Reducing Endpoint Response Time in Go: Utilizing Work Queues
Overview
When initially learning Go, it is common to learn by implementing a backend server. Let us consider an example of creating a system that receives a file stream from a RestAPI and uploads it to a server.
The Go language net/http server inherently handles multiple requests concurrently, so simultaneous uploads themselves do not pose a problem.
However, if all operations after receiving the stream are processed synchronously, the endpoint's response will be delayed.
Let us examine a technique to prevent such a situation.
Cause
Receiving a stream generally takes a considerable amount of time, and for large files, a single request can be processed for several minutes. In such cases, it is crucial to process subsequent operations as quickly as possible. This example scenario involves receiving a stream, saving it as a temporary file, and then pushing it to a container. If the process of pushing the temporary file to the container is handled by a worker pool, the response delay can be reduced.
1package file_upload
2
3import (
4 "fmt"
5 "io"
6 "log"
7 "net/http"
8 "os"
9 "path/filepath"
10 "time"
11)
12
13const uploadTempDir = "/tmp/incus_uploads" // Host temporary directory
14
15// UploadTask holds data for asynchronous file push.
16type UploadTask struct {
17 HostTempFilePath string
18 ContainerName string
19 HostFilename string
20 ContainerDestinationPath string
21}
22
23// UploadHandler processes file uploads. Saves to temp file, then queues for Incus push.
24func UploadHandler(wr http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
25 if req.Method != http.MethodPost {
26 http.Error(wr, "POST method required.", http.StatusMethodNotAllowed)
27 return
28 }
29 originalFilePath := req.Header.Get("X-File-Path")
30 originalFilename := filepath.Base(req.Header.Get("X-Host-Path"))
31 containerName := req.Header.Get("X-Container-Name")
32 if originalFilePath == "" || containerName == "" {
33 http.Error(wr, "Missing X-File-Path or X-Container-Name header.", http.StatusBadRequest)
34 return
35 }
36
37 cleanContainerDestPath := filepath.Clean(originalFilePath)
38 if !filepath.IsAbs(cleanContainerDestPath) {
39 http.Error(wr, "File path must be absolute.", http.StatusBadRequest)
40 return
41 }
42
43 // Create unique temporary file path on host
44 tempFileName := fmt.Sprintf("%d-%s", time.Now().UnixNano(), filepath.Base(originalFilePath))
45 hostTempFilePath := filepath.Join(uploadTempDir, tempFileName)
46
47 if err := os.MkdirAll(uploadTempDir, 0755); err != nil {
48 log.Printf("ERROR: Failed to create temp upload directory: %v", err)
49 http.Error(wr, "Server error.", http.StatusInternalServerError)
50 return
51 }
52
53 // Create and copy request body to temporary file (synchronous)
54 outFile, err := os.Create(hostTempFilePath)
55 if err != nil {
56 log.Printf("ERROR: Failed to create temporary file: %v", err)
57 http.Error(wr, "Server error.", http.StatusInternalServerError)
58 return
59 }
60 defer outFile.Close()
61
62 bytesWritten, err := io.Copy(outFile, req.Body)
63 if err != nil {
64 outFile.Close()
65 os.Remove(hostTempFilePath)
66 log.Printf("ERROR: Failed to copy request body to temp file: %v", err)
67 http.Error(wr, "File transfer failed.", http.StatusInternalServerError)
68 return
69 }
70 log.Printf("Upload Info: Received %d bytes, saved to %s.", bytesWritten, hostTempFilePath)
71
72 // Enqueue task for asynchronous Incus push
73 task := UploadTask{
74 HostTempFilePath: hostTempFilePath,
75 ContainerName: containerName,
76 HostFilename : originalFilename,
77 ContainerDestinationPath: cleanContainerDestPath,
78 }
79 EnqueueTask(task) //THIS PART
80 log.Printf("Upload Info: Task enqueued for %s to %s.", originalFilePath, containerName)
81
82 // Send immediate 202 Accepted response
83 wr.WriteHeader(http.StatusAccepted)
84 fmt.Fprintf(wr, "File '%s' queued for processing on container '%s'.\n", originalFilename, containerName)
85}
Observing the section marked "THIS PART," one can notice that the task is inserted into a queue.
