Extend ack time with lease management

When a message is delivered to a pull subscriber, the subscriber must process and acknowledge (ack) the message within the acknowledgment deadline. Else, the subscriber must extend the deadline with a call to modify the acknowledgment deadline.

Key Point: The Pub/Sub high-level client libraries provide lease management as a feature that automatically extends the deadline of a message that has not yet been acknowledged. The high-level client libraries for Python, Go, Java, and .Net use the 99th percentile of acknowledgment delay to determine the extension for modifying the acknowledgment deadline.

Lease management lets you have more granular control over the acknowledgment deadline for messages compared to configuring the subscription-level property. If you're only using the subscription-level acknowledgment deadline, you have to balance the tradeoff between a low value and a high value. A low value increases the likelihood of duplicates and a high value delays the redelivery of failed messages. Determining the right value can be difficult, especially when the expected processing time for different messages varies greatly.

For more information on the properties of a subscription, including acknowledgment deadline, see Subscription properties.

For more information about the message-specific modify acknowledgment deadline, see the REST API Method: projects.subscriptions.modifyAckDeadline.

Lease management configuration

You can use the modify acknowledgment deadline request to configure the following properties. In the Java client library this variable is represented by ModifyAckDeadlineRequest().

• Maximum acknowledgment extension period. The maximum amount of time for which you can extend the acknowledgment deadline of a message by using the modify acknowledgment deadline request. This property lets you determine how long you want the subscriber clients to process messages.

• Maximum duration for each acknowledgment extension. The maximum amount of time by which to extend the acknowledgment deadline for each of the modify acknowledgment deadline requests. This property lets you define the amount of time Pub/Sub takes to redeliver a message. Redelivery occurs when the first subscriber processing the message crashes or becomes unhealthy and is no longer able to send the modify acknowledgment deadline request.

• Minimum duration for each acknowledgment extension. The minimum amount of time by which to extend the acknowledgment deadline for each of the modify acknowledgment deadline requests. This property lets you specify the minimum amount of time that must pass before the redelivery of a message occurs.

Acknowledgment deadlines are not guaranteed to be respected unless you enable exactly-once delivery.

Code samples for manually managing ack deadlines

To avoid redelivery on expired messages, the client libraries provide a way to reset their acknowledgement deadlines. The exceptions are the Go and C++ high-level client libraries which automatically modify the acknowledgement deadlines for polled messages. See the following samples for synchronous pull mode with lease management:

C#

Before trying this sample, follow the C# setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub C# API reference documentation.

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using Google.Cloud.PubSub.V1;
using Grpc.Core;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

public class PullMessageWithLeaseManagementSample
{
    public int PullMessageWithLeaseManagement(string projectId, string subscriptionId, bool acknowledge)
    {
        SubscriptionName subscriptionName = SubscriptionName.FromProjectSubscription(projectId, subscriptionId);
        SubscriberServiceApiClient subscriberClient = SubscriberServiceApiClient.Create();

        var ackIds = new List<string>();
        try
        {
            PullResponse response = subscriberClient.Pull(subscriptionName, maxMessages: 20);

            // Print out each received message.
            foreach (ReceivedMessage msg in response.ReceivedMessages)
            {
                ackIds.Add(msg.AckId);
                string text = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(msg.Message.Data.ToArray());
                Console.WriteLine($"Message {msg.Message.MessageId}: {text}");

                // Modify the ack deadline of each received message from the default 10 seconds to 30.
                // This prevents the server from redelivering the message after the default 10 seconds
                // have passed.
                subscriberClient.ModifyAckDeadline(subscriptionName, new List<string> { msg.AckId }, 30);
            }
            // If acknowledgement required, send to server.
            if (acknowledge && ackIds.Count > 0)
            {
                subscriberClient.Acknowledge(subscriptionName, ackIds);
            }
        }
        catch (RpcException ex) when (ex.Status.StatusCode == StatusCode.Unavailable)
        {
            // UNAVAILABLE due to too many concurrent pull requests pending for the given subscription.
        }
        return ackIds.Count;
    }
}

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Java API reference documentation.

