Chapter 7. Marshalling

Store as binary enables data to be stored in its serialized form. This can be useful to achieve lazy deserialization, which is the mechanism by which Red Hat Data Grid by which serialization and deserialization of objects is deferred till the point in time in which they are used and needed. This typically means that any deserialization happens using the thread context class loader of the invocation that requires deserialization, and is an effective mechanism to provide classloader isolation. By default lazy deserialization is disabled but if you want to enable it, you can do it like this:

<memory>
   <binary />
</memory>

ConfigurationBuilder builder = ...
builder.memory().storageType(StorageType.BINARY);

<store-as-binary keys="true" values="true"/>

ConfigurationBuilder builder = ...
builder.storeAsBinary().enable().storeKeysAsBinary(true).storeValuesAsBinary(true);

Sometimes it might happen that the Red Hat Data Grid marshalling layer, and in particular JBoss Marshalling, might have issues marshalling/unmarshalling some user object. In Red Hat Data Grid 4.0, marshalling exceptions will contain further information on the objects that were being marshalled. Example:

java.io.NotSerializableException: java.lang.Object
at org.jboss.marshalling.river.RiverMarshaller.doWriteObject(RiverMarshaller.java:857)
at org.jboss.marshalling.AbstractMarshaller.writeObject(AbstractMarshaller.java:407)
at org.infinispan.marshall.exts.ReplicableCommandExternalizer.writeObject(ReplicableCommandExternalizer.java:54)
at org.infinispan.marshall.jboss.ConstantObjectTable$ExternalizerAdapter.writeObject(ConstantObjectTable.java:267)
at org.jboss.marshalling.river.RiverMarshaller.doWriteObject(RiverMarshaller.java:143)
at org.jboss.marshalling.AbstractMarshaller.writeObject(AbstractMarshaller.java:407)
at org.infinispan.marshall.jboss.JBossMarshaller.objectToObjectStream(JBossMarshaller.java:167)
at org.infinispan.marshall.VersionAwareMarshaller.objectToBuffer(VersionAwareMarshaller.java:92)
at org.infinispan.marshall.VersionAwareMarshaller.objectToByteBuffer(VersionAwareMarshaller.java:170)
at org.infinispan.marshall.DefaultMarshallerTest.testNestedNonSerializable(VersionAwareMarshallerTest.java:415)
Caused by: an exception which occurred:
in object java.lang.Object@b40ec4
in object org.infinispan.commands.write.PutKeyValueCommand@df661da7
... Removed 22 stack frames

The way the "in object" messages are read is the same in which stacktraces are read. The highest "in object" being the most inner one and the lowest "in object" message being the most outer one. So, the above example indicates that a java.lang.Object instance contained in an instance of org.infinispan.commands.write.PutKeyValueCommand could not be serialized because java.lang.Object@b40ec4 is not serializable.

This is not all though! If you enable DEBUG or TRACE logging levels, marshalling exceptions will contain show the toString() representations of objects in the stacktrace. For example:

java.io.NotSerializableException: java.lang.Object
...
Caused by: an exception which occurred:
in object java.lang.Object@b40ec4
-> toString = java.lang.Object@b40ec4
in object org.infinispan.commands.write.PutKeyValueCommand@df661da7
-> toString = PutKeyValueCommand{key=k, value=java.lang.Object@b40ec4, putIfAbsent=false, lifespanMillis=0, maxIdleTimeMillis=0}

With regards to unmarshalling exceptions, showing such level of information it’s a lot more complicated but where possible. Red Hat Data Grid will provide class type information. For example:

java.io.IOException: Injected failure!
at org.infinispan.marshall.DefaultMarshallerTest$1.readExternal(VersionAwareMarshallerTest.java:426)
at org.jboss.marshalling.river.RiverUnmarshaller.doReadNewObject(RiverUnmarshaller.java:1172)
at org.jboss.marshalling.river.RiverUnmarshaller.doReadObject(RiverUnmarshaller.java:273)
at org.jboss.marshalling.river.RiverUnmarshaller.doReadObject(RiverUnmarshaller.java:210)
at org.jboss.marshalling.AbstractUnmarshaller.readObject(AbstractUnmarshaller.java:85)
at org.infinispan.marshall.jboss.JBossMarshaller.objectFromObjectStream(JBossMarshaller.java:210)
at org.infinispan.marshall.VersionAwareMarshaller.objectFromByteBuffer(VersionAwareMarshaller.java:104)
at org.infinispan.marshall.VersionAwareMarshaller.objectFromByteBuffer(VersionAwareMarshaller.java:177)
at org.infinispan.marshall.DefaultMarshallerTest.testErrorUnmarshalling(VersionAwareMarshallerTest.java:431)
Caused by: an exception which occurred:
in object of type org.infinispan.marshall.DefaultMarshallerTest$1

