A Framework for Progress, Logging, and Error Handling of Tasks
Introduction
In modern software development, services often perform long-running tasks that can be challenging to monitor and debug. To address these challenges, we propose a framework that extends existing services with robust progress logging and error handling capabilities. This framework aims to provide clear insights for both developers and users, ensuring transparency and reliability.
Key Objectives:
Developer Insights:
Detailed Logging: Capture comprehensive logs that detail the execution flow, including timestamps, intermediate states, and resource usage.
Error Tracking: Implement mechanisms to log errors with contextual information, making it easier to diagnose and resolve issues.
Performance Metrics: Record metrics such as execution time and resource consumption to identify bottlenecks and optimize performance.
User Transparency:
Progress Indicators: Provide real-time updates on the progress of long-running tasks, allowing users to understand how far along the process is.
User-Friendly Error Messages: Display clear and informative error messages that help users understand what went wrong and potential next steps.
Framework Components:
Logging Module:
Structured Logging: Use structured logging formats to ensure logs are easily searchable and analyzable.
Error Handling Module:
Exception Handling: Implement a standardized approach to catching and logging exceptions, including stack traces and relevant context.
Progress Tracking Module:
Progress API: Develop an API endpoint that clients can query to get the current status and progress of a task.
Monitoring and Alerts:
Health Checks: Implement periodic health checks to ensure the service is running smoothly.
This framework not only improves the observability and reliability of long-running tasks but also enhances the overall user experience by providing transparency and actionable insights. By adopting this approach, developers can more effectively monitor and debug their services, while users benefit from clear progress updates and informative error messages.
Architecture
The architecture consists of several components:
A service of interest. Tasks executed by such a service are called focus tasks in the remainder.
Logging statements executed by a focus task are recorded in the MySQL database schema plet.
The AIMMS application pletR reads that database, and provides:
Overviews and details on the focus tasks ran.
Follow window on progress of a selected focus task.
A service that passes the followed progress on, called follow service in the remainder.
A client application that launches a focus task may subsequently use the follow service.
Additionally, the pletR application sets up
The database schema plet, and
A regularly executed task, typically nightly, to delete outdated log information.