SystemFailure (GemFire Java API Documentation)

java.lang.Object
- com.gemstone.gemfire.SystemFailure

```
public final class SystemFailure
extends Object
```
Catches and responds to JVM failure
This class represents a catastrophic failure of the system, especially the Java virtual machine. Any class may, at any time, indicate that a system failure has occurred by calling initiateFailure(Error) (or, less commonly, setFailure(Error)).
In practice, the most common type of failure that is likely to be reported by an otherwise healthy JVM is OutOfMemoryError. However, GemFire will report any occurrence of VirtualMachineError as a JVM failure.
When a failure is reported, you must assume that the JVM has broken its fundamental execution contract with your application. No programming invariant can be assumed to be true, and your entire application must be regarded as corrupted.
Failure Hooks
GemFire uses this class to disable its distributed system (group communication) and any open caches. It also provides a hook for you to respond to after GemFire disables itself.
Failure WatchDog
When startThreads() is called, a "watchdog" Thread is started that periodically checks to see if system corruption has been reported. When system corruption is detected, this thread proceeds to:
1. Close GemFire -- Group communication is ceased (this cache member recuses itself from the distributed system) and the cache is further poisoned (it is pointless to try to cleanly close it at this point.).
  After this has successfully ended, we launch a
2. failure action, a user-defined Runnable setFailureAction(Runnable). By default, this Runnable performs nothing. If you feel you need to perform an action before exiting the JVM, this hook gives you a means of attempting some action. Whatever you attempt should be extremely simple, since your Java execution environment has been corrupted.
  GemStone recommends that you employ Java Service Wrapper to detect when your JVM exits and to perform appropriate failure and restart actions.
3. Finally, if the application has granted the watchdog permission to exit the JVM (via setExitOK(boolean)), the watchdog calls System.exit(int) with an argument of 1. If you have not granted this class permission to close the JVM, you are strongly advised to call it in your failure action (in the previous step).
Each of these actions will be run exactly once in the above described order. However, if either step throws any type of error (Throwable), the watchdog will assume that the JVM is still under duress (esp. an OutOfMemoryError), will wait a bit, and then retry the failed action.
It bears repeating that you should be very cautious of any Runnables you ask this class to run. By definition the JVM is very sick when failure has been signalled.

Failure Proctor
In addition to the failure watchdog, startThreads() creates a second thread (the "proctor") that monitors free memory. It does this by examining free memory, total memory and maximum memory. If the amount of available memory stays below a given threshold, for more than WATCHDOG_WAIT seconds, the watchdog is notified.
Note that the proctor can be effectively disabled by setting the failure memory threshold to a negative value.
The proctor is a second line of defense, attempting to detect OutOfMemoryError conditions in circumstances where nothing alerted the watchdog. For instance, a third-party jar might incorrectly handle this error and leave your virtual machine in a "stuck" state.
Note that the proctor does not relieve you of the obligation to follow the best practices in the next section.
Best Practices

Catch and Handle VirtualMachineError
If you feel obliged to catch either Error, or Throwable, you mustalso check for VirtualMachineError like so:
```
        catch (VirtualMachineError err) {
          SystemFailure.initiateFailure(err);
          // If this ever returns, rethrow the error.  We're poisoned
          // now, so don't let this thread continue.
          throw err;
        }
 
```
Periodically Check For Errors
Check for serious system errors at appropriate points in your algorithms. You may elect to use the checkFailure() utility function, but you are not required to (you could just see if getFailure() returns a non-null result).
A job processing loop is a good candidate, for instance, in com.gemstone.org.jgroups.protocols.UDP#run(), which implements Thread.run():
```
         for (;;)  {
           SystemFailure.checkFailure();
           if (mcast_recv_sock == null || mcast_recv_sock.isClosed()) break;
           if (Thread.currentThread().isInterrupted()) break;
          ...
 
