Plugin configuration file (>=1.1.x)

Note: Changelog: Feature was added in PECL/mysqlnd_ms 1.1.0-beta

The below description applies to PECL/mysqlnd_ms >= 1.1.0-beta. It is not valid for prior versions.

The plugin uses its own configuration file. The configuration file holds information about the MySQL replication master server, the MySQL replication slave servers, the server pick (load balancing) policy, the failover strategy, and the use of lazy connections.

The plugin loads its configuration file at the beginning of a web request. It is then cached in memory and used for the duration of the web request. This way, there is no need to restart PHP after deploying the configuration file. Configuration file changes will become active almost instantly.

The PHP configuration directive mysqlnd_ms.ini_file is used to set the plugins configuration file. Please note, that the PHP configuration directive may not be evaluated for every web request. Therefore, changing the plugins configuration file name or location may require a PHP restart. However, no restart is required to read changes if an already existing plugin configuration file is updated.

Using and parsing JSON is efficient, and using JSON makes it easier to express hierarchical data structures than the standard php.ini format.

mysqlnd_ms.ini file created...
Dumping file contents...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost",
                "socket": "\/tmp\/mysql.sock"
            }
        },
        "slave": [

        ]
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A plugin configuration file consists of one or more sections. Sections are represented by the top-level object properties of the object encoded in the JSON file. Sections could also be called configuration names.

Applications reference sections by their name. Applications use section names as the host (server) parameter to the various connect methods of the mysqli, mysql and PDO_MYSQL extensions. Upon connect, the mysqlnd plugin compares the hostname with all of the section names from the plugin configuration file. If the hostname and section name match, then the plugin will load the settings for that section.

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.2.27"
            },
            "slave_1": {
                "host": "192.168.2.27",
                "port": 3306
            }
        }
    },
    "localhost": {
        "master": [
            {
                "host": "localhost",
                "socket": "\/path\/to\/mysql.sock"
            }
        ],
        "slave": [
            {
                "host": "192.168.3.24",
                "port": "3305"
            },
            {
                "host": "192.168.3.65",
                "port": "3309"
            }
        ]
    }
}

Section names are strings. It is valid to use a section name such as 192.168.2.1, 127.0.0.1 or localhost. If, for example, an application connects to localhost and a plugin configuration section localhost exists, the semantics of the connect operation are changed. The application will no longer only use the MySQL server running on the host localhost, but the plugin will start to load balance MySQL queries following the rules from the localhost configuration section. This way you can load balance queries from an application without changing the applications source code. Please keep in mind, that such a configuration may not contribute to overall readability of your applications source code. Using section names that can be mixed up with host names should be seen as a last resort.

Each configuration section contains, at a minimum, a list of master servers and a list of slave servers. The master list is configured with the keyword master, while the slave list is configured with the slave keyword. Failing to provide a slave list will result in a fatal E_ERROR level error, although a slave list may be empty. It is possible to allow no slaves. However, this is only recommended with synchronous clusters, please see also supported clusters. The main part of the documentation focusses on the use of aynchronous MySQL replication clusters.

The master and slave server lists can be optionally indexed by symbolic names for the servers they describe. Alternatively, an array of descriptions for slave and master servers may be used.

"slave": [
    {
        "host": "192.168.3.24",
        "port": "3305"
    },
    {
        "host": "192.168.3.65",
        "port": "3309"
    }
]

An anonymous server list is encoded by the JSON array type. Optionally, symbolic names may be used for indexing the slave or master servers of a server list, and done so using the JSON object type.

"master": {
    "master_0": {
        "host": "localhost"
    }
}

It is recommended to index the server lists with symbolic server names. The alias names will be shown in error messages.

The order of servers is preserved and taken into account by mysqlnd_ms. If, for example, you configure round robin load balancing strategy, the first SELECT statement will be executed on the slave that appears first in the slave server list.

A configured server can be described with the host, port, socket, db, user, password and connect_flags. It is mandatory to set the database server host using the host keyword. All other settings are optional.

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "db_server_host",
                "port": "db_server_port",
                "socket": "db_server_socket",
                "db": "database_resp_schema",
                "user": "user",
                "password": "password",
                "connect_flags": 0
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "db_server_host",
                "port": "db_server_port",
                "socket": "db_server_socket"
            }
        }
    }
}

If a setting is omitted, the plugin will use the value provided by the user API call used to open a connection. Please, see the using section names example above.

