doc/book/link_routing.rst

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Link Routing
============

This feature was introduced in Qpid Dispatch 0.4.
This feature was significantly updated in Qpid Dispatch 0.6.

Link-routing is an alternative strategy for routing messages across a
network of routers.  With the existing message-routing strategy, each
router makes a routing decision on a per-message basis when the
message is delivered.  Link-routing is different because it makes
routing decisions when link-attach frames arrive.  A link is
effectively chained across the network of routers from the
establishing node to the destination node.  Once the link is
established, the transfer of message deliveries, flow frames, and
dispositions is performed across the routed link.

The main benefit to link-routing is that endpoints can use the full link
protocol to interact with other endpoints in far-flung parts of the
network.  For example, a client can establish a receiver across the
network to a queue on a remote broker and use link credit to control
the flow of messages from the broker.  Similarly, a receiver can
establish a link to a topic on a remote broker using a server-side
filter.

Why would one want to do this?  One reason is to provide client
isolation.  A network like the following can be deployed:

::

                        Public Network
                       +-----------------+
                       |      +-----+    |
                       | B1   | Rp  |    |
                       |      +/--\-+    |
                       |      /    \     |
                       |     /      \    |
                       +----/--------\---+
                           /          \
                          /            \
                         /              \
         Private Net A  /                \ Private Net B
        +--------------/--+           +---\-------------+
        |         +---/-+ |           | +--\--+         |
        |  B2     | Ra  | |           | | Rb  |   C1    |
        |         +-----+ |           | +-----+         |
        |                 |           |                 |
        |                 |           |                 |
        +-----------------+           +-----------------+

The clients in Private Net B can be constrained (by firewall policy)
to only connect to the Router in their own network.  Using
link-routing, these clients can access queues, topics, and other AMQP
services that are in the Public Network or even in Private Net A.

For example, The router Ra can be configured to expose queues in
broker B2 to the network.  Client C1 can then establish a connection
to Rb, the local router, open a subscribing link to "b2.event-queue",
and receive messages stored on that queue in broker B2.

C1 is unable to create a TCP/IP connection to B1 because of its
isolation (and because B2 is itself in a private network).  However,
with link routing, C1 can interact with B2 using the AMQP link
protocol.

Note that in this case, neither C1 nor B2 have been modified in any
way and neither need be aware of the fact that there is a
message-router network between them.

Configuration
-------------

Starting with the configured topology shown above, how is link-routing
configured to support the example described above?

First, router Ra needs to be told how to make a connection to the
broker B2:

::

    connector {
        name: broker
        role: route-container
        addr: <B2-url>
        port: <B2-port>
        sasl-mechanisms: ANONYMOUS
    }

This *route-container* connector tells the router how to connect to an
external AMQP container when it is needed.  The name "broker" will be
used later to refer to this connection.

Now, the router must be configured to route certain addresses to B2:

::

    linkRoute {
        prefix: b2
        dir: in
        connection: broker
    }

    linkRoute {
        prefix: b2
        dir: out
        connection: broker
    }


The linkRoute tells router Ra that any sender or receiver that
is attached with a target or source (respectively) whos address begins
with "b2", should be routed to the broker B2 (via the route-container
connector).

Note that receiving and sending links are configured and routed
separately.  This allows configuration of link routes for listeners
only or senders only.  A direction of "in" matches client senders
(i.e. links that carry messages inbound to the router network).
Direction "out" matches client receivers.

Examples of addresses that "begin with 'b2'" include:
 - b2
 - b2.queues
 - b2.queues.app1

When the route-container connector is configured, router Ra establishes a
connection to the broker.  Once the connection is open, Ra tells the
other routers (Rp and Rb) that it is a valid destination for
link-routes to the "b2" prefix.  This means that sender or receiver
links attached to Rb or Rp will be routed via the shortest path to Ra
where they are then routed outbound to the broker B2.

On Rp and Rb, it is advisable to add the identical configuration.  It
is permissible for a linkRoute configuration to reference a connection
that does not exist.

This configuration tells the routers that link-routing is intended to
be available for targets and sources starting with "b2".  This is
important because it is possible that B2 might be unavailable or shut
off.  If B2 is unreachable, Ra will not advertize itself as a
destination for "b2" and the other routers might never know that
"b2" was intended for link-routing.

The above configuration allows Rb and Rp to reject attaches that
should be routed to B2 with an error message that indicates that there
is no route available to the destination.