ArangoDB V3.1.19 Ation Arango DB Manual 3.1.19
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Table of Contents
Introduction
1.1
Getting Started
1.2
Installing
1.2.1
Linux
1.2.1.1
Mac OS X
1.2.1.2
Windows
1.2.1.3
Compiling
1.2.1.4
Authentication
1.2.2
Accessing the Web Interface
1.2.3
Coming from SQL
1.2.4
Scalability
1.3
Architecture
1.3.1
Data models
1.3.2
Limitations
1.3.3
Data models & modeling
1.4
Concepts
1.4.1
Databases
1.4.2
Working with Databases
1.4.2.1
Notes about Databases
1.4.2.2
Collections
1.4.3
Collection Methods
1.4.3.1
Database Methods
1.4.3.2
Documents
1.4.4
Basics and Terminology
1.4.4.1
Collection Methods
1.4.4.2
Database Methods
1.4.4.3
Graphs, Vertices & Edges
1.4.5
Naming Conventions
1.4.6
Database Names
1.4.6.1
Collection Names
1.4.6.2
Document Keys
1.4.6.3
Attribute Names
1.4.6.4
Indexing
1.5
Index Basics
1.5.1
Which index to use when
1.5.2
Index Utilization
1.5.3
Working with Indexes
1.5.4
Hash Indexes
1.5.4.1
Skiplists
1.5.4.2
Persistent
1.5.4.3
Fulltext Indexes
1.5.4.4
1
Geo Indexes
1.5.4.5
Vertex Centric Indexes
1.5.4.6
Graphs
1.6
General Graphs
1.6.1
Graph Management
1.6.1.1
Graph Functions
1.6.1.2
SmartGraphs
SmartGraph Management
Traversals
1.6.2
1.6.2.1
1.6.3
Using Traversal Objects
1.6.3.1
Example Data
1.6.3.2
Working with Edges
Foxx Microservices
1.6.4
1.7
At a glance
1.7.1
Getting started
1.7.2
Service manifest
1.7.3
Service context
1.7.4
Configuration
1.7.5
Dependencies
1.7.6
Routers
1.7.7
Endpoints
1.7.7.1
Middleware
1.7.7.2
Request
1.7.7.3
Response
1.7.7.4
Using GraphQL
1.7.8
Sessions middleware
1.7.9
Session storages
1.7.9.1
Collection storage
1.7.9.1.1
JWT storage
1.7.9.1.2
Session transports
1.7.9.2
Cookie transport
1.7.9.2.1
Header transport
1.7.9.2.2
Serving files
1.7.10
Writing tests
1.7.11
Scripts and queued jobs
1.7.12
Migrating 2.x services
1.7.13
Migrating from pre-2.8
1.7.13.1
manifest.json
1.7.13.2
applicationContext
1.7.13.3
Repositories and Models
1.7.13.4
Controllers
1.7.13.5
Request context
1.7.13.5.1
Error handling
1.7.13.5.2
Before/After/Around
1.7.13.5.3
2
Request object
1.7.13.5.4
Response object
1.7.13.5.5
Dependency Injection
1.7.13.5.6
Sessions
1.7.13.6
Auth and OAuth2
1.7.13.7
Foxx Queries
1.7.13.8
Legacy compatibility mode
1.7.14
User management
1.7.15
Related modules
1.7.16
Authentication
1.7.16.1
OAuth 2.0
1.7.16.2
Transactions
1.8
Transaction invocation
1.8.1
Passing parameters
1.8.2
Locking and isolation
1.8.3
Durability
1.8.4
Limitations
1.8.5
Deployment
1.9
Single instance
1.9.1
Cluster: Mesos, DC/OS
1.9.2
Cluster: Local test
1.9.3
Cluster: Processes
1.9.4
Cluster: Docker
1.9.5
Agency
1.9.6
Administration
Web Interface
1.10
1.10.1
Queries
1.10.1.1
Collections
1.10.1.2
Cluster
1.10.1.3
Dashboard
1.10.1.4
Document
1.10.1.5
Logs
1.10.1.6
Services
1.10.1.7
Graphs
1.10.1.8
ArangoDB Shell
1.10.2
Shell Output
1.10.2.1
Configuration
1.10.2.2
Details
1.10.2.3
Arangoimp
1.10.3
Arangodump
1.10.4
Arangorestore
1.10.5
Managing Users
1.10.6
Server Configuration
1.10.7
Managing Endpoints
1.10.7.1
3
SSL Configuration
1.10.7.2
Logging Options
1.10.7.3
General Options
1.10.7.4
Write-Ahead Log Options
1.10.7.5
Cluster Options
1.10.7.6
Asynchronous Tasks
1.10.7.7
Durability
1.10.8
Replication
1.10.9
Asynchronous Replication
1.10.9.1
Components
1.10.9.1.1
Example Setup
1.10.9.1.2
Syncing Collections
1.10.9.1.3
Replication Limitations
1.10.9.1.4
Synchronous Replication
1.10.9.2
Implementation
1.10.9.2.1
Configuration
1.10.9.2.2
Sharding
1.10.10
Upgrading
1.10.11
Upgrading to 3.1
1.10.11.1
Upgrading to 3.0
1.10.11.2
Upgrading to 2.8
1.10.11.3
Upgrading to 2.6
1.10.11.4
Upgrading to 2.5
1.10.11.5
Upgrading to 2.4
1.10.11.6
Upgrading to 2.3
1.10.11.7
Upgrading to 2.2
1.10.11.8
Auditing
1.11
Configuration
1.11.1
Events
1.11.2
Troubleshooting
1.12
arangod
1.12.1
Emergency Console
1.12.2
Datafile Debugger
1.12.3
Arangobench
1.12.4
Architecture
Write-ahead log
Release notes
1.13
1.13.1
1.14
Whats New in 3.1
1.14.1
Incompatible changes in 3.1
1.14.2
Whats New in 3.0
1.14.3
Incompatible changes in 3.0
1.14.4
Whats New in 2.8
1.14.5
Incompatible changes in 2.8
1.14.6
Whats New in 2.7
1.14.7
4
Incompatible changes in 2.7
1.14.8
Whats New in 2.6
1.14.9
Incompatible changes in 2.6
1.14.10
Whats New in 2.5
1.14.11
Incompatible changes in 2.5
1.14.12
Whats New in 2.4
1.14.13
Incompatible changes in 2.4
1.14.14
Whats New in 2.3
1.14.15
Incompatible changes in 2.3
1.14.16
Whats New in 2.2
1.14.17
Whats New in 2.1
1.14.18
Appendix
1.15
References
1.15.1
db
1.15.1.1
collection
1.15.1.2
JavaScript Modules
1.15.2
@arangodb
1.15.2.1
console
1.15.2.2
crypto
1.15.2.3
fs
1.15.2.4
request
1.15.2.5
actions
1.15.2.6
queries
1.15.2.7
Write-ahead log
1.15.2.8
Task Management
1.15.2.9
Deprecated
Simple Queries
1.15.3
1.15.3.1
Sequential Access
1.15.3.1.1
Pagination
1.15.3.1.2
Modification Queries
1.15.3.1.3
Geo Queries
1.15.3.1.4
Fulltext Queries
1.15.3.1.5
Actions
1.15.3.2
Delivering HTML Pages
1.15.3.2.1
Json Objects
1.15.3.2.2
Modifying
1.15.3.2.3
Error codes and meanings
1.15.4
Glossary
1.15.5
5
Introduction
ArangoDB v3.1.19 Documentation
Welcome to the ArangoDB documentation!
New and eager to try out ArangoDB? Start right away with our beginner's guide: Getting Started
The documentation is organized in four handbooks:
This manual describes ArangoDB and its features in detail for you as a user, developer and administrator.
The AQL handbook explains ArangoDB's query language AQL.
The HTTP handbook describes the internal API of ArangoDB that is used to communicate with clients. In general, the HTTP
handbook will be of interest to driver developers. If you use any of the existing drivers for the language of your choice, you can skip
this handbook.
Our cookbook with recipes for specific problems and solutions.
Features are illustrated with interactive usage examples; you can cut'n'paste them into arangosh to try them out. The HTTP REST-API for
driver developers is demonstrated with cut'n'paste recepies intended to be used with the cURL. Drivers may provide their own examples
based on these .js based examples to improve understandeability for their respective users, i.e. for the java driver some of the samples are
re-implemented.
Overview
ArangoDB is a multi-model, open-source database with flexible data models for documents, graphs, and key-values. Build high
performance applications using a convenient SQL-like query language or JavaScript extensions. Use ACID transactions if you require
them. Scale horizontally and vertically with a few mouse clicks.
