$ports; |
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|
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The new function here is the C<find> function of L<AnyEvent::MP::Global>. It |
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searches in the I<global group> named C<eg_receivers> for ports. If none are |
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found C<undef> is returned and we wait for the next time the timer fires. |
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|
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In case the receiver application has been connected and the newly added port by |
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the receiver has propagated to the sender C<find> returns an array reference |
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that contains the I<port id> of the receiver I<port(s)>. |
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|
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We then just send to every I<port> in the I<global group> a message consisting |
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of the I<tag> C<test> and the current time in form of a UNIX timestamp. |
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|
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And thats all. |
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|
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=head1 SEE ALSO |
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|
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L<AnyEvent> |
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|
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L<AnyEvent::Handle> |
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|
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L<AnyEvent::MP> |
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|
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L<AnyEvent::MP::Global> |
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|
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=head1 AUTHOR |
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|
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Robin Redeker <elmex@ta-sa.org> |
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|