r1
This commit is contained in:
@@ -0,0 +1,523 @@
|
||||
leveldb
|
||||
=======
|
||||
|
||||
_Jeff Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat_
|
||||
|
||||
The leveldb library provides a persistent key value store. Keys and values are
|
||||
arbitrary byte arrays. The keys are ordered within the key value store
|
||||
according to a user-specified comparator function.
|
||||
|
||||
## Opening A Database
|
||||
|
||||
A leveldb database has a name which corresponds to a file system directory. All
|
||||
of the contents of database are stored in this directory. The following example
|
||||
shows how to open a database, creating it if necessary:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
#include <cassert>
|
||||
#include "leveldb/db.h"
|
||||
|
||||
leveldb::DB* db;
|
||||
leveldb::Options options;
|
||||
options.create_if_missing = true;
|
||||
leveldb::Status status = leveldb::DB::Open(options, "/tmp/testdb", &db);
|
||||
assert(status.ok());
|
||||
...
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
If you want to raise an error if the database already exists, add the following
|
||||
line before the `leveldb::DB::Open` call:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
options.error_if_exists = true;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Status
|
||||
|
||||
You may have noticed the `leveldb::Status` type above. Values of this type are
|
||||
returned by most functions in leveldb that may encounter an error. You can check
|
||||
if such a result is ok, and also print an associated error message:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Status s = ...;
|
||||
if (!s.ok()) cerr << s.ToString() << endl;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Closing A Database
|
||||
|
||||
When you are done with a database, just delete the database object. Example:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
... open the db as described above ...
|
||||
... do something with db ...
|
||||
delete db;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Reads And Writes
|
||||
|
||||
The database provides Put, Delete, and Get methods to modify/query the database.
|
||||
For example, the following code moves the value stored under key1 to key2.
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
std::string value;
|
||||
leveldb::Status s = db->Get(leveldb::ReadOptions(), key1, &value);
|
||||
if (s.ok()) s = db->Put(leveldb::WriteOptions(), key2, value);
|
||||
if (s.ok()) s = db->Delete(leveldb::WriteOptions(), key1);
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Atomic Updates
|
||||
|
||||
Note that if the process dies after the Put of key2 but before the delete of
|
||||
key1, the same value may be left stored under multiple keys. Such problems can
|
||||
be avoided by using the `WriteBatch` class to atomically apply a set of updates:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
#include "leveldb/write_batch.h"
|
||||
...
|
||||
std::string value;
|
||||
leveldb::Status s = db->Get(leveldb::ReadOptions(), key1, &value);
|
||||
if (s.ok()) {
|
||||
leveldb::WriteBatch batch;
|
||||
batch.Delete(key1);
|
||||
batch.Put(key2, value);
|
||||
s = db->Write(leveldb::WriteOptions(), &batch);
|
||||
}
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
The `WriteBatch` holds a sequence of edits to be made to the database, and these
|
||||
edits within the batch are applied in order. Note that we called Delete before
|
||||
Put so that if key1 is identical to key2, we do not end up erroneously dropping
|
||||
the value entirely.
|
||||
|
||||
Apart from its atomicity benefits, `WriteBatch` may also be used to speed up
|
||||
bulk updates by placing lots of individual mutations into the same batch.
|
||||
|
||||
## Synchronous Writes
|
||||
|
||||
By default, each write to leveldb is asynchronous: it returns after pushing the
|
||||
write from the process into the operating system. The transfer from operating
|
||||
system memory to the underlying persistent storage happens asynchronously. The
|
||||
sync flag can be turned on for a particular write to make the write operation
|
||||
not return until the data being written has been pushed all the way to
|
||||
persistent storage. (On Posix systems, this is implemented by calling either
|
||||
`fsync(...)` or `fdatasync(...)` or `msync(..., MS_SYNC)` before the write
|
||||
operation returns.)
