Handling timeout exceptions on watcher startup (#90421) (#90480)

Right now if watcher throws an exception while starting up (for example a TimeoutException
while waiting for a refresh of .watches or .triggered_watches to complete) then watcher gets
into a state where it will never be restarted automatically, and is incredibly difficult to start
manually. This PR catches those exceptions and sets the state to STOPPED so that when the
next cluster change event comes through it will attempt to start watcher again.

Author: masseyke

docs/changelog/90421.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+pr: 90421
+summary: Handling timeout exceptions on watcher startup
+area: Watcher
+type: bug
+issues:
+ - 44981

x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleService.java

@@ -101,7 +101,11 @@ public void clusterChanged(ClusterChangedEvent event) {
         // if this is not a data node, we need to start it ourselves possibly
         if (event.state().nodes().getLocalNode().canContainData() == false && isWatcherStoppedManually == false && isStoppedOrStopping) {
             this.state.set(WatcherState.STARTING);
-            watcherService.start(event.state(), () -> this.state.set(WatcherState.STARTED));
+            watcherService.start(
+                event.state(),
+                () -> this.state.set(WatcherState.STARTED),
+                (exception -> this.state.set(WatcherState.STOPPED))
+            );
             return;
         }
 
@@ -165,7 +169,10 @@ public void clusterChanged(ClusterChangedEvent event) {
                     watcherService.reload(event.state(), "new local watcher shard allocation ids");
                 } else if (isStoppedOrStopping) {
                     this.state.set(WatcherState.STARTING);
-                    watcherService.start(event.state(), () -> this.state.set(WatcherState.STARTED));
+                    watcherService.start(event.state(), () -> this.state.set(WatcherState.STARTED), (exception) -> {
+                        clearAllocationIds();
+                        this.state.set(WatcherState.STOPPED);
+                    });
                 }
             } else {
                 clearAllocationIds();

x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherService.java

@@ -231,14 +231,17 @@ void reload(ClusterState state, String reason) {
      * @param state                     the current cluster state
      * @param postWatchesLoadedCallback the callback to be triggered, when watches where loaded successfully
      */
-    public void start(ClusterState state, Runnable postWatchesLoadedCallback) {
+    public void start(ClusterState state, Runnable postWatchesLoadedCallback, Consumer<Exception> exceptionConsumer) {
         executionService.unPause();
         processedClusterStateVersion.set(state.getVersion());
         executor.execute(wrapWatcherService(() -> {
             if (reloadInner(state, "starting", true)) {
                 postWatchesLoadedCallback.run();
             }
-        }, e -> logger.error("error starting watcher", e)));
+        }, e -> {
+            logger.error("error starting watcher", e);
+            exceptionConsumer.accept(e);
+        }));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -312,13 +315,7 @@ private Collection<Watch> loadWatches(ClusterState clusterState) {
         SearchResponse response = null;
         List<Watch> watches = new ArrayList<>();
         try {
-            RefreshResponse refreshResponse = client.admin()
-                .indices()
-                .refresh(new RefreshRequest(INDEX))
-                .actionGet(TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(5));
-            if (refreshResponse.getSuccessfulShards() < indexMetadata.getNumberOfShards()) {
-                throw illegalState("not all required shards have been refreshed");
-            }
+            refreshWatches(indexMetadata);
 
             // find out local shards
             String watchIndexName = indexMetadata.getIndex().getName();
@@ -410,6 +407,17 @@ private Collection<Watch> loadWatches(ClusterState clusterState) {
         return watches;
     }
 
+    // Non private for unit testing purposes
+    void refreshWatches(IndexMetadata indexMetadata) {
+        RefreshResponse refreshResponse = client.admin()
+            .indices()
+            .refresh(new RefreshRequest(INDEX))
+            .actionGet(TimeValue.timeValueSeconds(5));
+        if (refreshResponse.getSuccessfulShards() < indexMetadata.getNumberOfShards()) {
+            throw illegalState("not all required shards have been refreshed");
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Find out if the watch with this id, should be parsed and triggered on this node
      *

x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherLifeCycleServiceTests.java

