11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

Vlad Mihalcea

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How does Let’s

connect

Hibernate
READ_WRITE
CacheConcurrenc
yStrategy work
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Last modified: Jan 22, 2019 Article

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Imagine having a tool that can automatically detect if

you are using JPA and Hibernate properly.
Hypersistence Optimizer is that tool!
Book

Introduction
In my previous post, I introduced the
NONSTRICT_READ_WRITE second-level cache
concurrency mechanism. In this article, I am going to
continue this topic with the READ_WRITE strategy.
Video
Course

Write-through caching
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NONSTRICT_READ_WRITE
Vlad Mihalcea is a read-through caching
strategy and updates end-up invalidating cache entries. As
simple as this strategy may be, the performance drops
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with the increase of write operations. A write-through
cache strategy is better choice for write-intensive
applications, since cache entries can be updated rather
than being discarded.

Hypersistence
Because the database is the system of record and Optimizer
database operations are wrapped inside physical
transactions the cache can either be updated
synchronously (like it’s the case of the TRANSACTIONAL
cache concurrency strategy) or asynchronously (right after
the database transaction is committed).

The READ_WRITE strategy is an asynchronous cache

concurrency mechanism and to prevent data integrity
ERP
issues (e.g. stale cache entries), it uses a locking Contact

mechanism that provides unit-of-work isolation

guarantees.

Inserting data
Because persisted entities are uniquely identified (each
entity being assigned to a distinct database row), the
newly created entities get cached right after the database
transaction is committed:

1 @Override Online
2 public boolean afterInsert( Workshop
3 Object key, Object value, Object vers
4 throws CacheException {
5 region().writeLock( key );
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6 try {
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7 more, including how to control
final cookies, see
Lockable here: Our
item = Cookie Policy Close and accept
8 (Lockable) region().get( key
9 if ( item == null ) {
10 region().put( key,
11 new Item( value, version,
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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

12 region().nextTimestam Consulting
Vlad13Mihalcea
14 );
)

15 return true;
16 }
HOME 17 BLOG STORE
else { TRAINING CONSULTING TUTORIALS VIDEOS TALKS
18 return false;
19 }
20 }
21 finally {
22 region().writeUnlock( key );
23 }
24 }

For an entity to be cached upon insertion, it must use a Limited

SEQUENCE generator, the cache being populated by the time offer:
Get 10 free
EntityInsertAction: Adobe
Stock
1 @Override images.
2 public void doAfterTransactionCompletion(
3 SessionImplementor session) ADS VIA CARBO
4 throws HibernateException {
5
6 final EntityPersister persister = get
7 if ( success && isCachePutEnabled( pe
8 getSession() ) ) {
9 final CacheKey ck = getSessio
10 .generateCacheKey(
11 getId(),
12 persister.getIdentifi
13 persister.getRootEnti Em
14
15 final boolean put = cacheAfte
16 persister, ck ); Get
17 }
18 } it
19 postCommitInsert( success );
20 } Now

The IDENTITY generator doesn’t play well with the

transactional write-behind first-level cache design, so the
associated EntityIdentityInsertAction doesn’t cache newly
inserted entries (at least until HHH-7964 is fixed).
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Theoretically, between the database transaction commit
and the second-level cache insert, one concurrent

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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

transaction might load the newly created entity, therefore

Vlad Mihalcea
triggering a cache insert. Although possible, the cache
synchronization lag is very short and if a concurrent
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interleaved, TRAINING
it only makes the CONSULTING
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transaction hit the database instead of loading the entity

from the cache.

