From 0ea9d6ec5d4f037b37a98603f8942404530f2802 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hazelnoot Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2024 09:10:11 -0500 Subject: use atomic variant of Leaky Bucket for safe concurrent rate limits --- .../backend/src/server/SkRateLimiterService.md | 143 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 143 insertions(+) create mode 100644 packages/backend/src/server/SkRateLimiterService.md (limited to 'packages/backend/src/server/SkRateLimiterService.md') diff --git a/packages/backend/src/server/SkRateLimiterService.md b/packages/backend/src/server/SkRateLimiterService.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..c2752f5027 --- /dev/null +++ b/packages/backend/src/server/SkRateLimiterService.md @@ -0,0 +1,143 @@ +# SkRateLimiterService - Leaky Bucket Rate Limit Implementation + +SkRateLimiterService replaces Misskey's RateLimiterService for all use cases. +It offers a simplified API, detailed metrics, and support for Rate Limit headers. +The prime feature is an implementation of Leaky Bucket - a flexible rate limiting scheme that better supports bursty request patterns common with human interaction. + +## Compatibility + +The API is backwards-compatible with existing limit definitions, but it's preferred to use the new BucketRateLimit interface. +Legacy limits will be "translated" into a bucket limit in a way that attempts to respect max, duration, and minInterval (if present). +SkRateLimiterService is quite not plug-and-play compatible with existing call sites, because it no longer throws when a limit is exceeded. +Instead, the returned LimitInfo object will have "blocked" set to true. +Callers are responsible for checking this property and taking any desired action, such as rejecting a request or returning limit details. + +## Headers + +LimitInfo objects (returned by SkRateLimitService.limit()) can be passed to rate-limit-utils.attachHeaders() to send standard rate limit headers with an HTTP response. +The defined headers are: + +| Header | Definition | Example | +|-------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------| +| `X-RateLimit-Remaining` | Number of calls that can be made without triggering the rate limit. Will be zero if the limit is already exceeded, or will be exceeded by the next request. | `X-RateLimit-Remaining: 1` | +| `X-RateLimit-Clear` | Time in seconds required to completely clear the rate limit "bucket". | `X-RateLimit-Clear: 1.5` | +| `X-RateLimit-Reset` | Contains the number of seconds to wait before retrying the current request. Clients should delay for at least this long before making another call. Only included if the rate limit has already been exceeded. | `X-RateLimit-Reset: 0.755` | +| `Retry-After` | Like `X-RateLimit-Reset`, but measured in seconds (rounded up). Preserved for backwards compatibility, and only included if the rate limit has already been exceeded. | `Retry-After: 2` | + +Note: rate limit headers are not standardized, except for `Retry-After`. +Header meanings and usage have been devised by adapting common patterns to work with a leaky bucket model instead. + +## Performance + +SkRateLimiterService makes between 1 and 4 redis transactions per rate limit check. +One call is read-only, while the others perform at least one write operation. +Two integer keys are stored per client/subject, and both expire together after the maximum duration of the limit. +While performance has not been formally tested, it's expected that SkRateLimiterService will perform roughly on par with the legacy RateLimiterService. +Redis memory usage should be notably lower due to the reduced number of keys and avoidance of set / array constructions. + +## Concurrency and Multi-Node Correctness + +To provide consistency across multi-node environments, leaky bucket is implemented with only atomic operations (Increment, Decrement, Add, and Subtract). +This allows the use of Optimistic Locking via modify-check-rollback logic. +If a data conflict is detected during the "drip" operation, then it's safely reverted by executing its inverse (Increment <-> Decrement, Add <-> Subtract). +We don't need to check for conflicts when adding the current request, as all checks account for the case where the bucket has been "overfilled". +Should that happen, the limit delay will be extended until the bucket size is back within limits. + +There is one non-atomic `SET` operation used to populate the initial Timestamp value, but we can safely ignore data races there. +Any possible conflict would have to occur within a few-milliseconds window, which means that the final value can be no more than a few milliseconds off from the expected value. +This error does not compound, as all further operations are relative (Increment and Add). +Thus, it's considered an acceptable tradeoff given the limitations imposed by Redis and IORedis library. + +## Algorithm Pseudocode + +The Atomic Leaky Bucket algorithm is described here, in pseudocode: + +``` +# Terms +# * Now - UNIX timestamp of the current moment +# * Bucket Size - Maximum number of requests allowed in the bucket +# * Counter - Number of requests in the bucket +# * Drip Rate - How often to decrement counter +# * Drip Size - How much to decrement the counter +# * Timestamp - UNIX timestamp of last bucket drip +# * Delta Counter - Difference between current and expected counter value +# * Delta Timestamp - Difference between current and expected timestamp value + +# 0 - Calculations +dripRate = ceil(limit.dripRate ?? 1000); +dripSize = ceil(limit.dripSize ?? 1); +bucketSize = max(ceil(limit.size / factor), 1); +maxExpiration = max(ceil((dripRate * ceil(bucketSize / dripSize)) / 1000), 1);; + +# 1 - Read +MULTI + GET 'counter' INTO counter + GET 'timestamp' INTO timestamp +EXEC + +# 2 - Drip +if (counter > 0) { + # Deltas + deltaCounter = floor((now - timestamp) / dripRate) * dripSize; + deltaCounter = min(deltaCounter, counter); + deltaTimestamp = deltaCounter * dripRate; + if (deltaCounter > 0) { + # Update + expectedTimestamp = timestamp + MULTI + GET 'timestamp' INTO canaryTimestamp + INCRBY 'timestamp' deltaTimestamp + EXPIRE 'timestamp' maxExpiration + GET 'timestamp' INTO timestamp + DECRBY 'counter' deltaCounter + EXPIRE 'counter' maxExpiration + GET 'counter' INTO counter + EXEC + # Rollback + if (canaryTimestamp != expectedTimestamp) { + MULTI + DECRBY 'timestamp' deltaTimestamp + GET 'timestamp' INTO timestmamp + INCRBY 'counter' deltaCounter + GET 'counter' INTO counter + EXEC + } + } +} + +# 3 - Check +blocked = counter >= bucketSize +if (!blocked) { + if (timestamp == 0) { + # Edge case - set the initial value for timestamp. + # Otherwise the first request will immediately drip away. + MULTI + SET 'timestamp', now + EXPIRE 'timestamp' maxExpiration + INCR 'counter' + EXPIRE 'counter' maxExpiration + GET 'counter' INTO counter + EXEC + } else { + MULTI + INCR 'counter' + EXPIRE 'counter' maxExpiration + GET 'counter' INTO counter + EXEC + } +} + +# 4 - Handle +if (blocked) { + # Application-specific code goes here. + # At this point blocked, counter, and timestamp are all accurate and synced to redis. + # Caller can apply limits, calculate headers, log audit failure, or anything else. +} +``` + +## Notes, Resources, and Further Reading + +* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaky_bucket#As_a_meter +* https://ietf-wg-httpapi.github.io/ratelimit-headers/darrelmiller-policyname/draft-ietf-httpapi-ratelimit-headers.txt +* https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Retry-After +* https://stackoverflow.com/a/16022625 -- cgit v1.2.3-freya