Azure durable function running multiple times on startup when running locally - azure

I have an http triggered azure durable function with an orchestration trigger called "ExecuteWork" and two activities namely "HandleClaimsForms" and "HandleApplicationForms". I will add the definitions for them below. The function is used to process PDFs in a blob storage container. When running locally it will execute "HandleClaimsForms" four or five times on startup without it being called.
Here are the logs that it is producing:
Functions:
Function1: [GET,POST] http://localhost:7071/api/Function1
ExecuteWork: orchestrationTrigger
HandleApplicationForms: activityTrigger
HandleClaimsForms: activityTrigger
[2022-06-07T12:39:44.587Z] Executing 'HandleClaimsForms' (Reason='(null)', Id=c45878fe-35c8-4a57-948e-0b43da969427)
[2022-06-07T12:39:44.587Z] Executing 'HandleClaimsForms' (Reason='(null)', Id=0fb9644d-6748-4791-96cf-a92f6c161a97)
[2022-06-07T12:39:44.587Z] Executing 'HandleClaimsForms' (Reason='(null)', Id=9a39a169-a91d-4524-b5e5-63e6226f70ec)
[2022-06-07T12:39:44.587Z] Executing 'HandleClaimsForms' (Reason='(null)', Id=b3697f6b-7c96-4497-826f-3894359ff361)
[2022-06-07T12:39:44.587Z] Executing 'HandleClaimsForms' (Reason='(null)', Id=3ca3bbce-1657-453b-a5b3-e9dbdb940302)
Here are the Function definitions:
Function entrypoint
[FunctionName("Function1")]
public async Task<IActionResult> Run(
[HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Function, "get", "post", Route = null)] HttpRequest req,
[DurableClient] IDurableOrchestrationClient starter,
ILogger log)
{
string instanceID = await starter.StartNewAsync("ExecuteWork");
return starter.CreateCheckStatusResponse(req, instanceID);
}
Orchestration trigger
[FunctionName("ExecuteWork")]
public async Task<bool> ProcessForms(
[OrchestrationTrigger] IDurableOrchestrationContext context,
ILogger log)
{
bool success = true;
try
{
await context.CallActivityAsync("HandleClaimsForms", success);
await context.CallActivityAsync("HandleApplicationForms", success);
return success;
}
catch (Exception err)
{
log.LogInformation($"The following error was thrown: {err}");
success = false;
return success;
}
}
HandleClaimsForm Activity
public async Task<bool> ProcessClaimsForms(
[ActivityTrigger]bool success)
{
await _docHandler.Handle();
return success;
}
HandleApplicationForm activity
[FunctionName("HandleApplicationForms")]
public async Task<bool> ProcessApplicationForms(
[ActivityTrigger]bool success)
{
await _appHandler.HandleJsonApplicationFormAsync();
return success;
}

One of the workaround you can follow to resolve the above issue,
Based on the MICROSOFT DOCUMENT about the reliability is:
Durable Functions uses event sourcing transparently. Behind the scenes, the await (C#) or yield (JavaScript/Python) operator in an
orchestrator function yields control of the orchestrator thread back
to the Durable Task Framework dispatcher.
The orchestrator wakes up and re-executes the entire function from scratch to rebuild the local state whenever an orchestration function
is given more work to do (for instance, when a response message is
received or a durable timer expires). The Durable Task Framework
analyses the orchestration's execution history if the code tries to
invoke a function or do any other async task during the replay. In the
event that it discovers that the activity function has already run and
produced a result, it replays that result while the orchestrator code
keeps running. Playback continues until the function code terminates
or until additional async work has been scheduled.
Another, approach is to use the dependency injection .
For more information please refer the below links:-
SIMILAR SO THREAD| HTTP Trigger on demand azure function calling itself multiple times & Azure Durable Function Activity seems to run multiple times and not complete .