The configuration file format has been changed in version 1.1.0-beta to allow for chained filters. Filters are responsible for filtering the configured list of servers to identify a server for execution of a given statement. Filters are configured with the filter keyword. Filters are executed by mysqlnd_ms in the order of their appearance. Defining filters is optional. A configuration section in the plugins configuration file does not need to have a filters entry.

Filters replace the pick[] setting from prior versions. The new random and roundrobin provide the same functionality.

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            },
            "slave_1": {
                "host": "192.168.78.137",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "filters": {
            "roundrobin": [

            ]
        }
    }
}

The function mysqlnd_ms_set_user_pick_server() has been removed. Setting a callback is now done with the user filter. Some filters accept parameters. The user filter requires and accepts a mandatory callback parameter to set the callback previously set through the function mysqlnd_ms_set_user_pick_server().

"filters": {
    "user": {
        "callback": "pick_server"
    }
}

Here is a short explanation of the configuration directives that can be used.

master array or object

List of MySQL replication master servers. The list of either of the JSON type array to declare an anonymous list of servers or of the JSON type object. Please, see above for examples.

Setting at least one master server is mandatory. The plugin will issue an error of type E_ERROR if the user has failed to provide a master server list for a configuration section. The fatal error may read (mysqlnd_ms) Section [master] doesn't exist for host [name_of_a_config_section] in %s on line %d.

A server is described with the host, port, socket, db, user, password and connect_flags. It is mandatory to provide at a value for host. If any of the other values is not given, it will be taken from the user API connect call, please, see also: using section names example.

Table of server configuration keywords.

Keyword	Description	Version
host	Database server host. This is a mandatory setting. Failing to provide, will cause an error of type E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR when the plugin tries to connect to the server. The error message may read (mysqlnd_ms) Cannot find [host] in [%s] section in config in %s on line %d.	Since 1.1.0.
port	Database server TCP/IP port.	Since 1.1.0.
socket	Database server Unix domain socket.	Since 1.1.0.
db	Database (schemata).	Since 1.1.0.
user	MySQL database user.	Since 1.1.0.
password	MySQL database user password.	Since 1.1.0.
connect_flags	Connection flags.	Since 1.1.0.

The plugin supports using only one master server. An experimental setting exists to enable multi-master support. The details are not documented. The setting is meant for development only.

slave array or object

List of one or more MySQL replication slave servers. The syntax is identical to setting master servers, please, see master above for details.

The plugin supports using one or more slave servers.

Setting a list of slave servers is mandatory. The plugin will report an error of the type E_ERROR if slave is not given for a configuration section. The fatal error message may read (mysqlnd_ms) Section [slave] doesn't exist for host [%s] in %s on line %d. Note, that it is valid to use an empty slave server list. The error has been introduced to prevent accidently setting no slaves by forgetting about the slave setting. A master-only setup is still possible using an empty slave server list.

If an empty slave list is configured and an attempt is made to execute a statement on a slave the plugin may emit a warning like mysqlnd_ms) Couldn't find the appropriate slave connection. 0 slaves to choose from. upon statement execution. It is possible that another warning follows such as (mysqlnd_ms) No connection selected by the last filter.

global_transaction_id_injection array or object

Global transaction identifier configuration related to both the use of the server built-in global transaction ID feature and the client-side emulation.

Keyword	Description	Version
fetch_last_gtid	SQL statement for accessing the latest global transaction identifier. The SQL statement is run if the plugin needs to know the most recent global transaction identifier. This can be the case, for example, when checking MySQL Replication slave status. Also used with mysqlnd_ms_get_last_gtid().	Since 1.2.0.
check_for_gtid	SQL statement for checking if a replica has replicated all transactions up to and including ones searched for. The SQL statement is run when searching for replicas which can offer a higher level of consistency than eventual consistency. The statement must contain a placeholder #GTID which is to be replaced with the global transaction identifier searched for by the plugin. Please, check the quickstart for examples.	Since 1.2.0.
report_errors	Whether to emit an error of type warning if an issue occurs while executing any of the configured SQL statements.	Since 1.2.0.
on_commit	Client-side global transaction ID emulation only. SQL statement to run when a transaction finished to update the global transaction identifier sequence number on the master. Please, see the quickstart for examples.	Since 1.2.0.
wait_for_gtid_timeout	Instructs the plugin to wait up to wait_for_gtid_timeout seconds for a slave to catch up when searching for slaves that can deliver session consistency. The setting limits the time spend for polling the slave status. If polling the status takes very long, the total clock time spend waiting may exceed wait_for_gtid_timeout. The plugin calls sleep(1) to sleep one second between each two polls. The setting can be used both with the plugins client-side emulation and the server-side global transaction identifier feature of MySQL 5.6. Waiting for a slave to replicate a certain GTID needed for session consistency also means throttling the client. By throttling the client the write load on the master is reduced indirectly. A primary copy based replication system, such as MySQL Replication, is given more time to reach a consistent state. This can be desired, for example, to increase the number of data copies for high availability considerations or to prevent the master from being overloaded.	Since 1.4.0.