Updating data
While inserting entities is a rather simple operation, for
updates, we need to synchronize both the database and
the cache entry. The READ_WRITE concurrency strategy
employs a locking mechanism to ensure data integrity:

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1. more, including howTransaction
The Hibernate to control cookies, see here:
commit Our Cookie Policy
procedure Close and accept

triggers a Session flush

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2. The EntityUpdateAction replaces the current cache

Vlad entry
Mihalcea
with a Lock object

3. The update method is used for synchronous cache

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updates so it doesn’t do anything when using an
asynchronous cache concurrency strategy, like
READ_WRITE

4. After the database transaction is committed, the

after-transaction-completion callbacks are called

5. The EntityUpdateAction calls the afterUpdate

method of the EntityRegionAccessStrategy

6. The ReadWriteEhcacheEntityRegionAccessStrategy
replaces the Lock entry with an actual Item,
encapsulating the entity dissembled state

Deleting data
Deleting entities is similar to the update process, as we
can see from the following sequence diagram:

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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

Vlad Mihalcea

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The Hibernate Transaction commit procedure triggers a

Session flush
The EntityDeleteAction replaces the current cache
entry with a Lock object
The remove method call doesn’t do anything, since
READ_WRITE is an asynchronous cache concurrency
strategy
After the database transaction is committed, the after-
transaction-completion callbacks are called
The EntityDeleteAction calls the unlockItem method of
the EntityRegionAccessStrategy
The ReadWriteEhcacheEntityRegionAccessStrategy
replaces the Lock entry with another Lock object whose
timeout period is increased

After
Privacy an entity
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deleted, its associated
uses cookies. By continuingsecond-level
to use this website, you agree to their use.
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cache entry will be replaced by a Lock object,
making any subsequent request to read from the database
instead of using the cache entry.
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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

Vlad Mihalcea
Locking constructs
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Both the Item and the Lock classes inherit from the
Lockable type and each of these two has a specific policy
for allowing a cache entry to be read or written.

The READ_WRITE Lock

object
The Lock class defines the following methods:

1 @Override
2 public boolean isReadable(long txTimestam
3 return false;
4 }
5
6 @Override
7 public boolean isWriteable(long txTimesta
8 Object newVersion, Comparator version
9 if ( txTimestamp > timeout ) {
10 // if timedout then allow write
11 return true;
12 }
13 if ( multiplicity > 0 ) {
14 // if still locked then disallow
15 return false;
16 }
17 return version == null
18 ? txTimestamp > unlockTimestamp
19 : versionComparator.compare( vers
20 newVersion ) < 0;
21 }

A Lock object doesn’t allow reading the cache entry,

so any subsequent request must go to the database

If the current Session creation timestamp is greater

Privacy than the This
& Cookies: Lock timeout
site threshold,
uses cookies. the cache
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to use this is you agree to their use.
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allowed to be written

If at least one Session has managed to lock this

entry, any write operation is forbidden
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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

A Lock entry allows writing if the incoming entity

Vlad state
Mihalcea
has incremented its version or the current
Session creation timestamp is greater than the current
HOME BLOG
entry STORE
unlocking timestampTRAINING CONSULTING TUTORIALS VIDEOS TALKS

The READ_WRITE Item

object
The Item class defines the following read/write access
policy:

1 @Override
2 public boolean isReadable(long txTimestam
3 return txTimestamp > timestamp;
4 }
5
6 @Override
7 public boolean isWriteable(long txTimesta
8 Object newVersion, Comparator version
9 return version != null && versionComp
10 .compare( version, newVersion ) <
11 }

An Item is readable only from a Session that’s been

started after the cache entry creation time

A Item entry allows writing only if the incoming entity

state has incremented its version

Cache entry concurrency

control
These concurrency control mechanism are invoked when
saving and reading the underlying cache entries.

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Cookies:entry
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is uses
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whenBy continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
the
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ReadWriteEhcacheEntityRegionAccessStrategy get
method is called:

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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

1 public final Object get(Object key, long

2
Vlad Mihalceathrows CacheException {
3 readLockIfNeeded( key );
4 try {
5 final Lockable item =
HOME 6 BLOG STORE (Lockable)
TRAININGregion().get(
CONSULTING
key TUTORIALS VIDEOS TALKS
7
8 final boolean readable =
9 item != null &&
10 item.isReadable( txTimestamp
11
12 if ( readable ) {
13 return item.getValue();
14 }
15 else {
16 return null;
17 }
18 }
19 finally {
20 readUnlockIfNeeded( key );
21 }
22 }

