[COUCHDB-1052] CouchDB crashes by Erlang Heartbeat Runtime System

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Not A Problem
• Affects Version/s: 0.10.1, 1.0.1
• Component/s: Infrastructure

Environment

Solaris 10

• Skill Level: Regular Contributors Level (Easy to Medium)
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Nicolas Maupu
• Created: 01/Feb/11 17:15
• Updated: 16/Sep/12 00:12
• Resolved: 29/Oct/11 18:33

Description

Hello,

We have several couchdb in our production environment (starting from 0.10.1 and upgraded to 1.0.1). Some instances began to crash several times a day.
After research (I am not aware of all erlang tips and tricks), I found that the problem was caused by erlang heartbeat runtime system (http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/heart.html).
For some reasons (it seems to be a problem with system clock), this heartbeat process sends a signal to main erlang process to trigger HEARTBEAT_COMMAND.
The command configured by couchdb startup script is to call 'bin/couchdb -k' which kill server ...

I don't know if this is wanted or not but is Erlang heartbeat system provided to restart a service if this one crash ?

I patched mine to restart process gracefully but I would like to know if this is a feature or a bug : next time I upgrade, I will have to patch again.
My patch is a little bit specific to my architecture so I did not provide it. Ask me if you are interested.

nm.