filters object

List of filters. A filter is responsible to filter the list of available servers for executing a given statement. Filters can be chained. The random and roundrobin filter replace the pick[] directive used in prior version to select a load balancing policy. The user filter replaces the mysqlnd_ms_set_user_pick_server() function.

Filters may accept parameters to refine their actions.

If no load balancing policy is set, the plugin will default to random_once. The random_once policy picks a random slave server when running the first read-only statement. The slave server will be used for all read-only statements until the PHP script execution ends. No load balancing policy is set and thus, defaulting takes place, if neither the random nor the roundrobin are part of a configuration section.

If a filter chain is configured so that a filter which output no more than once server is used as input for a filter which should be given more than one server as input, the plugin may emit a warning upon opening a connection. The warning may read: (mysqlnd_ms) Error while creating filter '%s' . Non-multi filter '%s' already created. Stopping in %s on line %d. Futhermore an error of the error code 2000, the sql state HY000 and an error message similar to the warning may be set on the connection handle.

Example #8 Invalid filter sequence

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "filters": [
            "roundrobin",
            "random"
        ]
    }
}

<?php
$link = new mysqli("myapp", "root", "", "test");
printf("[%d] %s\n", mysqli_connect_errno(), mysqli_connect_error());
$link->query("SELECT 1 FROM DUAL");
?>

The above example will output:

PHP Warning:  mysqli::mysqli(): (HY000/2000): (mysqlnd_ms) Error while creating filter 'random' . Non-multi filter 'roundrobin' already created. Stopping in filter_warning.php on line 1
[2000] (mysqlnd_ms) Error while creating filter 'random' . Non-multi filter 'roundrobin' already created. Stopping
PHP Warning:  mysqli::query(): Couldn't fetch mysqli in filter_warning.php on line 3

Filter: random object

The random filter features the random and random once load balancing policies, set through the pick[] directive in older versions.

The random policy will pick a random server whenever a read-only statement is to be executed. The random once strategy picks a random slave server once and continues using the slave for the rest of the PHP web request. Random once is a default, if load balancing is not configured through a filter.

If the random filter is not given any arguments, it stands for random load balancing policy.

Example #9 Random load balancing with random filter

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            },
            "slave_1": {
                "host": "192.168.78.137",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "filters": [
            "random"
        ]
    }
}

Optionally, the sticky argument can be passed to the filter. If the parameter sticky is set to the string 1, the filter follows the random once load balancing strategy.

Example #10 Random once load balancing with random filter

{
    "filters": {
        "random": {
            "sticky": "1"
        }
    }
}

Both the random and roundrobin filters support setting a priority, a weight for a server, since PECL/mysqlnd_ms 1.4.0. If the weight argument is passed to the filter, it must assign a weight for all servers. Servers must be given an alias name in the slave respectively master server lists. The alias must be used to reference servers for assigning a priority with weight.

Example #11 Referencing error

[E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR] mysqli_real_connect(): (mysqlnd_ms) Unknown server 'slave3' in 'random' filter configuration. Stopping in %s on line %d

Using a wrong alias name with weight may result in an error similar to the shown above.

If weight is omitted, the default weight of all servers is one.

