apache / apache/pulsar-client-cpp
[Feature] Port SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover from Java client to C++
- Dominant language
- C++
- Stars
- 71
- Forks
- 90
- Avg merge
- 2h 33m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 3
Description
## Motivation
The Java client introduced `SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover` in apache/pulsar#23129 (merged August 2024, released in Pulsar 4.0.0 and backported to 3.0.7 / 3.3.2). This `ServiceUrlProvider` implementation addresses a well-known reliability gap in `AutoClusterFailover` that is particularly relevant to geo-replication deployments sitting behind a Pulsar Proxy.
**The problem with `AutoClusterFailover`**: its health probe is a raw TCP connection. In a typical deployment where a Pulsar Proxy fronts the brokers, the TCP probe succeeds as soon as the proxy accepts the connection — even if all brokers behind the proxy have crashed. This means `AutoClusterFailover` cannot detect broker-layer failure and may reconnect clients to a cluster that is not actually serving requests.
**What `SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover` does differently**:
- Probes cluster health via a **topic lookup** (`getBroker()` on a configurable test topic) rather than a raw TCP connection. A broker that can respond to a lookup is demonstrably processing requests — the proxy cannot mask broker failure here.
- Introduces a **hysteresis state machine** with separate `failoverThreshold` and `recoverThreshold` counters (default 5 each), requiring consecutive failures before cutting over and consecutive successes before switching back. This prevents flapping without requiring a coarse `switchBackDelay` timer.
- Targets geo-replication topologies where all clusters share the same authentication credentials, which is the common case.
## Request
Port `SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover` to the C++ client.
The `ServiceInfoProvider` interface is already part of the C++ public API (`include/pulsar/ServiceInfoProvider.h`), and `AutoClusterFailover` is already implemented against it — so the interface contract is defined and the pattern is established. The Java implementation ([`SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover.java`](https://github.com/apache/pulsar/blob/master/pulsar-client/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/client/impl/SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover.java)) serves as a direct reference.
## Impact
The C++ client is the foundation for the Node.js client binding. Once `SameAuthParamsLookupAutoClusterFailover` is available in C++, it can be surfaced to Node.js consumers as well — a client language that currently has no automatic failover support at all.
This would bring C++ and Node.js deployments to parity with Java on the most important `AutoClusterFailover` reliability fix for proxy-fronted geo-replication clusters.
## References
- apache/pulsar#23129 — original Java implementation and motivation
- `include/pulsar/ServiceInfoProvider.h` — existing C++ interface
- `lib/AutoClusterFailover.cc` — existing C++ `AutoClusterFailover` implementation (reference for structure)
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