Scala Akka Logging with SLF4J MDC - scala

I'm configuring my Akka application to use the SLF4J logger as specified here:
http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/2.3.4/scala/logging.html
Underneath the hood, I'm depending on Logback to do the logging. I'm developing a common module for logging purposes that users can use in their actor systems. Mainly, I'm creating a trait they can mixin.
I have a trait that does this:
I have something as such:
trait ActorLogger {
val log: DiagnosticLoggingAdapter = Logging(this);
}
I have some extra logic which will add MDC values to the DiagnosticLoggingAdapter's MDC.
The problem is now this: I expose a different logger entirely if users want to mixin to their non-actor classes. So I might have something like this:
trait ClassLogger {
val log = LoggerFactory getLogger getClass.getName
}
I want the MDC values to carry over to this logger. So for example, if I put MDC values into my DiagnosticAdapterLogger, I should expect to be able to get those values from org.slf4j.MDC
How can this be achieved in a clean way?
Thanks!

If all your code outside the actor system is single-threaded (i.e. you don't spawn any additional futures or threads), there's a simpler solution than the one #jasop references.
I have this mixin that takes care of populating the MDC both inside and outside actors:
import akka.actor.DiagnosticActorLogging
import akka.contrib.pattern.ReceivePipeline
import org.slf4j.MDC
import scala.collection.JavaConverters.mapAsJavaMapConverter
trait MdcActorLogging extends DiagnosticActorLogging {
this: ReceivePipeline =>
/**
* This is for logging in Akka actors.
*/
override def mdc(message: Any): akka.event.Logging.MDC = {
message match {
case MyMessage(requestId) => Map("requestId" -> requestId)
case _ => Map()
}
}
/**
* This makes the MDC accessible for logging outside of Akka actors by wrapping the actor's
* `receive` method.
* Implements the [[http://doc.akka.io/docs/akka/2.4/contrib/receive-pipeline.html ReceivePipeline]]
* pattern.
*/
pipelineOuter {
case e # MyMessage(requestId) =>
val origContext = MDC.getCopyOfContextMap
val mdcWithPath = Map("requestId" -> requestId,
// inside actors this is already provided, but outside we have to add this manually
"akkaSource" -> self.path.toString)
MDC.setContextMap(mdcWithPath.asJava)
ReceivePipeline.Inner(evt) // invoke actual actor logic
.andAfter {
if (origContext != null)
MDC.setContextMap(origContext)
else
MDC.clear()
}
case e => ReceivePipeline.Inner(e) // pass through
}
}
The non-actor code can use any logger, e.g. mix in the com.typesafe.scalalogging.LazyLogging trait.

Related

How can I resolve conflicting actor systems while testing akka-http and akka actors at the same spec file?

I have a Route defined using akka-http that uses an actor inside to send messages.
My route looks like this:
path("entity") {
post {
entity(as[Enrtity]) {
entity =>
val result: Future[Message] = mainActor.ask {
ref: akka.actor.typed.ActorRef[Message] =>
Message(
entity = entity,
replyRef = ref
)
}
complete("OK")
}
}
}
My test spec:
class APITest
extends ScalaTestWithActorTestKit(ManualTime.config)
with ScalatestRouteTest
with AnyWordSpecLike {
val manualTime: ManualTime = ManualTime()
// my tests here ...
}
Compiling the test fails since there are conflicting actor systems:
class APITest inherits conflicting members:
[error] implicit def system: akka.actor.typed.ActorSystem[Nothing] (defined in class ActorTestKitBase) and
[error] implicit val system: akka.actor.ActorSystem (defined in trait RouteTest)
Overriding the actor system doesn't help either since the inherited actor systems are of both typed and untyped ones.
How can I resolve this easily?
Update:
This is related to conflicting inherited members with different types, but we might be able to solve what I want to achieve in this context differently.
I spent a little time here while moving over to typed. For anyone still looking, there's a nice hint at https://developer.lightbend.com/guides/akka-http-quickstart-scala/testing-routes.html
// the Akka HTTP route testkit does not yet support a typed actor system (https://github.com/akka/akka-http/issues/2036)
// so we have to adapt for now
lazy val testKit = ActorTestKit()
implicit def typedSystem = testKit.system
override def createActorSystem(): akka.actor.ActorSystem =
testKit.system.classicSystem
Looking at the first comment at https://github.com/akka/akka-http/issues/2036 it notes
Perhaps just a docs addition to show that you don't need to use the ActorTestKit from Akka Typed and can just use TestProbes e.g. https://gist.github.com/chbatey/964b80adc2cd124fa4bf4624927b5be0
or val probe = TestProbe[Ping]() > val probe = testKit.createTestProbe[Ping]()

