Setting a timeout for synchronous EJB invocations in EAP6

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (EAP) 6.x

Issue

  • We lookup remote EJB's in JBoss using JNDI and it looks like these remote/local EJB calls does not have a timeout.
  • Is it possible to interrupt a EJB remote call after an adjustable time?
  • I have tried to add properties like 'jnp.timeout', but I still don't get a timeout
  • I set remote.connection.???.connect.timeout with no effect

Resolution

Starting with EAP 6 there is a possibility to set a global limit for an EJB execution via the timeout invocation.timeout. If invocation.timeout is not set, EJB client waits indefinitely by default.

Use jboss-ejb-client.properties

The timeout can be set global for all connections within the properties file.

invocation.timeout=1000

Use the JBoss specific client API

If the client API is used the property can be set within the PropertiesBasedEJBClientConfiguration.

Properties p = new Properties();
p.put("invocation.timeout", "1000");
p.put("remote.connectionprovider.create.options.org.xnio.Options.SSL_ENABLED", "false");
p.put("remote.connections", "one");
p.put("remote.connection.one.port", "4447");
p.put("remote.connection.one.host", "localhost");

EJBClientConfiguration cc = new PropertiesBasedEJBClientConfiguration(p);
ContextSelector<EJBClientContext> selector = new ConfigBasedEJBClientContextSelector(cc);
EJBClientContext.setSelector(selector);

Properties props = new Properties();
props.put(Context.URL_PKG_PREFIXES, "org.jboss.ejb.client.naming");
InitialContext context = new InitialContext(props);

final String rcal = "ejb:app/ejb//EJBBean!" + EJBBean.class.getName();
final MainApp remote = (EJBBean) context.lookup(rcal);

Handling of a timeout

After the given timeout (milliseconds) the invocation will be interrupted and a java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
will be thrown. The server side process will not be interrupted and continue until its normal return.

Notes

The invocation.timeout is the total time to aquire access to an EJB instance and for the EJB to process the request.

Root Cause

  • From the EJB specification the EJB calls are synchronous and does not have such timeout.
    To control such time a standalone client might create a thread to execute the EJB and return the original after a timeout.
  • Since EJB3.1 it is possible to use asynchronous methods which provide Future objects, these is possible for standalone clients and also inside the server (where no thread control is allowed). Via the Future object might be also possible to cancel the action.
    See KCS solution 142093 - Asynchronous EJB calls.
  • jnp.timeout is outdated (use for invocation <=EAP5)
  • ....connect.timeout is the timeout during establishing the connection
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