When WriteFileAndSync fails, then the caller eventually logs the error message
and exits. The error message returned by WriteFileAndSync already contains the path
to the file, which couldn't be created. This information alongside the call stack
is enough for debugging the issue. So just use log.Panicf("FATAL: ...") inside MustWriteAndSync().
This simplifies error handling at caller side a bit.
This is a follow-up after 42bba64aa7
Previously the part directory listing was fsync'ed implicitly inside partHeader.WriteMetadata()
by calling fs.WriteFileAtomically(). Now it must be fsync'ed explicitly.
There is no need in fsync'ing the parent directory, since it is fsync'ed by the caller
when updating parts.json file.
This commit changes background merge algorithm, so it becomes compatible with Windows file semantics.
The previous algorithm for background merge:
1. Merge source parts into a destination part inside tmp directory.
2. Create a file in txn directory with instructions on how to atomically
swap source parts with the destination part.
3. Perform instructions from the file.
4. Delete the file with instructions.
This algorithm guarantees that either source parts or destination part
is visible in the partition after unclean shutdown at any step above,
since the remaining files with instructions is replayed on the next restart,
after that the remaining contents of the tmp directory is deleted.
Unfortunately this algorithm doesn't work under Windows because
it disallows removing and moving files, which are in use.
So the new algorithm for background merge has been implemented:
1. Merge source parts into a destination part inside the partition directory itself.
E.g. now the partition directory may contain both complete and incomplete parts.
2. Atomically update the parts.json file with the new list of parts after the merge,
e.g. remove the source parts from the list and add the destination part to the list
before storing it to parts.json file.
3. Remove the source parts from disk when they are no longer used.
This algorithm guarantees that either source parts or destination part
is visible in the partition after unclean shutdown at any step above,
since incomplete partitions from step 1 or old source parts from step 3 are removed
on the next startup by inspecting parts.json file.
This algorithm should work under Windows, since it doesn't remove or move files in use.
This algorithm has also the following benefits:
- It should work better for NFS.
- It fits object storage semantics.
The new algorithm changes data storage format, so it is impossible to downgrade
to the previous versions of VictoriaMetrics after upgrading to this algorithm.
Updates https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3236
Updates https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3821
Updates https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/70
The main purpose of this command-line flag is to increase the lifetime of low-end flash storage
with the limited number of write operations it can perform. Such flash storage is usually
installed on Raspberry PI or similar appliances.
For example, `-inmemoryDataFlushInterval=1h` reduces the frequency of disk write operations
to up to once per hour if the ingested one-hour worth of data fits the limit for in-memory data.
The in-memory data is searchable in the same way as the data stored on disk.
VictoriaMetrics automatically flushes the in-memory data to disk on graceful shutdown via SIGINT signal.
The in-memory data is lost on unclean shutdown (hardware power loss, OOM crash, SIGKILL).
Updates https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/3337
This should reduce memory usage on systems with big number of CPU cores,
since every inmemoryPart object occupies at least 64KB of memory and sync.Pool maintains
a separate pool inmemoryPart objects per each CPU core.
Though the new scheme for the pool worsens per-cpu cache locality, this should be amortized
by big sizes of inmemoryPart objects.
