Ecto timeout errors when wrapping into cachex calls in tests

cjk

Hi there,

I use Cachex to cache very frequent queries:

@spec get_setting_for_forum(%Forum{}) :: %Setting{} | nil
def get_setting_for_forum(%Forum{} = forum) do
  Cachex.fetch!(:cforum, "settings/forums/#{forum.forum_id}", fn ->
    from(setting in Setting, where: setting.forum_id == ^forum.forum_id)
    |> Repo.one()
  end)
end

@spec get_setting_for_user(%User{}) :: %Setting{} | nil
def get_setting_for_user(%User{} = user) do
  Cachex.fetch!(:cforum, "settings/users/#{user.user_id}", fn ->
    from(setting in Setting, where: setting.user_id == ^user.user_id)
    |> Repo.one()
  end)
end

This function loads a settings object from the database. It works fine in production and dev code, but in tests I get this error:

** (Cachex.ExecutionError) connection not available and request was dropped from queue after 602ms. You can configure how long requests wait in the queue using :queue_target and :queue_interval. See DBConnection.start_link/2 for more information

I call the getter functions like this:

def load_relevant_settings(forum, user)

def load_relevant_settings(nil, nil) do
  [get_global_setting()]
  |> Enum.reject(&is_nil(&1))
end

def load_relevant_settings(%Forum{} = forum, nil) do
  [get_global_setting(), get_setting_for_forum(forum)]
  |> Enum.reject(&is_nil(&1))
end

def load_relevant_settings(nil, %User{} = user) do
  [get_global_setting(), get_setting_for_user(user)]
  |> Enum.reject(&is_nil(&1))
end

def load_relevant_settings(%Forum{} = forum, %User{} = user) do
  [get_global_setting(), get_setting_for_forum(forum), get_setting_for_user(user)]
  |> Enum.reject(&is_nil(&1))
end

I can’t figure out what’s going wrong. Has anybody an idea?

Edit: I already tried to set the pool size to a very high value (100), but it didn’t help.

Best regards,
CK

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#ecto #cachex

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2021-03-01 14:59:25 UTC

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cjk

I think I figured out what happens. The full stacktrace is as follows:

      (cachex) lib/cachex.ex:1407: Cachex.unwrap_unsafe/1
       (cforum) lib/cforum/config_manager.ex:278: Cforum.ConfigManager.conf/3
       (cforum) lib/cforum/config_manager.ex:262: Cforum.ConfigManager.conf/3
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/message_indexer_job.ex:21: anonymous fn/2 in Cforum.Forums.MessageIndexerJob.index_message/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/messages.ex:524: Cforum.Forums.Messages.index_message/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/threads.ex:431: Cforum.Forums.Threads.create_message/5
       (ecto_sql) lib/ecto/adapters/sql.ex:814: anonymous fn/3 in Ecto.Adapters.SQL.checkout_or_transaction/4
       (db_connection) lib/db_connection.ex:1349: DBConnection.run_transaction/4
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/threads.ex:403: Cforum.Forums.Threads.create_thread/5
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller.ex:139: CforumWeb.ThreadController.create_thread/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller.ex:1: CforumWeb.ThreadController.action/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller.ex:1: CforumWeb.ThreadController.phoenix_controller_pipeline/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/endpoint.ex:1: CforumWeb.Endpoint.instrument/4
       (phoenix) lib/phoenix/router.ex:275: Phoenix.Router.__call__/1
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/endpoint.ex:1: CforumWeb.Endpoint.plug_builder_call/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/endpoint.ex:1: CforumWeb.Endpoint.call/2
       (phoenix) lib/phoenix/test/conn_test.ex:235: Phoenix.ConnTest.dispatch/5
       test/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller_test.exs:92: (test)

The application is in the middle of a database operation. Since the Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox adapter wraps every test case in a giant transaction there is only one ecto process available, right? This would then lead to a deadlock when requesting multiple times for a database connection, wouldn’t it?

How can I circumvent this?

Edit: but if this is the case, why does everything work fine when not wrapping the getter functions in Cachex.fetch?

Best regards,
CK

Post #1

cjk

I might have found the reason why it works when not using Cachex. Cachex spawns its own process, and the fallback function for querying the database gets executed in the context of the cachex process. And this process has no access to the database connection. Is this assumption right? If yes, how do I fix that w/o calling Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox.allow?

Post #2

benwilson512

Author of Craft GraphQL APIs in Elixir with Absinthe

You can do:

def get_setting_for_forum(%Forum{} = forum) do
  caller = self()
  Cachex.fetch!(:cforum, "settings/forums/#{forum.forum_id}", fn ->
    from(setting in Setting, where: setting.forum_id == ^forum.forum_id)
    |> Repo.one(caller: caller)
  end)
end

Post #3

cjk

Hi Ben,

sadly that doesn’t change anything. I still get the timeouts:

