Re: [DISCUSS] FLIP-217 Support watermark alignment of source splits

Dawid Wysakowicz Tue, 26 Apr 2022 00:55:50 -0700

@Arvid:

   While I also like Becket's capability approach, I fear that it doesn't work
   for this particular use case: Sources can always be aligned cross-task and
   this is just about intra-task alignment. So it's plausible to put sources
   into an alignment group even though they do not use any of the presented
   API of FLIP-217. They should just issue a warning, if they handle multiple
   splits (see motivation section).

Yes, but the "supportXXX" method would be for telling if it supports that intra-task alignment. Cross-task alignment would always be supported.

I updated interfaces to what I believe to be closest to a consensus between all participants. Do you mind taking a look?


@Sebastian Do you mind addressing the nits?

Best,

Dawid

On 25/04/2022 13:39, Arvid Heise wrote:

Thanks for pushing this effort.

I'd actually be in favor of 1b). I fully agree that decorator interfaces
should be avoided but I'm also not a big fan of overloading the base
interfaces (they are hard to implement as is). The usual feedback to
Source-related interfaces are always that they are overwhelming and too
hard to implement. However, I'd also not oppose 1c) as scattered interfaces
also have drawbacks. I'd just dislike 1a) and 1d).
While I also like Becket's capability approach, I fear that it doesn't work
for this particular use case: Sources can always be aligned cross-task and
this is just about intra-task alignment. So it's plausible to put sources
into an alignment group even though they do not use any of the presented
API of FLIP-217. They should just issue a warning, if they handle multiple
splits (see motivation section).

I think renaming alignSplits to facilitate future use cases makes sense but
then all interfaces (if 1c) is chosen) should be adjusted accordingly.
AlignedSourceReader could be PausingSourceReader and I'd go for
pauseOrResumeSplits (Becket's proposal afaik). We could also split it into
pauseSplit and resumeSplit. While pauseOrResumeSplits may allow Sources to
just use 1 instead of 2 library calls (as written in the Javadoc), both
Kafka and Pulsar can't use it and I'm not sure if there is a system that
can.

Some nit for the FLIP:
- Please replace "stop" with "pause".
- Not sure if it's worth it in the capability section: Sources that adopt
this interface cannot be used in earlier versions. So it feels like we are
only forward compatible (old sources can be used after the change); but I
guess this holds for any API addition.
- You might want to add what happens when all splits are paused.
- You may want to describe how the 3 flavors of SourceReaderBase interact
with the interface.
- I'm not sure if it makes sense to include Kafka and Pulsar in the FLIP.
For me, this is rather immediate follow-up work. (could be in the same
umbrella ticket)

Best,

Arvid

On Mon, Apr 25, 2022 at 12:52 PM Dawid Wysakowicz<dwysakow...@apache.org>
wrote:

a) "MySourceReader implements SourceReader, WithSplitsAlignment", along
with "MySplitReader implements SplitReader, WithSplitsAlignment", or
b) "MySourceReader implements AlignedSourceReader" and "MySplitReader
implements AlignedSplitReader", or
c) "MySourceReader implements SourceReader" and "MySplitReader implements
SplitReader".

I think the latest proposal according to Dawid would be:
d) "MySourceReader implements SourceReader" and "MySplitReader implements
AlignedSplitReader".
I am fine with this API, although personally speaking I think it is simpler
to just add a new method to the split reader with default impl.

I think that is a good idea to have it aligned as much as possible. I'd be
+1 for your option c). We can merge AlignedSplitReader with SplitReader. We
will update the FLIP shortly.

Best,

Dawid

On 25/04/2022 12:43, Becket Qin wrote:

Thanks for the comment, Jark.

3. Interface/Method Name.

Can the interface be used to align other things in the future? For example,
align read speed, I have
seen users requesting global rate limits. This feature may also need an
interface like this.
If we don't plan to extend this interface to support align other things, I
suggest explicitly declaring
the purpose of the methods, such as `alignWatermarksForSplits` instead of
`alignSplits`.

This is a good point. Naming wise, it would usually be more extensible to
just describe what the method actually does, instead of assuming the
purpose of doing this. For example, in this case, pauseOrResumeSplits()
would be more extensible because this can be used for any kind of flow
control, be it watermark alignment or simple rate limiting.

4. Interface or Method.

I don't have a strong opinion on this. I think they have their own
advantages.
In Flink SQL, we heavily use Interfaces for extending abilities
(SupportsXxxx) for TableSource/TableSink,
and I prefer Interfaces rather than methods in this case. When you have a
bunch of abilities and each ability
has more than one method, Interfaces can help to organize them and make
users clear which methods
need to implement when you want to have an ability.