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchTimeoutException;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.AckedClusterStateUpdateTask;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterChangedEvent;
@@ -41,13 +42,17 @@
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import java.util.function.Consumer;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.stream.IntStream;
 
 import static java.util.Arrays.asList;
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.ShardRoutingState.RELOCATING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.ShardRoutingState.STARTED;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.watcher.support.WatcherIndexTemplateRegistryField.HISTORY_TEMPLATE_NAME;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
@@ -174,14 +179,79 @@ public void testManualStartStop() {
         reset(watcherService);
         when(watcherService.validate(clusterState)).thenReturn(true);
         lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("any", clusterState, stoppedClusterState));
-        verify(watcherService, times(1)).start(eq(clusterState), any());
+        verify(watcherService, times(1)).start(eq(clusterState), any(), any());
 
         // no change, keep going
         reset(watcherService);
         lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("any", clusterState, clusterState));
         verifyNoMoreInteractions(watcherService);
     }
 
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    public void testExceptionOnStart() {
+        /*
+         * This tests that if watcher fails to start because of some exception (for example a timeout while refreshing indices) that it
+         * will fail gracefully, and will start the next time there is a cluster change event if there is no exception that time.
+         */
+        Index index = new Index(Watch.INDEX, "uuid");
+        IndexRoutingTable.Builder indexRoutingTableBuilder = IndexRoutingTable.builder(index);
+        indexRoutingTableBuilder.addShard(
+            TestShardRouting.newShardRouting(new ShardId(index, 0), "node_1", true, ShardRoutingState.STARTED)
+        );
+        IndexMetadata.Builder indexMetadataBuilder = IndexMetadata.builder(Watch.INDEX)
+            .settings(settings(Version.CURRENT).put(IndexMetadata.INDEX_FORMAT_SETTING.getKey(), 6)) // the internal index format, required
+            .numberOfShards(1)
+            .numberOfReplicas(0);
+        Metadata.Builder metadataBuilder = Metadata.builder()
+            .put(indexMetadataBuilder)
+            .put(IndexTemplateMetadata.builder(HISTORY_TEMPLATE_NAME).patterns(randomIndexPatterns()));
+        if (randomBoolean()) {
+            metadataBuilder.putCustom(WatcherMetadata.TYPE, new WatcherMetadata(false));
+        }
+        Metadata metadata = metadataBuilder.build();
+        IndexRoutingTable indexRoutingTable = indexRoutingTableBuilder.build();
+        ClusterState clusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my-cluster"))
+            .nodes(new DiscoveryNodes.Builder().masterNodeId("node_1").localNodeId("node_1").add(newNode("node_1")))
+            .routingTable(RoutingTable.builder().add(indexRoutingTable).build())
+            .metadata(metadata)
+            .build();
+
+        // mark watcher manually as stopped
+        ClusterState stoppedClusterState = ClusterState.builder(new ClusterName("my-cluster"))
+            .nodes(new DiscoveryNodes.Builder().masterNodeId("node_1").localNodeId("node_1").add(newNode("node_1")))
+            .routingTable(RoutingTable.builder().add(indexRoutingTable).build())
+            .metadata(Metadata.builder(metadata).putCustom(WatcherMetadata.TYPE, new WatcherMetadata(true)).build())
+            .build();
+
+        lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("foo", stoppedClusterState, clusterState));
+        assertThat(lifeCycleService.getState().get(), equalTo(WatcherState.STOPPING));
+
+        // Now attempt to start watcher with a simulated TimeoutException. Should be stopped
+        when(watcherService.validate(clusterState)).thenReturn(true);
+        AtomicBoolean exceptionHit = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            Consumer<Exception> exceptionConsumer = invocation.getArgument(2);
+            exceptionConsumer.accept(new ElasticsearchTimeoutException(new TimeoutException("Artificial timeout")));
+            exceptionHit.set(true);
+            return null;
+        }).when(watcherService).start(any(), any(), any(Consumer.class));
+        lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("any", clusterState, clusterState));
+        assertTrue("Expected simulated timeout not hit", exceptionHit.get());
+        assertThat(lifeCycleService.getState().get(), equalTo(WatcherState.STOPPED));
+
+        // And now attempt to start watcher with no exception. It should start up.
+        AtomicBoolean runnableCalled = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            Runnable runnable = invocation.getArgument(1);
+            runnable.run();
+            runnableCalled.set(true);
+            return null;
+        }).when(watcherService).start(any(), any(Runnable.class), any());
+        lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("any", clusterState, clusterState));
+        assertTrue("Runnable not called", runnableCalled.get());
+        assertThat(lifeCycleService.getState().get(), equalTo(WatcherState.STARTED));
+    }
+
     public void testNoLocalShards() {
         Index watchIndex = new Index(Watch.INDEX, "foo");
         ShardId shardId = new ShardId(watchIndex, 0);
@@ -443,7 +513,7 @@ public void testWatcherServiceDoesNotStartIfIndexTemplatesAreMissing() throws Ex
         when(watcherService.validate(eq(state))).thenReturn(true);
 