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::WriteOptions write_options;
|
||||
write_options.sync = true;
|
||||
db->Put(write_options, ...);
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Asynchronous writes are often more than a thousand times as fast as synchronous
|
||||
writes. The downside of asynchronous writes is that a crash of the machine may
|
||||
cause the last few updates to be lost. Note that a crash of just the writing
|
||||
process (i.e., not a reboot) will not cause any loss since even when sync is
|
||||
false, an update is pushed from the process memory into the operating system
|
||||
before it is considered done.
|
||||
|
||||
Asynchronous writes can often be used safely. For example, when loading a large
|
||||
amount of data into the database you can handle lost updates by restarting the
|
||||
bulk load after a crash. A hybrid scheme is also possible where every Nth write
|
||||
is synchronous, and in the event of a crash, the bulk load is restarted just
|
||||
after the last synchronous write finished by the previous run. (The synchronous
|
||||
write can update a marker that describes where to restart on a crash.)
|
||||
|
||||
`WriteBatch` provides an alternative to asynchronous writes. Multiple updates
|
||||
may be placed in the same WriteBatch and applied together using a synchronous
|
||||
write (i.e., `write_options.sync` is set to true). The extra cost of the
|
||||
synchronous write will be amortized across all of the writes in the batch.
|
||||
|
||||
## Concurrency
|
||||
|
||||
A database may only be opened by one process at a time. The leveldb
|
||||
implementation acquires a lock from the operating system to prevent misuse.
|
||||
Within a single process, the same `leveldb::DB` object may be safely shared by
|
||||
multiple concurrent threads. I.e., different threads may write into or fetch
|
||||
iterators or call Get on the same database without any external synchronization
|
||||
(the leveldb implementation will automatically do the required synchronization).
|
||||
However other objects (like Iterator and `WriteBatch`) may require external
|
||||
synchronization. If two threads share such an object, they must protect access
|
||||
to it using their own locking protocol. More details are available in the public
|
||||
header files.
|
||||
|
||||
## Iteration
|
||||
|
||||
The following example demonstrates how to print all key,value pairs in a
|
||||
database.
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Iterator* it = db->NewIterator(leveldb::ReadOptions());
|
||||
for (it->SeekToFirst(); it->Valid(); it->Next()) {
|
||||
cout << it->key().ToString() << ": " << it->value().ToString() << endl;
|
||||
}
|
||||
assert(it->status().ok()); // Check for any errors found during the scan
|
||||
delete it;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
The following variation shows how to process just the keys in the range
|
||||
[start,limit):
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
for (it->Seek(start);
|
||||
it->Valid() && it->key().ToString() < limit;
|
||||
it->Next()) {
|
||||
...
|
||||
}
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
You can also process entries in reverse order. (Caveat: reverse iteration may be
|
||||
somewhat slower than forward iteration.)
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
for (it->SeekToLast(); it->Valid(); it->Prev()) {
|
||||
...
|
||||
}
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Snapshots
|
||||
|
||||
Snapshots provide consistent read-only views over the entire state of the
|
||||
key-value store. `ReadOptions::snapshot` may be non-NULL to indicate that a
|
||||
read should operate on a particular version of the DB state. If
|
||||
`ReadOptions::snapshot` is NULL, the read will operate on an implicit snapshot
|
||||
of the current state.
|
||||
|
||||
Snapshots are created by the `DB::GetSnapshot()` method:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::ReadOptions options;
|
||||
options.snapshot = db->GetSnapshot();
|
||||
... apply some updates to db ...
|
||||
leveldb::Iterator* iter = db->NewIterator(options);
|
||||
... read using iter to view the state when the snapshot was created ...
|
||||
delete iter;
|
||||
db->ReleaseSnapshot(options.snapshot);
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Note that when a snapshot is no longer needed, it should be released using the
|
||||
`DB::ReleaseSnapshot` interface. This allows the implementation to get rid of
|
||||
state that was being maintained just to support reading as of that snapshot.
|
||||
|
||||
## Slice
|
||||
|
||||
The return value of the `it->key()` and `it->value()` calls above are instances
|
||||
of the `leveldb::Slice` type. Slice is a simple structure that contains a length
|
||||
and a pointer to an external byte array. Returning a Slice is a cheaper
|
||||
alternative to returning a `std::string` since we do not need to copy
|
||||
potentially large keys and values. In addition, leveldb methods do not return
|
||||
null-terminated C-style strings since leveldb keys and values are allowed to
|
||||
contain `'\0'` bytes.