In this example, an IOException was thrown when trying to unmarshall a instance of the inner class org.infinispan.marshall.DefaultMarshallerTest$1. In similar fashion to marshalling exceptions, when DEBUG or TRACE logging levels are enabled, classloader information of the class type is provided. For example:

java.io.IOException: Injected failure!
...
Caused by: an exception which occurred:
in object of type org.infinispan.marshall.DefaultMarshallerTest$1
-> classloader hierarchy:
-> type classloader = sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader@198dfaf
->...file:/opt/eclipse/configuration/org.eclipse.osgi/bundles/285/1/.cp/eclipse-testng.jar
->...file:/opt/eclipse/configuration/org.eclipse.osgi/bundles/285/1/.cp/lib/testng-jdk15.jar
->...file:/home/galder/jboss/infinispan/code/trunk/core/target/test-classes/
->...file:/home/galder/jboss/infinispan/code/trunk/core/target/classes/
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/testng/testng/5.9/testng-5.9-jdk15.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/net/jcip/jcip-annotations/1.0/jcip-annotations-1.0.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/easymock/easymockclassextension/2.4/easymockclassextension-2.4.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/easymock/easymock/2.4/easymock-2.4.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/cglib/cglib-nodep/2.1_3/cglib-nodep-2.1_3.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/javax/xml/bind/jaxb-api/2.1/jaxb-api-2.1.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/javax/xml/stream/stax-api/1.0-2/stax-api-1.0-2.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/javax/activation/activation/1.1/activation-1.1.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/jgroups/jgroups/2.8.0.CR1/jgroups-2.8.0.CR1.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/jboss/javaee/jboss-transaction-api/1.0.1.GA/jboss-transaction-api-1.0.1.GA.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/jboss/marshalling/river/1.2.0.CR4-SNAPSHOT/river-1.2.0.CR4-SNAPSHOT.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/jboss/marshalling/marshalling-api/1.2.0.CR4-SNAPSHOT/marshalling-api-1.2.0.CR4-SNAPSHOT.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/jboss/jboss-common-core/2.2.14.GA/jboss-common-core-2.2.14.GA.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/org/jboss/logging/jboss-logging-spi/2.0.5.GA/jboss-logging-spi-2.0.5.GA.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/log4j/log4j/1.2.14/log4j-1.2.14.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/com/thoughtworks/xstream/xstream/1.2/xstream-1.2.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/xpp3/xpp3_min/1.1.3.4.O/xpp3_min-1.1.3.4.O.jar
->...file:/home/galder/.m2/repository/com/sun/xml/bind/jaxb-impl/2.1.3/jaxb-impl-2.1.3.jar
-> parent classloader = sun.misc.Launcher$ExtClassLoader@1858610
->...file:/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_19/jre/lib/ext/localedata.jar
->...file:/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_19/jre/lib/ext/sunpkcs11.jar
->...file:/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_19/jre/lib/ext/sunjce_provider.jar
->...file:/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_19/jre/lib/ext/dnsns.jar
... Removed 22 stack frames
</code>

Finding the root cause of marshalling/unmarshalling exceptions can sometimes be really daunting but we hope that the above improvements would help get to the bottom of those in a more quicker and efficient manner.

The JDK provides a simple way to serialize objects which, in its simplest form, is just a matter of extending java.io.Serializable , but as it’s well known, this is known to be slow and it generates payloads that are far too big. An alternative way to do serialization, still relying on JDK serialization, is for your objects to extend java.io.Externalizable . This allows for users to provide their own ways to marshall/unmarshall classes, but has some serious issues because, on top of relying on slow JDK serialization, it forces the class that you want to serialize to extend this interface, which has two side effects: The first is that you’re forced to modify the source code of the class that you want to marshall/unmarshall which you might not be able to do because you either, don’t own the source, or you don’t even have it. Secondly, since Externalizable implementations do not control object creation, you’re forced to add set methods in order to restore the state, hence potentially forcing your immutable objects to become mutable.

Instead of relying on JDK serialization, Red Hat Data Grid uses JBoss Marshalling to serialize objects and requires any classes to be serialized to be associated with an Externalizer interface implementation that knows how to transform an object of a particular class into a serialized form and how to read an object of that class from a given input. Red Hat Data Grid does not force the objects to be serialized to implement Externalizer. In fact, it is recommended that a separate class is used to implement the Externalizer interface because, contrary to JDK serialization, Externalizer implementations control how objects of a particular class are created when trying to read an object from a stream. This means that readObject() implementations are responsible of creating object instances of the target class, hence giving users a lot of flexibility on how to create these instances (whether direct instantiation, via factory or reflection), and more importantly, allows target classes to carry on being immutable. This type of externalizer architecture promotes good OOP designs principles, such as the principle of single responsibility .

