Rapid development of microservices - multiple RPCs

0. Why building microservices are so difficult

To build a well working microservice, we need lots of knowledges from different aspects.

basic functionalities
1. concurrency control and rate limit, to avoid being brought down by unexpected inbound
2. service discovery, make sure new or terminated nodes are detected asap
3. load balancing, balance the traffic base on the throughput of nodes
4. timeout control, avoid the nodes continue to process the timed out requests
5. circuit breaker, load shedding, fail fast, protects the failure nodes to recover asap
advanced functionalities
1. authorization, make sure users can only access their own data
2. tracing, to understand the whole system and locate the specific problem quickly
3. logging, collects data and helps to backtrace problems
4. observability, no metrics, no optimization

For any point listed above, we need a long article to describe the theory and the implementation. But for us, the developers, it’s very difficult to understand all the concepts and make it happen in our systems. Although, we can use the frameworks that have been well served busy sites. go-zero is born for this purpose, especially for cloud-native microservice systems.

As well, we always adhere to the idea that prefer tools over conventions and documents. We hope to reduce the boilerplate code as much as possible, and let developers focus on developing the business related code. For this purpose, we developed the tool goctl.

Let’s take the shorturl microservice as a quick example to demonstrate how to quickly create microservices by using go-zero. After finishing this tutorial, you’ll find that it’s so easy to write microservices!

1. What is a bookstore service

For simplicity, the bookstore service only contains two functionalities, adding books and quering prices.

Writting this bookstore service is to demonstrate the complete flow of creating a microservice by using go-zero. But algorithms and detail implementations are quite simplified, and this bookstore service is not suitable for production use.

2. Architecture of shorturl microservice

3. goctl generated code overview

All modules with green background are generated, and will be enabled when necessary. The modules with red background are handwritten code, which is typically business logic code.

API Gateway
RPC
model

And now, let’s walk through the complete flow of quickly create a microservice with go-zero.

4. Get started

install etcd, mysql, redis

install protoc-gen-go

go get -u github.com/golang/protobuf/protoc-gen-go

install goctl

GO111MODULE=on go get -u github.com/tal-tech/go-zero/tools/goctl

create the working dir bookstore
in bookstore dir, execute go mod init bookstore to initialize `go.mod``

5. Write code for API Gateway

use goctl to generate api/bookstore.api

goctl api -o bookstore.api

for simplicity, the leading info block is removed, and the code looks like:

type (
    addReq struct {
        book  string `form:"book"`
        price int64  `form:"price"`
    }

    addResp struct {
        ok bool `json:"ok"`
    }
)

type (
    checkReq struct {
        book string `form:"book"`
    }

    checkResp struct {
        found bool  `json:"found"`
        price int64 `json:"price"`
    }
)

service bookstore-api {
    @server(
        handler: AddHandler
    )
    get /add(addReq) returns(addResp)

    @server(
        handler: CheckHandler
    )
    get /check(checkReq) returns(checkResp)
}

the usage of type keyword is the same as that in go, service is used to define get/post/head/delete api requests, described below:

`service bookstore-api { defines the service name
@server defines the properties that used in server side
handler defines the handler name
get /add(addReq) returns(addResp) defines this is a GET request, the request parameters, and the response parameters

generate the code for API Gateway by using goctl

goctl api go -api bookstore.api -dir .

the generated file structure looks like:

api
├── bookstore.api                  // api definition
├── bookstore.go                   // main entrance
├── etc
│   └── bookstore-api.yaml         // configuration file
└── internal
    ├── config
    │   └── config.go              // configuration definition
    ├── handler
    │   ├── addhandler.go          // implements addHandler
    │   ├── checkhandler.go        // implements checkHandler
    │   └── routes.go              // routes definition
    ├── logic
    │   ├── addlogic.go            // implements AddLogic
    │   └── checklogic.go          // implements CheckLogic
    ├── svc
    │   └── servicecontext.go      // defines ServiceContext
    └── types
        └── types.go               // defines request/response

start API Gateway service, listens on port 8888 by default
```
go run bookstore.go -f etc/bookstore-api.yaml
```

test API Gateway service

curl -i "http://localhost:8888/check?book=go-zero"

response like:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2020 06:46:18 GMT
Content-Length: 25

{"found":false,"price":0}

You can see that the API Gateway service did nothing except returned a zero value. And let’s implement the business logic in rpc service.

you can modify internal/svc/servicecontext.go to pass dependencies if needed
implement logic in package internal/logic
you can use goctl to generate code for clients base on the .api file
till now, the client engineer can work with the api, don’t need to wait for the implementation of server side