Key features include:
installing ArangoDB on a cluster is as easy as installing an app on your mobile
Flexible data modeling: model your data as combination of key-value pairs, documents or graphs - perfect for social relations
Powerful query language (AQL) to retrieve and modify data
Use ArangoDB as an application server and fuse your application and database together for maximal throughput
Transactions: run queries on multiple documents or collections with optional transactional consistency and isolation
Replication and Sharding: set up the database in a master-slave configuration or spread bigger datasets across multiple servers
Configurable durability: let the application decide if it needs more durability or more performance
No-nonsense storage: ArangoDB uses all of the power of modern storage hardware, like SSD and large caches
JavaScript for all: no language zoo, you can use one language from your browser to your back-end
ArangoDB can be easily deployed as a fault-tolerant distributed state machine, which can serve as the animal brain of distributed
appliances
It is open source (Apache License 2.0)
Community
If you have questions regarding ArangoDB, Foxx, drivers, or this documentation don't hesitate to contact us on:
GitHub for issues and misbehavior or pull requests
Google Groups for discussions about ArangoDB in general or to announce your new Foxx App
StackOverflow for questions about AQL, usage scenarios etc.
Slack, our community chat
When reporting issues, please describe:
the environment you run ArangoDB in
the ArangoDB version you use
whether you're using Foxx
the client you're using
6
Introduction
which parts of the documentation you're working with (link)
what you expect to happen
what is actually happening
We will respond as soon as possible.
7
Getting Started
Getting started
Overview
This beginner's guide will make you familiar with ArangoDB. We will cover how to
install and run a local ArangoDB server
use the web interface to interact with it
store example data in the database
query the database to retrieve the data again
edit and remove existing data
Installation
Head to arangodb.com/download, select your operating system and download ArangoDB. You may also follow the instructions on how
to install with a package manager, if available.
If you installed a binary package under Linux, the server is automatically started.
If you installed ArangoDB using homebrew under MacOS X, start the server by running
/usr/local/sbin/arangod
.
If you installed ArangoDB under Windows as a service, the server is automatically started. Otherwise, run the
arangod.exe
the installation folder's
C:\Program Files
bin
directory. You may have to run it as administrator to grant it write permissions to
located in
.
For more in-depth information on how to install ArangoDB, as well as available startup parameters, installation in a cluster and so on,
see Installing.
Securing the installation
The default installation contains one database _system and a user named root.
Debian based packages and the Windows installer will ask for a password during the installation process. Red-Hat based packages will
set a random password. For all other installation packages you need to execute
shell> arango-secure-installation
This will asked for a root password and sets this password.
Web interface
The server itself (arangod) speaks HTTP / REST, but you can use the graphical web interface to keep it simple. There's also arangosh, a
synchronous shell for interaction with the server. If you're a developer, you might prefer the shell over the GUI. It does not provide
features like syntax highlighting however.
When you start using ArangoDB in your project, you will likely use an official or community-made driver written in the same language
as your project. Drivers implement a programming interface that should feel natural for that programming language, and do all the
talking to the server. Therefore, you can most certainly ignore the HTTP API unless you want to write a driver yourself or explicitly want
to use the raw interface.
To get familiar with the database system you can even put drivers aside and use the web interface (code name Aardvark) for basic
interaction. The web interface will become available shortly after you started
arangod
. You can access it in your browser at
http://localhost:8529 - if not, please see Troubleshooting.
By default, authentication is enabled. The default user is
root
. Depending on the installation method used, the installation process
either prompted for the root password or the default root password is empty (see above).
8
Getting Started
Next you will be asked which database to use. Every server instance comes with a
_system
database. Select this database to continue.
You should then be presented the dashboard with server statistics like this:
9
Getting Started
For a more detailed description of the interface, see Web Interface.
Databases, collections and documents
Databases are sets of collections. Collections store records, which are referred to as documents. Collections are the equivalent of tables in
RDBMS, and documents can be thought of as rows in a table. The difference is that you don't define what columns (or rather attributes)
there will be in advance. Every document in any collection can have arbitrary attribute keys and values. Documents in a single collection
will likely have a similar structure in practice however, but the database system itself does not impose it and will operate stable and fast
no matter how your data looks like.
Read more in the data-model concepts chapter.
For now, you can stick with the default
_system
database and use the web interface to create collections and documents. Start by
clicking the COLLECTIONS menu entry, then the Add Collection tile. Give it a name, e.g. users, leave the other settings unchanged (we
want it to be a document collection) and Save it. A new tile labeled users should show up, which you can click to open.
There will be No documents yet. Click the green circle with the white plus on the right-hand side to create a first document in this
collection. A dialog will ask you for a
_key
. You can leave the field blank and click Create to let the database system assign an
automatically generated (unique) key. Note that the
_key
property is immutable, which means you can not change it once the document
is created. What you can use as document key is described in the naming conventions.
An automatically generated key could be
"9883"
(
_key
is always a string!), and the document
_id
would be
"users/9883"
in that
case. Aside from a few system attributes, there is nothing in this document yet. Let's add a custom attribute by clicking the icon to the left
of (empty object), then Append. Two input fields will become available, FIELD (attribute key) and VALUE (attribute value). Type
as key and your name as value. Append another attribute, name it
age
name
and set it to your age. Click Save to persist the changes. If you
click on Collection: users at the top on the right-hand side of the ArangoDB logo, the document browser will show the documents in the
users collection and you will see the document you just created in the list.
Querying the database
10
Getting Started
Time to retrieve our document using AQL, ArangoDB's query language. We can directly look up the document we created via the
,
_id
but there are also other options. Click the QUERIES menu entry to bring up the query editor and type the following (adjust the document
ID to match your document):
RETURN DOCUMENT("users/9883")
Then click Execute to run the query. The result appears below the query editor:
[
{
"_key": "9883",
"_id": "users/9883",
"_rev": "9883",
"age": 32,
"name": "John Smith"
}
]
As you can see, the entire document including the system attributes is returned. DOCUMENT() is a function to retrieve a single
document or a list of documents of which you know the
_key
s or
_id
s. We return the result of the function call as our query result,
which is our document inside of the result array (we could have returned more than one result with a different query, but even for a single
document as result, we still get an array at the top level).
This type of query is called data access query. No data is created, changed or deleted. There is another type of query called data
modification query. Let's insert a second document using a modification query:
INSERT { name: "Katie Foster", age: 27 } INTO users
The query is pretty self-explanatory: the
INSERT
keyword tells ArangoDB that we want to insert something. What to insert, a document
with two attributes in this case, follows next. The curly braces
{ }
signify documents, or objects. When talking about records in a
collection, we call them documents. Encoded as JSON, we call them objects. Objects can also be nested. Here's an example:
{
"name": {
"first": "Katie",
"last": "Foster"
}
}
INTO
is a mandatory part of every
INSERT
operation and is followed by the collection name that we want to store the document in.
Note that there are no quote marks around the collection name.
If you run above query, there will be an empty array as result because we did not specify what to return using a
optional in modification queries, but mandatory in data access queries. Even with
RETURN
RETURN
keyword. It is
, the return value can still be an empty array,
e.g. if the specified document was not found. Despite the empty result, the above query still created a new user document. You can verify
this with the document browser.
Let's add another user, but return the newly created document this time:
INSERT { name: "James Hendrix", age: 69 } INTO users
RETURN NEW
is a pseudo-variable, which refers to the document created by
NEW
INSERT
. The result of the query will look like this:
[
{
"_key": "10074",
"_id": "users/10074",
"_rev": "10074",
"age": 69,
"name": "James Hendrix"
}
]
11
Getting Started
Now that we have 3 users in our collection, how to retrieve them all with a single query? The following does not work:
RETURN DOCUMENT("users/9883")
RETURN DOCUMENT("users/9915")
RETURN DOCUMENT("users/10074")
There can only be a single
RETURN
statement here and a syntax error is raised if you try to execute it. The
DOCUMENT()
function offers
a secondary signature to specify multiple document handles, so we could do:
RETURN DOCUMENT( ["users/9883", "users/9915", "users/10074"] )
An array with the
_id
s of all 3 documents is passed to the function. Arrays are denoted by square brackets
[ ]
and their elements are
separated by commas.
But what if we add more users? We would have to change the query to retrieve the newly added users as well. All we want to say with
our query is: "For every user in the collection users, return the user document". We can formulate this with a
FOR
loop:
FOR user IN users
RETURN user
It expresses to iterate over every document in
users
document. It could also be called
ahuacatlguacamole
doc
,
u
or
and to use
user
as variable name, which we can use to refer to the current user
, this is up to you. It is advisable to use a short and self-descriptive
name however.
