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## Chapter 36. Clustering and EJB Passivation

Please note that this chapter is still being reviewed. Tread carefully.

This chapter covers two distinct topics that happen share a common solution in Seam, (web) clustering and EJB passivation. Therefore, they are addressed together in this reference manual. Although performance tends to be grouped in this category as well, it's kept separate because the focus of this chapter is on the programming model and how it's affected by the use of the aforementioned features.

In this chapter you will learn how Seam manages the passivation of Seam components and entity instances, how to activate this feature, and how this feature is related to clustering. You will also learn how to deploy a Seam application into a cluster and verify that HTTP session replication is working properly. Let's start with a little background on clustering and see an example of how you deploy a Seam application to a JBoss AS cluster.

## 36.1. Clustering

Clustering (more formally web clustering) allows an application to run on two or more parallel servers (i.e., nodes) while providing a uniform view of the application to clients. Load is distributed across the servers in such a way that if one or more of the servers fails, the application is still accessible via any of the surviving nodes. This topology is crucial for building scalable enterprise applications as performance and availability can be improved simply by adding nodes. But it brings up an important question. What happens to the state that was on the server that failed?

Since day one, Seam has always provided support for stateful applications running in a cluster. Up to this point, you have learned that Seam provides state management in the form of additional scopes and by governing the life cycle of stateful (scoped) components. But state management in Seam goes beyond creating, storing and destroying instances. Seam tracks changes to JavaBean components and stores the changes at strategic points during the request so that the changes can be restored when the request shifts to a secondary node in the cluster. Fortunately, monitoring and replication of stateful EJB components is already handled by the EJB server, so this feature of Seam is intended to put stateful JavaBeans on par with their EJB cohorts.

But wait, there's more! Seam also offers an incredibly unique feature for clustered applications. In addition to monitoring JavaBean components, Seam ensures that managed entity instances (i.e. JPA and Hibernate entities) don't become detached during replication. Seam keeps a record of the entities that are loaded and automatically loads them on the secondary node. You must, however, be using a Seam-managed persistence context to get this feature. More in depth information about this feature is provided in the second half of this chapter.

Now that you understand what features Seam offers to support a clustered environment, let's look at how you program for clustering.

### 36.1.1. Programming for clustering

Any session- or conversation-scoped mutable JavaBean component that will be used in a clustered environment must implement the `org.jboss.seam.core.Mutable` interface from the Seam API. As part of the contract, the component must maintain a dirty flag that is reported and reset by the `clearDirty()` method. Seam calls this method to determine if it is necessary to replicate the component. This avoids having to use the more cumbersome Servlet API to add and remove the session attribute on every change of the object.

You also must ensure that all session- and conversation-scoped JavaBean components are Serializable. Additional, all fields of a stateful component (EJB or JavaBean) must Serializable unless the field is marked transient or set to null in a `@PrePassivate` method. You can restore the value of a transient or nullified field in a `@PostActivate` method.

One area where people often get bitten is by using `List.subList` to create a list. The resulting list is not Serializable. So watch out for situations like that. If hit a `java.io.NotSerializableException` and cannot locate the culprit at first glance, you can put a breakpoint on this exception, run the application server in debug mode and attach a debugger (such as Eclipse) to see what deserialization is choking on.

## Note

Please note that clustering does not work with hot deployable components. But then again, you shouldn't be using hot deployable components in a non-development environment anyway.

### 36.1.2. Deploying a Seam application to a JBoss AS cluster with session replication

## Warning

This section needs to be updated for JBoss AS 7.x

The procedure outlined in this tutorial has been validated with an seam-gen application and the Seam booking example.

In the tutorial, I assume that the IP addresses of the master and slave servers are 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.3, respectively. I am intentionally not using the mod_jk load balancer so that it's easier to validate that both nodes are responding to requests and can share sessions.

I'm using the farm deployment method in these instructions, though you could also deploy the application normally and allow the two servers to negotiate a master/slave relationship based on startup order.

## Note

JBoss AS clustering relies on UDP multicasting provided by jGroups. The SELinux configuration that ships with RHEL/Fedora blocks these packets by default. You can allow them to pass by modifying the iptables rules (as root). The following commands apply to an IP address that matches 192.168.1.x.

    /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 5 -p udp -d 224.0.0.0/4 -j ACCEPT
    /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 9 -p udp -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j ACCEPT
    /sbin/iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 10 -p tcp -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j ACCEPT
    /etc/init.d/iptables save

Detailed information can be found on this page on the JBoss Wiki.

- Create two instances of JBoss AS (just extract the zip twice)

- Deploy the JDBC driver to server/all/lib/ on both instances if not using HSQLDB

- Add `<distributable/>` as the first child element in WEB-INF/web.xml

- Set the `distributable` property on `org.jboss.seam.core.init` to true to enable the ManagedEntityInterceptor (i.e., `<core:init distributable="true"/>`)

- Ensure you have two IP addresses available (two computers, two network cards, or two IP addresses bound to the same interface). I'll assume the two IP address are 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.3

- Start the master JBoss AS instance on the first IP

      ./bin/run.sh -c all -b 192.168.1.2

  The log should report that there are 1 cluster members and 0 other members.

