HFileArchiver.resolveAndArchive() race condition may lead to snapshot data loss

• The master have an hfile cleaner thread (that is responsible for cleaning the /hbase/.archive dir)
  • /hbase/.archive/table/region/family/hfile
  • if the family/region/family directory is empty the cleaner removes it
• The master can archive files (from another thread, e.g. DeleteTableHandler)
• The region can archive files (from another server/process, e.g. compaction)

The simplified file archiving code looks like this:

HFileArchiver.resolveAndArchive(...) {
  // ensure that the archive dir exists
  fs.mkdir(archiveDir);

  // move the file to the archiver
  success = fs.rename(originalPath/fileName, archiveDir/fileName)

  // if the rename is failed, delete the file without archiving
  if (!success) fs.delete(originalPath/fileName);
}

Since there's no synchronization between HFileArchiver.resolveAndArchive() and the cleaner run (different process, thread, ...) you can end up in the situation where you are moving something in a directory that doesn't exists.

fs.mkdir(archiveDir);

// HFileCleaner chore starts at this point
// and the archiveDirectory that we just ensured to be present gets removed.

// The rename at this point will fail since the parent directory is missing.
success = fs.rename(originalPath/fileName, archiveDir/fileName)

The bad thing of deleting the file without archiving is that if you've a snapshot that relies on the file to be present, or you've a clone table that relies on that file is that you're losing data.

Possible solutions

• Create a ZooKeeper lock, to notify the master ("Hey I'm archiving something, wait a bit")
• Add a RS -> Master call to let the master removes files and avoid this kind of situations
• Avoid to remove empty directories from the archive if the table exists or is not disabled
• Add a try catch around the fs.rename

The last one, the easiest one, looks like:

for (int i = 0; i < retries; ++i) {
  // ensure archive directory to be present
  fs.mkdir(archiveDir);

  // ----> possible race <-----

  // try to archive file
  success = fs.rename(originalPath/fileName, archiveDir/fileName);
  if (success) break;
}