Enable Leader Election ¶

This guide will show you how to enable leader election for your application.

Enable leader election in manifest ¶

yaml

spec:
  leaderElection: true

Using leader election in your application (simple API) ¶

Java cURL Python TypeScript

java

// Implementation of getJSONFromUrl is left as an exercise for the reader
class Leader {
    public static boolean isLeader() {
        String electorUrl = System.getenv("ELECTOR_GET_URL");
        JSONObject leaderJson = getJSONFromUrl(electorUrl);
        String leader = leaderJson.getString("name");
        String hostname = InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostname();

        return hostname.equals(leader);
    }
}

bash

$ kubectl exec -it elector-sidecar-755b7c5795-7k2qn -c debug bash
root@elector-sidecar-755b7c5795-7k2qn:/# curl ${ELECTOR_GET_URL}
{"name":"elector-sidecar-755b7c5795-2kcm7","last_update":"2022-10-18T10:59:58Z"}

python

import os
import socket
import requests

def is_leader():
    elector_url = os.getenv("ELECTOR_GET_URL")
    resp = requests.get(elector_url)
    leader = resp.json()["name"]
    return socket.gethostname() == leader

typescript

import * as os from 'node:os'

export async function isLeader(): Promise<boolean> {
    const hostname = os.hostname()
    const electorUrl = process.env.ELECTOR_GET_URL

    const electorResponse = await fetch(electorUrl)
    if (!electorResponse.ok) {
        throw new Error(
            `Failed to fetch leader from ${electorUrl}, response: ${electorResponse.status} ${electorResponse.statusText}`,
        )
    }
    const result: { name: string; last_update: string } = await electorResponse.json()

    return result.name === hostname
}

Using leader election in your application (Server Sent Events API) ¶

👷 Help Wanted! Please contribute with examples on how to use the Server Sent Events API.

Kotlin with Spring Python with sseclient

WebFlux to create a subscription, and an ApplicationEvent to inform about changes.

kotlin

@Service
class LederUtvelger :ApplicationListener<LeaderChangedEvent> {

    private val hostname = InetAddress.getLocalHost().hostName
    var erLeder : Boolean = false

    override fun onApplicationEvent(event: LeaderChangedEvent) {
        erLeder = event.leder == hostname
    }
}


@Component
class SSEHandler(builder: Builder, @Value("\${elector.sse.url}") uri: URI, publisher: ApplicationEventPublisher) {
    init {
        builder.build()
            .get()
            .uri(uri)
            .retrieve()
            .bodyToFlux(LederUtvelgerRespons::class.java).subscribe {
            publisher.publishEvent(LeaderChangedEvent(this,it.name))
        }
    }
    data class LederUtvelgerRespons(val name: String, val last_update: LocalDateTime)
    class LeaderChangedEvent(source: Any, val leder: String) : ApplicationEvent(source)
}

Using sseclient to subscribe to the leader election events, and passing them to a handler function. Probably needs to be run in a separate thread.

python

import os
from typing import Callable

from sseclient import SSEClient


def subscribe_leader_election(handler: Callable[[str], None]):
    url = os.getenv("ELECTOR_SSE_URL")
    messages = SSEClient(url)
    for msg in messages:
        handler(msg)