Node.js, Socket.io, Redis pub/sub high volume, low latency difficulties

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I thought this was a reasonable question and had researched it briefly a while back. I spent a little time searching for examples that you may be able to pick up some helpful tips from.

Examples

I like to begin with straight forward examples:

The light sample is a single page (note you’ll want to replace redis-node-client with something like node_redis by Matt Ranney:

/*
 * Mclarens Bar: Redis based Instant Messaging
 * Nikhil Marathe - 22/04/2010

 * A simple example of an IM client implemented using
 * Redis PUB/SUB commands so that all the communication
 * is offloaded to Redis, and the node.js code only
 * handles command interpretation,presentation and subscribing.
 * 
 * Requires redis-node-client and a recent version of Redis
 *    http://code.google.com/p/redis
 *    http://github.com/fictorial/redis-node-client
 *
 * Start the server then telnet to port 8000
 * Register with NICK <nick>, use WHO to see others
 * Use TALKTO <nick> to initiate a chat. Send a message
 * using MSG <nick> <msg>. Note its important to do a
 * TALKTO so that both sides are listening. Use STOP <nick>
 * to stop talking to someone, and QUIT to exit.
 *
 * This code is in the public domain.
 */
var redis = require('./redis-node-client/lib/redis-client');

var sys = require('sys');
var net = require('net');

var server = net.createServer(function(stream) {
    var sub; // redis connection
    var pub;
    var registered = false;
    var nick = "";

    function channel(a,b) {
    return [a,b].sort().join(':');
    }

    function shareTable(other) {
    sys.debug(nick + ": Subscribing to "+channel(nick,other));
    sub.subscribeTo(channel(nick,other), function(channel, message) {
        var str = message.toString();
        var sender = str.slice(0, str.indexOf(':'));
        if( sender != nick )
        stream.write("[" + sender + "] " + str.substr(str.indexOf(':')+1) + "\n");
    });
    }

    function leaveTable(other) {
    sub.unsubscribeFrom(channel(nick,other), function(err) {
        stream.write("Stopped talking to " + other+ "\n");
    });
    }

    stream.addListener("connect", function() {
    sub = redis.createClient();
    pub = redis.createClient();
    });

    stream.addListener("data", function(data) {
    if( !registered ) {
        var msg = data.toString().match(/^NICK (\w*)/);
        if(msg) {
        stream.write("SERVER: Hi " + msg[1] + "\n");
        pub.sadd('mclarens:inside', msg[1], function(err) {
            if(err) {
            stream.end();
            }
            registered = true;
            nick = msg[1];
// server messages
            sub.subscribeTo( nick + ":info", function(nick, message) {
            var m = message.toString().split(' ');
            var cmd = m[0];
            var who = m[1];
            if( cmd == "start" ) {
                stream.write( who + " is now talking to you\n");
                shareTable(who);
            }
            else if( cmd == "stop" ) {
                stream.write( who + " stopped talking to you\n");
                leaveTable(who);
            }
            });
        });
        }
        else {
        stream.write("Please register with NICK <nickname>\n");
        }
        return;
    }

    var fragments = data.toString().replace('\r\n', '').split(' ');
    switch(fragments[0]) {
    case 'TALKTO':
        pub.publish(fragments[1]+":info", "start " + nick, function(a,b) {
        });
        shareTable(fragments[1]);
        break;
    case 'MSG':
        pub.publish(channel(nick, fragments[1]),
            nick + ':' +fragments.slice(2).join(' '),
              function(err, reply) {
              if(err) {
                  stream.write("ERROR!");
              }
              });
        break;
    case 'WHO':
        pub.smembers('mclarens:inside', function(err, users) {
        stream.write("Online:\n" + users.join('\n') + "\n");
        });
        break;
    case 'STOP':
        leaveTable(fragments[1]);
        pub.publish(fragments[1]+":info", "stop " + nick, function() {});
        break;
    case 'QUIT':
        stream.end();
        break;
    }
    });

    stream.addListener("end", function() {
    pub.publish(nick, nick + " is offline");
    pub.srem('mclarens:inside', nick, function(err) {
        if(err) {
        sys.debug("Could not remove client");
        }
    });
    });
});

server.listen(8000, "localhost");

Documents

There’s a ton of documentation out there, and the apis are rapidly changing on this type of stack so you’ll have to weigh the time relevance of each doc.

Related Questions

Just a few related questions, this is a hot topic on stack:

  • Redis pub/sub for chat server in node.js
  • How to design redis pub/sub for an instant messaging system?

Notable tips (ymmv)

Turn off or optimize socket pooling, use efficient bindings, monitor latency, and make sure you’re not duplicating work (ie no need to publish to all listeners twice).

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