The loop body tells the system to return the value of the variable
user
, which is a single user document. All user documents are
returned this way:
[
{
"_key": "9915",
"_id": "users/9915",
"_rev": "9915",
"age": 27,
"name": "Katie Foster"
},
{
"_key": "9883",
"_id": "users/9883",
"_rev": "9883",
"age": 32,
"name": "John Smith"
},
{
"_key": "10074",
"_id": "users/10074",
"_rev": "10074",
"age": 69,
"name": "James Hendrix"
}
]
You may have noticed that the order of the returned documents is not necessarily the same as they were inserted. There is no order
guaranteed unless you explicitly sort them. We can add a
SORT
operation very easily:
FOR user IN users
SORT user._key
RETURN user
This does still not return the desired result: James (10074) is returned before John (9883) and Katie (9915). The reason is that the
attribute is a string in ArangoDB, and not a number. The individual characters of the strings are compared.
result is therefore "correct". If we wanted to use the numerical value of the
_key
1
is lower than
9
_key
and the
attributes instead, we could convert the string to a
number and use it for sorting. There are some implications however. We are better off sorting something else. How about the age, in
descending order?
12
Getting Started
FOR user IN users
SORT user.age DESC
RETURN user
The users will be returned in the following order: James (69), John (32), Katie (27). Instead of
used for ascending order.
ASC
DESC
for descending order,
ASC
can be
is the default though and can be omitted.
We might want to limit the result set to a subset of users, based on the age attribute for example. Let's return users older than 30 only:
FOR user IN users
FILTER user.age > 30
SORT user.age
RETURN user
This will return John and James (in this order). Katie's age attribute does not fulfill the criterion (greater than 30), she is only 27 and
therefore not part of the result set. We can make her age to return her user document again, using a modification query:
UPDATE "9915" WITH { age: 40 } IN users
RETURN NEW
UPDATE
_id
allows to partially edit an existing document. There is also
, which remain the same) and only add the specified ones.
REPLACE
UPDATE
, which would remove all attributes (except for
_key
and
on the other hand only replaces the specified attributes and
keeps everything else as-is.
The
UPDATE
keyword is followed by the document key (or a document / object with a
attributes to update are written as object after the
INTO
WITH
keyword.
IN
_key
attribute) to identify what to modify. The
denotes in which collection to perform this operation in, just like
(both keywords are actually interchangable here). The full document with the changes applied is returned if we use the
NEW
pseudo-variable:
[
{
"_key": "9915",
"_id": "users/9915",
"_rev": "12864",
"age": 40,
"name": "Katie Foster"
}
If we used
REPLACE
instead, the name attribute would be gone. With
UPDATE
, the attribute is kept (the same would apply to additional
attributes if we had them).
Let us run our
FILTER
query again, but only return the user names this time:
FOR user IN users
FILTER user.age > 30
SORT user.age
RETURN user.name
This will return the names of all 3 users:
[
"John Smith",
"Katie Foster",
"James Hendrix"
]
It is called a projection if only a subset of attributes is returned. Another kind of projection is to change the structure of the results:
FOR user IN users
RETURN { userName: user.name, age: user.age }
13
Getting Started
The query defines the output format for every user document. The user name is returned as
userName
instead of
name
, the age keeps
the attribute key in this example:
[
{
"userName": "James Hendrix",
"age": 69
},
{
"userName": "John Smith",
"age": 32
},
{
"userName": "Katie Foster",
"age": 40
}
]
It is also possible to compute new values:
FOR user IN users
RETURN CONCAT(user.name, "'s age is ", user.age)
CONCAT()
is a function that can join elements together to a string. We use it here to return a statement for every user. As you can see, the
result set does not always have to be an array of objects:
[
"James Hendrix's age is 69",
"John Smith's age is 32",
"Katie Foster's age is 40"
]
Now let's do something crazy: for every document in the users collection, iterate over all user documents again and return user pairs, e.g.
John and Katie. We can use a loop inside a loop for this to get the cross product (every possible combination of all user records, 3 * 3 =
9). We don't want pairings like John + John however, so let's eliminate them with a filter condition:
FOR user1 IN users
FOR user2 IN users
FILTER user1 != user2
RETURN [user1.name, user2.name]
We get 6 pairings. Pairs like James + John and John + James are basically redundant, but fair enough:
[
[ "James Hendrix", "John Smith" ],
[ "James Hendrix", "Katie Foster" ],
[ "John Smith", "James Hendrix" ],
[ "John Smith", "Katie Foster" ],
[ "Katie Foster", "James Hendrix" ],
[ "Katie Foster", "John Smith" ]
]
We could calculate the sum of both ages and compute something new this way:
FOR user1 IN users
FOR user2 IN users
FILTER user1 != user2
RETURN {
pair: [user1.name, user2.name],
sumOfAges: user1.age + user2.age
}
We introduce a new attribute
sumOfAges
and add up both ages for the value:
14
Getting Started
[
{
"pair": [ "James Hendrix", "John Smith" ],
"sumOfAges": 101
},
{
"pair": [ "James Hendrix", "Katie Foster" ],
"sumOfAges": 109
},
{
"pair": [ "John Smith", "James Hendrix" ],
"sumOfAges": 101
},
{
"pair": [ "John Smith", "Katie Foster" ],
"sumOfAges": 72
},
{
"pair": [ "Katie Foster", "James Hendrix" ],
"sumOfAges": 109
},
{
"pair": [ "Katie Foster", "John Smith" ],
"sumOfAges": 72
}
]
If we wanted to post-filter on the new attribute to only return pairs with a sum less than 100, we should define a variable to temporarily
store the sum, so that we can use it in a
statement as well as in the
FILTER
RETURN
statement:
FOR user1 IN users
FOR user2 IN users
FILTER user1 != user2
LET sumOfAges = user1.age + user2.age
FILTER sumOfAges < 100
RETURN {
pair: [user1.name, user2.name],
sumOfAges: sumOfAges
}
The
LET
keyword is followed by the designated variable name (
), then there's a
sumOfAges
=
symbol and the value or an expression
to define what value the variable is supposed to have. We re-use our expression to calculate the sum here. We then have another
FILTER
to skip the unwanted pairings and make use of the variable we declared before. We return a projection with an array of the user names
and the calculated age, for which we use the variable again:
[
{
"pair": [ "John Smith", "Katie Foster" ],
"sumOfAges": 72
},
{
"pair": [ "Katie Foster", "John Smith" ],
"sumOfAges": 72
}
]
Pro tip: when defining objects, if the desired attribute key and the variable to use for the attribute value are the same, you can use a
shorthand notation:
{ sumOfAges }
instead of
{ sumOfAges: sumOfAges }
.
Finally, let's delete one of the user documents:
REMOVE "9883" IN users
It deletes the user John (
_key: "9883"
). We could also remove documents in a loop (same goes for
INSERT
,
UPDATE
and
REPLACE
):
15
Getting Started
FOR user IN users
FILTER user.age >= 30
REMOVE user IN users
The query deletes all users whose age is greater than or equal to 30.
How to continue
There is a lot more to discover in AQL and much more functionality that ArangoDB offers. Continue reading the other chapters and
experiment with a test database to foster your knowledge.
If you want to write more AQL queries right now, have a look here:
Data Queries: data access and modification queries
High-level operations: detailed descriptions of
FOR
,
FILTER
and more operations not shown in this introduction
Functions: a reference of all provided functions
ArangoDB programs
The ArangoDB package comes with the following programs:
arangod
: The ArangoDB database daemon. This server program is intended to run as a daemon process and to serve the various
clients connection to the server via TCP / HTTP.
arangosh
: The ArangoDB shell. A client that implements a read-eval-print loop (REPL) and provides functions to access and
administrate the ArangoDB server.
arangoimp
: A bulk importer for the ArangoDB server. It supports JSON and CSV.
arangodump
: A tool to create backups of an ArangoDB database in JSON format.
arangorestore
: A tool to load data of a backup back into an ArangoDB database.
arango-dfdb
: A datafile debugger for ArangoDB. It is primarily intended to be used during development of ArangoDB.
arangobench
: A benchmark and test tool. It can be used for performance and server function testing.
16
Installing
Installing
First of all, download and install the corresponding RPM or Debian package or use homebrew on MacOS X. You can find packages for
various operation systems at our install section, including installers for Windows.
How to do that in detail is described in the subchapters of this section.
On how to set up a cluster, checkout the Deployment chapter.
17
Linux
Linux
Visit the official ArangoDB install page and download the correct package for your Linux distribution. You can find binary
packages for the most common distributions there.
Follow the instructions to use your favorite package manager for the major distributions. After setting up the ArangoDB repository
you can easily install ArangoDB using yum, aptitude, urpmi or zypper.
Debian based packages will ask for a password during installation. For an unattended installation for Debian, see below. Red-Hat
based packages will set a random password during installation. For other distributions or to change the password, run
secure-installation
arango-
to set a root password.
Alternatively, see Compiling if you want to build ArangoDB yourself.
Start up the database server.
Normally, this is done by executing the following command:
unix> /etc/init.d/arangod start
It will start the server, and do that as well at system boot time.