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import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.stub.GrpcSubscriberStub;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.stub.SubscriberStub;
import com.google.cloud.pubsub.v1.stub.SubscriberStubSettings;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.AcknowledgeRequest;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ModifyAckDeadlineRequest;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ProjectSubscriptionName;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PullRequest;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.PullResponse;
import com.google.pubsub.v1.ReceivedMessage;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class SubscribeSyncWithLeaseExample {
  public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    String subscriptionId = "your-subscription-id";
    Integer numOfMessages = 10;

    subscribeSyncWithLeaseExample(projectId, subscriptionId, numOfMessages);
  }

  public static void subscribeSyncWithLeaseExample(
      String projectId, String subscriptionId, Integer numOfMessages)
      throws IOException, InterruptedException {
    SubscriberStubSettings subscriberStubSettings =
        SubscriberStubSettings.newBuilder()
            .setTransportChannelProvider(
                SubscriberStubSettings.defaultGrpcTransportProviderBuilder()
                    .setMaxInboundMessageSize(20 << 20) // 20 MB
                    .build())
            .build();

    try (SubscriberStub subscriber = GrpcSubscriberStub.create(subscriberStubSettings)) {

      String subscriptionName = ProjectSubscriptionName.format(projectId, subscriptionId);

      PullRequest pullRequest =
          PullRequest.newBuilder()
              .setMaxMessages(numOfMessages)
              .setSubscription(subscriptionName)
              .build();

      // Use pullCallable().futureCall to asynchronously perform this operation.
      PullResponse pullResponse = subscriber.pullCallable().call(pullRequest);

      // Stop the program if the pull response is empty to avoid acknowledging
      // an empty list of ack IDs.
      if (pullResponse.getReceivedMessagesList().isEmpty()) {
        System.out.println("No message was pulled. Exiting.");
        return;
      }

      List<String> ackIds = new ArrayList<>();
      for (ReceivedMessage message : pullResponse.getReceivedMessagesList()) {
        ackIds.add(message.getAckId());

        // Modify the ack deadline of each received message from the default 10 seconds to 30.
        // This prevents the server from redelivering the message after the default 10 seconds
        // have passed.
        ModifyAckDeadlineRequest modifyAckDeadlineRequest =
            ModifyAckDeadlineRequest.newBuilder()
                .setSubscription(subscriptionName)
                .addAckIds(message.getAckId())
                .setAckDeadlineSeconds(30)
                .build();

        subscriber.modifyAckDeadlineCallable().call(modifyAckDeadlineRequest);
      }

      // Acknowledge received messages.
      AcknowledgeRequest acknowledgeRequest =
          AcknowledgeRequest.newBuilder()
              .setSubscription(subscriptionName)
              .addAllAckIds(ackIds)
              .build();

      // Use acknowledgeCallable().futureCall to asynchronously perform this operation.
      subscriber.acknowledgeCallable().call(acknowledgeRequest);
      System.out.println(pullResponse.getReceivedMessagesList());
    }
  }
}

Node.js

Before trying this sample, follow the Node.js setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Node.js API reference documentation.

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/**
 * TODO(developer): Uncomment these variables before running the sample.
 */
// const projectId = 'YOUR_PROJECT_ID';
// const subscriptionNameOrId = 'YOUR_SUBSCRIPTION_NAME_OR_ID';

// Imports the Google Cloud client library. v1 is for the lower level
// proto access.
const {v1} = require('@google-cloud/pubsub');

// Creates a client; cache this for further use.
const subClient = new v1.SubscriberClient();

async function synchronousPullWithLeaseManagement() {
  // The low level API client requires a name only.
  const formattedSubscription =
    subscriptionNameOrId.indexOf('/') >= 0
      ? subscriptionNameOrId
      : subClient.subscriptionPath(projectId, subscriptionNameOrId);

  // The maximum number of messages returned for this request.
  // Pub/Sub may return fewer than the number specified.
  const maxMessages = 1;
  const newAckDeadlineSeconds = 30;
  const request = {
    subscription: formattedSubscription,
    maxMessages: maxMessages,
    allowExcessMessages: false,
  };

  let isProcessed = false;

  // The worker function is meant to be non-blocking. It starts a long-
  // running process, such as writing the message to a table, which may
  // take longer than the default 10-sec acknowledge deadline.
  function worker(message) {
    console.log(`Processing "${message.message.data}"...`);

    setTimeout(() => {
      console.log(`Finished procesing "${message.message.data}".`);
      isProcessed = true;
    }, 30000);
  }

  // The subscriber pulls a specified number of messages.
  const [response] = await subClient.pull(request);

  // Obtain the first message.
  const message = response.receivedMessages[0];