|
||||
|
||||
C++ strings and null-terminated C-style strings can be easily converted to a
|
||||
Slice:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Slice s1 = "hello";
|
||||
|
||||
std::string str("world");
|
||||
leveldb::Slice s2 = str;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
A Slice can be easily converted back to a C++ string:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
std::string str = s1.ToString();
|
||||
assert(str == std::string("hello"));
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Be careful when using Slices since it is up to the caller to ensure that the
|
||||
external byte array into which the Slice points remains live while the Slice is
|
||||
in use. For example, the following is buggy:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Slice slice;
|
||||
if (...) {
|
||||
std::string str = ...;
|
||||
slice = str;
|
||||
}
|
||||
Use(slice);
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
When the if statement goes out of scope, str will be destroyed and the backing
|
||||
storage for slice will disappear.
|
||||
|
||||
## Comparators
|
||||
|
||||
The preceding examples used the default ordering function for key, which orders
|
||||
bytes lexicographically. You can however supply a custom comparator when opening
|
||||
a database. For example, suppose each database key consists of two numbers and
|
||||
we should sort by the first number, breaking ties by the second number. First,
|
||||
define a proper subclass of `leveldb::Comparator` that expresses these rules:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
class TwoPartComparator : public leveldb::Comparator {
|
||||
public:
|
||||
// Three-way comparison function:
|
||||
// if a < b: negative result
|
||||
// if a > b: positive result
|
||||
// else: zero result
|
||||
int Compare(const leveldb::Slice& a, const leveldb::Slice& b) const {
|
||||
int a1, a2, b1, b2;
|
||||
ParseKey(a, &a1, &a2);
|
||||
ParseKey(b, &b1, &b2);
|
||||
if (a1 < b1) return -1;
|
||||
if (a1 > b1) return +1;
|
||||
if (a2 < b2) return -1;
|
||||
if (a2 > b2) return +1;
|
||||
return 0;
|
||||
}
|
||||
|
||||
// Ignore the following methods for now:
|
||||
const char* Name() const { return "TwoPartComparator"; }
|
||||
void FindShortestSeparator(std::string*, const leveldb::Slice&) const {}
|
||||
void FindShortSuccessor(std::string*) const {}
|
||||
};
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Now create a database using this custom comparator:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
TwoPartComparator cmp;
|
||||
leveldb::DB* db;
|
||||
leveldb::Options options;
|
||||
options.create_if_missing = true;
|
||||
options.comparator = &cmp;
|
||||
leveldb::Status status = leveldb::DB::Open(options, "/tmp/testdb", &db);
|
||||
...
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### Backwards compatibility
|
||||
|
||||
The result of the comparator's Name method is attached to the database when it
|
||||
is created, and is checked on every subsequent database open. If the name
|
||||
changes, the `leveldb::DB::Open` call will fail. Therefore, change the name if
|
||||
and only if the new key format and comparison function are incompatible with
|
||||
existing databases, and it is ok to discard the contents of all existing
|
||||
databases.
|
||||
|
||||
You can however still gradually evolve your key format over time with a little
|
||||
bit of pre-planning. For example, you could store a version number at the end of
|
||||
each key (one byte should suffice for most uses). When you wish to switch to a
|
||||
new key format (e.g., adding an optional third part to the keys processed by
|
||||
`TwoPartComparator`), (a) keep the same comparator name (b) increment the
|
||||
version number for new keys (c) change the comparator function so it uses the
|
||||
version numbers found in the keys to decide how to interpret them.
|
||||
|
||||
## Performance
|
||||
|
||||
Performance can be tuned by changing the default values of the types defined in
|
||||
`include/leveldb/options.h`.
|
||||
|
||||
### Block size
|
||||
|
||||
leveldb groups adjacent keys together into the same block and such a block is
|
||||
the unit of transfer to and from persistent storage. The default block size is
|
||||
approximately 4096 uncompressed bytes. Applications that mostly do bulk scans
|
||||
over the contents of the database may wish to increase this size. Applications
|
||||
that do a lot of point reads of small values may wish to switch to a smaller
|
||||
block size if performance measurements indicate an improvement. There isn't much
|
||||
benefit in using blocks smaller than one kilobyte, or larger than a few
|
||||
megabytes. Also note that compression will be more effective with larger block
|
||||
sizes.
|
||||
|
||||
### Compression
|
||||
|
||||
Each block is individually compressed before being written to persistent
|
||||
storage. Compression is on by default since the default compression method is
|
||||
very fast, and is automatically disabled for uncompressible data. In rare cases,
|
||||
applications may want to disable compression entirely, but should only do so if
|
||||
benchmarks show a performance improvement:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Options options;
|
||||
options.compression = leveldb::kNoCompression;
|
||||
... leveldb::DB::Open(options, name, ...) ....