6. Write code for add rpc service

under directory rpc/add create add.proto file

goctl rpc template -o add.proto

edit the file and make the code looks like:

syntax = "proto3";

package add;

message addReq {
    string book = 1;
    int64 price = 2;
}

message addResp {
    bool ok = 1;
}

service adder {
    rpc add(addReq) returns(addResp);
}

use goctl to generate the rpc code, execute the following command in rpc/add

goctl rpc proto -src add.proto

the generated file structure looks like:

rpc/add
├── add.go                      // rpc main entrance
├── add.proto                   // rpc definition
├── adder
│   ├── adder.go                // defines how rpc clients call this service
│   ├── adder_mock.go           // mock file, for test purpose
│   └── types.go                // request/response definition
├── etc
│   └── add.yaml                // configuration file
├── internal
│   ├── config
│   │   └── config.go           // configuration definition
│   ├── logic
│   │   └── addlogic.go         // add logic here
│   ├── server
│   │   └── adderserver.go      // rpc handler
│   └── svc
│       └── servicecontext.go   // defines service context, like dependencies
└── pb
    └── add.pb.go

just run it, looks like:

  $ go run add.go -f etc/add.yaml
  Starting rpc server at 127.0.0.1:8080...

you can change the listening port in file etc/add.yaml.

7. Write code for check rpc service

under directory rpc/check create check.proto file

goctl rpc template -o check.proto

edit the file and make the code looks like:

syntax = "proto3";

package check;

message checkReq {
    string book = 1;
}

message checkResp {
    bool found = 1;
    int64 price = 2;
}

service checker {
    rpc check(checkReq) returns(checkResp);
}

use goctl to generate the rpc code, execute the following command in rpc/check

goctl rpc proto -src check.proto

the generated file structure looks like:

rpc/check
├── check.go                    // rpc main entrance
├── check.proto                 // rpc definition
├── checker
│   ├── checker.go              // defines how rpc clients call this service
│   ├── checker_mock.go         // mock file, for test purpose
│   └── types.go                // request/response definition
├── etc
│   └── check.yaml              // configuration file
├── internal
│   ├── config
│   │   └── config.go           // configuration definition
│   ├── logic
│   │   └── checklogic.go       // check logic here
│   ├── server
│   │   └── checkerserver.go    // rpc handler
│   └── svc
│       └── servicecontext.go   // defines service context, like dependencies
└── pb
    └── check.pb.go

you can change the listening port in etc/check.yaml.

we need to change the port in etc/check.yaml to 8081, because 8080 is used by add service.

just run it, looks like:

$ go run check.go -f etc/check.yaml
Starting rpc server at 127.0.0.1:8081...

8. Modify API Gateway to call add/check rpc service

modify the configuration file bookstore-api.yaml, add the following:

Add:
  Etcd:
    Hosts:
      - localhost:2379
    Key: add.rpc
Check:
  Etcd:
    Hosts:
      - localhost:2379
    Key: check.rpc

automatically discover the add/check service by using etcd.

modify the file internal/config/config.go, add dependency on add/check service:

type Config struct {
    rest.RestConf
    Add   zrpc.RpcClientConf     // manual code
    Check zrpc.RpcClientConf     // manual code
}

modify the file internal/svc/servicecontext.go, like below:

type ServiceContext struct {
    Config  config.Config
    Adder   adder.Adder          // manual code
    Checker checker.Checker      // manual code
}

func NewServiceContext(c config.Config) *ServiceContext {
    return &ServiceContext{
        Config:  c,
        Adder:   adder.NewAdder(zrpc.MustNewClient(c.Add)),         // manual code
        Checker: checker.NewChecker(zrpc.MustNewClient(c.Check)),   // manual code
    }
}

passing the dependencies among services within ServiceContext.

modify the method Add in the file internal/logic/addlogic.go, looks like:

func (l *AddLogic) Add(req types.AddReq) (*types.AddResp, error) {
    // manual code start
    resp, err := l.svcCtx.Adder.Add(l.ctx, &adder.AddReq{
        Book:  req.Book,
        Price: req.Price,
    })
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    return &types.AddResp{
        Ok: resp.Ok,
    }, nil
    // manual code stop
}

by calling the method Add of adder to add books into bookstore.

modify the file internal/logic/checklogic.go, looks like:

func (l *CheckLogic) Check(req types.CheckReq) (*types.CheckResp, error) {
    // manual code start
    resp, err := l.svcCtx.Checker.Check(l.ctx, &checker.CheckReq{
        Book:  req.Book,
    })
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    return &types.CheckResp{
        Found: resp.Found,
        Price: resp.Price,
    }, nil
    // manual code stop
}

by calling the method Check of checker to check the prices from the bookstore.

Till now, we’ve done the modification of API Gateway. All the manually added code are marked.