  // Send the message to the worker function.
  worker(message);

  let waiting = true;
  while (waiting) {
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 10000));
    // If the message has been processed..
    if (isProcessed) {
      const ackRequest = {
        subscription: formattedSubscription,
        ackIds: [message.ackId],
      };

      //..acknowledges the message.
      await subClient.acknowledge(ackRequest);
      console.log(`Acknowledged: "${message.message.data}".`);
      // Exit after the message is acknowledged.
      waiting = false;
      console.log('Done.');
    } else {
      // If the message is not yet processed..
      const modifyAckRequest = {
        subscription: formattedSubscription,
        ackIds: [message.ackId],
        ackDeadlineSeconds: newAckDeadlineSeconds,
      };

      //..reset its ack deadline.
      await subClient.modifyAckDeadline(modifyAckRequest);

      console.log(
        `Reset ack deadline for "${message.message.data}" for ${newAckDeadlineSeconds}s.`
      );
    }
  }
}

synchronousPullWithLeaseManagement().catch(console.error);

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Python API reference documentation.

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import logging
import multiprocessing
import sys
import time

from google.api_core import retry
from google.cloud import pubsub_v1

multiprocessing.log_to_stderr()
logger = multiprocessing.get_logger()
logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
processes = dict()

# TODO(developer)
# project_id = "your-project-id"
# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"

subscriber = pubsub_v1.SubscriberClient()
subscription_path = subscriber.subscription_path(project_id, subscription_id)

response = subscriber.pull(
    request={"subscription": subscription_path, "max_messages": 3},
    retry=retry.Retry(deadline=300),
)

if len(response.received_messages) == 0:
    return

# Start a process for each message based on its size modulo 10.
for message in response.received_messages:
    process = multiprocessing.Process(
        target=time.sleep, args=(sys.getsizeof(message) % 10,)
    )
    processes[process] = (message.ack_id, message.message.data)
    process.start()

while processes:
    # Take a break every second.
    if processes:
        time.sleep(1)

    for process in list(processes):
        ack_id, msg_data = processes[process]
        # If the process is running, reset the ack deadline.
        if process.is_alive():
            subscriber.modify_ack_deadline(
                request={
                    "subscription": subscription_path,
                    "ack_ids": [ack_id],
                    # Must be between 10 and 600.
                    "ack_deadline_seconds": 15,
                }
            )
            logger.debug(f"Reset ack deadline for {msg_data}.")

        # If the process is complete, acknowledge the message.
        else:
            subscriber.acknowledge(
                request={"subscription": subscription_path, "ack_ids": [ack_id]}
            )
            logger.debug(f"Acknowledged {msg_data}.")
            processes.pop(process)
print(
    f"Received and acknowledged {len(response.received_messages)} messages from {subscription_path}."
)

# Close the underlying gPRC channel. Alternatively, wrap subscriber in
# a 'with' block to automatically call close() when done.
subscriber.close()

Ruby

Before trying this sample, follow the Ruby setup instructions in Quickstart: Using Client Libraries. For more information, see the Pub/Sub Ruby API reference documentation.

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# subscription_id = "your-subscription-id"
require "google/cloud/pubsub"

pubsub = Google::Cloud::Pubsub.new

subscription = pubsub.subscription subscription_id
new_ack_deadline = 30
processed = false

# The subscriber pulls a specified number of messages.
received_messages = subscription.pull immediate: false, max: 1

# Obtain the first message.
message = received_messages.first

# Send the message to a non-blocking worker that starts a long-running process, such as writing
# the message to a table, which may take longer than the default 10-sec acknowledge deadline.
Thread.new do
  sleep 15
  processed = true
  puts "Finished processing \"#{message.data}\"."
end

loop do
  sleep 1
  if processed
    # If the message has been processed, acknowledge the message.
    message.acknowledge!
    puts "Done."
    # Exit after the message is acknowledged.
    break
  else
    # If the message has not yet been processed, reset its ack deadline.
    message.modify_ack_deadline! new_ack_deadline
    puts "Reset ack deadline for \"#{message.data}\" for #{new_ack_deadline} seconds."
  end
end

What's next

Read about the other delivery options you can configure for a subscription:

• Handle transient spikes with flow control

• Handle message failures with subscription retry policy

• Forward undelivered messages to a dead letter topic

• Replay previously-acked messages or purge messages

• Receive messages in order

• Filter messages by their attributes

• Receive and acknowledge messages exactly-once

• Process more messages with concurrency control