Example #12 Assigning a weight for load balancing

{
   "myapp": {
       "master": {
           "master1":{
               "host":"localhost",
               "socket":"\/var\/run\/mysql\/mysql.sock"
           }
       },
       "slave": {
           "slave1": {
               "host":"192.168.2.28",
               "port":3306
           },
           "slave2": {
               "host":"192.168.2.29",
               "port":3306
           },
           "slave3": {
               "host":"192.0.43.10",
               "port":3306
           },
       },
       "filters": {
           "random": {
               "weights": {
                   "slave1":8,
                   "slave2":4,
                   "slave3":1,
                   "master1":1
               }
           }
       }
   }
}

At the average a server assigned a weight of two will be selected twice as often as a server assigned a weight of one. Different weights can be assigned to reflect differently sized machines, to prefer co-located slaves which have a low network latency or, to configure a standby failover server. In the latter case, you may want to assign the standby server a very low weight in relation to the other servers. For example, given the configuration above slave3 will get only some eight percent of the requests in the average. As long as slave1 and slave2 are running, it will be used sparsely, similar to a standby failover server. Upon failure of slave1 and slave2, the usage of slave3 increases. Please, check the notes on failover before using weight this way.

Valid weight values range from 1 to 65535.

Unknown arguments are ignored by the filter. No warning or error is given.

The filter expects one or more servers as input. Outputs one server. A filter sequence such as random, roundrobin may cause a warning and an error message to be set on the connection handle when executing a statement.

List of filter arguments.

Keyword	Description	Version
sticky	Enables or disabled random once load balancing policy. See above.	Since 1.2.0.
weight	Assigns a load balancing weight/priority to a server. Please, see above for a description.	Since 1.4.0.

Filter: roundrobin object

If using the roundrobin filter, the plugin iterates over the list of configured slave servers to pick a server for statement execution. If the plugin reaches the end of the list, it wraps around to the beginning of the list and picks the first configured slave server.

Example #13 roundrobin filter

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "filters": [
            "roundrobin"
        ]
    }
}

Expects one or more servers as input. Outputs one server. A filter sequence such as roundrobin, random may cause a warning and an error message to be set on the connection handle when executing a statement.

List of filter arguments.

Keyword	Description	Version
weight	Assigns a load balancing weight/priority to a server. Please, find a description above.	Since 1.4.0.

Filter: user object

The user replaces mysqlnd_ms_set_user_pick_server() function, which was removed in 1.1.0-beta. The filter sets a callback for user-defined read/write splitting and server selection.

The plugins built-in read/write query split mechanism decisions can be overwritten in two ways. The easiest way is to prepend a query string with the SQL hints MYSQLND_MS_MASTER_SWITCH, MYSQLND_MS_SLAVE_SWITCH or MYSQLND_MS_LAST_USED_SWITCH. Using SQL hints one can control, for example, whether a query shall be send to the MySQL replication master server or one of the slave servers. By help of SQL hints it is not possible to pick a certain slave server for query execution.

Full control on server selection can be gained using a callback function. Use of a callback is recommended to expert users only because the callback has to cover all cases otherwise handled by the plugin.

The plugin will invoke the callback function for selecting a server from the lists of configured master and slave servers. The callback function inspects the query to run and picks a server for query execution by returning the hosts URI, as found in the master and slave list.

If the lazy connections are enabled and the callback choses a slave server for which no connection has been established so far and establishing the connection to the slave fails, the plugin will return an error upon the next action on the failed connection, for example, when running a query. It is the responsibility of the application developer to handle the error. For example, the application can re-run the query to trigger a new server selection and callback invocation. If so, the callback must make sure to select a different slave, or check slave availability, before returning to the plugin to prevent an endless loop.

Example #14 Setting a callback

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "filters": {
            "user": {
                "callback": "pick_server"
            }
        }
    }
}

The callback is supposed to return a host to run the query on. The host URI is to be taken from the master and slave connection lists passed to the callback function. If callback returns a value neither found in the master nor in the slave connection lists the plugin will emit an error of the type E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR The error may read like (mysqlnd_ms) User filter callback has returned an unknown server. The server 'server that is not in master or slave list' can neither be found in the master list nor in the slave list. If the application catches the error to ignore it, follow up errors may be set on the connection handle, for example, (mysqlnd_ms) No connection selected by the last filter with the error code 2000 and the sqlstate HY000. Furthermore a warning may be emitted.

Referencing a non-existing function as a callback will result in any error of the type E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR whenever the plugin tries to callback function. The error message may reads like: (mysqlnd_ms) Specified callback (pick_server) is not a valid callback. If the application catches the error to ignore it, follow up errors may be set on the connection handle, for example, (mysqlnd_ms) Specified callback (pick_server) is not a valid callback with the error code 2000 and the sqlstate HY000. Furthermore a warning may be emitted.