Related

Order Process with Azure Durable Functions or not

I am creating an architecture to process our orders from an ecommerce website who gets 10,000 orders or more every hour. We are using an external third party order fulfillment service and they have about 5 Steps/APIs that we have to run which are dependent upon each other.
I was thinking of using Fan in/Fan Out approach where we can use durable functions.
My plan
Once the order is created on our end, we store in a table with a flag of Order completed.
Run a time trigger azure function that runs the durable function orchestrator which calls the activity functions for each step
Now if it fails, timer will pick up the order again until it is completed. But my question is should we put this order in service bus and pick it up from there instead of time trigger.
Because there can be more than 10,000 records each hour so we have to run a query in the time trigger function and find orders that are not completed and run the durable orchestrator 10,000 times in a loop. My first question - Can I run the durable function parallelly for 10,000 records?
If I use service bus trigger to trigger durable orchestrator, it will automatically run azure function and durable 10,000 times parallelly right? But in this instance, I will have to build a dead letter queue function/process so if it fails, we are able to move it to active topic
Questions:
Is durable function correct approach or is there a better and easier approach?
If yes, Is time trigger better or Service bus trigger to start the orchestrator function?
Can I run the durable function orchestrator parallelly through time trigger azure function. I am not talking about calling activity functions because those cannot be run parallelly because we need output of one to be input of the next
This usecase fits function chaining. This can be done by
Have the ordering system put a message on a queue (storage or servicebus)
Create an azure function with storage queue trigger or service bus trigger. This would also be the client function that triggers the orchestration function
Create an orchestration function that invokes the 5 step APIs, one activity function for each (similar to as given in function chaining example.
Create five activity function, one f for each API
Ordering system
var clientOptions = new ServiceBusClientOptions
{
TransportType = ServiceBusTransportType.AmqpWebSockets
};
//TODO: Replace the "<NAMESPACE-NAME>" and "<QUEUE-NAME>" placeholders.
client = new ServiceBusClient(
"<NAMESPACE-NAME>.servicebus.windows.net",
new DefaultAzureCredential(),
clientOptions);
sender = client.CreateSender("<QUEUE-NAME>");
var message = new ServiceBusMessage($"{orderId}");
await sender.SendMessageAsync(message);
Client function
public static class OrderFulfilment
{
[Function("OrderFulfilment")]
public static string Run([ServiceBusTrigger("<QUEUE-NAME>", Connection = "ServiceBusConnection")] string orderId,
[DurableClient] IDurableOrchestrationClient starter)
{
var logger = context.GetLogger("OrderFulfilment");
logger.LogInformation(orderId);
return starter.StartNewAsync("ChainedApiCalls", orderId);
}
}
Orchestration function
[FunctionName("ChainedApiCalls")]
public static async Task<object> Run([OrchestrationTrigger] IDurableOrchestrationContext fulfillmentContext)
{
try
{
// .... get order with orderId
var a = await context.CallActivityAsync<object>("ApiCaller1", null);
var b = await context.CallActivityAsync<object>("ApiCaller2", a);
var c = await context.CallActivityAsync<object>("ApiCaller3", b);
var d = await context.CallActivityAsync<object>("ApiCaller4", c);
return await context.CallActivityAsync<object>("ApiCaller5", d);
}
catch (Exception)
{
// Error handling or compensation goes here.
}
}
Activity functions
[FunctionName("ApiCaller1")]
public static string ApiCaller1([ActivityTrigger] IDurableActivityContext fulfillmentApiContext)
{
string input = fulfillmentApiContext.GetInput<string>();
return $"API1 result";
}
[FunctionName("ApiCaller2")]
public static string ApiCaller2([ActivityTrigger] IDurableActivityContext fulfillmentApiContext)
{
string input = fulfillmentApiContext.GetInput<string>();
return $"API2 result";
}
// Repeat 3 more times...

Durable function and CPU resource > 80 %

I am running on an Azure Consumption Plan. And notice high CPU usage with what I understand as a simple task. I would like to know if my approach is correct. At times CPU was above 80%
I have created a scheduler function, which executes once a minute and checks a SQL db for IoT devices that needs to control at specific times. If the device needs to be controlled, and durable function is executed. This durable function simply sends the device a message and wait for the reply before sending another request.
What I am doing is simply polling the durable function and then sleeping or delaying the function for x seconds as shown below:
[FunctionName("Irrimer_HttpStart")]
public static async Task<HttpResponseMessage> HttpStart(
[HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "get", "post")]HttpRequestMessage req,
[OrchestrationClient]DurableOrchestrationClient starter,
ILogger log)
{
// Function input comes from the request content.
log.LogInformation($"Started Timmer Irr");
dynamic eventData = await req.Content.ReadAsAsync<object>();
string ZoneNumber = eventData.ZoneNumber;
string instanceId = await starter.StartNewAsync("Irrtimer", ZoneNumber);
return starter.CreateCheckStatusResponse(req, instanceId);
}
public static async Task<List<string>> RunOrchestrator(
[OrchestrationTrigger] DurableOrchestrationContext context, ILogger log)
{
log.LogInformation($"Time Control Started--->");
Iot_data_state iotstatedata = new Iot_data_state();
iotstatedata.NextState = "int_zone";
var outputs = new List<string>();
outputs.Add("Stating Durable");
iotstatedata.zonenumber = context.GetInput<string>();
iotstatedata.termination_counter = 0;
while (iotstatedata.NextState != "finished")
{
iotstatedata = await context.CallActivityAsync<Iot_data_state>("timer_irr_process", iotstatedata);
outputs.Add(iotstatedata.NextState + " " + iotstatedata.now_time);
if (iotstatedata.sleepduration > 0)
{
DateTime deadline = context.CurrentUtcDateTime.Add(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(iotstatedata.sleepduration));
await context.CreateTimer(deadline, CancellationToken.None);
}
}
return outputs;
}
I have another function "timer_irr_process", which is simply a case statement, which performs and queries as required. Then sets the delay in seconds before it needs to be invoked again. When it gets to the case "Finish", this means the durable function is no longer needed and it exists.
The kind of tasks i am trying to create efficiently is sending a message to IoT device to switch On, observe it performance incase its been controlled manually or various other things. If it malfunctions send a message to a user, if it preforms correctly and task is finished , close the durable function.
Is the any efficient away to doing this?