- Verify that the server/all/farm directory is empty in the slave JBoss AS instance

- Start the slave JBoss AS instance on the second IP

      ./bin/run.sh -c all -b 192.168.1.3

  The log should report that there are 2 cluster members and 1 other members. It should also show the state being retrieved from the master.

- Deploy the -ds.xml to server/all/farm of the master instance

  In the log of the master you should see acknowledgement of the deployment. In the log of the slave you should see a corresponding message acknowledging the deployment to the slave.

- Deploy the application to the server/all/farm directory

  In the log of the master you should see acknowledgement of the deployment. In the log of the slave you should see a corresponding message acknowledging the deployment to the slave. Note that you may have to wait up to 3 minutes for the deployed archive to be transfered.

You're application is now running in a cluster with HTTP session replication! But, of course, you are going to want to validate that the clustering actually works.

### 36.1.3. Validating the distributable services of an application running in a JBoss AS cluster

It's all well and fine to see the application start successfully on two different JBoss AS servers, but seeing is believing. You likely want to validate that the two instances are exchanging HTTP sessions to allow the slave to take over when the master instance is stopped.

Start off by visiting the application running on the master instance in your browser. That will produce the first HTTP session. Now, open up the JBoss AS JMX console on that instance and navigate to the following MBean:

- Category: jboss.cache

- Entry: service=TomcatClusteringCache

- Method: printDetails()

Invoke the printDetails() method. You will see a tree of active HTTP sessions. Verify that the session your browser is using corresponds to one of the sessions in this tree.

Now switch over to the slave instance and invoke the same method in the JMX console. You should see an identical list (at least underneath this application's context path).

So you can see that at least both servers claim to have identical sessions. Now, time to test that the data is serializing and deserializing properly.

Sign in using using the URL of the master instance. Then, construct a URL for the second instance by putting the ;jsessionid=XXXX immediately after the servlet path and changing the IP address. You should see that the session has carried over to the other instance. Now kill the master instance and see that you can continue to use the application from the slave instance. Remove the deployments from the server/all/farm directory and start the instance again. Switch the IP in the URL back to that of the master instance and visit the URL. You'll see that the original session is still being used.

One way to watch objects passivate and activate is to create a session- or conversation-scoped Seam component and implement the appropriate life-cycle methods. You can either use methods from the HttpSessionActivationListener interface (Seam automatically registers this interface on all non-EJB components):

    public void sessionWillPassivate(HttpSessionEvent e);

    public void sessionDidActivate(HttpSessionEvent e);

Or you can simply mark two no-argument public void methods with `@PrePassivate` and `@PostActivate`, respectively. Note that the passivation step occurs at the end of every request, while the activation step occurs when a node is called upon.

Now that you understand the big picture of running Seam in a cluster, it's time to address Seam's most mysterious, yet remarkable agent, the ManagedEntityInterceptor.

## 36.2. EJB Passivation and the ManagedEntityInterceptor

The ManagedEntityInterceptor (MEI) is an optional interceptor in Seam that gets applied to conversation-scoped components when enabled. Enabling it is simple. You just set the distributable property on the org.jboss.seam.init.core component to true. More simply put, you add (or update) the following component declaration in the component descriptor (i.e., components.xml).

    <core:init distributable="true"/>

Note that this doesn't enable replication of HTTP sessions, but it does prepare Seam to be able to deal with passivation of either EJB components or components in the HTTP session.

The MEI serves two distinct scenarios (EJB passivation and HTTP session passivation), although to accomplish the same overall goal. It ensures that throughout the life of a conversation using at least one extended persistence context, the entity instances loaded by the persistence context(s) remain managed (they do not become detached prematurely by a passivation event). In short, it ensures the integrity of the extended persistence context (and therefore its guarantees).

The previous statement implies that there is a challenge that threatens this contract. In fact, there are two. One case is when a stateful session bean (SFSB) that hosts an extended persistence context is passivated (to save memory or to migrate it to another node in the cluster) and the second is when the HTTP session is passivated (to prepare it to be migrated to another node in the cluster).

I first want to discuss the general problem of passivation and then look at the two challenges cited individually.

### 36.2.1. The friction between passivation and persistence

The persistence context is where the persistence manager (i.e., JPA EntityManager or Hibernate Session) stores entity instances (i.e., objects) it has loaded from the database (via the object-relational mappings). Within a persistence context, there is no more than one object per unique database record. The persistence context is often referred to as the first-level cache because if the application asks for a record by its unique identifier that has already been loaded into the persistence context, a call to the database is avoided. But it's about more than just caching.