The cache entry is written by the

ReadWriteEhcacheEntityRegionAccessStrategy
putFromLoad method:

1 public final boolean putFromLoad(

2 Object key,
3 Object value,
4 long txTimestamp,
5 Object version,
6 boolean minimalPutOverride)
7 throws CacheException {
8 region().writeLock( key );
9 try {
10 final Lockable item =
11 (Lockable) region().get( key
12
13 final boolean writeable =
14 item == null ||
15 item.isWriteable(
16 txTimestamp,
17 version,
18 versionComparator );
19
20 if ( writeable ) {
Privacy21
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region().put(
To find22
out more, including how to control key,
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23 new Item(
24 value,
25 version,
26 region().nextTimestam
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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

27 )
Vlad28Mihalcea
29
);
return true;
30 }
31 else {
HOME 32 BLOG STORE return
TRAINING
false; CONSULTING TUTORIALS VIDEOS TALKS
33 }
34 }
35 finally {
36 region().writeUnlock( key );
37 }
38 }

Timing out
If the database operation fails, the current cache entry
holds a Lock object and it cannot rollback to its previous
Item state. For this reason, the Lock must timeout to allow
the cache entry to be replaced by an actual Item object.
The EhcacheDataRegion defines the following timeout
property:

1 private static final String CACHE_LOCK_TIM

2 "net.sf.ehcache.hibernate.cache_lock_t
3 private static final int DEFAULT_CACHE_LOC

Unless we override the

net.sf.ehcache.hibernate.cache_lock_timeout property, the
default timeout is 60 seconds:

1 final String timeout = properties.getPrope

2 CACHE_LOCK_TIMEOUT_PROPERTY,
3 Integer.toString( DEFAULT_CACHE_LOCK_T
4 );

The following test will emulate a failing database

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transaction, so we can observe how the READ_WRITE
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cache only allows writing after the timeout threshold

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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

expires. First, we are going to lower the timeout value, to

Vlad Mihalcea
reduce the cache freezing period:

HOME 1 properties.put(
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2 "net.sf.ehcache.hibernate.cache_lock_t
3 String.valueOf(250));

We’ll use a custom interceptor to manually rollback the

currently running transaction:

1 @Override
2 protected Interceptor interceptor() {
3 return new EmptyInterceptor() {
4 @Override
5 public void beforeTransactionComp
6 Transaction tx) {
7 if(applyInterceptor.get()) {
8 tx.rollback();
9 }
10 }
11 };
12 }

The following routine will test the lock timeout behavior:

1 try {
2 doInTransaction(session -> {
3 Repository repository = (Reposito
4 session.get(Repository.class,
5 repository.setName("High-Performa
6 applyInterceptor.set(true);
7 });
8 } catch (Exception e) {
9 LOGGER.info("Expected", e);
10 }
11 applyInterceptor.set(false);
12
13 AtomicReference<Object> previousCacheEntr
14 new AtomicReference<>();
15 AtomicBoolean cacheEntryChanged = new Ato
16
17 while (!cacheEntryChanged.get()) {
18 doInTransaction(session
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site uses cookies. By continuing to use
To find19 boolean
out more, including how to control entryChange;
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20 session.get(Repository.class, 1L)
21
22 try {
23 Object previousCacheEntry =
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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

24 previousCacheEntryReferen
Vlad25Mihalcea
26
Object cacheEntry =
getCacheEntry(Repository.
27
28 entryChange = previousCacheEn
HOME 29 BLOG STORE TRAINING CONSULTING
previousCacheEntry != cac TUTORIALS VIDEOS TALKS
30 previousCacheEntryReference.s
31 LOGGER.info("Cache entry {}",
32 ToStringBuilder.reflectio
33 cacheEntry));
34
35 if(!entryChange) {
36 sleep(100);
37 } else {
38 cacheEntryChanged.set(tru
39 }
40 } catch (IllegalAccessException e
41 LOGGER.error("Error accessing
42 }
43 });
44 }