Is it safe to use async helper functions in an Azure Durable Functions Orchestator?

I am trying to track down some occasional Non-Deterministic workflow detected: TaskScheduledEvent: 0 TaskScheduled ... errors in a durable function project of ours. It is infrequent (3 times in 10,000 or so instances).
When comparing the orchestrator code to the constraints documented here there is one pattern we use that I am not clear on. In an effort to make the orchestrator code more clean/readable we use some private async helper functions to make the actual CallActivityWithRetryAsync call, sometimes wrapped in an exception handler for logging, then the main orchestrator function awaits on this helper function.
Something like this simplified sample:
[FunctionName(Name)]
public static async Task RunPipelineAsync(
[OrchestrationTrigger]
DurableOrchestrationContextBase context,
ILogger log)
{
// other steps
await WriteStatusAsync(context, "Started", log);
// other steps
await WriteStatusAsync(context, "Completed", log);
}
private static async Task WriteStatusAsync(
DurableOrchestrationContextBase context,
string status,
ILogger log
)
{
log.LogInformationOnce(context, "log message...");
try
{
var request = new WriteAppDocumentStatusRequest
{
//...
};
await context.CallActivityWithRetryAsync(
"WriteAppStatus",
RetryPolicy,
request
);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
// "optional step" will log errors but not take down the orchestrator
// log here
}
}
In reality these tasks are combined and used with Task.WhenAll. Is it valid to be calling these async functions despite the fact that they are not directly on the context?
Yes, what you're doing is perfectly safe because it still results in deterministic behavior. As long as you aren't doing any custom thread scheduling or calling non-durable APIs that have their own separate async callbacks (for example, network APIs typically have callbacks running on a separate thread), you are fine.
If you are ever unsure, I highly recommend you use our Durable Functions C# analyzer to analyzer your code for coding errors. This will help flag any coding mistakes that could result in Non-deterministic workflow errors.
UPDATE
Note: the current version of the analyzer will require you to add a [Deterministic] attribute to your private async function, like this:
[Deterministic]
private static async Task WriteStatusAsync(
DurableOrchestrationContextBase context,
string status,
ILogger log
)
{
// ...
}
This lets it know that the private async method is being used by your orchestrator function and that it also needs to be analyzed. If you're using Durable Functions 1.8.3 or below, the [Deterministic] attribute will not exist. However, you can create your own custom attribute with the same name and the analyzer will honor it. For example:
[Deterministic]
private static async Task WriteStatusAsync(
DurableOrchestrationContextBase context,
string status,
ILogger log
)
{
// ...
}
// Needed for the Durable Functions analyzer
class Deterministic : Attribute { }
Note, however, that we are planning on removing the need for the [Deterministic] attribute in a future release, as we're finding it may not actually be necessary.