Akka HTTP: How to split routes with actors

I have an old Scala/Akka Http project that I'm trying to simplify and refactor. I was wondering if there's a better way to organize routes and perhaps split them across actors. Here's what I have at the moment (far from ideal):
```
object MyAPI {
def props(): Props = Props(new MyAPI())
val routes = pathPrefix("api") {
pathPrefix("1") {
SomeActor.route //More routes can be appended here using ~
}
}
}
final class MyAPI extends Actor with ActorLogging {
implicit lazy val materializer = ActorMaterializer()
implicit lazy val executionContext = context.dispatcher
Http(context.system)
.bindAndHandleAsync(Route.asyncHandler(MyAPI.routes), MyHttpServer.httpServerHostName, MyHttpServer.httpServerPort)
.pipeTo(self)
override def receive: Receive = {
case serverBinding: ServerBinding =>
log.info(s"Server started on ${serverBinding.localAddress}")
context.become(Actor.emptyBehavior)
case Status.Failure(t) =>
log.error(t, "Error binding to network interface")
context.stop(self)
}
}
```
```
object SomeActor {
def props(): Props = Props[SomeActor]
val route = get {
pathPrefix("actor") {
pathEnd {
complete("Completed") //Is there a clean way 'ask' the actor below?
}
}
}
}
class SomeActor extends Actor with ActorLogging {
implicit lazy val executionContext = context.dispatcher;
override def receive: Receive = {
//receive and process messages here
}
```
So, my question is - is there a clean way to structure and refactor routes instead of lumping them together in one large route definition? I could perhaps create a hierarchy of actors (routers) and the main route definition just delegates it to the routers and we incrementally add more details as we go deeper in the actor hierarchy. But is there a generally accepted patter or two to organize routes?
I would like to suggest you on the basis of the functionality you can have as many actors you you want, but create one supervisor actors which will keep watch on each child actor. And all the supervision strategies should be written into the supervisor itself, and all the msg you gonna sent to the actors should be forwarded by the supervisor.
As soon as you get the data from the end point, may be get or post method take the data into someRequest case class. Then sent it to some handleReq() method. And then do your processing make traits on functionality basis.
You can structure project something like this.
src/
actor//all the actors will be in this package
model// all the case classes and constants
repo// all the db related function you can do here
service// all your routes and endPoint functions
Now you can have package util where all the utilities trait you can put which will be used by any of the actor, or service may be you have lots of validations you can have a package named validator.
The structure is depends on your business. I think it would help.

Akka HTTP Code/Structural Patterns

I am just starting with Akka Http (and Scala) and was wondering if there are any well-defined patterns for structuring Akka code. In particular, I am looking for structural patterns for composing/aggregating routes dynamically. In particular, I'm looking for a solution similar to the below pseudocode:
trait MyActor extends Actor {
val myRouter: ActorRef = context.actorOf(FromConfig.props(Props[MyWorker]), "Worker")
val myRoute = .... //route definition for this trait
}
trait MySecondActor extends Actor {
val mySecondRouter: ActorRef = context.actorOf(FromConfig.props(Props[MySecondWorker]), "SecondWorker")
val myRoute = .... //route definition for this trait
}
Then, in my main server just mix in the traits to get both actors and routes automagically:
class HttpServer extends SomeTrait with MyActor with MySecondActor {
.....
.....
}
There are some obvious problems with the above pattern including:
All traits inherit from Actor and then mix into the same class - not sure what the final behaviour will be.
The HttpServer class itself becomes an actor and cannot be instantiated by new HttpServer()
The routes are not concatinated.
What I'm looking for is a pattern that:
Allows me to separate routing logic in various packages and preferable bundle it with corresponding actors.
Make routes dynamic and discoverable instead of specifying them at boot time.
I came across the following two on StackOverflow but was wondering if there's a better approach and a well-defined pattern:
akka-http with multiple route configurations (This isn't really dynamic)
How to aggregate akka-http routes using a trait? (Old question using reflection)
Thanks!
When using akka-http you usually don't need actors to implement the routing. Actors are usually only used to access the business logic asynchronously. Let me give you an example on how to structure your code with predefined routes. This is the pattern I learned from Heiko Seeberger.
First create an object creating your routes:
object Api {
def route: Route = {
import import akka.http.scaladsl.server.Directives._
pathSingleSlash {
get {
complete(StatusCodes.OK)
}
}
}
}
If you need an actor to access your business logic you can pass it as parameter to the route method. Remember to use the ask pattern, when interacting with actor during request handling.
Than you create a Root actor which creates your Api:
final class Root extends Actor with ActorLogging {
Http(context.system)
.bindAndHandle(Api.route, "0.0.0.0", 8000)
.pipeTo(self)
override def receive: Receive = {
case s: ServerBinding =>
log.info(s"Listening to ${s.localAddress}")
context.become(Actor.emptyBehavior)
case Status.Failure(t) =>
log.error(t, "Error binding to network interface")
context.stop(self)
}
}
Finally you need some main method to create the actor system and the Root actor:
object Main {
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
val system = ActorSystem("user-api")
system.actorOf(Props(new Root))
Await.ready(system.whenTerminated, Duration.Inf)
}
}
So this would be my take on best practices for defining akka-http routes. What is not covered in my answer is how to dynamically discover routes, but to be honest, I fail to see the use case here. Usually your system should have some well defined end points. How would users know which endpoints they can talk to if even the system does not know which endpoints it will serve at startup time?