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### Cache
|
||||
|
||||
The contents of the database are stored in a set of files in the filesystem and
|
||||
each file stores a sequence of compressed blocks. If options.cache is non-NULL,
|
||||
it is used to cache frequently used uncompressed block contents.
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
#include "leveldb/cache.h"
|
||||
|
||||
leveldb::Options options;
|
||||
options.cache = leveldb::NewLRUCache(100 * 1048576); // 100MB cache
|
||||
leveldb::DB* db;
|
||||
leveldb::DB::Open(options, name, &db);
|
||||
... use the db ...
|
||||
delete db
|
||||
delete options.cache;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Note that the cache holds uncompressed data, and therefore it should be sized
|
||||
according to application level data sizes, without any reduction from
|
||||
compression. (Caching of compressed blocks is left to the operating system
|
||||
buffer cache, or any custom Env implementation provided by the client.)
|
||||
|
||||
When performing a bulk read, the application may wish to disable caching so that
|
||||
the data processed by the bulk read does not end up displacing most of the
|
||||
cached contents. A per-iterator option can be used to achieve this:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::ReadOptions options;
|
||||
options.fill_cache = false;
|
||||
leveldb::Iterator* it = db->NewIterator(options);
|
||||
for (it->SeekToFirst(); it->Valid(); it->Next()) {
|
||||
...
|
||||
}
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### Key Layout
|
||||
|
||||
Note that the unit of disk transfer and caching is a block. Adjacent keys
|
||||
(according to the database sort order) will usually be placed in the same block.
|
||||
Therefore the application can improve its performance by placing keys that are
|
||||
accessed together near each other and placing infrequently used keys in a
|
||||
separate region of the key space.
|
||||
|
||||
For example, suppose we are implementing a simple file system on top of leveldb.
|
||||
The types of entries we might wish to store are:
|
||||
|
||||
filename -> permission-bits, length, list of file_block_ids
|
||||
file_block_id -> data
|
||||
|
||||
We might want to prefix filename keys with one letter (say '/') and the
|
||||
`file_block_id` keys with a different letter (say '0') so that scans over just
|
||||
the metadata do not force us to fetch and cache bulky file contents.
|
||||
|
||||
### Filters
|
||||
|
||||
Because of the way leveldb data is organized on disk, a single `Get()` call may
|
||||
involve multiple reads from disk. The optional FilterPolicy mechanism can be
|
||||
used to reduce the number of disk reads substantially.
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Options options;
|
||||
options.filter_policy = NewBloomFilterPolicy(10);
|
||||
leveldb::DB* db;
|
||||
leveldb::DB::Open(options, "/tmp/testdb", &db);
|
||||
... use the database ...
|
||||
delete db;
|
||||
delete options.filter_policy;
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
The preceding code associates a Bloom filter based filtering policy with the
|
||||
database. Bloom filter based filtering relies on keeping some number of bits of
|
||||
data in memory per key (in this case 10 bits per key since that is the argument
|
||||
we passed to `NewBloomFilterPolicy`). This filter will reduce the number of
|
||||
unnecessary disk reads needed for Get() calls by a factor of approximately
|
||||
a 100. Increasing the bits per key will lead to a larger reduction at the cost
|
||||
of more memory usage. We recommend that applications whose working set does not
|
||||
fit in memory and that do a lot of random reads set a filter policy.
|
||||
|
||||
If you are using a custom comparator, you should ensure that the filter policy
|
||||
you are using is compatible with your comparator. For example, consider a
|
||||
comparator that ignores trailing spaces when comparing keys.