Running this test generates the following output:

1 select
2 readwritec0_.id as id1_0_0_,
3 readwritec0_.name as name2_0_0_,
4 readwritec0_.version as version3_0_0_
5 from
6 repository readwritec0_
7 where
8 readwritec0_.id=1
9
10 update
11 repository
12 set
13 name='High-Performance Hibernate',
14 version=1
15 where
16 id=1
17 and version=0
18
19 JdbcTransaction - rolled JDBC Connection
20
21 select
22 readwritec0_.id as id1_0_0_,
23 readwritec0_.name as name2_0_0_,
24 readwritec0_.version as version3_0_0_
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27 where
28 readwritec0_.id = 1
29
30 Cache entry net.sf.ehcache.Element@3f9a08
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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

31 key=ReadWriteCacheConcurrencyStrategy
Vlad32 Mihalcea
33
value=Lock Source-UUID:ac775350-3930-
version=1,
34 hitCount=3,
35 timeToLive=120,
HOME 36 BLOG STORE TRAINING
timeToIdle=120, CONSULTING TUTORIALS VIDEOS TALKS
37 lastUpdateTime=1432280657865,
38 cacheDefaultLifespan=true,id=0
39 ]
40 Wait 100 ms!
41 JdbcTransaction - committed JDBC Connecti
42
43 select
44 readwritec0_.id as id1_0_0_,
45 readwritec0_.name as name2_0_0_,
46 readwritec0_.version as version3_0_0_
47 from
48 repository readwritec0_
49 where
50 readwritec0_.id = 1
51
52 Cache entry net.sf.ehcache.Element@3f9a08
53 key=ReadWriteCacheConcurrencyStrategy
54 value=Lock Source-UUID:ac775350-3930-
55 version=1,
56 hitCount=3,
57 timeToLive=120,
58 timeToIdle=120,
59 lastUpdateTime=1432280657865,
60 cacheDefaultLifespan=true,
61 id=0
62 ]
63 Wait 100 ms!
64 JdbcTransaction - committed JDBC Connecti
65
66 select
67 readwritec0_.id as id1_0_0_,
68 readwritec0_.name as name2_0_0_,
69 readwritec0_.version as version3_0_0_
70 from
71 repository readwritec0_
72 where
73 readwritec0_.id = 1
74 Cache entry net.sf.ehcache.Element@305f03
75 key=ReadWriteCacheConcurrencyStrategy
76 value=org.hibernate.cache.ehcache.int
77 version=1,
78 hitCount=1,
79 timeToLive=120,
80 timeToIdle=120,
81 lastUpdateTime=1432280658322,
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82 uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
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out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Our Cookie Policy Close and accept
84 ]
85 JdbcTransaction - committed JDBC Connecti

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11/6/2020 How does Hibernate READ_WRITE CacheConcurrencyStrategy work - Vlad Mihalcea

The first transaction tries to update an entity, so the

Vlad associated
Mihalcea second-level cache entry is locked prior to
committing the transaction.
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The first transaction fails and it gets rolled back

The lock is being held, so the next two successive

transactions are going to the database, without
replacing the Lock entry with the current loaded
database entity state

After the Lock timeout period expires, the third

transaction can finally replace the Lock with an Item
cache entry (holding the entity disassembled hydrated
state)

If you enjoyed this article, I bet you are going to love

my Book and Video Courses as well.

Conclusion
The READ_WRITE concurrency strategy offers the
benefits of a write-through caching mechanism, but you
need to understand it’s inner workings to decide if it’s good
fit for your current project data access requirements.

For heavy write contention scenarios, the locking

constructs will make other concurrent transactions hit the
database, so you must decide if a synchronous cache
concurrency strategy is better suited in this situation.
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Code available on GitHub.

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Vlad Mihalcea
Category: Hibernate  Tags: caching, concurrency
control, hibernate, read-write, Training, Tutorial
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