         lifeCycleService.clusterChanged(new ClusterChangedEvent("any", state, state));
-        verify(watcherService, times(0)).start(any(ClusterState.class), any());
+        verify(watcherService, times(0)).start(any(ClusterState.class), any(), any());
     }
 
     public void testWatcherStopsWhenMasterNodeIsMissing() {

x-pack/plugin/watcher/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/watcher/WatcherServiceTests.java

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TotalHits;
+import org.elasticsearch.ElasticsearchTimeoutException;
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.refresh.RefreshAction;
@@ -65,7 +66,10 @@
 import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
@@ -236,7 +240,7 @@ void stopExecutor() {}
             return null;
         }).when(client).execute(eq(ClearScrollAction.INSTANCE), any(ClearScrollRequest.class), anyActionListener());
 
-        service.start(clusterState, () -> {});
+        service.start(clusterState, () -> {}, exception -> {});
 
         ArgumentCaptor<List> captor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(List.class);
         verify(triggerService).start(captor.capture());
@@ -245,6 +249,45 @@ void stopExecutor() {}
         assertThat(watches, hasSize(activeWatchCount));
     }
 
+    public void testExceptionHandling() {
+        /*
+         * This tests that if the WatcherService throws an exception while refreshing indices that the exception is handled by the
+         * exception consumer rather than being propagated higher in the stack.
+         */
+        TriggerService triggerService = mock(TriggerService.class);
+        TriggeredWatchStore triggeredWatchStore = mock(TriggeredWatchStore.class);
+        ExecutionService executionService = mock(ExecutionService.class);
+        WatchParser parser = mock(WatchParser.class);
+        final ElasticsearchTimeoutException exception = new ElasticsearchTimeoutException(new TimeoutException("Artifical timeout"));
+        WatcherService service = new WatcherService(
+            Settings.EMPTY,
+            triggerService,
+            triggeredWatchStore,
+            executionService,
+            parser,
+            client,
+            EsExecutors.DIRECT_EXECUTOR_SERVICE
+        ) {
+            @Override
+            void refreshWatches(IndexMetadata indexMetadata) {
+                throw exception;
+            }
+        };
+
+        ClusterState.Builder csBuilder = new ClusterState.Builder(new ClusterName("_name"));
+        Metadata.Builder metadataBuilder = Metadata.builder();
+        Settings indexSettings = settings(Version.CURRENT).put(IndexMetadata.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1)
+            .put(IndexMetadata.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 1)
+            .build();
+        metadataBuilder.put(IndexMetadata.builder(Watch.INDEX).settings(indexSettings));
+        csBuilder.metadata(metadataBuilder);
+        ClusterState clusterState = csBuilder.build();
+
+        AtomicReference<Exception> exceptionReference = new AtomicReference<>();
+        service.start(clusterState, () -> { fail("Excepted an exception"); }, exceptionReference::set);
+        assertThat(exceptionReference.get(), equalTo(exception));
+    }
+
     @SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
     public void testPausingWatcherServiceAlsoPausesTriggerService() {
         String engineType = "foo";