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Concurrency Basics for Elixir
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Maciej Kaszubowski
August 02, 2018
Programming
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120
Concurrency Basics for Elixir
Slides from internal presentation at
https://appunite.com
Maciej Kaszubowski
August 02, 2018
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Transcript
Concurrency basics For Elixir-based Systems
None
So, what’s concurrency?
Sequential Execution (3 functions, 1 thread)
Sequential Execution (3 functions, 1 thread) Concurrent Execution (3 functions,
3 threads)
Sequential Execution (3 functions, 1 thread) Concurrent Execution (3 functions,
3 threads) Preemptive scheduling
Where’s the benefit?
Req1 Req2 Req3 Resp Sequential Execution time Waiting time
Req1 Req2 Req3 Resp Req1 Resp Req2 Req3 Sequential Concurrent
Execution time Waiting time
CPU bound Re Re Re Res Re Res Re Re
I/O bound
Concurrent or Parallel What’s the difference?
Concurrent Execution (3 functions, 3 threads)
Concurrent Execution (3 functions, 3 threads) Parallel Execution (3 functions,
3 threads, 2 cores) core 1 core 2
root@kingschat-api-c8f8d6b76-4j65j:/app# nproc 12 root@tahmeel-api-prod-b5979bdc6-q5wz6:/# nproc 1 How many cores?
Concurrent Execution (3 functions, 3 threads) Parallel Execution (3 functions,
3 threads, 2 cores) core 1 core 2 (by default) One erlang scheduler per core
:observer_cli.start()
None
Req1 Req2 Req3 Resp Req1 Resp Req2 Req3 Sequential Concurrent
Execution time Waiting time Req1 Resp Req2 Req3 Parallel
Sequential execution
Phoenix Request Req 1
Phoenix Request Resp
Phoenix Request Req 2
Phoenix Request Resp
Phoenix Request Req 3
Phoenix Request Resp
Concurrent execution
Phoenix Request
Phoenix Request Task 1 Task 2 Task 3
Phoenix Request Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Req 1
Req 2 Req 3
Phoenix Request Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Resp Resp
Resp
Phoenix Request Task 1 Task 2 Task 3
R1 APP Server DB Server (3 cores) R2 R1 R2
Time Execution time Waiting time
R1 APP Server DB Server (3 cores) Send resp R2
R3 R1 R2 R3 Time Execution time Waiting time
How much can we gain?
Amdahl’s Law
Amdahl’s Law
Amdahl’s Law in a nutshell The more synchronisation, the less
benefit from multiple cores
R1 APP Server Send resp R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
Time Execution time Waiting time Almost 100% parallel (almost no synchronisation) DB Server (3 cores)
But…
R1 APP Server Send resp R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
Time Execution time Waiting time This is not constant DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server Send resp R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
Time Execution time Waiting time This is not infinite DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4 Time
Execution time Waiting time DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4 Time
Execution time Waiting time DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4 R4
Time Execution time Waiting time DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4 R4
Time Execution time Waiting time DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4 R4
Time Execution time Waiting time DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server Send resp R2 R3 R1 R2 R3
R4 R4 Time Execution time Waiting time DB Server (3 cores)
R1 APP Server R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R4 R4
Time Execution time Waiting time R5 R6 R7 R5 R6 R7 DB Server (3 cores)
Phoenix Request Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Req 1
Req 2 Req 3 Remember this?
This isn’t exactly true
None
Connection pool (Prevents from overworking the DB)
Pool Manager (Blocks until a free worker is available)
None
Pool Manager (Blocks until a free worker is available)
None
It gets worse
Pool Manager Mailbox Has to be synchronised
Pool Manager Message Passing Is just copying data in shared
memory
Pool Manager Remember semaphores?
Logger Metrics Sentry
Network stack
Network stack
Network stack
Network stack Sentry Metrics
OS Threads (Garbage Collection) Data Bus Virtual Machines Memory characteristics
(e.g. processor caches) … Other synchronisation points
That’s hard
That’s REALLY hard
That’s REALLY hard Seriously, people spend their entire careers on
this
So, what to do?
Measure
Measure Measure
Measure Measure Measure
Measure ON PRODUCTION
Measure ON PRODUCTION You WILL get false results on staging/locally
Measure Entire system You WILL get false results for single
functions
Measure ONLY IF YOU HAVE TRAFFIC
“premature optimization is the root of all evil”
If something takes X ms, it will always take X
ms.
Async execution cannot “remove” this time It can only hide
it
BACK PRESSURE
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer Stop
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer
Producent Consumer Consumer OK, give me more
Producent Consumer Consumer
None
Back pressure
Thanks!