The following parameters are passed from the plugin to the callback.

Parameter	Description	Version
connected_host	URI of the currently connected database server.	Since 1.1.0.
query	Query string of the statement for which a server needs to be picked.	Since 1.1.0.
masters	List of master servers to choose from. Note, that the list of master servers may not be identical to the list of configured master servers if the filter is not the first in the filter chain. Previously run filters may have reduced the master list already.	Since 1.1.0.
slaves	List of slave servers to choose from. Note, that the list of master servers may not be identical to the list of configured master servers if the filter is not the first in the filter chain. Previously run filters may have reduced the master list already.	Since 1.1.0.
last_used_connection	URI of the server of the connection used to execute the previous statement on.	Since 1.1.0.
in_transaction	Boolean flag indicating wheter the statement is part of an open transaction. If autocommit mode is turned off, this will be set to TRUE. Otherwise it is set to FALSE. Transaction detection is based on monitoring the mysqlnd library call set_autocommit. Monitoring is not possible beofre PHP 5.4.0. Please, see connection pooling and switching concepts discussion for further details.	Since 1.1.0.

Example #15 Using a callback

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.2.27",
                "port": "3306"
            },
            "slave_1": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "filters": {
            "user": {
                "callback": "pick_server"
            }
        }
    }
}

<?php
function pick_server($connected, $query, $masters, $slaves, $last_used_connection, $in_transaction)
{
 static $slave_idx = 0;
 static $num_slaves = NULL;
 if (is_null($num_slaves))
  $num_slaves = count($slaves);

 /* default: fallback to the plugins build-in logic */
 $ret = NULL;

 printf("User has connected to '%s'...\n", $connected);
 printf("... deciding where to run '%s'\n", $query);

 $where = mysqlnd_ms_query_is_select($query);
 switch ($where)
 {
  case MYSQLND_MS_QUERY_USE_MASTER:
   printf("... using master\n");
   $ret = $masters[0];
   break;
  case MYSQLND_MS_QUERY_USE_SLAVE:
   /* SELECT or SQL hint for using slave */
   if (stristr($query, "FROM table_on_slave_a_only"))
   {
    /* a table which is only on the first configured slave  */
    printf("... access to table available only on slave A detected\n");
    $ret = $slaves[0];
   }
   else
   {
    /* round robin */
    printf("... some read-only query for a slave\n");
    $ret = $slaves[$slave_idx++ % $num_slaves];
   }
   break;
  case MYSQLND_MS_QUERY_LAST_USED:
   printf("... using last used server\n");
   $ret = $last_used_connection;
   break;
 }

 printf("... ret = '%s'\n", $ret);
 return $ret;
}

$mysqli = new mysqli("myapp", "root", "", "test");

if (!($res = $mysqli->query("SELECT 1 FROM DUAL")))
 printf("[%d] %s\n", $mysqli->errno, $mysqli->error);
else
 $res->close();

if (!($res = $mysqli->query("SELECT 2 FROM DUAL")))
 printf("[%d] %s\n", $mysqli->errno, $mysqli->error);
else
 $res->close();


if (!($res = $mysqli->query("SELECT * FROM table_on_slave_a_only")))
 printf("[%d] %s\n", $mysqli->errno, $mysqli->error);
else
 $res->close();

$mysqli->close();
?>

The above example will output:

User has connected to 'myapp'...
... deciding where to run 'SELECT 1 FROM DUAL'
... some read-only query for a slave
... ret = 'tcp://192.168.2.27:3306'
User has connected to 'myapp'...
... deciding where to run 'SELECT 2 FROM DUAL'
... some read-only query for a slave
... ret = 'tcp://192.168.78.136:3306'
User has connected to 'myapp'...
... deciding where to run 'SELECT * FROM table_on_slave_a_only'
... access to table available only on slave A detected
... ret = 'tcp://192.168.2.27:3306'

Filter: user_multi object

The user_multi differs from the user only in one aspect. Otherwise, their syntax is identical. The user filter must pick and return exactly one node for statement execution. A filter chain usually ends with a filter that emits only one node. The filter chain shall reduce the list of candidates for statement execution down to one. This, only one node left, is the case after the user filter has been run.

The user_multi filter is a multi filter. It returns a list of slave and a list of master servers. This list needs further filtering to identify exactly one node for statement execution. A multi filter is typically placed at the top of the filter chain. The quality_of_service filter is another example of a multi filter.

