Background Error Handling

Currently in RocksDB, any error during a write operation (write to WAL, Memtable Flush, background compaction etc) causes the database instance to go into read-only mode by default and further user writes are not accepted. The variable ErrorHandler::bg_error_ is set to the failure Status. The DBOptions::paranoid_checks option controls how aggressively RocksDB will check and flag errors. The default value of this option is true. The table below shows the various scenarios where errors are considered and potentially affect database operations.

Error Reason	When bg_error_ is set
Sync WAL	Always
Memtable flush	DBOptions::paranoid_checks is true
Max allowed space reached during memtable flush (SstFileManager::IsMaxAllowedSpaceReached())	Always
Max allowed space reached during compaction (SstFileManager::IsMaxAllowedSpaceReached())	Always
DB::CompactFiles	DBOptions::paranoid_checks is true
Background compaction	DBOptions::paranoid_checks is true
Write	DBOptions::paranoid_checks is true

Detection

Once the database instance goes into read-only mode, the following foreground operations will return the error status on all subsequent calls -

• DB::Write, DB::Put, DB::Delete, DB::SingleDelete, DB::DeleteRange, DB::Merge
• DB::IngestExternalFile
• DB::CompactFiles
• DB::CompactRange
• DB::Flush

The returned Status will indicate the error code, sub-code as well as severity. The severity of the error can be determined by calling Status::severity(). There are 4 severity levels and they are defined as follows -

1. Status::Severity::kSoftError - Errors of this severity do not prevent writes to the DB, but it does mean that the DB is in a degraded mode. Background compactions may not be able to run in a timely manner.
2. Status::Severity::kHardError - The DB is in read-only mode, but it can be transitioned back to read-write mode once the cause of the error has been addressed.
3. Status::Severity::kFatalError - The DB is in read-only mode. The only way to recover is to close the DB, remedy the underlying cause of the error, and then re-open the DB.
4. Status::Severity::kUnrecoverableError - This is the highest severity and indicates a corruption in the database. It may be possible to close and re-open the DB, but the contents of the database may no longer be correct.

In addition to the above, a notification callback EventListener::OnBackgroundError will be called as soon as the background error is encountered.

Recovery

There are 2 possible ways to recover from a background error without shutting down the database -

1. The EventListener::OnBackgroundError callback can override the error status if it determines that its not serious enough to stop further writes to the DB. It can do so by setting the bg_error parameter. Doing so can be risky, as RocksDB may not be able to guarantee the consistency of the DB. Check the BackgorundErrorReason and severity of the error before overriding it.
2. Call DB::Resume() to manually resume the DB and put it in read-write mode. This function will clear the error, purge any obsolete files, and restart background flush and compaction operations. At present, it only supports resuming from background errors that happen during compaction. In the future, we will add more cases.