To stop the server you can use the following command:
unix> /etc/init.d/arangod stop
The exact commands depend on your Linux distribution. You may require root privileges to execute these commands.
Linux Mint
Please use the corresponding Ubuntu or Debian packages.
Unattended Installation
Debian based package will ask for a password during installation. For unattended installation, you can set the password using the
debconf helpers.
echo arangodb3 arangodb3/password password NEWPASSWORD | debconf-set-selections
echo arangodb3 arangodb3/password_again password NEWPASSWORD | debconf-set-selections
The commands should be executed prior to the installation.
Red-Hat based packages will set a random password during installation. If you want to force a password, execute
ARANGODB_DEFAULT_ROOT_PASSWORD=NEWPASSWORD arango-secure-installation
The command should be executed after the installation.
Non-Standard Installation
If you compiled ArangoDB from source and did not use any installation package – or using non-default locations and/or multiple
ArangoDB instances on the same host – you may want to start the server process manually. You can do so by invoking the arangod
binary from the command line as shown below:
unix> /usr/local/sbin/arangod /tmp/vocbase
20ZZ-XX-YYT12:37:08Z [8145] INFO using built-in JavaScript startup files
20ZZ-XX-YYT12:37:08Z [8145] INFO ArangoDB (version 1.x.y) is ready for business
20ZZ-XX-YYT12:37:08Z [8145] INFO Have Fun!
18
Linux
To stop the database server gracefully, you can either press CTRL-C or by send the SIGINT signal to the server process. On many
systems this can be achieved with the following command:
unix> kill -2 `pidof arangod`
Once you started the server, there should be a running instance of arangod - the ArangoDB database server.
unix> ps auxw | fgrep arangod
arangodb 14536 0.1 0.6 5307264 23464 s002 S 1:21pm 0:00.18 /usr/local/sbin/arangod
If there is no such process, check the log file /var/log/arangodb/arangod.log for errors. If you see a log message like
2012-12-03T11:35:29Z [12882] ERROR Database directory version (1) is lower than server version (1.2).
2012-12-03T11:35:29Z [12882] ERROR It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary. If this is what you wanted to
do, please restart with the --database.auto-upgrade option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2012-12-03T11:35:29Z [12882] FATAL Database version check failed. Please start the server with the --database.auto-up
grade option
make sure to start the server once with the --database.auto-upgrade option.
Note that you may have to enable logging first. If you start the server in a shell, you should see errors logged there as well.
19
Mac OS X
Mac OS X
The preferred method for installing ArangoDB under Mac OS X is homebrew. However, in case you are not using homebrew, we
provide a command-line app or graphical app which contains all the executables.
Homebrew
If you are using homebrew, then you can install the latest released stable version of ArangoDB using brew as follows:
brew install arangodb
This will install the current stable version of ArangoDB and all dependencies within your Homebrew tree. Note that the server will be
installed as:
/usr/local/sbin/arangod
You can start the server by running the command
/usr/local/sbin/arangod &
.
Configuration file is located at
/usr/local/etc/arangodb3/arangod.conf
The ArangoDB shell will be installed as:
/usr/local/bin/arangosh
You can uninstall ArangoDB using:
brew uninstall arangodb
However, in case you started ArangoDB using the launchctl, you need to unload it before uninstalling the server:
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.arangodb.plist
Then remove the LaunchAgent:
rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.arangodb.plist
Note: If the latest ArangoDB Version is not shown in homebrew, you also need to update homebrew:
brew update
Known issues
Performance - the LLVM delivered as of Mac OS X El Capitan builds slow binaries. Use GCC instead, until this issue has been
fixed by Apple.
the Commandline argument parsing doesn't accept blanks in filenames; the CLI version below does.
if you need to change server endpoint while starting homebrew version, you can edit arangod.conf file and uncomment line with
endpoint needed, e.g.:
[server]
endpoint = tcp://0.0.0.0:8529
20
Mac OS X
Graphical App
In case you are not using homebrew, we also provide a graphical app. You can download it from here.
Choose Mac OS X. Download and install the application ArangoDB in your application folder.
Command line App
In case you are not using homebrew, we also provide a command-line app. You can download it from here.
Choose Mac OS X. Download and install the application ArangoDB-CLI in your application folder.
Starting the application will start the server and open a terminal window showing you the log-file.
ArangoDB server has been started
The database directory is located at
'/Applications/ArangoDB-CLI.app/Contents/MacOS/opt/arangodb/var/lib/arangodb'
The log file is located at
'/Applications/ArangoDB-CLI.app/Contents/MacOS/opt/arangodb/var/log/arangodb/arangod.log'
You can access the server using a browser at 'http://127.0.0.1:8529/'
or start the ArangoDB shell
'/Applications/ArangoDB-CLI.app/Contents/MacOS/arangosh'
Switching to log-file now, killing this windows will NOT stop the server.
2013-10-27T19:42:04Z [23840] INFO ArangoDB (version 1.4.devel [darwin]) is ready for business. Have fun!
Note that it is possible to install both, the homebrew version and the command-line app. You should, however, edit the configuration files
of one version and change the port used.
21
Windows
Windows
The default installation directory is C:\Program Files\ArangoDB-3.x.x. During the installation process you may change this. In the
following description we will assume that ArangoDB has been installed in the location .
You have to be careful when choosing an installation directory. You need either write permission to this directory or you need to modify
the config file for the server process. In the latter case the database directory and the Foxx directory have to be writable by the user.
Single User Installation
Select a different directory during installation. For example C:\Users\\ArangoDB or C:\ArangoDB.
Multiple Users Installation
Keep the default directory. After the installation edit the file \etc\ArangoDB\arangod.conf. Adjust the directory and apppath so that these paths point into your home directory.
[database]
directory = @HOMEDRIVE@\@HOMEPATH@\arangodb\databases
[javascript]
app-path = @HOMEDRIVE@\@HOMEPATH@\arangodb\apps
Create the directories for each user that wants to use ArangoDB.
Service Installation
Keep the default directory. After the installation open a command line as administrator (search for cmd and right click run as
administrator).
cmd> arangod --install-service
INFO: adding service 'ArangoDB - the multi-model database' (internal 'ArangoDB')
INFO: added service with command line '"C:\Program Files (x86)\ArangoDB 3.x.x\bin\arangod.exe" --start-service'
Open the service manager and start ArangoDB. In order to enable logging edit the file "\etc\arangodb\arangod.conf" and uncomment the
file option.
[log]
file = @ROOTDIR@\var\log\arangodb\arangod.log
Starting
If you installed ArangoDB as a service it is automatically started.
Otherwise, use the executable arangod.exe located in \bin. This will use the configuration file arangod.conf located in
\etc\arangodb, which you can adjust to your needs and use the data directory \var\lib\arangodb. This is the
place where all your data (databases and collections) will be stored by default.
Please check the output of the arangod.exe executable before going on. If the server started successfully, you should see a line
is ready for business. Have fun!
ArangoDB
at the end of its output.
We now wish to check that the installation is working correctly and to do this we will be using the administration web interface. Execute
arangod.exe if you have not already done so, then open up your web browser and point it to the page:
http://127.0.0.1:8529/
22
Windows
Advanced Starting
If you want to provide our own start scripts, you can set the environment variable ARANGODB_CONFIG_PATH. This variable should
point to a directory containing the configuration files.
Using the Client
To connect to an already running ArangoDB server instance, there is a shell arangosh.exe located in \bin. This starts a shell
which can be used – amongst other things – to administer and query a local or remote ArangoDB server.
Note that arangosh.exe does NOT start a separate server, it only starts the shell. To use it you must have a server running somewhere,
e.g. by using the arangod.exe executable.
arangosh.exe uses configuration from the file arangosh.conf located in \etc\arangodb\. Please adjust this to your needs if
you want to use different connection settings etc.
Uninstalling
To uninstall the Arango server application you can use the windows control panel (as you would normally uninstall an application). Note
however, that any data files created by the Arango server will remain as well as the directory. To complete the
uninstallation process, remove the data files and the directory manually.
Limitations for Cygwin
Please note some important limitations when running ArangoDB under Cygwin: Starting ArangoDB can be started from out of a Cygwin
terminal, but pressing CTRL-C will forcefully kill the server process without giving it a chance to handle the kill signal. In this case, a
regular server shutdown is not possible, which may leave a file LOCK around in the server's data directory. This file needs to be removed
manually to make ArangoDB start again. Additionally, as ArangoDB does not have a chance to handle the kill signal, the server cannot
forcefully flush any data to disk on shutdown, leading to potential data loss. When starting ArangoDB from a Cygwin terminal it might
also happen that no errors are printed in the terminal output. Starting ArangoDB from an MS-DOS command prompt does not impose
these limitations and is thus the preferred method.
Please note that ArangoDB uses UTF-8 as its internal encoding and that the system console must support a UTF-8 codepage (65001) and
font. It may be necessary to manually switch the console font to a font that supports UTF-8.