The return value of the callback set for user_multi must be an an array with two elements. The first element holds a list of selected master servers. The second element contains a list of selected slave servers. The lists shall contain the keys of the slave and master servers as found in the slave and master lists passed to the callback. The below example returns random master and slave lists extracted from the functions input.

Example #16 Returning random masters and slaves

<?php
function pick_server($connected, $query, $masters, $slaves, $last_used_connection, $in_transaction)
{
  $picked_masters = array()
  foreach ($masters as $key => $value) {
    if (mt_rand(0, 2) > 1)
      $picked_masters[] = $key;
  }
  $picked_slaves = array()
  foreach ($slaves as $key => $value) {
    if (mt_rand(0, 2) > 1)
      $picked_slaves[] = $key;
  }
  return array($picked_masters, $picked_slaves);
}
?>

The plugin will issue an error of type E_RECOVERABLE if the callback fails to return a server list. The error may read (mysqlnd_ms) User multi filter callback has not returned a list of servers to use. The callback must return an array in %s on line %d. In case the server list is not empty but has invalid servers key/ids in it, an error of type E_RECOVERABLE will the thrown with an error message like (mysqlnd_ms) User multi filter callback has returned an invalid list of servers to use. Server id is negative in %s on line %d, or similar.

Whether an error is emitted in case of an empty slave or master list depends on the configuration. If an empty master list is returned for a write operation, it is likely that the plugin will emit a warning that may read (mysqlnd_ms) Couldn't find the appropriate master connection. 0 masters to choose from. Something is wrong in %s on line %d. Typically a follow up error of type E_ERROR will happen. In case of a read operation and an empty slave list the behviour depends on the fail over configuration. If fail over to master is enabled, no error should appear. If fail over to master is deactivated the plugin will emit a warning that may read (mysqlnd_ms) Couldn't find the appropriate slave connection. 0 slaves to choose from. Something is wrong in %s on line %d.

Filter: quality_of_service object

The quality_of_service identifies cluster nodes capable of delivering a certain quality of service. It is a multi filter which returns zero, one or multiple of its input servers. Thus, it must be followed by other filters to reduce the number of candidates down to one for statement execution.

The quality_of_service filter has been introduced in 1.2.0-alpha. In the 1.2 series the filters focus is on the consistency aspect of service quality. Different types of clusters offer different default data consistencies. For example, an asynchronous MySQL replication slave offers eventual consistency. The slave may not be able to deliver requested data because it has not replicated the write, it may serve stale database because its lagging behind or it may serve current information. Often, this is acceptable. In some cases higher consistency levels are needed for the application to work correct. In those cases, the quality_of_service can filter out cluster nodes which cannot deliver the necessary quality of service.

The quality_of_service filter can be replaced or created at runtime. A successful call to mysqlnd_ms_set_qos() removes all existing qos filter entries from the filter list and installs a new one at the very beginning. All settings that can be made through mysqlnd_ms_set_qos() can also be in the plugins configuration file. However, use of the function is by far the most common use case. Instead of setting session consistency and strong consistency service levels in the plugins configuration file it is recommended to define only masters and no slaves. Both service levels will force the use of masters only. Using an empty slave list shortens the configuration file, thus improving readability. The only service level for which there is a case of defining in the plugins configuration file is the combination of eventual consistency and maximum slave lag.

Keyword	Description	Version
eventual_consistency	Request eventual consistency. Allows the use of all master and slave servers. Data returned may or may not be current. Eventual consistency accepts an optional age parameter. If age is given the plugin considers only slaves for reading for which MySQL replication reports a slave lag less or equal to age. The repliation lag is measure using SHOW SLAVE STATUS. If the plugin fails to fetch the replication lag, the slave tested is skipped. Implementation details and tipps are given in the quality of service concepts section. Please note, if a filter chain generates an empty slave list and the PHP configuration directive mysqlnd_ms.multi_master=0 is used, the plugin may emit a warning. Example #17 Global limit on slave lag { "myapp": { "master": { "master_0": { "host": "localhost" } }, "slave": { "slave_0": { "host": "192.168.2.27", "port": "3306" }, "slave_1": { "host": "192.168.78.136", "port": "3306" } }, "filters": { "quality_of_service": { "eventual_consistency": { "age":123 } } } } }	Since 1.2.0.
session_consistency	Request session consistency (read your writes). Allows use of all masters and all slaves which are in sync with the master. If no further parameters are given slaves are filtered out as there is no reliable way to test if a slave has caugth up to the master or is lagging behind. Please note, if a filter chain generates an empty slave list and the PHP configuration directive mysqlnd_ms.multi_master=0 is used, the plugin may emit a warning. Session consistency temporarily requested using mysqlnd_ms_set_qos() is a valuable alternative to using master_on_write. master_on_write is likely to send more statements to the master than needed. The application may be able to contiue operation at a lower consistency level after it has done some critial reads.	Since 1.1.0.
strong_consistency	Request strong consistency. Only masters will be used.	Since 1.2.0.

