Presentation of TorqueBox for Rubyists at Asheville.rb

1. TorqueBox
Enterprise-Grade Ruby Application Server
Bob McWhirter
Asheville.rb
Asheville, North Carolina
2 December 2009
Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0

2. Bob McWhirter
• Started in C++
• Moved to Java with JDK 1.1.8
• Began Ruby and Rails in 2005
• Lived in Asheville for 4 years
• Did some open-source along the way
2

3. Open-Source
3

4. Currently
Linux
+
Java
+
Bob
4

5. == Ruby?
5

6. Actual R&D
I get to actually research things,
and develop new stuff. Honest-
to-goodness technology R&D
investment.
6

7. TorqueBox
...in a nutshell
7

8. What is it?
A merging of the Ruby
language with the Java
Virtual Machine.
8

9. Why bother?
As Ruby matures, it’s quickly
being used to solve larger, more
difficult problems.
Problems we’ve solved in the
enterprise with Java already.
9

10. Such as...?
• Scalability
• Efficient & asynchronous messaging
• Scheduled jobs
• Telephony
10

11. Scalability
...because “Rails doesn’t scale”
11

12. Web Scalability
12

13. mongrel-style
Ruby
mongrel
13

14. mongrel-style
Ruby
mongrel
Ruby
mongrel
httpd
Ruby
mongrel
Ruby
mongrel
14

15. mongrel-style
Ruby
mongrel
Ruby
mongrel
httpd
Ruby
mongrel
Ruby
mongrel
15

16. passenger style
Conservative Spawning
Rails
Rails
httpd Passenger Ruby
Rails
Rails
16

17. passenger style
Smart Spawning
Worker
Worker
httpd Passenger Ruby Rails
Worker
Worker
17

18. TorqueBox style
TorqueBox
http
queues MyApp Ruby Rails
scheduler
18

19. Clustering
Multiplicity rocks.
19

20. Concerns
When clustering, we care
about sessions and load
balancing.
20

21. Sessions
With multiple application
servers, sessions must be
shared, or session affinity
must be used.
21

22. Session Sharing
Sharing sessions requires
using a central store, such as
memcached or ActiveRecord
session stores.
22

23. Session Sharing
Worker
Worker
memcached
Worker
Worker
23

24. Session Sharing
But what if the central session
store is unavailable, or
overwhelmed?
Single point of failure!
24

25. Session Sharing
Worker
Worker
memcached
Worker
Worker
25

26. Session Affinity
Session affinity is making sure
the same back-end server
handles all of Todd’s requests.
26

27. Session Affinity
Worker
Todd’s
Worker
server
Todd Balancer
Worker
Worker
27

28. Session Affinity
But what if the back-end server
handling Todd’s requests
becomes unavailable?
28

29. Session Affinity
Worker
Todd’s
Worker
server
Todd Balancer
Worker
Worker
29

30. Use Both!
Use session affinity when you
can, but allow workers to
replicate session information
when necessary.
30

31. Use Both!
Worker Cache
Worker Cache
Balancer
Worker Cache
Worker Cache
31

32. Spanning Hosts
Host
Worker Cache
Host
Worker Cache
Balancer
Host
Worker Cache
Host
Worker Cache
32

33. Balancer in the cluster
Using mod_cluster for
Apache httpd, the balancer
participates in the cluster
view.
33

34. mod_cluster
As server nodes join and
leave the cluster, the
balancer (mod_cluster) is
aware of these changes.
34

35. mod_proxy_ajp
The Apache JServ Protocol
(AJP) is an efficient pipeline for
shuffling HTTP requests to a Java
application-server for handling.
35

36. Oh yeah...
• Multiple apps per server or cluster.
• Virtual-host support baked in.
• Context-path support.
• Full Rack support (bare, Sinatra, etc).
• Full Java-EE stack.
36

37. And bundles
myapp.rails
myapp.rack
37

38. And bundles
Single ZIP file bundle of an app.
Easily move specific artifact
between staging and production.
Required for cluster auto-farming
deployment.
38

39. Rails scales!
...but there’s more than just port 80.
39

40. Task Queues
Simply install Erlang, set up
RabbitMQ, use an AMQP gem...
40

41. Or just use TorqueBox
...and just write a Ruby class.
41

42. app/queues/**_queue.rb
• A class per queue.
• A method per task handled by the
queue.
• A simple API to toss stuff around.
42

43. my_first_queue.rb
class MyFirstQueue
include TorqueBox::Queues::Base
def task_one(payload={})
o = Thing.find_by_id( payload[:thing_id] )
o.frob!
o.save!
end
end
43

44. my_first_queue.rb
class MyFirstQueue
include TorqueBox::Queues::Base
def task_one(payload={})
o = Thing.find_by_id( payload[:thing_id] )
o.frob!
o.save!
end
end
44

45. my_first_queue.rb
class MyFirstQueue
include TorqueBox::Queues::Base
def task_one(payload={})
o = Thing.find_by_id( payload[:thing_id] )
o.frob!
o.save!
end
end
45

46. my_first_queue.rb
class MyFirstQueue
include TorqueBox::Queues::Base
def task_one(payload={})
o = Thing.find_by_id( payload[:thing_id] )
o.frob!
o.save!
end
end
46