23
Compiling
Compiling ArangoDB from scratch
The following sections describe how to compile and build the ArangoDB from scratch. ArangoDB will compile on most Linux and Mac
OS X systems. We assume that you use the GNU C/C++ compiler or clang/clang++ to compile the source. ArangoDB has been tested
with these compilers, but should be able to compile with any Posix-compliant, C++11-enabled compiler. Please let us know whether you
successfully compiled it with another C/C++ compiler.
By default, cloning the github repository will checkout devel. This version contains the development version of the ArangoDB. Use this
branch if you want to make changes to the ArangoDB source.
Please checkout the cookbook on how to compile ArangoDB.
24
Authentication
Authentication
ArangoDB allows to restrict access to databases to certain users. All users of the system database are considered administrators. During
installation a default user root is created, which has access to all databases.
You should create a database for your application together with a user that has access rights to this database. See Managing Users.
Use the arangosh to create a new database and user.
arangosh> db._createDatabase("example");
arangosh> var users = require("@arangodb/users");
arangosh> users.save("root@example", "password");
arangosh> users.grantDatabase("root@example", "example");
You can now connect to the new database using the user root@example.
shell> arangosh --server.username "root@example" --server.database example
25
Accessing the Web Interface
Accessing the Web Interface
ArangoDB comes with a built-in web interface for administration. The web interface can be accessed via the URL:
http://127.0.0.1:8529
If everything works as expected, you should see the login view:
For more information on the ArangoDB web interface, see Web Interface
26
Coming from SQL
Coming from SQL
If you worked with a relational database management system (RDBMS) such as MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL, you will be familiar
with its query language, a dialect of SQL (Structured Query Language).
ArangoDB's query language is called AQL. There are some similarities between both languages despite the different data models of the
database systems. The most notable difference is probably the concept of loops in AQL, which makes it feel more like a programming
language. It suites the schema-less model more natural and makes the query language very powerful while remaining easy to read and
write.
To get started with AQL, have a look at our detailed comparison of SQL and AQL. It will also help you to translate SQL queries to AQL
when migrating to ArangoDB.
How do browse vectors translate into document queries?
In traditional SQL you may either fetch all columns of a table row by row, using
SELECT * FROM table
, or select a subset of the
columns. The list of table columns to fetch is commonly called column list or browse vector:
SELECT columnA, columnB, columnZ FROM table
Since documents aren't two-dimensional, and neither do you want to be limited to returning two-dimensional lists, the requirements for a
query language are higher. AQL is thus a little bit more complex than plain SQL at first, but offers much more flexibility in the long run.
It lets you handle arbitrarily structured documents in convenient ways, mostly leaned on the syntax used in JavaScript.
Composing the documents to be returned
The AQL
RETURN
statement returns one item per document it is handed. You can return the whole document, or just parts of it. Given
that oneDocument is a document (retrieved like
LET oneDocument = DOCUMENT("myusers/3456789")
for instance), it can be returned as-
is like this:
RETURN oneDocument
[
{
"_id": "myusers/3456789",
"_key": "3456789"
"_rev": "14253647",
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Doe",
"address": {
"city": "Gotham",
"street": "Road To Nowhere 1"
},
"hobbies": [
{ name: "swimming", howFavorite: 10 },
{ name: "biking", howFavorite: 6 },
{ name: "programming", howFavorite: 4 }
]
}
]
Return the hobbies sub-structure only:
RETURN oneDocument.hobbies
27
Coming from SQL
[
[
{ name: "swimming", howFavorite: 10 },
{ name: "biking", howFavorite: 6 },
{ name: "programming", howFavorite: 4 }
]
]
Return the hobbies and the address:
RETURN {
hobbies: oneDocument.hobbies,
address: oneDocument.address
}
[
{
hobbies: [
{ name: "swimming", howFavorite: 10 },
{ name: "biking", howFavorite: 6 },
{ name: "programming", howFavorite: 4 }
],
address: {
"city": "Gotham",
"street": "Road To Nowhere 1"
}
}
]
Return the first hobby only:
RETURN oneDocument.hobbies[0].name
[
"swimming"
]
Return a list of all hobby strings:
RETURN { hobbies: oneDocument.hobbies[*].name }
[
{ hobbies: ["swimming", "biking", "porgramming"] }
]
More complex array and object manipulations can be done using AQL functions and operators.
28
Scalability
Scalability
ArangoDB is a distributed database supporting multiple data models, and can thus be scaled horizontally, that is, by using many servers,
typically based on commodity hardware. This approach not only delivers performance as well as capacity improvements, but also
achieves resilience by means of replication and automatic fail-over. Furthermore, one can build systems that scale their capacity
dynamically up and down automatically according to demand.
One can also scale ArangoDB vertically, that is, by using ever larger servers. There is no built in limitation in ArangoDB, for example,
the server will automatically use more threads if more CPUs are present.
However, scaling vertically has the disadvantage that the costs grow faster than linear with the size of the server, and none of the
resilience and dynamical capabilities can be achieved in this way.
In this chapter we explain the distributed architecture of ArangoDB and discuss its scalability features and limitations:
ArangoDB's distributed architecture
Different data models and scalability
Limitations
29
Architecture
Architecture
The cluster architecture of ArangoDB is a CP master/master model with no single point of failure. With "CP" we mean that in the
presence of a network partition, the database prefers internal consistency over availability. With "master/master" we mean that clients can
send their requests to an arbitrary node, and experience the same view on the database regardless. "No single point of failure" means that
the cluster can continue to serve requests, even if one machine fails completely.
In this way, ArangoDB has been designed as a distributed multi-model database. This section gives a short outline on the cluster
architecture and how the above features and capabilities are achieved.
Structure of an ArangoDB cluster
An ArangoDB cluster consists of a number of ArangoDB instances which talk to each other over the network. They play different roles,
which will be explained in detail below. The current configuration of the cluster is held in the "Agency", which is a highly-available
resilient key/value store based on an odd number of ArangoDB instances running Raft Consensus Protocol.
For the various instances in an ArangoDB cluster there are 4 distinct roles: Agents, Coordinators, Primary and Secondary DBservers. In
the following sections we will shed light on each of them. Note that the tasks for all roles run the same binary from the same Docker
image.
Agents
One or multiple Agents form the Agency in an ArangoDB cluster. The Agency is the central place to store the configuration in a cluster.
It performs leader elections and provides other synchronization services for the whole cluster. Without the Agency none of the other
components can operate.
While generally invisible to the outside it is the heart of the cluster. As such, fault tolerance is of course a must have for the Agency. To
achieve that the Agents are using the Raft Consensus Algorithm. The algorithm formally guarantees conflict free configuration
management within the ArangoDB cluster.
At its core the Agency manages a big configuration tree. It supports transactional read and write operations on this tree, and other servers
can subscribe to HTTP callbacks for all changes to the tree.
Coordinators
Coordinators should be accessible from the outside. These are the ones the clients talk to. They will coordinate cluster tasks like
executing queries and running Foxx services. They know where the data is stored and will optimize where to run user supplied queries or
parts thereof. Coordinators are stateless and can thus easily be shut down and restarted as needed.
Primary DBservers
Primary DBservers are the ones where the data is actually hosted. They host shards of data and using synchronous replication a primary
may either be leader or follower for a shard.
They should not be accessed from the outside but indirectly through the coordinators. They may also execute queries in part or as a
whole when asked by a coordinator.
Secondaries
Secondary DBservers are asynchronous replicas of primaries. If one is using only synchronous replication, one does not need secondaries
at all. For each primary, there can be one or more secondaries. Since the replication works asynchronously (eventual consistency), the
replication does not impede the performance of the primaries. On the other hand, their replica of the data can be slightly out of date. The
secondaries are perfectly suitable for backups as they don't interfere with the normal cluster operation.
Cluster ID
Every non-Agency ArangoDB instance in a cluster is assigned a unique ID during its startup. Using its ID a node is identifiable
throughout the cluster. All cluster operations will communicate via this ID.
30
Architecture
Sharding
Using the roles outlined above an ArangoDB cluster is able to distribute data in so called shards across multiple primaries. From the
outside this process is fully transparent and as such we achieve the goals of what other systems call "master-master replication". In an
ArangoDB cluster you talk to any coordinator and whenever you read or write data it will automatically figure out where the data is
stored (read) or to be stored (write). The information about the shards is shared across the coordinators using the Agency.
Also see Sharding in the Administration chapter.
Many sensible configurations
This architecture is very flexible and thus allows many configurations, which are suitable for different usage scenarios:
1. The default configuration is to run exactly one coordinator and one primary DBserver on each machine. This achieves the classical
master/master setup, since there is a perfect symmetry between the different nodes, clients can equally well talk to any one of the
coordinators and all expose the same view to the data store.