I am OK with decorative interfaces if this is a general design pattern in
the other components in Flink. But it looks like the current API proposal
is not symmetric.

The current proposal is essentially "MySourceReader implements
SourceReader, WithSplitsAlignment", along with "MySplitReader implements
AlignedSplitsReader".

Should we make the API symmetric? I'd consider any one of the following as
symmetric.

@Dawid Wysakowicz<dwysakow...@apache.org> <dwysakow...@apache.org>, thanks for
the reply.

Having said that, as I don't have a preference and I agree most of the

sources will support the alignment I am fine following your suggestion to
have the SourceReader extending from WithWatermarksSplitsAlignment, but
would put the "supportsXXX" there, not in the Source to keep the two
methods together.

One benefit of having the "supportsXXX" in Source is that this allows some
compile time check. For example, if a user enabled watermark alignment
while it is not supported by the Source, an exception can be thrown at
compile time. It seems in general useful. That said, I agree that API
cleanliness wise it is better to put the two methods together.

Thanks,

Jiangjie (Becket) Qin

On Mon, Apr 25, 2022 at 5:56 PM Jark Wu<imj...@gmail.com> <imj...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Thank Dawid for the reminder on FLIP-182. Sorry I did miss it.
I don't have other concerns then.

Best,
Jark

On Mon, 25 Apr 2022 at 15:40, Dawid Wysakowicz<dwysakow...@apache.org>
<dwysakow...@apache.org>
wrote:

@Jark:

1. Will the framework always align with watermarks when the source
implements the interface?
I'm afraid not every case needs watermark alignment even if Kafka
implements the interface,
and this will affect the throughput somehow. I agree with Becket
we may need a
`supportSplitsAlignment()` method for users to configure the source to
enable/disable the alignment.

2. How does the framework calculate maxDesiredWatermark?
I think the algorithm of maxDesiredWatermark will greatly affect

throughput

if the reader is constantly
switching between pause and resume. Can users configure the alignment
offset?

This is covered in the previous FLIP[1] which has been already

implemented

in 1.15. In short, it must be enabled with the watermark strategy which
also configures drift and update interval.

If we don't plan to extend this interface to support align other things,

suggest explicitly declaring
the purpose of the methods, such as `alignWatermarksForSplits` instead of
`alignSplits`.

Sure let's rename it.

@Becket:

I understand your point. On the other hand putting all methods, even with
"supportsXXX" methods for enabling certain features, makes the entry
threshold for writing a new source higher. Instead of focusing on the

basic

and required properties of the Source, the person implementing a source
must bother with and need to figure out what all of the extra features

are

about and how to deal with them. It makes it also harder to organize
methods in coupled groups as Jark said.

Having said that, as I don't have a preference and I agree most of the
sources will support the alignment I am fine following your suggestion to
have the SourceReader extending from WithWatermarksSplitsAlignment, but
would put the "supportsXXX" there, not in the Source to keep the two
methods together.

Lastly, I agree it is really unfortunate the "alignSplits" methods differ
slightly for SourceReader and SpitReader. The reason for that is
SourceReaderBase deals only with SplitIds, whereas SplitReader needs the
actual splits to pause them. I found the discrepancy acceptable for the
sake of simplifying changes significantly, especially as they would

highly

likely impact performance as we would have to perform additional lookups.
Moreover the SplitReader is a secondary interface.

Best,

Dawid

[1]https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/x/hQYBCw

On 24/04/2022 17:15, Jark Wu wrote:

Thanks for the effort, Dawid and Sebastian!

I just have some minor questions (maybe I missed something).

2. How does the framework calculate maxDesiredWatermark?
I think the algorithm of maxDesiredWatermark will greatly affect

throughput

if the reader is constantly
switching between pause and resume. Can users configure the alignment
offset?

3. Interface/Method Name.
Can the interface be used to align other things in the future? For

example,

align read speed, I have
seen users requesting global rate limits. This feature may also need an
interface like this.
If we don't plan to extend this interface to support align other things,

suggest explicitly declaring
the purpose of the methods, such as `alignWatermarksForSplits` instead of
`alignSplits`.

4. Interface or Method.
I don't have a strong opinion on this. I think they have their own
advantages.
In Flink SQL, we heavily use Interfaces for extending abilities
(SupportsXxxx) for TableSource/TableSink,
and I prefer Interfaces rather than methods in this case. When you have a
bunch of abilities and each ability
has more than one method, Interfaces can help to organize them and make
users clear which methods
need to implement when you want to have an ability.