failover Upto and including 1.3.x: string. Since 1.4.0: object.

Failover policy. Supported policies: disabled (default), master, loop_before_master (Since 1.4.0).

If no failover policy is set, the plugin will not do any automatic failover (failover=disabled). Whenever the plugin fails to connect a server it will emit a warning and set the connections error code and message. Thereafter it is up to the application to handle the error and, for example, resent the last statement to trigger the selection of another server.

Please note, the automatic failover logic is applied when opening connections only. Once a connection has been opened no automatic attempts are made to reopen it in case of an error. If, for example, the server a connection is connected to is shut down and the user attempts to run a statement on the connection, no automatic failover will be tried. Instead, an error will be reported.

If using failover=master the plugin will implicitly failover to a master, if available. Please check the concepts documentation to learn about potential pitfalls and risks of using failover=master.

Example #18 Optional master failover when failing to connect to slave (PECL/mysqlnd_ms < 1.4.0)

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "failover": "master"
    }
}

Since PECL/mysqlnd_ms 1.4.0 the failover configuration keyword refers to an object.

Example #19 New syntax since 1.4.0

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "failover": {"strategy": "master" }
    }
}

Keyword	Description	Version
strategy	Failover policy. Possible values: disabled (default), master, loop_before_master A value of disabled disables automatic failover. Setting master instructs the plugin to try to connect to a master in case of a slave connection error. If the master connection attempt fails, the plugin exists the failover loop and returns an error to the user. If using loop_before_master and a slave request is made, the plugin tries to connect to other slaves before failing over to a master. If multiple master are given and multi master is enabled, the plugin also loops over the list of masters and attempts to connect before returning an error to the user.	Since 1.4.0.
remember_failed	Remember failures for the duration of a web request. Default: false. If set to true the plugin will remember failed hosts and skip the hosts in all future load balancing made for the duration of the current web request.	Since 1.4.0. Experimental feature. The feaure is only available together with the random and roundrobin load balancing filter. The behaviour and syntax is likely to change in the future.
max_retries	Maximum number of connection attempts before skipping host. Default: 0 (no limit). The setting is used to prevent hosts from being dropped of the host list upon the first failure. If set to n > 0, the plugin will keep the node in the node list even after a failed connection attempt. The node will not be removed immediately from the slave respectively master lists after the first connection failure but instead be tried to connect to up to n times in future load balancing rounds before being removed.	Since 1.4.0. Experimental feature. The feaure is only available together with the random and roundrobin load balancing filter. The behaviour and syntax is likely to change in the future.

Setting failover to any other value but disabled, master or loop_before_master will not emit any warning or error.

lazy_connections bool

Controls the use of lazy connections. Lazy connections are connections which are not opened before the client sends the first connection. Lazy connections are a default.

It is strongly recommended to use lazy connections. Lazy connections help to keep the number of open connections low. If you disable lazy connections and, for example, configure one MySQL replication master server and two MySQL replication slaves, the plugin will open three connections upon the first call to a connect function although the application might use the master connection only.

Lazy connections bare a risk if you make heavy use of actions which change the state of a connection. The plugin does not dispatch all state changing actions to all connections from the connection pool. The few dispatched actions are applied to already opened connections only. Lazy connections opened in the future are not affected. Only some settings are "remembered" and applied when lazy connections are opened.

Example #20 Disabling lazy connection

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "lazy_connections": 0
    }
}

Please, see also server_charset to overcome potential problems with string escaping and servers using different default charsets.

server_charset string

The setting has been introduced in 1.4.0. It is recommended to set it if using lazy connections.