2. One can deploy more coordinators than DBservers. This is a sensible approach if one needs a lot of CPU power for the Foxx
services, because they run on the coordinators.
3. One can deploy more DBservers than coordinators if more data capacity is needed and the query performance is the lesser
bottleneck
4. One can deploy a coordinator on each machine where an application server (e.g. a node.js server) runs, and the Agents and
DBservers on a separate set of machines elsewhere. This avoids a network hop between the application server and the database and
thus decreases latency. Essentially, this moves some of the database distribution logic to the machine where the client runs.
These for shall suffice for now. The important piece of information here is that the coordinator layer can be scaled and deployed
independently from the DBserver layer.
Replication
ArangoDB offers two ways of data replication within a cluster, synchronous and asynchronous. In this section we explain some details
and highlight the advantages and disadvantages respectively.
Synchronous replication with automatic fail-over
Synchronous replication works on a per-shard basis. One configures for each collection, how many copies of each shard are kept in the
cluster. At any given time, one of the copies is declared to be the "leader" and all other replicas are "followers". Write operations for this
shard are always sent to the DBserver which happens to hold the leader copy, which in turn replicates the changes to all followers before
the operation is considered to be done and reported back to the coordinator. Read operations are all served by the server holding the
leader copy, this allows to provide snapshot semantics for complex transactions.
If a DBserver fails that holds a follower copy of a shard, then the leader can no longer synchronize its changes to that follower. After a
short timeout (3 seconds), the leader gives up on the follower, declares it to be out of sync, and continues service without the follower.
When the server with the follower copy comes back, it automatically resynchronizes its data with the leader and synchronous replication
is restored.
If a DBserver fails that holds a leader copy of a shard, then the leader can no longer serve any requests. It will no longer send a heartbeat
to the Agency. Therefore, a supervision process running in the Raft leader of the Agency, can take the necessary action (after 15 seconds
of missing heartbeats), namely to promote one of the servers that hold in-sync replicas of the shard to leader for that shard. This involves
a reconfiguration in the Agency and leads to the fact that coordinators now contact a different DBserver for requests to this shard.
Service resumes. The other surviving replicas automatically resynchronize their data with the new leader. When the DBserver with the
original leader copy comes back, it notices that it now holds a follower replica, resynchronizes its data with the new leader and order is
restored.
All shard data synchronizations are done in an incremental way, such that resynchronizations are quick. This technology allows to move
shards (follower and leader ones) between DBservers without service interruptions. Therefore, an ArangoDB cluster can move all the
data on a specific DBserver to other DBservers and then shut down that server in a controlled way. This allows to scale down an
ArangoDB cluster without service interruption, loss of fault tolerance or data loss. Furthermore, one can re-balance the distribution of the
shards, either manually or automatically.
31
Architecture
All these operations can be triggered via a REST/JSON API or via the graphical web UI. All fail-over operations are completely handled
within the ArangoDB cluster.
Obviously, synchronous replication involves a certain increased latency for write operations, simply because there is one more network
hop within the cluster for every request. Therefore the user can set the replication factor to 1, which means that only one copy of each
shard is kept, thereby switching off synchronous replication. This is a suitable setting for less important or easily recoverable data for
which low latency write operations matter.
Asynchronous replication with automatic fail-over
Asynchronous replication works differently, in that it is organized using primary and secondary DBservers. Each secondary server
replicates all the data held on a primary by polling in an asynchronous way. This process has very little impact on the performance of the
primary. The disadvantage is that there is a delay between the confirmation of a write operation that is sent to the client and the actual
replication of the data. If the master server fails during this delay, then committed and confirmed data can be lost.
Nevertheless, we also offer automatic fail-over with this setup. Contrary to the synchronous case, here the fail-over management is done
from outside the ArangoDB cluster. In a future version we might move this management into the supervision process in the Agency, but
as of now, the management is done via the Mesos framework scheduler for ArangoDB (see below).
The granularity of the replication is a whole ArangoDB instance with all data that resides on that instance, which means that you need
twice as many instances as without asynchronous replication. Synchronous replication is more flexible in that respect, you can have
smaller and larger instances, and if one fails, the data can be rebalanced across the remaining ones.
Microservices and zero administation
The design and capabilities of ArangoDB are geared towards usage in modern microservice architectures of applications. With the Foxx
services it is very easy to deploy a data centric microservice within an ArangoDB cluster.
In addition, one can deploy multiple instances of ArangoDB within the same project. One part of the project might need a scalable
document store, another might need a graph database, and yet another might need the full power of a multi-model database actually
mixing the various data models. There are enormous efficiency benefits to be reaped by being able to use a single technology for various
roles in a project.
To simplify live of the devops in such a scenario we try as much as possible to use a zero administration approach for ArangoDB. A
running ArangoDB cluster is resilient against failures and essentially repairs itself in case of temporary failures. See the next section for
further capabilities in this direction.
Apache Mesos integration
For the distributed setup, we use the Apache Mesos infrastructure by default. ArangoDB is a fully certified package for DC/OS and can
thus be deployed essentially with a few mouse clicks or a single command, once you have an existing DC/OS cluster. But even on a plain
Apache Mesos cluster one can deploy ArangoDB via Marathon with a single API call and some JSON configuration.
The advantage of this approach is that we can not only implement the initial deployment, but also the later management of automatic
replacement of failed instances and the scaling of the ArangoDB cluster (triggered manually or even automatically). Since all
manipulations are either via the graphical web UI or via JSON/REST calls, one can even implement auto-scaling very easily.
A DC/OS cluster is a very natural environment to deploy microservice architectures, since it is so convenient to deploy various services,
including potentially multiple ArangoDB cluster instances within the same DC/OS cluster. The built-in service discovery makes it
extremely simple to connect the various microservices and Mesos automatically takes care of the distribution and deployment of the
various tasks.
As of June 2016, we offer Apache Mesos integration, later there will be integration with other cluster management infrastructures. See
the Deployment chapter and its subsections for instructions.
It is possible to deploy an ArangoDB cluster by simply launching a bunch of Docker containers with the right command line options to
link them up, or even on a single machine starting multiple ArangoDB processes. In that case, synchronous replication will work within
the deployed ArangoDB cluster, and automatic fail-over in the sense that the duties of a failed server will automatically be assigned to
another, surviving one. However, since the ArangoDB cluster cannot within itself launch additional instances, replacement of failed
nodes is not automatic and scaling up and down has to be managed manually. This is why we do not recommend this setup for
production deployment.
32
Architecture
Authentication
As of version 3.0 ArangoDB authentication is NOT supported within a cluster. You HAVE to properly secure your cluster to the outside.
Most setups will have a secured data center anyway and ArangoDB will be accessed from the outside via an application. To this
application only the coordinators need to be made available. If you want to isolate even further you can install a reverse proxy like
haproxy or nginx in front of the coordinators (that will also allow easy access from the application).
Authentication in the cluster will be added soon after the initial 3.0 release.
33
Data models
Different data models and scalability
In this section we discuss scalability in the context of the different data models supported by ArangoDB.
Key/value pairs
The key/value store data model is the easiest to scale. In ArangoDB, this is implemented in the sense that a document collection always
has a primary key
_key
attribute and in the absence of further secondary indexes the document collection behaves like a simple
key/value store.
The only operations that are possible in this context are single key lookups and key/value pair insertions and updates. If
_key
is the
only sharding attribute then the sharding is done with respect to the primary key and all these operations scale linearly. If the sharding is
done using different shard keys, then a lookup of a single key involves asking all shards and thus does not scale linearly.
Document store
For the document store case even in the presence of secondary indexes essentially the same arguments apply, since an index for a sharded
collection is simply the same as a local index for each shard. Therefore, single document operations still scale linearly with the size of the
cluster, unless a special sharding configuration makes lookups or write operations more expensive.
For a deeper analysis of this topic see this blog post in which good linear scalability of ArangoDB for single document operations is
demonstrated.
Complex queries and joins
The AQL query language allows complex queries, using multiple collections, secondary indexes as well as joins. In particular with the
latter, scaling can be a challenge, since if the data to be joined resides on different machines, a lot of communication has to happen. The
AQL query execution engine organizes a data pipeline across the cluster to put together the results in the most efficient way. The query
optimizer is aware of the cluster structure and knows what data is where and how it is indexed. Therefore, it can arrive at an informed
decision about what parts of the query ought to run where in the cluster.
Nevertheless, for certain complicated joins, there are limits as to what can be achieved.
Graph database
Graph databases are particularly good at queries on graphs that involve paths in the graph of an a priori unknown length. For example,
finding the shortest path between two vertices in a graph, or finding all paths that match a certain pattern starting at a given vertex are
such examples.