Objects held in the persistence context can be modified, which the persistence manager tracks. When an object is modified, it's considered "dirty". The persistence manager will migrate these changes to the database using a technique known as write-behind (which basically means only when necessary). Thus, the persistence context maintains a set of pending changes to the database.

Database-oriented applications do much more than just read from and write to the database. They capture transactional bits of information that need to be transferred into the database atomically (at once). It's not always possible to capture this information all on one screen. Additionally, the user might need to make a judgement call about whether to approve or reject the pending changes.

What we are getting at here is that the idea of a transaction from the user's perspective needs to be extended. And that is why the extended persistence context fits so perfectly with this requirement. It can hold such changes for as long as the application can keep it open and then use the built-in capabilities of the persistence manager to push these pending changes to the database without requiring the application developer to worry about the low-level details (a simple call to `EntityManager#flush()` does the trick).

The link between the persistence manager and the entity instances is maintained using object references. The entity instances are serializable, but the persistence manager (and in turn its persistence context) is not. Therefore, the process of serialization works against this design. Serialization can occur either when a SFSB or the HTTP session is passivated. In order to sustain the activity in the application, the persistence manager and the entity instances it manages must weather serialization without losing their relationship. That's the aid that the MEI provides.

### 36.2.2. Case #1: Surviving EJB passivation

Conversations were initially designed with stateful session beans (SFSBs) in mind, primarily because the EJB 3 specification designates SFSBs as hosts of the extended persistence context. Seam introduces a complement to the extended persistence context, known as a Seam-managed persistence context, which works around a number of limitations in the specification (complex propagation rules and lack of manual flushing). Both can be used with a SFSB.

A SFSB relies on a client to hold a reference to it in order to keep it active. Seam has provided an ideal place for this reference in the conversation context. Thus, for as long as the conversation context is active, the SFSB is active. If an EntityManager is injected into that SFSB using the annotation @PersistenceContext(EXTENDED), then that EntityManager will be bound to the SFSB and remain open throughout its lifetime, the lifetime of the conversation. If an EntityManager is injected using @In, then that EntityManager is maintained by Seam and stored directly in the conversation context, thus living for the lifetime of the conversation independent of the lifetime of the SFSB.

With all of that said, the Java EE container can passivate a SFSB, which means it will serialize the object to an area of storage external to the JVM. When this happens depends on the settings of the individual SFSB. This process can even be disabled. However, the persistence context is not serialized (is this only true of SMPC?). In fact, what happens depends highly on the Java EE container. The spec is not very clear about this situation. Many vendors just tell you not to let it happen if you need the guarantees of the extended persistence context. Seam's approach is more conservative. Seam basically doesn't trust the SFSB with the persistence context or the entity instances. After each invocation of the SFSB, Seam moves the reference to entity instance held by the SFSB into the current conversation (and therefore into the HTTP session), nullifying those fields on the SFSB. It then restores this references at the beginning of the next invocation. Of course, Seam is already storing the persistence manager in the conversation. Thus, when the SFSB passivates and later activates, it has absolutely no averse affect on the application.

## Note

If you are using SFSBs in your application that hold references to extended persistence contexts, and those SFSBs can passivate, then you must use the MEI. This requirement holds even if you are using a single instance (not a cluster). However, if you are using clustered SFSB, then this requirement also applies.

It is possible to disable passivation on a SFSB. See the Ejb3DisableSfsbPassivation page on the JBoss Wiki for details.

### 36.2.3. Case #2: Surviving HTTP session replication

Dealing with passivation of a SFSB works by leveraging the HTTP session. But what happens when the HTTP session passivates? This happens in a clustered environment with session replication enabled. This case is much tricker to deal with and is where a bulk of the MEI infrastructure comes into play. In this case, the persistence manager is going to be destroyed because it cannot be serialized. Seam handles this deconstruction (hence ensuring that the HTTP session serializes properly). But what happens on the other end. Well, when the MEI sticks an entity instance into the conversation, it embeds the instance in a wrapper that provides information on how to re-associate the instance with a persistence manager post-serialization. So when the application jumps to another node in the cluster (presumably because the target node went down) the MEI infrastructure essentially reconstructs the persistence context. The huge drawback here is that since the persistence context is being reconstructed (from the database), pending changes are dropped. However, what Seam does do is ensure that if the entity instance is versioned, that the guarantees of optimistic locking are upheld. (why isn't the dirty state transferred?)

## Note

If you are deploying your application in a cluster and using HTTP session replication, you must use the MEI.

### 36.2.4. ManagedEntityInterceptor wrap-up

The important point of this section is that the MEI is there for a reason. It's there to ensure that the extended persistence context can retain intact in the face of passivation (of either a SFSB or the HTTP session). This matters because the natural design of Seam applications (and conversational state in general) revolve around the state of this resource.

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