The server_charset setting serves two purposes. It acts as a fallback charset to be used for string escaping done before a connection has been established and it helps to avoid escaping pitfalls in heteregenous environments which severs using different default charsets.

String escaping takes a connections charset into account. String escaping is not possible before a connection has been opened and the connections charset is known. The use of lazy connections delays the actual opening of connections until a statement is send.

An application using lazy connections may attempt to escape a string before sending a statement. In fact, this should be a common case as the statement string may contain the string that is to be escaped. However, due to the lazy connection feature no connection has been opened yet and escaping fails. The plugin may report an error of the type E_WARNING and a message like (mysqlnd_ms) string escaping doesn't work without established connection. Possible solution is to add server_charset to your configuration to inform you of the pitfall.

Setting server_charset makes the plugin use the given charset for string escaping done on lazy connection handles before establishing a network connection to MySQL. Furthermore, the plugin will enforce the use of the charset when the connection is established.

Enforcing the use of the configured charset used for escaping is done to prevent tapping into the pitfall of using a different charset for escaping than used later for the connection. This has the additional benefit of removing the need to align the charset configuration of all servers used. No matter what the default charset on any of the servers is, the plugin will set the configured one as a default.

The plugin does not stop the user from changing the charset at any time using the set_charset() call or correspoding SQL statements. Please, note that the use of SQL is not recommended as it cannot be monitored by the plugin. The user can, for example, change the charset on a lazy connection handle after escaping a string and before the actual connection is opened. The charset set by the user will be used for any subsequent escaping before the connection is established. The connection will be established using the configured charset, no matter what the server charset is or what the user has set before. Once a connection has been opened, set_charset is of no meaning anymore.

Example #21 String escaping on a lazy connection handle

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "lazy_connections": 1,
        "server_charset" : "utf8"
    }
}

<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("myapp", "username", "password", "database");
$mysqli->real_escape("this will be escaped using the server_charset setting - utf8");
$mysqli->set_charset("latin1");
$mysqli->real_escape("this will be escaped using latin1");
/* server_charset implicitly set - utf8 connection */
$mysqli->query("SELECT 'This connection will be set to server_charset upon establishing' AS _msg FROM DUAL");
/* latin1 used from now on */
$mysqli->set_charset("latin1");
?>

master_on_write bool

If set, the plugin will use the master server only after the first statement has been executed on the master. Applications can still send statements to the slaves using SQL hints to overrule the automatic decision.

The setting may help with replication lag. If an application runs an INSERT the plugin will, by default, use the master to execute all following statements, including SELECT statements. This helps to avoid problems with reads from slaves which have not replicated the INSERT yet.

Example #22 Master on write for consistent reads

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "master_on_write": 1
    }
}

Please, note the quality_of_service filter introduced in version 1.2.0-alpha. It gives finer control, for example, for achieving read-your-writes and, it offers additional functionality introducing service levels.

trx_stickiness string

Transaction stickiness policy. Supported policies: disabled (default), master.

The setting requires 5.4.0 or newer. If used with PHP older than 5.4.0, the plugin will emit a warning like (mysqlnd_ms) trx_stickiness strategy is not supported before PHP 5.3.99.

If no transaction stickiness policy is set or, if setting trx_stickiness=disabled, the plugin is not transaction aware. Thus, the plugin may load balance connections and switch connections in the middle of a transaction. The plugin is not transaction safe. SQL hints must be used avoid connection switches during a transaction.

As of PHP 5.4.0 the mysqlnd library allows the plugin to monitor the autocommit mode set by calls to the libraries set_autocommit() function. If setting set_stickiness=master and autocommit gets disabled by a PHP MySQL extension invoking the mysqlnd library internal function call set_autocommit(), the plugin is made aware of the begin of a transaction. Then, the plugin stops load balancing and directs all statements to the master server until autocommit is enabled. Thus, no SQL hints are required.

An example of a PHP MySQL API function calling the mysqlnd library internal function call set_autocommit() is mysqli_autocommit().

Although setting ser_stickiness=master, the plugin cannot be made aware of autocommit mode changes caused by SQL statements such as SET AUTOCOMMIT=0.

Example #23 Using master to execute transactions

{
    "myapp": {
        "master": {
            "master_0": {
                "host": "localhost"
            }
        },
        "slave": {
            "slave_0": {
                "host": "192.168.78.136",
                "port": "3306"
            }
        },
        "trx_stickiness": "master"
    }
}