47. my_first_queue.rb
class MyFirstQueue
include TorqueBox::Queues::Base
def task_one(payload={})
o = Thing.find_by_id( payload[:thing_id] )
o.frob!
o.save!
end
end
47

48. Enqueue
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
‘MyFirstQueue’,
:task_one,
{ :thing_id=>42 }
)
48

49. Enqueue
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
‘MyFirstQueue’,
:task_one,
{ :thing_id=>42 }
)
49

50. Enqueue
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
‘MyFirstQueue’,
:task_one,
{ :thing_id=>42 }
)
50

51. Enqueue
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
‘MyFirstQueue’,
:task_one,
{ :thing_id=>42 }
)
51

52. Enqueue
Use from your controllers,
ActiveRecord observers, or
other queues.
52

53. Enqueue
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_attached_file :avatar, ...
after_save do |user|
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
:image_processor_queue,
:process_user_avatar,
user.id
) if user.avatar_needs_processing?
end
end
53

54. Enqueue
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_attached_file :avatar, ...
after_save do |user|
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
:image_processor_queue,
:process_user_avatar,
user.id
) if user.avatar_needs_processing?
end
end
54

55. Enqueue
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_attached_file :avatar, ...
after_save do |user|
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
:image_processor_queue,
:process_user_avatar,
user.id
) if user.avatar_needs_processing?
end
end
55

56. Enqueue
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_attached_file :avatar, ...
after_save do |user|
TorqueBox::Queues.enqueue(
:image_processor_queue,
:process_user_avatar,
user.id
) if user.avatar_needs_processing?
end
end
56

57. Queue Benefits
• No additional systems or languages to
setup and maintain.
• Clustering/HA available (including durable
messages).
• No explicit queue configuration required.
57

58. Scheduled Jobs
Just write a script, and a crontab,
and deploy it with your app. Don’t
forget to undeploy and update it
also. And check cron.log for errors.
58

59. Or just use TorqueBox
...and just write a Ruby class.
59

60. app/jobs/**.rb
• A class per queue.
• A method called run()
• Configure it via jobs.yml
60

61. my_first_job.rb
class MyFirstJob
include TorqueBox::Jobs::Base
def run()
subscriptions = Subscription.find(:all)
subscriptions.each do |e|
send_newsletter( e )
end
end
end
61

62. my_first_job.rb
class MyFirstJob
include TorqueBox::Jobs::Base
def run()
subscriptions = Subscription.find(:all)
subscriptions.each do |e|
send_newsletter( e )
end
end
end
62

63. my_first_job.rb
class MyFirstJob
include TorqueBox::Jobs::Base
def run()
subscriptions = Subscription.find(:all)
subscriptions.each do |e|
send_newsletter( e )
end
end
end
63

64. my_first_job.rb
class MyFirstJob
include TorqueBox::Jobs::Base
def run()
subscriptions = Subscription.find(:all)
subscriptions.each do |e|
send_newsletter( e )
end
end
end
64

65. config/jobs.yml
subscription.mailer:
description: send out newsletters
job: MyFirstJob
cron: 20 7 1 * * ?
65

66. config/jobs.yml
subscription.mailer:
description: send out newsletters
job: MyFirstJob
cron: 20 7 1 * * ?
66

67. config/jobs.yml
subscription.mailer:
description: send out newsletters
job: MyFirstJob
cron: 20 7 1 * * ?
67

68. config/jobs.yml
subscription.mailer:
description: send out newsletters
job: MyFirstJob
cron: 20 7 1 * * ?
68

69. config/jobs.yml
subscription.mailer:
description: send out newsletters
job: MyFirstJob
cron: 20 7 1 * * ?
69

70. config/jobs.yml
20 7 1 * * ?
sec hour mon
min d.o.m. d.o.y
70

71. config/jobs.yml
20 7 1 * * ?
Every day,
at 1:07:20 am
71

72. Scheduler Benefits
• Uses existing Ruby interpreter when jobs
fire. No waiting for Ruby/Rails to load.
• No external system (crontab) to maintain.
• No additional daemons to monitor
(daemonize)
• Full Rails environment (AR models,
queues, lib/)
72

73. Telephony
Just... um... something... with
Asterisk?
73

74. Or just use TorqueBox
...and just write a Ruby class.
74

75. Initiate Calls
By doing SIP magic, your
application can initiate
calls, or connect multiple
parties.
75

76. Press 2 to STFU
Using the Media Server,
automated messages,
interactive voice response
(IVR) and other advanced
systems can be built.
76

77. OMGWTFBBQPONIES!
Have your app (for instance, upon
successful job completion) fire off an
SMS.
77

78. Telephony Benefits
• It’s just freakin’ cool.
78

79. Manageability
Okay, sorta speculative, forward-
looking dreaming, but...
79

80. Manageable
Everything ultimately maps to a
managed object within the Java
application-server.
We have the JOPR management
console.
80

81. But not yet
But we haven’t exposed
everything in a super nice
fashion. Yet.
81

82. All-in-One
Everything’s in the tin.
Everything works together.
82

83. More information...
http://torquebox.org/
http://github.com/torquebox
http://twitter.com/torquebox
83

84. Thanks
+
Q&A
Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0
84