How to do Async in Azure WebJob function

I have an async method that gets api data from a server. When I run this code on my local machine, in a console app, it performs at high speed, pushing through a few hundred http calls in the async function per minute. When I put the same code to be triggered from an Azure WebJob queue message however, it seems to operate synchronously and my numbers crawl - I'm sure I am missing something simple in my approach - any assistance appreciated.
(1) .. WebJob function that listens for a message on queue and kicks off the api get process on message received:
public class Functions
{
// This function will get triggered/executed when a new message is written
// on an Azure Queue called queue.
public static async Task ProcessQueueMessage ([QueueTrigger("myqueue")] string message, TextWriter log)
{
var getAPIData = new GetData();
getAPIData.DoIt(message).Wait();
log.WriteLine("*** done: " + message);
}
}
(2) the class that outside azure works in async mode at speed...
class GetData
{
// wrapper that is called by the message function trigger
public async Task DoIt(string MessageFile)
{
await CallAPI(MessageFile);
}
public async Task<string> CallAPI(string MessageFile)
{
/// create a list of sample APIs to call...
var apiCallList = new List<string>();
apiCallList.Add("localhost/?q=1");
apiCallList.Add("localhost/?q=2");
apiCallList.Add("localhost/?q=3");
apiCallList.Add("localhost/?q=4");
apiCallList.Add("localhost/?q=5");
// setup httpclient
HttpClient client =
new HttpClient() { MaxResponseContentBufferSize = 10000000 };
var timeout = new TimeSpan(0, 5, 0); // 5 min timeout
client.Timeout = timeout;
// create a list of http api get Task...
IEnumerable<Task<string>> allResults = apiCallList.Select(str => ProcessURLPageAsync(str, client));
// wait for them all to complete, then move on...
await Task.WhenAll(allResults);
return allResults.ToString();
}
async Task<string> ProcessURLPageAsync(string APIAddressString, HttpClient client)
{
string page = "";
HttpResponseMessage resX;
try
{
// set the address to call
Uri URL = new Uri(APIAddressString);
// execute the call
resX = await client.GetAsync(URL);
page = await resX.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
string rslt = page;
// do something with the api response data
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// log error
}
return page;
}
}
First because your triggered function is async, you should use await rather than .Wait(). Wait will block the current thread.
public static async Task ProcessQueueMessage([QueueTrigger("myqueue")] string message, TextWriter log)
{
var getAPIData = new GetData();
await getAPIData.DoIt(message);
log.WriteLine("*** done: " + message);
}
Anyway you'll be able to find usefull information from the documentation
Parallel execution
If you have multiple functions listening on different queues, the SDK will call them in parallel when messages are received simultaneously.
The same is true when multiple messages are received for a single queue. By default, the SDK gets a batch of 16 queue messages at a time and executes the function that processes them in parallel. The batch size is configurable. When the number being processed gets down to half of the batch size, the SDK gets another batch and starts processing those messages. Therefore the maximum number of concurrent messages being processed per function is one and a half times the batch size. This limit applies separately to each function that has a QueueTrigger attribute.
Here is a sample code to configure the batch size:
var config = new JobHostConfiguration();
config.Queues.BatchSize = 50;
var host = new JobHost(config);
host.RunAndBlock();
However, it is not always a good option to have too many threads running at the same time and could lead to bad performance.
Another option is to scale out your webjob:
Multiple instances
if your web app runs on multiple instances, a continuous WebJob runs on each machine, and each machine will wait for triggers and attempt to run functions. The WebJobs SDK queue trigger automatically prevents a function from processing a queue message multiple times; functions do not have to be written to be idempotent. However, if you want to ensure that only one instance of a function runs even when there are multiple instances of the host web app, you can use the Singleton attribute.
Have a read of this Webjobs SDK documentation - the behaviour you should expect is that your process will run and process one message at a time, but will scale up if more instances are created (of your app service). If you had multiple queues, they will trigger in parallel.
In order to improve the performance, see the configurations settings section in the link I sent you, which refers to the number of messages that can be triggered in a batch.
If you want to process multiple messages in parallel though, and don't want to rely on instance scaling, then you need to use threading instead (async isn't about multi-threaded parallelism, but making more efficient use of the thread you're using). So your queue trigger function should read the message from the queue, the create a thread and "fire and forget" that thread, and then return from the trigger function. This will mark the message as processed, and allow the next message on the queue to be processed, even though in theory you're still processing the earlier one. Note you will need to include your own logic for error handling and ensuring that the data wont get lost if your thread throws an exception or can't process the message (eg. put it on a poison queue).
The other option is to not use the [queuetrigger] attribute, and use the Azure storage queues sdk API functions directly to connect and process the messages per your requirements.

Async/await in azure worker role causing the role to recycle

I am playing around with Tasks, Async and await in my WorkerRole (RoleEntryPoint).
I had some unexplained recycles and i have found out now that if something is running to long in a await call, the role recycles. To reproduce it, just do a await Task.Delay(60000) in the Run method.
Anyone who can explain to me why?
The Run method must block. From the docs:
If you do override the Run method, your code should block indefinitely. If the Run method returns, the role is automatically recycled by raising the Stopping event and calling the OnStop method so that your shutdown sequences may be executed before the role is taken offline.
A simple solution is to just do this:
public override void Run()
{
RunAsync().Wait();
}
public async Task RunAsync()
{
while (true)
{
await Task.Delay(60000);
}
}
Alternatively, you can use AsyncContext from my AsyncEx library:
public override void Run()
{
AsyncContext.Run(async () =>
{
while (true)
{
await Task.Delay(60000);
}
});
}
Whichever option you choose, Run should not be async. It's kind of like Main for a Console app (see my blog for why async Main is not allowed).
I would recommend a lower value for Task.Delay like 1000 (ms). I suspect that the worker role cannot respond quickly enough to the health check. The role is then considered unresponsive and restarted.
Make sure the Run method never returns with something like this
while (true)
{
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
Or with Task.Delay in your case.

Resources