Best,
Jark

On Sun, 24 Apr 2022 at 18:13, Becket Qin<becket....@gmail.com>
<becket....@gmail.com> <

becket....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Dawid,

Thanks for the explanation. Apologies that I somehow misread a bunch of
"align" and thought they were "assign".

Regarding 1, by default implementation, I was thinking of the default

no-op

implementation. I am a little worried about the proliferation of

decorative

interfaces. I think the most important thing about interfaces is that

they

are easy to understand. In this case, I prefer adding new method to the
existing interface for the following reasons:

a) I feel the biggest drawback of decorative interfaces is which

interface

they can decorate and which combinations of multiple decorative

interfaces

are valid. In the current FLIP, the withSplitsAlignment interface is only
applicable to the SourceReader which means it can't decorate any other
interface. From an interface design perspective, a natural question is

why

not let "AlignedSplitReader" extend "withSplitsAlignment"? And it is also
natural to assume that a split reader implementing both SplitReader and
WithSplitAlignment would work, because a source reader implementing
SourceReader and withSplitsAlignment works. So why isn't there an

interface

of AlignedSourceReader? In the future, if there is a new feature added
(e.g. sorted or pre-partitioned data aware), are we going to create

another

interface of SplitReader such as SortedSplitReader or

PrePartitionedAware?

Can they be combined? So I think the additional decorative interface like
withSplitsAlignment actually increases the understanding cost of users
because they have to know what decorative interfaces are there, which
interface they can decorate and which combinations of the decorative
interfaces are valid and which are not. Ideally we want to avoid that. To
be clear, I am not opposing having an interface of withSplitsAlignment,

is completely OK to have it as an internal interface and let SourceReader
and SplitReader both extend it.

b) Adding a new method to the SourceReader with a default implementation

no-op would help avoid logic branching in the source logic, especially
given that we agree that the vast majority of the SourceReader
implementations, if not all, would just extend from the SourceReaderBase.
That means adding a new method to the interface would effectively give

the

same user experience, but simpler.

c) A related design principle that may be worth discussing is how do we

let

the Source implementations tell Flink what capability is supported and

what

is not. Personally speaking I feel the most intuitive place to me is in

the

Source itself, because that is the entrance of the entire Source

connector

logic.

Based on the above thoughts, I am wondering if the following interface
would be easier to understand by the users.

- Change "withSplitsAlignment" to internal interface, let both

SourceReader

and SplitReader extend from it, with a default no-op implementation.
- Add a new method "boolean supportSplitsAlignment()" to the Source
interface, with a default implementation returning false. Sources that

have

implemented the alignment logic can change this to return true, and
override the alignSplits() methods in the SourceReader / SplitReader if
needed.
- In the future, if a new optional feature is going to be added to the
Source, and that feature requires the awareness from Flink, we can add

such methods to the Source.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Jiangjie (Becket) Qin

On Fri, Apr 22, 2022 at 4:05 PM Dawid Wysakowicz<dwysakow...@apache.org>
<dwysakow...@apache.org>

<dwysakow...@apache.org> <dwysakow...@apache.org>

wrote:

@Konstantin:

As part of this FLIP, the `AlignedSplitReader` interface (aka the stop &
resume behavior) will be implemented for Kafka and Pulsar only, correct?

Correct, as far as I know though, those are the only sources which

consume

concurrently from multiple splits and thus alignment applies.

@Thomas:

I wonder if "supporting" split alignment in SourceReaderBase and then

doing

nothing if the split reader does not implement AlignedSplitReader could

misleading? Perhaps WithSplitsAlignment can instead be added to the
specific source reader (i.e. KafkaSourceReader) to make it explicit that
the source actually supports it.

I understand your concern. Hmm, I think we could actually do that. Given
the actual implementation of the SourceReaderBase#alignSplits is rather
short (just a forward to the corresponding method of SplitFetcher), we
could reimplement it in the actual source implementations. This solution
has the downside though. Authors of new sources would have to do two
things: extend from AlignedSplitReader and implement

WithSplitsAssignment,

instead of just extending AlignedSplitReader. I would be fine with such a
tradeoff though. What others think?

@Steven:

For this part from the motivation section, is it accurate? Let's assume

one

source task consumes from 3 partitions and one of the partition is
significantly slower. In this situation, watermark for this source task
won't hold back as it is reading recent data from other two Kafka
partitions. As a result, it won't hold back the overall watermark. I
thought the problem is that we may have late data for this slow

partition.

It will hold back the watermark. Watermark of an operator is the minimum
of watermarks of all splits[1]

I have another question about the restart. Say split alignment is
triggered. checkpoint is completed. job failed and restored from the last
checkpoint. because alignment decision is not checkpointed, initially
alignment won't be enforced until we get a cycle of watermark aggregation
and propagation, right? Not saying this corner is a problem. Just want to
understand it more.