```
Create Logging ThreadGroups
If you create any Thread, a best practice is to catch severe errors and signal failure appropriately. One trick to do this is to create a ThreadGroup that handles uncaught exceptions by overriding ThreadGroup.uncaughtException(Thread, Throwable) and to declare your thread as a member of that ThreadGroup. This also has a significant side-benefit in that most uncaught exceptions can be detected:
```
    ThreadGroup tg = new ThreadGroup("Worker Threads") {
        public void uncaughtException(Thread t, Throwable e) {
          // Do this *before* any object allocation in case of
          // OutOfMemoryError (for instance)
          if (e instanceof VirtualMachineError) {
            SystemFailure.setFailure((VirtualMachineError)e); // don't throw
          }
          String s = "Uncaught exception in thread " + t;
          system.getLogWriter().severe(s, e);
        }
        Thread t = new Thread(myRunnable, tg, "My Thread");
        t.start();
      }; * 
```
Catches of Error and Throwable Should Check for Failure
Keep in mind that peculiar or flat-outimpossible exceptions may ensue after a VirtualMachineError has been thrown anywhere in your virtual machine. Whenever you catch Error or Throwable, you should also make sure that you aren't dealing with a corrupted JVM:
```
        catch (Throwable t) {
          // Whenever you catch Error or Throwable, you must also
          // catch VirtualMachineError (see above).  However, there is
          // _still_ a possibility that you are dealing with a cascading
          // error condition, so you also need to check to see if the JVM
          // is still usable:
          SystemFailure.checkFailure();
          ...
        }
 
```
Since:

5.1

Field Summary

Fields
Modifier and Type	Field and Description
`static String`	`DISTRIBUTED_SYSTEM_DISCONNECTED_MESSAGE`
`static String`	`DISTRIBUTION_HALTED_MESSAGE`
`static long`	`MEMORY_MAX_WAIT` This is the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that the proctor thread will tolerate seeing free memory stay below `setFailureMemoryThreshold(long)`, after which point it will declare a system failure.
`static long`	`MEMORY_POLL_INTERVAL` This is the interval, in seconds, that the proctor thread will awaken and poll system free memory.
`static boolean`	`MONITOR_MEMORY` Flag that determines whether or not we monitor memory on our own.
`static boolean`	`TRACE_CLOSE` If true, we track the progress of emergencyClose on System.err
`static int`	`WATCHDOG_WAIT` This is the amount of time, in seconds, the watchdog periodically awakens to see if the system has been corrupted.

Method Summary

Methods
Modifier and Type	Method and Description
`static void`	`checkFailure()` Utility function to check for failures.
`static void`	`emergencyClose()` Attempt to close any and all GemFire resources.
`static Error`	`getFailure()` Returns the catastrophic system failure, if any.
`static void`	`initiateFailure(Error f)` Signals that a system failure has occurred and then throws an AssertionError.
`static boolean`	`isJVMFailureError(Error err)` Returns true if the given Error is a fatal to the JVM and it should be shut down.
`static void`	`loadEmergencyClasses()` Since it requires object memory to unpack a jar file, make sure this JVM has loaded the classes necessary for closure before it becomes necessary to use them.
`static boolean`	`setExitOK(boolean newVal)` Indicate whether it is acceptable to call `System.exit(int)` after failure processing has completed.
`static void`	`setFailure(Error failure)` Set the underlying system failure, if not already set.
`static Runnable`	`setFailureAction(Runnable action)` Sets a user-defined action that is run in the event that failure has been detected.
`static long`	`setFailureMemoryThreshold(long newVal)` Set the memory threshold under which system failure will be notified.
`static void`	`signalCacheClose()` Should be invoked when GemFire cache is closing or closed.
`static void`	`signalCacheCreate()` Should be invoked when GemFire cache is being created.
`static void`	`startThreads()` This starts up the watchdog and proctor threads.
`static void`	`stopThreads()` This stops the threads that implement this service.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object
equals, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