Pass an actor as parameter

For example, I have
trait Logger {
def log(m: Message) = ???
}
If I want to pass a Logger as parameter I would simple call def foo(l: Logger).
But if I have
trait Logger {
def log(m: Message) = ???
def receive = {
case m: Message = log(m)
}
}
,I must pass an ActorRef to be able to call !/? etc on it. But that completely breaks type safety - def log(ar: ActorRef), and nothing says that it should be an Logger underneath.
So, in the end I'd like to call
class Foo(logger: Logger) {
def foo(m: Message) = logger ! message
}
Well, yes. That's just how Akka works, because actors can change behavior. See How to restrict actor messages to specific types?.
Solution 1: define a wrapper class like
case class LoggerActor(ar: ActorRef) {
def log(m: Message) = ar ! m
}
And then use LoggerActor where you want to make sure you have a Logger. Of course, if you want to do it everywhere, you'll probably want to automate creation of these classes somehow.
Solution 2: Use Akka Typed. Note it's experimental. I won't copy the documentation from there.
Solution 3: Use Scalaz actors instead, which were typed from the beginning. See https://github.com/scalaz/scalaz/blob/series/7.3.x/tests/src/test/scala/scalaz/concurrent/ActorTest.scala for usage examples. For your case it could be
val logger = new Logger { ... }
val loggerActor = new Actor[Message](logger.log)
You can specify that your ActorRef should implement Logger too:
def log(ar: ActorRef with Logger)

How to get a reference to an existing ActorSystem in Akka?

is it possible in Akka (scala) to get a reference to an existing ActorSystem?
I am working on a Spray application with another Actor for DB. I am also extending Directives to have an object per path. the directives are not actors by themselves, but they need to pass messages to the DBActor. here:
class HttpActor extends Actor with HttpService {
val actorRefFactory = context
def receive = runRoute(
IndexService.route ~
HostsService.route
)
}
object HostsService extends Directives{
def route(implicit dm: DetachMagnet2) = {
path("hosts") {
get {
detach() {
**dbActor ! CreateHost**
complete("get me hosts!")
}
} ~
post {
detach() {
entity(as[String]) { payload =>
complete(s"post hosts $payload")
}
}
}
}
}
}
is there a way for HostsService to discover the ActorSystem itself so he can find the DBActor, or must HttpActor pass it in? the latter seems less elegant, as it HostsService will need to become a class (not an object), so no longer a singleton.
From here:
there was a ticket for creating such a registry, but we were not
satisfied with what we got when trying to specify the semantics in
detail. One part is that we removed all global state so that different
parts of an application can use Akka without having to worry about
each other and a global feature would break this. Another is that it
would encourage get-or-create usage—my pet peeve—which would make the
semantics unclear: you give a name and a config, but if the name
already exists you potentially get back a differently configured
system (which is usually quite fatal).
There is nothing stopping you from putting a hashmap in some central
place of your application, (pre-)populate that with the actor systems
you need and be done, that's basically a one-liner (which is another
reason for not including it in Akka, because instead of a simple
solution to a very narrow problem we'd have to think of a solution to
a much more generic problem)
In your case, it's better to pass your system implicitly to the route function:
class HttpActor extends Actor with HttpService {
implicit val actorRefFactory = context
def receive = runRoute(
IndexService.route ~
HostsService.route
)
}
object HostsService extends Directives {
def route(implicit dm: DetachMagnet2, as: ActorContext) = {...}
}