Your understanding is correct.

@Becket:

1. I think watermark alignment is sort of a general use case, so should

just add the related methods to SourceReader directly instead of
introducing the new interface of WithSplitAssignment? We can provide
default implementations, so backwards compatibility won't be an issue.

I don't think we can provide a default implementation. How would we do
that? Would it be just a no-op? Is it better than having an opt-in
interface? The default implementation would have to be added exclusively

a *Public* SourceReader interface. By the way notice SourceReaderBase
does extend from WithSplitsAlignment, so effectively all implementations

handle the alignment case. To be honest I think it is impossible to
implement the SourceReader interface directly by end users.

2. As you mentioned, the SplitReader interface probably also needs some
change to support throttling at the split granularity. Can you add that
interface change into the public interface section as well?

It has been added from the beginning. See *AlignedSplitReader.*

3. Nit, can we avoid using the method name assignSplits here, given that

is not actually changing the split assignments? It seems something like
pauseOrResumeSplits(), or adjustSplitsThrottling() is more accurate.

The method's called *alignSplits*, not assign. Do you still prefer a
different name for that? Personally, I am open for suggestions here.

Best,

Dawid

[1]

https://nightlies.apache.org/flink/flink-docs-master/docs/dev/datastream/sources/#watermark-generation

On 22/04/2022 05:59, Becket Qin wrote:

Thanks for driving the effort, Sebastion. I think the motivation makes a
lot of sense. Just a few suggestions / questions.

1. I think watermark alignment is sort of a general use case, so should

3. Nit, can we avoid using the method name assignSplits here, given that

is not actually changing the split assignments? It seems something like
pauseOrResumeSplits(), or adjustSplitsThrottling() is more accurate.

Thanks,

Jiangjie (Becket) Qin

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 11:39 PM Steven Wu<stevenz...@gmail.com>
<stevenz...@gmail.com> <

stevenz...@gmail.com> <

stevenz...@gmail.com> wrote:

However, a single source operator may read data from multiple

splits/partitions, e.g., multiple Kafka partitions, such that even with
watermark alignment the source operator may need to buffer excessive

amount

of data if one split emits data faster than another.

For this part from the motivation section, is it accurate? Let's assume

one

partition.

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 8:20 AM Thomas Weise<t...@apache.org> <t...@apache.org>
<

t...@apache.org> <

t...@apache.org> wrote:

Thanks for working on this!

I wonder if "supporting" split alignment in SourceReaderBase and then

doing

nothing if the split reader does not implement AlignedSplitReader could

misleading? Perhaps WithSplitsAlignment can instead be added to the
specific source reader (i.e. KafkaSourceReader) to make it explicit that
the source actually supports it.

Thanks,
Thomas

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 4:57 AM Konstantin Knauf<kna...@apache.org>
<kna...@apache.org> <

kna...@apache.org> <

kna...@apache.org>

wrote:

Hi Sebastian, Hi Dawid,

As part of this FLIP, the `AlignedSplitReader` interface (aka the stop

resume behavior) will be implemented for Kafka and Pulsar only,

correct?

+1 in general. I believe it is valuable to complete the watermark

aligned

story with this FLIP.

Cheers,

Konstantin

On Thu, Apr 21, 2022 at 12:36 PM Dawid Wysakowicz<dwysakow...@apache.org>

wrote:

To be explicit, having worked on it, I support it ;) I think we can
start a vote thread soonish, as there are no concerns so far.

Best,

Dawid

On 13/04/2022 11:27, Sebastian Mattheis wrote:

Dear Flink developers,

I would like to open a discussion on FLIP 217 [1] for an extension

Watermark Alignment to perform alignment also in SplitReaders. To

so,

SplitReaders must be able to suspend and resume reading from split

sources

where the SourceOperator coordinates and controlls suspend and

resume.

gather information about current watermarks of the SplitReaders, we

extend

the internal WatermarkOutputMulitplexer and report watermarks to

the

SourceOperator.

There is a PoC for this FLIP [2], prototyped by Arvid Heise and

revised

and

reworked by Dawid Wysakowicz (He did most of the work.) and me. The

changes

are backwards compatible in a way that if affected components do

not

support split alignment the behavior is as before.

Best,
Sebastian

[1]

https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/FLINK/FLIP-217+Support+watermark+alignment+of+source+splits

[2]https://github.com/dawidwys/flink/tree/aligned-splits

Konstantin Knaufhttps://twitter.com/snntrablehttps://github.com/knaufk

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Re: [DISCUSS] FLIP-217 Support watermark alignment of source splits

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