- Field Detail
  - DISTRIBUTION_HALTED_MESSAGE
```
public static final String DISTRIBUTION_HALTED_MESSAGE
```
  - DISTRIBUTED_SYSTEM_DISCONNECTED_MESSAGE
```
public static final String DISTRIBUTED_SYSTEM_DISCONNECTED_MESSAGE
```
  - WATCHDOG_WAIT
```
public static final int WATCHDOG_WAIT
```
    This is the amount of time, in seconds, the watchdog periodically awakens to see if the system has been corrupted.
    The watchdog will be explicitly awakened by calls to setFailure(Error) or initiateFailure(Error), but it will awaken of its own accord periodically to check for failure even if the above calls do not occur.
    This can be set with the system property gemfire.WATCHDOG_WAIT. The default is 15 sec.
  - MEMORY_POLL_INTERVAL
```
public static final long MEMORY_POLL_INTERVAL
```
    This is the interval, in seconds, that the proctor thread will awaken and poll system free memory. The default is 1 sec. This can be set using the system property gemfire.SystemFailure.MEMORY_POLL_INTERVAL.
    
    See Also:
    setFailureMemoryThreshold(long)
  - MEMORY_MAX_WAIT
```
public static final long MEMORY_MAX_WAIT
```
    This is the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that the proctor thread will tolerate seeing free memory stay below setFailureMemoryThreshold(long), after which point it will declare a system failure. The default is 15 sec. This can be set using the system property gemfire.SystemFailure.MEMORY_MAX_WAIT.
    
    See Also:
    setFailureMemoryThreshold(long)
  - MONITOR_MEMORY
```
public static final boolean MONITOR_MEMORY
```
    Flag that determines whether or not we monitor memory on our own. If this flag is set, we will check freeMemory, invoke GC if free memory gets low, and start throwing our own OutOfMemoryException if The default is false, so this monitoring is turned off. This monitoring has been found to be unreliable in non-Sun VMs when the VM is under stress or behaves in unpredictable ways.
    
    Since:
    
    6.5
  - TRACE_CLOSE
```
public static final boolean TRACE_CLOSE
```
    If true, we track the progress of emergencyClose on System.err
    
    See Also:
    Constant Field Values
- Method Detail
  - setExitOK
```
public static boolean setExitOK(boolean newVal)
```
    Indicate whether it is acceptable to call System.exit(int) after failure processing has completed.
    This may be dynamically modified while the system is running.
    
    Parameters:
    newVal - true if it is OK to exit the process
    
    Returns:
    the previous value
  - isJVMFailureError
```
public static boolean isJVMFailureError(Error err)
```
    Returns true if the given Error is a fatal to the JVM and it should be shut down. Code should call initiateFailure(Error) or setFailure(Error) if this returns true.
  - signalCacheCreate
```
public static void signalCacheCreate()
```
    Should be invoked when GemFire cache is being created.
  - signalCacheClose
```
public static void signalCacheClose()
```
    Should be invoked when GemFire cache is closing or closed.
  - loadEmergencyClasses
```
public static void loadEmergencyClasses()
```
    Since it requires object memory to unpack a jar file, make sure this JVM has loaded the classes necessary for closure before it becomes necessary to use them.
    Note that just touching the class in order to load it is usually sufficient, so all an implementation needs to do is to reference the same classes used in emergencyClose(). Just make sure to do it while you still have memory to succeed!
  - emergencyClose
```
public static void emergencyClose()
```
    Attempt to close any and all GemFire resources. The contract of this method is that it should not acquire any synchronization mutexes nor create any objects.
    The former is because the system is in an undefined state and attempting to acquire the mutex may cause a hang.
    The latter is because the likelihood is that we are invoking this method due to memory exhaustion, so any attempt to create an object will also cause a hang.
    This method is not meant to be called directly (but, well, I guess it could). It is public to document the contract that is implemented by emergencyClose in other parts of the system.
  - checkFailure
```
public static void checkFailure()
                         throws InternalGemFireError,
                                Error
```
    Utility function to check for failures. If a failure is detected, this methods throws an AssertionFailure.
    
