Riak Multi-Datacenter Replication:
Hooks API

This document is a guide to developing extensions for Riak’s Multi-Datacenter Replication feature.

Replication Hooks

Riak allows applications to register replication hooks to control either of the following:

• when extra objects need to be replicated along with the current object
• when an object should not be replicated.

To register a hook, you must call the following function in an application-specific Erlang module, where MyMod is to be replaced with the name of your custom module:

riak_core:register([{repl_helper, MyMod}]).

Replication Hook API

A replication hook must implement the following functions:

send_realtime/2

(riak_object, RiakClient) -> ok | cancel | [riak_object]

This hook controls whether an object replicated in realtime should be sent. To send this object, return ok; to prevent the object from being sent, return cancel. You can also return a list of Riak objects to be replicated immediately before the current object. This is useful when you have an object that refers to other objects, e.g. a chunked file, and want to ensure that all of the dependency objects are replicated before the dependent object.

send/2

(riak_object, RiakClient) -> ok | cancel | [riak_object]

This hook is used in fullsync replication. To send this object, return ok; to prevent the object from being sent, return cancel. You can also return a list of Riak objects to be replicated immediately before the current object. This is useful for when you have an object that refers to other objects, e.g. a chunked file, and want ensure that all the dependency objects are replicated before the dependent object.

recv/1

(riak_object) -> ok | cancel

When an object is received by the client site, this hook is run. You can use it to update metadata or to deny the object.

Implementing a Sample Replication Hook

The following is a simple replication hook that will log when an object is received via replication. For more information about the functions in the sample, see the Replication Hook API section below.

Here is the relevant Erlang code:

%% Riak Enterprise MDC replication hook sample

-module(riak_replication_hook_sample).
-export([register/0]).
-export([recv/1, send/2, send_realtime/2]).

register() ->
  riak_core:wait_for_service(riak_repl),
  lager:log(info, self(),
              "Automatically registering ~p hook with riak_core",
              [?MODULE_STRING]),
  riak_core:register([{repl_helper, ?MODULE}]),
  case lists:member({undefined,?MODULE},
                      app_helper:get_env(riak_core,repl_helper, [])) of
    true ->
      lager:log(info, self(),
                  "Successfully registered ~p hook with riak_core",
                  [?MODULE_STRING]);
    false ->
      lager:log(info, self(),
                  "Failed to register ~p hook with riak_core",
                  [?MODULE_STRING])
  end,
  ok.

recv(Object) ->
  % This is a BLOCKING function.
  % Longer-running processes should be handled asynchronously.
  lager:log(info, self(), "Called recv(~p)", [riak_object:key(Object)]),
  ok.

send_realtime(_Object, _RiakClient) ->
  % Do Nothing function -- These hooks are called in predictable
  % but complex ways especially as the number of replication
  % sites (Version 2 Replication) or sinks (Version 3 Replication)
  % increase.
  ok.

send(_Object, _RiakClient) ->
  % Do Nothing function -- These hooks are called in predictable
  % but complex ways especially as the number of replication
  % sites (Version 2 Replication) or sinks (Version 3 Replication)
  % increase.
  ok.

Save the above code as riak_replication_hook_sample.erl.

To install the sample hook, compile riak_replication_hook_sample.erl.

Table 1: Erlang compiler executable location for packaged Riak installations on supported platforms

Once you have determined the location of the Erlang compiler, e.g. on Ubuntu, compiling is as simple as:

/usr/lib/riak/erts-5.10.3/bin/erlc riak_replication_hook_sample.erl

This will create a riak_replication_hook_sample.beam file in the same directory as the corresponding .erl file. Copy this .beam file into the subdirectory where you want to store the custom hook:

cp riak_replication_hook_sample.beam /path/to/replication/hook

Add a -pa argument to your vm.args file to specify the path where your compiled .beam file lives:

-pa /path/to/replication/hook

Finally, add a -run argument to your vm.args file to register the hook:

-run riak_replication_hook_sample register