PyBreaker is a Python implementation of the Circuit Breaker pattern, described
in Michael T. Nygard's book Release It!_.
In Nygard's words, "circuit breakers exists to allow one subsystem to fail without destroying the entire system. This is done by wrapping dangerous operations (typically integration points) with a component that can circumvent calls when the system is not healthy".
Python_ 3.8+Run the following command line to download the latest stable version of
PyBreaker from PyPI_::
$ pip install pybreakerIf you are a Git_ user, you might want to install the current development
version in editable mode::
$ git clone git://github.com/danielfm/pybreaker.git
$ cd pybreaker
$ # run tests (on windows omit ./)
$ ./pw test
$ pip install -e .The first step is to create an instance of CircuitBreaker for each
integration point you want to protect against:
.. code:: python
import pybreaker
# Used in database integration points
db_breaker = pybreaker.CircuitBreaker(fail_max=5, reset_timeout=60)CircuitBreaker instances should live globally inside the application scope,
e.g., live across requests.
.. note::
Integration points to external services (i.e. databases, queues, etc) are more likely to fail, so make sure to always use timeouts when accessing such services if there's support at the API level.
If you'd like to use the Redis backing, initialize the CircuitBreaker with
a CircuitRedisStorage:
.. code:: python
import pybreaker
import redis
redis = redis.StrictRedis()
db_breaker = pybreaker.CircuitBreaker(
fail_max=5,
reset_timeout=60,
state_storage=pybreaker.CircuitRedisStorage(pybreaker.STATE_CLOSED, redis))Do not initialize the Redis connection with the decode_responses set to
True, this will force returning ASCII objects from redis and in Python3+ will
fail with:
`AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'decode'`.. note::
You may want to reuse a connection already created in your application, if you're
using django_redis for example:
.. code:: python
import pybreaker
from django_redis import get_redis_connection
db_breaker = pybreaker.CircuitBreaker(
fail_max=5,
reset_timeout=60,
state_storage=pybreaker.CircuitRedisStorage(pybreaker.STATE_CLOSED, get_redis_connection('default'))).. note::
If you require multiple, independent CircuitBreakers and wish to store their states in Redis, it is essential to assign a unique namespace for each
CircuitBreaker instance. This can be achieved by specifying a distinct namespace parameter in the CircuitRedisStorage constructor. for example:
.. code:: python
import pybreaker
from django_redis import get_redis_connection
db_breaker = pybreaker.CircuitBreaker(
fail_max=5,
reset_timeout=60,
state_storage=pybreaker.CircuitRedisStorage(pybreaker.STATE_CLOSED, get_redis_connection('default'),namespace='unique_namespace'))Event Listening
There's no need to subclass ``CircuitBreaker`` if you just want to take action
when certain events occur. In that case, it's better to subclass
``CircuitBreakerListener`` instead:
.. code:: python
class DBListener(pybreaker.CircuitBreakerListener):
"Listener used by circuit breakers that execute database operations."
def before_call(self, cb, func, *args, **kwargs):
"Called before the circuit breaker `cb` calls `func`."
pass
def state_change(self, cb, old_state, new_state):
"Called when the circuit breaker `cb` state changes."
pass
def failure(self, cb, exc):
"Called when a function invocation raises a system error."
pass
def success(self, cb):
"Called when a function invocation succeeds."
pass
class LogListener(pybreaker.CircuitBreakerListener):
"Listener used to log circuit breaker events."
def state_change(self, cb, old_state, new_state):
msg = "State Change: CB: {0}, New State: {1}".format(cb.name, new_state)
logging.info(msg)
To add listeners to a circuit breaker:
.. code:: python
# At creation time...
db_breaker = pybreaker.CircuitBreaker(listeners=[DBListener(), LogListener()])
# ...or later
db_breaker.add_listeners(OneListener(), AnotherListener())
What Does a Circuit Breaker Do?Let's say you want to use a circuit breaker on a function that updates a row
in the customer database table:
.. code:: python
@db_breaker
def update_customer(cust):
# Do stuff here...
pass
# Will trigger the circuit breaker
updated_customer = update_customer(my_customer)Or if you don't want to use the decorator syntax:
.. code:: python
def update_customer(cust):
# Do stuff here...
pass
# Will trigger the circuit breaker
updated_customer = db_breaker.call(update_customer, my_customer)Or use it as a context manager and a with statement:
.. code:: python
# Will trigger the circuit breaker
with db_breaker.calling():
# Do stuff here...
passAccording to the default parameters, the circuit breaker db_breaker will
automatically open the circuit after 5 consecutive failures in
update_customer.
When the circuit is open, all calls to update_customer will fail immediately
(raising CircuitBreakerError) without any attempt to execute the real
operation. If you want the original error to be thrown when the circuit trips,
set the throw_new_error_on_trip option to False:
.. code:: python
pybreaker.CircuitBreaker(..., throw_new_error_on_trip=False)After 60 seconds, the circuit breaker will allow the next call to
update_customer pass through. If that call succeeds, the circuit is closed;
if it fails, however, the circuit is opened again until another timeout elapses.
Optional Tornado Support
A circuit breaker can (optionally) be used to call asynchronous Tornado functions:
.. code:: python
from tornado import gen
@db_breaker(__pybreaker_call_async=True)
@gen.coroutine
def async_update(cust):
# Do async stuff here...
pass
Or if you don't want to use the decorator syntax:
.. code:: python
@gen.coroutine
def async_update(cust):
# Do async stuff here...
pass
updated_customer = db_breaker.call_async(async_update, my_customer)
Excluding ExceptionsBy default, a failed call is any call that raises an exception. However, it's common to raise exceptions to also indicate business exceptions, and those exceptions should be ignored by the circuit breaker as they don't indicate system errors:
.. code:: python
# At creation time...
db_breaker = CircuitBreaker(exclude=[CustomerValidationError])
# ...or later
db_breaker.add_excluded_exception(CustomerValidationError)In that case, when any function guarded by that circuit breaker raises
CustomerValidationError (or any exception derived from
CustomerValidationError), that call won't be considered a system failure.
So as to cover cases where the exception class alone is not enough to determine whether it represents a system error, you may also pass a callable rather than a type:
.. code:: python
db_breaker = CircuitBreaker(exclude=[lambda e: type(e) == HTTPError and e.status_code < 500])You may mix types and filter callables freely.
Monitoring and Management
A circuit breaker provides properties and functions you can use to monitor and
change its current state:
.. code:: python
# Get the current number of consecutive failures
print(db_breaker.fail_counter)
# Get/set the maximum number of consecutive failures
print(db_breaker.fail_max)
db_breaker.fail_max = 10
# Get/set the current reset timeout period (in seconds)
print db_breaker.reset_timeout
db_breaker.reset_timeout = 60
# Get the current state, i.e., 'open', 'half-open', 'closed'
print(db_breaker.current_state)
# Closes the circuit
db_breaker.close()
# Half-opens the circuit
db_breaker.half_open()
# Opens the circuit
db_breaker.open()
These properties and functions might and should be exposed to the operations
staff somehow as they help them to detect problems in the system.
Contributing
-------------
Run tests::
$ ./pw test
Code formatting (black and isort) and linting (mypy) ::
$ ./pw format
$ ./pw lint
Above commands will automatically install the necessary tools inside *.pyprojectx*
and also install pre-commit hooks.
List available commands::
$ ./pw -i
.. _Python: http://python.org
.. _Jython: http://jython.org
.. _Release It!: https://pragprog.com/titles/mnee2/release-it-second-edition/
.. _PyPI: http://pypi.python.org
.. _Git: http://git-scm.com