9. Define the database schema, generate the code for CRUD+cache

under bookstore, create the directory rpc/model: mkdir -p rpc/model

under the directory rpc/model create the file called book.sql, contents as below:

CREATE TABLE `book`
(
  `book` varchar(255) NOT NULL COMMENT 'book name',
  `price` int NOT NULL COMMENT 'book price',
  PRIMARY KEY(`book`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;

create DB and table
```
create database gozero;
```
```
source book.sql;
```
under the directory rpc/model execute the following command to genrate CRUD+cache code, -c means using redis cache
```
goctl model mysql ddl -c -src book.sql -dir .
```
you can also generate the code from the database url by using datasource subcommand instead of ddl

the generated file structure looks like:
```
rpc/model
├── bookstore.sql
├── bookstoremodel.go     // CRUD+cache code
└── vars.go               // const and var definition
```

10. Modify add/check rpc to call crud+cache

modify rpc/add/etc/add.yaml, add the following:
```
DataSource: root:@tcp(localhost:3306)/gozero
Table: book
Cache:
  - Host: localhost:6379
```
you can use multiple redis as cache. redis node and cluster are both supported.

modify rpc/add/internal/config.go, like below:

type Config struct {
    zrpc.RpcServerConf
    DataSource string             // manual code
    Table      string             // manual code
    Cache      cache.CacheConf    // manual code
}

added the configuration for mysql and redis cache.

modify rpc/add/internal/svc/servicecontext.go and rpc/check/internal/svc/servicecontext.go, like below:

type ServiceContext struct {
    c     config.Config
    Model *model.BookModel   // manual code
}

func NewServiceContext(c config.Config) *ServiceContext {
    return &ServiceContext{
        c:             c,
        Model: model.NewBookModel(sqlx.NewMysql(c.DataSource), c.Cache, c.Table), // manual code
    }
}

modify rpc/add/internal/logic/addlogic.go, like below:

func (l *AddLogic) Add(in *add.AddReq) (*add.AddResp, error) {
    // manual code start
    _, err := l.svcCtx.Model.Insert(model.Book{
        Book:  in.Book,
        Price: in.Price,
    })
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    return &add.AddResp{
        Ok: true,
    }, nil
    // manual code stop
}

modify rpc/check/internal/logic/checklogic.go, like below:

func (l *CheckLogic) Check(in *check.CheckReq) (*check.CheckResp, error) {
    // manual code start
    resp, err := l.svcCtx.Model.FindOne(in.Book)
    if err != nil {
        return nil, err
    }

    return &check.CheckResp{
        Found: true,
        Price: resp.Price,
    }, nil
    // manual code stop
}

till now, we finished modifing the code, all the modified code is marked.

11. Call shorten and expand services

call add api

curl -i "http://localhost:8888/add?book=go-zero&price=10"

response like:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:42:13 GMT
Content-Length: 11

{"ok":true}

call check api

curl -i "http://localhost:8888/check?book=go-zero"

response like:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:47:34 GMT
Content-Length: 25

{"found":true,"price":10}

12. Benchmark

Because benchmarking the write requests depends on the write throughput of mysql, we only benchmarked the check api. We read the data from mysql and cache it in redis. For simplicity, I only check one book, because of cache, the effect is the same for multiple books.

Before benchmark, we need to change the max open files:

ulimit -n 20000

And change the log level to error, to avoid too many logs affect the benchmark. Add the following in every yaml file:

Log:
	Level: error

as shown above, in my MacBook Pro, the QPS is like 30K+.

13. Full code

https://github.com/tal-tech/go-zero/tree/master/example/bookstore

14. Conclusion

We always adhere to prefer tools over conventions and documents.

go-zero is not only a framework, but also a tool to simplify and standardize the building of micoservice systems.

We not only keep the framework simple, but also encapsulate the complexity into the framework. And the developers are free from building the difficult and boilerplate code. Then we get the rapid development and less failure.

For the generated code by goctl, lots of microservice components are included, like concurrency control, adaptive circuit breaker, adaptive load shedding, auto cache control etc. And it’s easy to deal with the busy sites.

If you have any ideas that can help us to improve the productivity, tell me any time! 👏

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bookstore-en.md

bookstore-en.md

Rapid development of microservices - multiple RPCs

0. Why building microservices are so difficult

1. What is a bookstore service

2. Architecture of shorturl microservice

3. goctl generated code overview

4. Get started

5. Write code for API Gateway

6. Write code for add rpc service

7. Write code for check rpc service

8. Modify API Gateway to call add/check rpc service

9. Define the database schema, generate the code for CRUD+cache

10. Modify add/check rpc to call crud+cache

11. Call shorten and expand services

12. Benchmark

13. Full code

14. Conclusion

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Rapid development of microservices - multiple RPCs

0. Why building microservices are so difficult

1. What is a bookstore service

2. Architecture of shorturl microservice

3. goctl generated code overview

4. Get started

5. Write code for API Gateway

6. Write code for add rpc service

7. Write code for check rpc service

8. Modify API Gateway to call add/check rpc service

9. Define the database schema, generate the code for CRUD+cache

10. Modify add/check rpc to call crud+cache

11. Call shorten and expand services

12. Benchmark

13. Full code

14. Conclusion