    Throws:
    
    InternalGemFireError - if the system has been corrupted
    
    Error - if the system has been corrupted and a thread-specific AssertionError cannot be allocated
    See Also:
    initiateFailure(Error)
  - initiateFailure
```
public static void initiateFailure(Error f)
                            throws InternalGemFireError,
                                   Error
```
    Signals that a system failure has occurred and then throws an AssertionError.
    
    Parameters:
    f - the failure to set
    
    Throws:
    
    IllegalArgumentException - if f is null
    
    InternalGemFireError - always; this method does not return normally.
    
    Error - if a thread-specific AssertionError cannot be allocated.
  - setFailure
```
public static void setFailure(Error failure)
```
    Set the underlying system failure, if not already set.
    This method does not generate an error, and should only be used in circumstances where execution needs to continue, such as when re-implementing ThreadGroup.uncaughtException(Thread, Throwable).
    
    Parameters:
    failure - the system failure
    
    Throws:
    
    IllegalArgumentException - if you attempt to set the failure to null
  - getFailure
```
public static Error getFailure()
```
    Returns the catastrophic system failure, if any.
    This is usually (though not necessarily) an instance of VirtualMachineError.
    A return value of null indicates that no system failure has yet been detected.
    Object synchronization can implicitly require object creation (fat locks in JRockit for instance), so the underlying value is not synchronized (it is a volatile). This means the return value from this call is not necessarily the first failure reported by the JVM.
    Note that even if it were synchronized, it would only be a proximal indicator near the time that the JVM crashed, and may not actually reflect the underlying root cause that generated the failure. For instance, if your JVM is running short of memory, this Throwable is probably an innocent victim and not the actual allocation (or series of allocations) that caused your JVM to exhaust memory.
    If this function returns a non-null value, keep in mind that the JVM is very limited. In particular, any attempt to allocate objects may fail if the original failure was an OutOfMemoryError.
    
    Returns:
    the failure, if any
  - setFailureAction
```
public static Runnable setFailureAction(Runnable action)
```
    Sets a user-defined action that is run in the event that failure has been detected.
    This action is run after the GemFire cache has been shut down. If it throws any error, it will be reattempted indefinitely until it succeeds. This action may be dynamically modified while the system is running.
    The default action prints the failure stack trace to System.err.
    
    Parameters:
    action - the Runnable to use
    
    Returns:
    the previous action
    See Also:
    initiateFailure(Error)
  - setFailureMemoryThreshold
```
public static long setFailureMemoryThreshold(long newVal)
```
    Set the memory threshold under which system failure will be notified. This value may be dynamically modified while the system is running. The default is 1048576 bytes. This can be set using the system property gemfire.SystemFailure.chronic_memory_threshold.
    
    Parameters:
    newVal - threshold in bytes
    
    Returns:
    the old threshold
    See Also:
    Runtime.freeMemory()
  - startThreads
```
public static void startThreads()
```
    This starts up the watchdog and proctor threads. This method is called when a Cache is created.
  - stopThreads
```
public static void stopThreads()
```
    This stops the threads that implement this service. This method is called when a Cache is closed.

Class SystemFailure

Failure Hooks

Failure WatchDog

Failure Proctor

Best Practices

Catch and Handle VirtualMachineError

Periodically Check For Errors

Create Logging ThreadGroups

Catches of Error and Throwable Should Check for Failure

Field Summary

Method Summary

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

Field Detail

DISTRIBUTION_HALTED_MESSAGE

DISTRIBUTED_SYSTEM_DISCONNECTED_MESSAGE

WATCHDOG_WAIT

MEMORY_POLL_INTERVAL

MEMORY_MAX_WAIT

MONITOR_MEMORY

TRACE_CLOSE

Method Detail

setExitOK

isJVMFailureError

signalCacheCreate

signalCacheClose

loadEmergencyClasses

emergencyClose

checkFailure

initiateFailure

setFailure

getFailure

setFailureAction

setFailureMemoryThreshold

startThreads

stopThreads