Querying DB2 every 15 seconds causing memory leak in NodeJS - node.js

Question

I have an application which checks for new entries in DB2 every 15 seconds on the iSeries using IBM's idb-connector. I have async functions which return the result of the query to socket.io which emits an event with the data included to the front end. I've narrowed down the memory leak to the async functions. I've read multiple articles on common memory leak causes and how to diagnose them.
MDN: memory management
Rising Stack: garbage collection explained
Marmelab: Finding And Fixing Node.js Memory Leaks: A Practical Guide
But I'm still not seeing where the problem is. Also, I'm unable to get permission to install node-gyp on the system which means most memory management tools are off limits as memwatch, heapdump and the like need node-gyp to install. Here's an example of what the functions basic structure is.
const { dbconn, dbstmt } = require('idb-connector');// require idb-connector
async function queryDB() {
const sSql = `SELECT * FROM LIBNAME.TABLE LIMIT 500`;
// create new promise
let promise = new Promise ( function(resolve, reject) {
// create new connection
const connection = new dbconn();
connection.conn("*LOCAL");
const statement = new dbstmt(connection);
statement.exec(sSql, (rows, err) => {
if (err) {
throw err;
}
let ticks = rows;
statement.close();
connection.disconn();
connection.close();
resolve(ticks.length);// resolve promise with varying data
})
});
let result = await promise;// await promise
return result;
};
async function getNewData() {
const data = await queryDB();// get new data
io.emit('newData', data)// push to front end
setTimeout(getNewData, 2000);// check again in 2 seconds
};
Any ideas on where the leak is? Am i using async/await incorrectly? Or else am i creating/destroying DB connections improperly? Any help on figuring out why this code is leaky would be much appreciated!!
Edit: Forgot to mention that i have limited control on the backend processes as they are handled by another team. I'm only retrieving the data they populate the DB with and adding it to a web page.
Edit 2: I think I've narrowed it down to the DB connections not being cleaned up properly. But, as far as i can tell I've followed the instructions suggested on their github repo.

Answer 1

I don't know the answer to your specific question, but instead of issuing a query every 15 seconds, I might go about this in a different way. Reason being that I don't generally like fishing expeditions when the environment can tell me an event occurred.
So in that vein, you might want to try a database trigger that loads the key to the row into a data queue on add, or even change or delete if necessary. Then you can just put in an async call to wait for a record on the data queue. This is more real time, and the event handler is only called when a record shows up. The handler can get the specific record from the database since you know it's key. Data queues are much faster than database IO, and place little overhead on the trigger.
I see a couple of potential advantages with this method:
You aren't issuing dozens of queries that may or may not return data.
The event would fire the instant a record is added to the table, rather than 15 seconds later.
You don't have to code for the possibility of one or more new records, it will always be 1, the one mentioned in the data queue.

Answer 2

yes you have to close connection.
Don't make const data. you don't need promise by default statement.exec is async and handles it via return result;
keep setTimeout(getNewData, 2000);// check again in 2 seconds
line outside getNewData otherwise it becomes recursive infinite loop.
Sample code
const {dbconn, dbstmt} = require('idb-connector');
const sql = 'SELECT * FROM QIWS.QCUSTCDT';
const connection = new dbconn(); // Create a connection object.
connection.conn('*LOCAL'); // Connect to a database.
const statement = new dbstmt(dbconn); // Create a statement object of the connection.
statement.exec(sql, (result, error) => {
if (error) {
throw error;
}
console.log(`Result Set: ${JSON.stringify(result)}`);
statement.close(); // Clean up the statement object.
connection.disconn(); // Disconnect from the database.
connection.close(); // Clean up the connection object.
return result;
});
*async function getNewData() {
const data = await queryDB();// get new data
io.emit('newData', data)// push to front end
setTimeout(getNewData, 2000);// check again in 2 seconds
};*
change to
**async function getNewData() {
const data = await queryDB();// get new data
io.emit('newData', data)// push to front end
};
setTimeout(getNewData, 2000);// check again in 2 seconds**

Answer 3

First thing to notice is possible open database connection in case of an error.
if (err) {
throw err;
}
Also in case of success connection.disconn(); and connection.close(); return boolean values that tell is operation successful (according to documentation)
Always possible scenario is to pile up connection objects in 3rd party library.
I would check those.

Answer 4

This was confirmed to be a memory leak in the idb-connector library that i was using. Link to github issue Here. Basically there was a C++ array that never had it's memory deallocated. A new version was added and the commit can viewed Here.