It’s quite common, and in general recommended, that Externalizer implementations are stored as inner static public classes within classes that they externalize. The advantages of doing this is that related code stays together, making it easier to maintain. In Red Hat Data Grid, there are two ways in which Red Hat Data Grid can be plugged with user defined externalizers:

In the simplest possible form, users just need to provide an Externalizer implementation for the type that they want to marshall/unmarshall, and then annotate the marshalled type class with {@link SerializeWith} annotation indicating the externalizer class to use. For example:

import org.infinispan.commons.marshall.Externalizer;
import org.infinispan.commons.marshall.SerializeWith;

@SerializeWith(Person.PersonExternalizer.class)
public class Person {

   final String name;
   final int age;

   public Person(String name, int age) {
      this.name = name;
      this.age = age;
   }

   public static class PersonExternalizer implements Externalizer<Person> {
      @Override
      public void writeObject(ObjectOutput output, Person person)
            throws IOException {
         output.writeObject(person.name);
         output.writeInt(person.age);
      }

      @Override
      public Person readObject(ObjectInput input)
            throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
         return new Person((String) input.readObject(), input.readInt());
      }
   }
}

At runtime JBoss Marshalling will inspect the object and discover that it is marshallable (thanks to the annotation) and so marshall it using the externalizer class passed. To make externalizer implementations easier to code and more typesafe, make sure you define type <T> as the type of object that’s being marshalled/unmarshalled.

Even though this way of defining externalizers is very user friendly, it has some disadvantages:

If you’re affected by any of these disadvantages, an alternative method to provide externalizers is available via more advanced externalizers:

AdvancedExternalizer provides an alternative way to provide externalizers for marshalling/unmarshalling user defined classes that overcome the deficiencies of the more user-friendly externalizer definition model explained in Externalizer. For example:

import org.infinispan.marshall.AdvancedExternalizer;

public class Person {

   final String name;
   final int age;

   public Person(String name, int age) {
      this.name = name;
      this.age = age;
   }

   public static class PersonExternalizer implements AdvancedExternalizer<Person> {
      @Override
      public void writeObject(ObjectOutput output, Person person)
            throws IOException {
         output.writeObject(person.name);
         output.writeInt(person.age);
      }

      @Override
      public Person readObject(ObjectInput input)
            throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
         return new Person((String) input.readObject(), input.readInt());
      }

      @Override
      public Set<Class<? extends Person>> getTypeClasses() {
         return Util.<Class<? extends Person>>asSet(Person.class);
      }

      @Override
      public Integer getId() {
         return 2345;
      }
   }
}

The first noticeable difference is that this method does not require user classes to be annotated in anyway, so it can be used with classes for which source code is not available or that cannot be modified. The bound between the externalizer and the classes that are marshalled/unmarshalled is set by providing an implementation for getTypeClasses() which should return the list of classes that this externalizer can marshall:

import org.infinispan.commons.util.Util;
...
@Override
public Set<Class<? extends ReplicableCommand>> getTypeClasses() {
  return Util.asSet(LockControlCommand.class, RehashControlCommand.class,
      StateTransferControlCommand.class, GetKeyValueCommand.class,
      ClusteredGetCommand.class,
      SingleRpcCommand.class, CommitCommand.class,
      PrepareCommand.class, RollbackCommand.class,
      ClearCommand.class, EvictCommand.class,
      InvalidateCommand.class, InvalidateL1Command.class,
      PutKeyValueCommand.class, PutMapCommand.class,
      RemoveCommand.class, ReplaceCommand.class);
}

@Override
public Set<Class<? extends List>> getTypeClasses() {
  return Util.<Class<? extends List>>asSet(
         Util.loadClass("java.util.Collections$SingletonList"));
}

<infinispan>
  <cache-container>
    <serialization>
      <advanced-externalizer class="Person$PersonExternalizer"/>
    </serialization>
  </cache-container>
  ...
</infinispan>

GlobalConfigurationBuilder builder = ...
builder.serialization()
   .addAdvancedExternalizer(new Person.PersonExternalizer());

<infinispan>
  <cache-container>
    <serialization>
      <advanced-externalizer id="123"
                            class="Person$PersonExternalizer"/>
    </serialization>
  </cache-container>
  ...
</infinispan>

GlobalConfigurationBuilder builder = ...
builder.serialization()
   .addAdvancedExternalizer(123, new Person.PersonExternalizer());

builder.serialization()
   .addAdvancedExternalizer(new Person.PersonExternalizer(),
                            new Address.AddressExternalizer());