However, if the vertices and edges along the occurring paths are distributed across the cluster, then a lot of communication is necessary
between nodes, and performance suffers. To achieve good performance at scale, it is therefore necessary to get the distribution of the
graph data across the shards in the cluster right. Most of the time, the application developers and users of ArangoDB know best, how
their graphs ara structured. Therefore, ArangoDB allows users to specify, according to which attributes the graph data is sharded. A
useful first step is usually to make sure that the edges originating at a vertex reside on the same cluster node as the vertex.
34
Limitations
Limitations
ArangoDB has no built-in limitations to horizontal scalability. The central resilient Agency will easily sustain hundreds of DBservers and
coordinators, and the usual database operations work completely decentrally and do not require assistance of the Agency.
Likewise, the supervision process in the Agency can easily deal with lots of servers, since all its activities are not performance critical.
Obviously, an ArangoDB cluster is limited by the available resources of CPU, memory, disk and network bandwidth and latency.
35
Data models & modeling
Data models & modeling
This chapter introduces ArangoDB's core concepts and covers
its data model (or data models respectively),
the terminology used throughout the database system and in this documentation, as well as
aspects to consider when modeling your data to strike a balance between natural data structures and great performance
You will also find usage examples on how to interact with the database system using arangosh, e.g. how to create and drop databases /
collections, or how to save, update, replace and remove documents. You can do all this using the web interface as well and may therefore
skip these sections as beginner.
36
Concepts
Concepts
Database Interaction
ArangoDB is a database that serves documents to clients. These documents are transported using JSON via a TCP connection, using the
HTTP protocol. A REST API is provided to interact with the database system.
The web interface that comes with ArangoDB, called Aardvark, provides graphical user interface that is easy to use. An interactive shell,
called Arangosh, is also shipped. In addition, there are so called drivers that make it easy to use the database system in various
environments and programming languages. All these tools use the HTTP interface of the server and remove the necessity to roll own
low-level code for basic communication in most cases.
Data model
The documents you can store in ArangoDB closely follow the JSON format, although they are stored in a binary format called
VelocyPack. A document contains zero or more attributes, each of these attributes having a value. A value can either be an atomic type,
i. e. number, string, boolean or null, or a compound type, i.e. an array or embedded document / object. Arrays and sub-objects can
contain all of these types, which means that arbitrarily nested data structures can be represented in a single document.
Documents are grouped into collections. A collection contains zero or more documents. If you are familiar with relational database
management systems (RDBMS) then it is safe to compare collections to tables and documents to rows. The difference is that in a
traditional RDBMS, you have to define columns before you can store records in a table. Such definitions are also known as schemas.
ArangoDB is schema-less, which means that there is no need to define what attributes a document can have. Every single document can
have a completely different structure and still be stored together with other documents in a single collection. In practice, there will be
common denominators among the documents in a collection, but the database system itself doesn't force you to limit yourself to a certain
data structure.
There are two types of collections: document collection (also refered to as vertex collections in the context of graphs) as well as edge
collections. Edge collections store documents as well, but they include two special attributes, _from and _to, which are used to create
relations between documents. Usually, two documents (vertices) stored in document collections are linked by a document (edge) stored
in an edge collection. This is ArangoDB's graph data model. It follows the mathematical concept of a directed, labeled graph, except that
edges don't just have labels, but are full-blown documents.
Collections exist inside of databases. There can be one or many databases. Different databases are usually used for multi tenant setups,
as the data inside them (collections, documents etc.) is isolated from one another. The default database _system is special, because it
cannot be removed. Database users are managed in this database, and their credentials are valid for all databases of a server instance.
Data Retrieval
Queries are used to filter documents based on certain criteria, to compute new data, as well as to manipulate or delete existing
documents. Queries can be as simple as a "query by example" or as complex as "joins" using many collections or traversing graph
structures. They are written in the ArangoDB Query Language (AQL).
Cursors are used to iterate over the result of queries, so that you get easily processable batches instead of one big hunk.
Indexes are used to speed up searches. There are various types of indexes, such as hash indexes and geo indexes.
37
Databases
Handling Databases
This is an introduction to managing databases in ArangoDB from within JavaScript.
When you have an established connection to ArangoDB, the current database can be changed explicitly using the db._useDatabase()
method. This will switch to the specified database (provided it exists and the user can connect to it). From this point on, any following
action in the same shell or connection will use the specified database, unless otherwise specified.
Note: If the database is changed, client drivers need to store the current database name on their side, too. This is because connections in
ArangoDB do not contain any state information. All state information is contained in the HTTP request/response data.
To connect to a specific database after arangosh has started use the command described above. It is also possible to specify a database
name when invoking arangosh. For this purpose, use the command-line parameter --server.database, e.g.
> arangosh --server.database test
Please note that commands, actions, scripts or AQL queries should never access multiple databases, even if they exist. The only intended
and supported way in ArangoDB is to use one database at a time for a command, an action, a script or a query. Operations started in one
database must not switch the database later and continue operating in another.
38
Working with Databases
Working with Databases
Database Methods
The following methods are available to manage databases via JavaScript. Please note that several of these methods can be used from the
_system database only.
Name
return the database name
db._name()
Returns the name of the current database as a string.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb").db._name();
_system
ID
return the database id
db._id()
Returns the id of the current database as a string.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb").db._id();
1
Path
return the path to database files
db._path()
Returns the filesystem path of the current database as a string.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb").db._path();
/tmp/arangosh_jJsRek/tmp-15313-2196240742/data/databases/database-1
isSystem
return the database type
db._isSystem()
Returns whether the currently used database is the _system database. The system database has some special privileges and properties, for
example, database management operations such as create or drop can only be executed from within this database. Additionally, the
_system database itself cannot be dropped.
Use Database
change the current database
db._useDatabase(name)
Changes the current database to the database specified by name. Note that the database specified by name must already exist.
Changing the database might be disallowed in some contexts, for example server-side actions (including Foxx).
39
Working with Databases
When performing this command from arangosh, the current credentials (username and password) will be re-used. These credentials
might not be valid to connect to the database specified by name. Additionally, the database only be accessed from certain endpoints only.
In this case, switching the database might not work, and the connection / session should be closed and restarted with different username
and password credentials and/or endpoint data.
List Databases
return the list of all existing databases
db._databases()
Returns the list of all databases. This method can only be used from within the _system database.
Create Database
create a new database
db._createDatabase(name, options, users)
Creates a new database with the name specified by name. There are restrictions for database names (see DatabaseNames).
Note that even if the database is created successfully, there will be no change into the current database to the new database. Changing the
current database must explicitly be requested by using the db._useDatabase method.
The options attribute currently has no meaning and is reserved for future use.
The optional users attribute can be used to create initial users for the new database. If specified, it must be a list of user objects. Each
user object can contain the following attributes:
username: the user name as a string. This attribute is mandatory.
passwd: the user password as a string. If not specified, then it defaults to an empty string.
active: a boolean flag indicating whether the user account should be active or not. The default value is true.
extra: an optional JSON object with extra user information. The data contained in extra will be stored for the user but not be
interpreted further by ArangoDB.
If no initial users are specified, a default user root will be created with an empty string password. This ensures that the new database will
be accessible via HTTP after it is created.
You can create users in a database if no initial user is specified. Switch into the new database (username and password must be identical
to the current session) and add or modify users with the following commands.
require("@arangodb/users").save(username, password, true);
require("@arangodb/users").update(username, password, true);
require("@arangodb/users").remove(username);
Alternatively, you can specify user data directly. For example:
db._createDatabase("newDB", [], [{ username: "newUser", passwd: "123456", active: true}])
Those methods can only be used from within the _system database.
Drop Database
drop an existing database
db._dropDatabase(name)
Drops the database specified by name. The database specified by name must exist.
Note: Dropping databases is only possible from within the _system database. The _system database itself cannot be dropped.
Databases are dropped asynchronously, and will be physically removed if all clients have disconnected and references have been
garbage-collected.
40
Notes about Databases
Notes about Databases
Please keep in mind that each database contains its own system collections, which need to be set up when a database is created. This will
make the creation of a database take a while.
Replication is configured on a per-database level, meaning that any replication logging or applying for a new database must be
configured explicitly after a new database has been created.
Foxx applications are also available only in the context of the database they have been installed in. A new database will only provide
access to the system applications shipped with ArangoDB (that is the web interface at the moment) and no other Foxx applications until
they are explicitly installed for the particular database.
41
Collections
JavaScript Interface to Collections
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's interface for collections and how to handle collections from the JavaScript shell arangosh. For
other languages see the corresponding language API.
The most important call is the call to create a new collection.
Address of a Collection
All collections in ArangoDB have a unique identifier and a unique name. ArangoDB internally uses the collection's unique identifier to
look up collections. This identifier, however, is managed by ArangoDB and the user has no control over it. In order to allow users to use
their own names, each collection also has a unique name which is specified by the user. To access a collection from the user perspective,
the collection name should be used, i.e.:
Collection
db._collection(collection-name)
A collection is created by a "db._create" call.