Now, let us examine how the task queue operates.
1package file_upload
2
3import (
4 "log"
5 "sync"
6)
7
8var taskQueue chan UploadTask
9var once sync.Once
10
11// InitWorkQueue initializes the in-memory task queue.
12func InitWorkQueue() {
13 once.Do(func() {
14 taskQueue = make(chan UploadTask, 100)
15 log.Println("Upload Info: Work queue initialized.")
16 })
17}
18
19// EnqueueTask adds an UploadTask to the queue.
20func EnqueueTask(task UploadTask) {
21 if taskQueue == nil {
22 log.Fatal("ERROR: Task queue not initialized.")
23 }
24 taskQueue <- task
25 log.Printf("Upload Info: Queue: Task enqueued. Size: %d", len(taskQueue))
26}
27
28// DequeueTask retrieves an UploadTask from the queue, blocking if empty.
29func DequeueTask() UploadTask {
30 if taskQueue == nil {
31 log.Fatal("ERROR: Task queue not initialized.")
32 }
33 task := <-taskQueue
34 log.Printf("Upload Info: Queue: Task dequeued. Size: %d", len(taskQueue))
35 return task
36}
37
38// GetQueueLength returns current queue size.
39func GetQueueLength() int {
40 if taskQueue == nil {
41 return 0
42 }
43 return len(taskQueue)
44}
The provided task queue example is simply implemented. This task queue has a straightforward structure that extracts tasks from a channel.
Below is the worker method for pushing files to a container after upload. The current method employs an infinite loop for responsiveness and ease of implementation, but additional algorithms can be incorporated depending on the specific use case.
1func StartFilePushWorker() {
2 for {
3 task := DequeueTask()
4 log.Printf("Upload Info: Worker processing task for %s from %s.", task.ContainerName, task.HostFilename)
5
6 // Defer cleanup of the temporary file
7 defer func(filePath string) {
8 if err := os.Remove(filePath); err != nil {
9 log.Printf("ERROR: Worker: Failed to remove temp file '%s': %v", filePath, err)
10 } else {
11 log.Printf("Upload Info: Worker: Cleaned up temp file: %s", filePath)
12 }
13 }(task.HostTempFilePath)
14
15 // Process task with retries for transient Incus errors
16 for i := 0; i <= MaxRetries; i++ {
17 err := processUploadTask(task) //separate upload task
18 if err == nil {
19 log.Printf("SUCCESS: Worker: Task completed for %s.", task.ContainerName)
20 break
21 }
22
23 isTransient := true
24 if err.Error() == "incus: container not found" { // Example permanent error
25 isTransient = false
26 }
27
28 if isTransient && i < MaxRetries {
29 log.Printf("WARNING: Worker: Task failed for %s (attempt %d/%d): %v. Retrying.",
30 task.ContainerName, i+1, MaxRetries, err)
31 time.Sleep(RetryDelay)
32 } else {
33 log.Printf("ERROR: Worker: Task permanently failed for %s after %d attempts: %v.",
34 task.ContainerName, i+1, err)
35 break
36 }
37 }
38 }
39}
First, this function continuously loops, attempting to retrieve tasks from the queue. Subsequently, it attempts the temporary file-to-container upload phase, rather than stream-to-temporary file, within the retry scope.
Advantages
The advantage of this processing method is that if the stream upload is successful, it can reduce the latency for subsequent processing operations and prevent resource exhaustion due to concurrent container operations. As shown in the current code, the number of concurrently executable container operations is limited by the channel capacity. We have thus explored a practical example of utilizing Go's concurrency. For more examples, please visit the links below.Module including examples
Project utilizing examples
The project itself contains numerous supplementary components; therefore, for learning about the worker functionality, it is sufficient to briefly observe how the worker initialization function is called in main.go. The module also includes other types of workers for reference.