  1) test create creates a thread (CforumWeb.ThreadControllerTest)
     test/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller_test.exs:85
     ** (Cachex.ExecutionError) connection not available and request was dropped from queue after 692ms. You can configure how long requests wait in the queue using :queue_target and :queue_interval. See DBConnection.start_link/2 for more information                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
     code: conn = post(conn, Path.thread_path(conn, :new, forum), message: params_for(:message, forum_id: nil))
     stacktrace:
       (cachex) lib/cachex.ex:1407: Cachex.unwrap_unsafe/1
       (cforum) lib/cforum/config_manager.ex:278: Cforum.ConfigManager.conf/3
       (cforum) lib/cforum/config_manager.ex:262: Cforum.ConfigManager.conf/3
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/message_indexer_job.ex:21: anonymous fn/2 in Cforum.Forums.MessageIndexerJob.index_message/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/messages.ex:524: Cforum.Forums.Messages.index_message/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/threads.ex:431: Cforum.Forums.Threads.create_message/5
       (ecto_sql) lib/ecto/adapters/sql.ex:814: anonymous fn/3 in Ecto.Adapters.SQL.checkout_or_transaction/4
       (db_connection) lib/db_connection.ex:1349: DBConnection.run_transaction/4
       (cforum) lib/cforum/forums/threads.ex:403: Cforum.Forums.Threads.create_thread/5
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller.ex:139: CforumWeb.ThreadController.create_thread/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller.ex:1: CforumWeb.ThreadController.action/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller.ex:1: CforumWeb.ThreadController.phoenix_controller_pipeline/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/endpoint.ex:1: CforumWeb.Endpoint.instrument/4
       (phoenix) lib/phoenix/router.ex:275: Phoenix.Router.__call__/1
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/endpoint.ex:1: CforumWeb.Endpoint.plug_builder_call/2
       (cforum) lib/cforum_web/endpoint.ex:1: CforumWeb.Endpoint.call/2
       (phoenix) lib/phoenix/test/conn_test.ex:235: Phoenix.ConnTest.dispatch/5
       test/cforum_web/controllers/thread_controller_test.exs:86: (test)

This issue causes me headaches

Post #4

cjk

I could do something like this:

  def fetch(key, fun, cache \\ :cforum) do
    case Cachex.exists?(cache, key) do
      {:ok, true} ->
        Cachex.get!(cache, key)

      {:ok, false} ->
        val = fun.()
        Cachex.put!(cache, key, val)
        val

      {:error, _} = v ->
        raise v
    end
  end

This solves the issue but this just circumvents the problem. I’d like to understand what’s happening and how to fix it the right way[tm].

Post #5

benwilson512

Author of Craft GraphQL APIs in Elixir with Absinthe

Oh sorry it’s a timeout issue not an ownership issue, that wasn’t clear to me initially since the first stack trace didn’t include the actual error message.

To clear up a misconception though:

there is only one ecto process available, right?

no. There is a pool of connections. This makes it possible to do concurrent tests. Each concurrent test case would checkout a different connection, and then each start their own transaction. This is why the caller: argument exists to Repo calls, it can indicate to Ecto which connection process to use.

Unfortunately none of that really helps answer the timeout question. I’ll have to dig into Cachex to see how Cachex.fetch! works.

Post #6

cjk

The ownership issue was just an assumption I made (thus the question mark ) because it works when called from outside of the process of cachex.

Well, I will dig deeper into cachex then, thanks.

Post #7

lasseebert

I face the same issue, but not with Cachex, just with a normal ecto transaction.

I run a bunch of db operations inside a transaction. Inside the transaction I call some logic in another process that performs a db-lookup (in other tables). This works fine when not running tests, but in the test it dies with connection not available and request was dropped from queue after 989ms.

I have not found a way around this yet.

Post #8

benwilson512

Author of Craft GraphQL APIs in Elixir with Absinthe

Post #9

lasseebert

Thanks @benwilson512, but I already use :shared mode on the connection, so it shouldn’t make a difference. (I also tried and it didn’t).

I don’t get the cannot find ownership process error, which would be solved with allow/3 or :shared, but a connection not available.

For now, I “solved” the issue by replacing the db-call inside the existing transaction with a mock that does not hit the db.

Here is a small example that reproduces my issue:

test "calling db from another process inside a transaction" do
  Repo.transaction(fn ->
    parent = self()

    spawn_link(fn ->
      User |> Repo.one()
      send(parent, :done_in_other_process)
    end)

    receive do
      :done_in_other_process -> :ok
    end

    :ok
  end)
end

This is the setup code that is run before each db test:

:ok = Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox.checkout(MyApp.Repo)
Ecto.Adapters.SQL.Sandbox.mode(MyApp.Repo, {:shared, self()})

It will give this error:

  1) test calling db from another process inside a transaction (MyApp.MyTest)
     test/my_test.exs:153
     ** (EXIT from #PID<0.497.0>) an exception was raised:
         ** (DBConnection.ConnectionError) connection not available and request was dropped from queue after 989ms. You can configure how long requests wait in the queue using :queue_target and :queue_interval. See DBConnection.start_link/2 for more information
             (ecto_sql) lib/ecto/adapters/sql.ex:605: Ecto.Adapters.SQL.raise_sql_call_error/1
             (ecto_sql) lib/ecto/adapters/sql.ex:538: Ecto.Adapters.SQL.execute/5
             (ecto) lib/ecto/repo/queryable.ex:153: Ecto.Repo.Queryable.execute/4
             (ecto) lib/ecto/repo/queryable.ex:18: Ecto.Repo.Queryable.all/3
             (ecto) lib/ecto/repo/queryable.ex:67: Ecto.Repo.Queryable.one/3
             test/my_test.exs:158: anonymous fn/1 in MyApp.MyTest."test calling db from another process inside a transaction"/1

Post #10

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