|
||||
`NewBloomFilterPolicy` must not be used with such a comparator. Instead, the
|
||||
application should provide a custom filter policy that also ignores trailing
|
||||
spaces. For example:
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
class CustomFilterPolicy : public leveldb::FilterPolicy {
|
||||
private:
|
||||
FilterPolicy* builtin_policy_;
|
||||
|
||||
public:
|
||||
CustomFilterPolicy() : builtin_policy_(NewBloomFilterPolicy(10)) {}
|
||||
~CustomFilterPolicy() { delete builtin_policy_; }
|
||||
|
||||
const char* Name() const { return "IgnoreTrailingSpacesFilter"; }
|
||||
|
||||
void CreateFilter(const Slice* keys, int n, std::string* dst) const {
|
||||
// Use builtin bloom filter code after removing trailing spaces
|
||||
std::vector<Slice> trimmed(n);
|
||||
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
|
||||
trimmed[i] = RemoveTrailingSpaces(keys[i]);
|
||||
}
|
||||
return builtin_policy_->CreateFilter(&trimmed[i], n, dst);
|
||||
}
|
||||
};
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Advanced applications may provide a filter policy that does not use a bloom
|
||||
filter but uses some other mechanism for summarizing a set of keys. See
|
||||
`leveldb/filter_policy.h` for detail.
|
||||
|
||||
## Checksums
|
||||
|
||||
leveldb associates checksums with all data it stores in the file system. There
|
||||
are two separate controls provided over how aggressively these checksums are
|
||||
verified:
|
||||
|
||||
`ReadOptions::verify_checksums` may be set to true to force checksum
|
||||
verification of all data that is read from the file system on behalf of a
|
||||
particular read. By default, no such verification is done.
|
||||
|
||||
`Options::paranoid_checks` may be set to true before opening a database to make
|
||||
the database implementation raise an error as soon as it detects an internal
|
||||
corruption. Depending on which portion of the database has been corrupted, the
|
||||
error may be raised when the database is opened, or later by another database
|
||||
operation. By default, paranoid checking is off so that the database can be used
|
||||
even if parts of its persistent storage have been corrupted.
|
||||
|
||||
If a database is corrupted (perhaps it cannot be opened when paranoid checking
|
||||
is turned on), the `leveldb::RepairDB` function may be used to recover as much
|
||||
of the data as possible
|
||||
|
||||
## Approximate Sizes
|
||||
|
||||
The `GetApproximateSizes` method can used to get the approximate number of bytes
|
||||
of file system space used by one or more key ranges.
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
leveldb::Range ranges[2];
|
||||
ranges[0] = leveldb::Range("a", "c");
|
||||
ranges[1] = leveldb::Range("x", "z");
|
||||
uint64_t sizes[2];
|
||||
leveldb::Status s = db->GetApproximateSizes(ranges, 2, sizes);
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
The preceding call will set `sizes[0]` to the approximate number of bytes of
|
||||
file system space used by the key range `[a..c)` and `sizes[1]` to the
|
||||
approximate number of bytes used by the key range `[x..z)`.
|
||||
|
||||
## Environment
|
||||
|
||||
All file operations (and other operating system calls) issued by the leveldb
|
||||
implementation are routed through a `leveldb::Env` object. Sophisticated clients
|
||||
may wish to provide their own Env implementation to get better control.
|
||||
For example, an application may introduce artificial delays in the file IO
|
||||
paths to limit the impact of leveldb on other activities in the system.
|
||||
|
||||
```c++
|
||||
class SlowEnv : public leveldb::Env {
|
||||
... implementation of the Env interface ...
|
||||
};
|
||||
|
||||
SlowEnv env;
|
||||
leveldb::Options options;
|
||||
options.env = &env;
|
||||
Status s = leveldb::DB::Open(options, ...);
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Porting
|
||||
|
||||
leveldb may be ported to a new platform by providing platform specific
|
||||
implementations of the types/methods/functions exported by
|
||||
`leveldb/port/port.h`. See `leveldb/port/port_example.h` for more details.
|
||||
|
||||
In addition, the new platform may need a new default `leveldb::Env`
|
||||
implementation. See `leveldb/util/env_posix.h` for an example.
|
||||
|
||||
## Other Information
|
||||
|
||||
Details about the leveldb implementation may be found in the following
|
||||
documents:
|
||||
|
||||
1. [Implementation notes](impl.md)
|
||||
2. [Format of an immutable Table file](table_format.md)
|
||||
3. [Format of a log file](log_format.md)
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user