For example: Assume that the collection identifier is 7254820 and the name is demo, then the collection can be accessed as:
db._collection("demo")
If no collection with such a name exists, then null is returned.
There is a short-cut that can be used for non-system collections:
Collection name
db.collection-name
This call will either return the collection named db.collection-name or create a new one with that name and a set of default properties.
Note: Creating a collection on the fly using db.collection-name is not recommend and does not work in arangosh. To create a new
collection, please use
Create
db._create(collection-name)
This call will create a new collection called collection-name. This method is a database method and is documented in detail at Database
Methods
Synchronous replication
Starting in ArangoDB 3.0, the distributed version offers synchronous replication, which means that there is the option to replicate all data
automatically within the ArangoDB cluster. This is configured for sharded collections on a per collection basis by specifying a
"replication factor" when the collection is created. A replication factor of k means that altogether k copies of each shard are kept in the
cluster on k different servers, and are kept in sync. That is, every write operation is automatically replicated on all copies.
This is organised using a leader/follower model. At all times, one of the servers holding replicas for a shard is "the leader" and all others
are "followers", this configuration is held in the Agency (see Scalability for details of the ArangoDB cluster architecture). Every write
operation is sent to the leader by one of the coordinators, and then replicated to all followers before the operation is reported to have
succeeded. The leader keeps a record of which followers are currently in sync. In case of network problems or a failure of a follower, a
leader can and will drop a follower temporarily after 3 seconds, such that service can resume. In due course, the follower will
automatically resynchronize with the leader to restore resilience.
42
Collections
If a leader fails, the cluster Agency automatically initiates a failover routine after around 15 seconds, promoting one of the followers to
leader. The other followers (and the former leader, when it comes back), automatically resynchronize with the new leader to restore
resilience. Usually, this whole failover procedure can be handled transparently for the coordinator, such that the user code does not even
see an error message.
Obviously, this fault tolerance comes at a cost of increased latency. Each write operation needs an additional network roundtrip for the
synchronous replication of the followers, but all replication operations to all followers happen concurrently. This is, why the default
replication factor is 1, which means no replication.
For details on how to switch on synchronous replication for a collection, see the database method
db._create(collection-name)
in the
section about Database Methods.
43
Collection Methods
Collection Methods
Drop
drops a collection
collection.drop(options)
Drops a collection and all its indexes and data. In order to drop a system collection, an options object with attribute isSystem set to true
must be specified.
Examples
arangosh> col = db.example;
[ArangoCollection 14635, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> col.drop();
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 14635, "example" (type document, status deleted)]
arangosh> col = db._example;
[ArangoCollection 14638, "_example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> col.drop({ isSystem: true });
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 14638, "_example" (type document, status deleted)]
Truncate
truncates a collection
collection.truncate()
Truncates a collection, removing all documents but keeping all its indexes.
Examples
Truncates a collection:
arangosh> col = db.example;
arangosh> col.save({ "Hello" : "World" });
arangosh> col.count();
arangosh> col.truncate();
arangosh> col.count();
show execution results
Properties
gets or sets the properties of a collection
collection.properties()
Returns an object containing all collection properties.
waitForSync: If true creating a document will only return after the data was synced to disk.
journalSize : The size of the journal in bytes.
isVolatile: If true then the collection data will be kept in memory only and ArangoDB will not write or sync the data to disk.
keyOptions (optional) additional options for key generation. This is a JSON array containing the following attributes (note: some of
the attributes are optional):
type: the type of the key generator used for the collection.
allowUserKeys: if set to true, then it is allowed to supply own key values in the _key attribute of a document. If set to false,
then the key generator will solely be responsible for generating keys and supplying own key values in the _key attribute of
documents is considered an error.
increment: increment value for autoincrement key generator. Not used for other key generator types.
offset: initial offset value for autoincrement key generator. Not used for other key generator types.
44
Collection Methods
indexBuckets: number of buckets into which indexes using a hash table are split. The default is 16 and this number has to be a
power of 2 and less than or equal to 1024. For very large collections one should increase this to avoid long pauses when the hash
table has to be initially built or resized, since buckets are resized individually and can be initially built in parallel. For example, 64
might be a sensible value for a collection with 100 000 000 documents. Currently, only the edge index respects this value, but other
index types might follow in future ArangoDB versions. Changes (see below) are applied when the collection is loaded the next time.
In a cluster setup, the result will also contain the following attributes:
numberOfShards: the number of shards of the collection.
shardKeys: contains the names of document attributes that are used to determine the target shard for documents.
collection.properties(properties)
Changes the collection properties. properties must be a object with one or more of the
following attribute(s):
waitForSync: If true creating a document will only return after the data was synced to disk.
journalSize : The size of the journal in bytes.
indexBuckets : See above, changes are only applied when the collection is loaded the next time. Note: it is not possible to change the
journal size after the journal or datafile has been created. Changing this parameter will only effect newly created journals. Also note
that you cannot lower the journal size to less then size of the largest document already stored in the collection. Note: some other
collection properties, such as type, isVolatile, or keyOptions cannot be changed once the collection is created.
Examples
Read all properties
arangosh> db.example.properties();
show execution results
Change a property
arangosh> db.example.properties({ waitForSync : true });
show execution results
Figures
returns the figures of a collection
collection.figures()
Returns an object containing statistics about the collection. Note : Retrieving the figures will always load the collection into memory.
alive.count: The number of currently active documents in all datafiles and journals of the collection. Documents that are contained
in the write-ahead log only are not reported in this figure.
alive.size: The total size in bytes used by all active documents of the collection. Documents that are contained in the write-ahead log
only are not reported in this figure.
dead.count: The number of dead documents. This includes document versions that have been deleted or replaced by a newer
version. Documents deleted or replaced that are contained in the write-ahead log only are not reported in this figure.
dead.size: The total size in bytes used by all dead documents.
dead.deletion: The total number of deletion markers. Deletion markers only contained in the write-ahead log are not reporting in
this figure.
datafiles.count: The number of datafiles.
datafiles.fileSize: The total filesize of datafiles (in bytes).
journals.count: The number of journal files.
journals.fileSize: The total filesize of the journal files (in bytes).
compactors.count: The number of compactor files.
compactors.fileSize: The total filesize of the compactor files (in bytes).
shapefiles.count: The number of shape files. This value is deprecated and kept for compatibility reasons only. The value will always
be 0 since ArangoDB 2.0 and higher.
shapefiles.fileSize: The total filesize of the shape files. This value is deprecated and kept for compatibility reasons only. The value
will always be 0 in ArangoDB 2.0 and higher.
shapes.count: The total number of shapes used in the collection. This includes shapes that are not in use anymore. Shapes that are
contained in the write-ahead log only are not reported in this figure.
45
Collection Methods
shapes.size: The total size of all shapes (in bytes). This includes shapes that are not in use anymore. Shapes that are contained in the
write-ahead log only are not reported in this figure.
attributes.count: The total number of attributes used in the collection. Note: the value includes data of attributes that are not in use
anymore. Attributes that are contained in the write-ahead log only are not reported in this figure.
attributes.size: The total size of the attribute data (in bytes). Note: the value includes data of attributes that are not in use anymore.
Attributes that are contained in the write-ahead log only are not reported in this figure.
indexes.count: The total number of indexes defined for the collection, including the pre-defined indexes (e.g. primary index).
indexes.size: The total memory allocated for indexes in bytes.
lastTick: The tick of the last marker that was stored in a journal of the collection. This might be 0 if the collection does not yet have
a journal.
uncollectedLogfileEntries: The number of markers in the write-ahead log for this collection that have not been transferred to
journals or datafiles.
documentReferences: The number of references to documents in datafiles that JavaScript code currently holds. This information can
be used for debugging compaction and unload issues.
waitingFor: An optional string value that contains information about which object type is at the head of the collection's cleanup
queue. This information can be used for debugging compaction and unload issues.
compactionStatus.time: The point in time the compaction for the collection was last executed. This information can be used for
debugging compaction issues.
compactionStatus.message: The action that was performed when the compaction was last run for the collection. This information
can be used for debugging compaction issues.
Note: collection data that are stored in the write-ahead log only are not reported in the results. When the write-ahead log is collected,
documents might be added to journals and datafiles of the collection, which may modify the figures of the collection. Also note that
waitingFor
and
compactionStatus
may be empty when called on a coordinator in a cluster.
Additionally, the filesizes of collection and index parameter JSON files are not reported. These files should normally have a size of a few
bytes each. Please also note that the fileSize values are reported in bytes and reflect the logical file sizes. Some filesystems may use
optimisations (e.g. sparse files) so that the actual physical file size is somewhat different. Directories and sub-directories may also require
space in the file system, but this space is not reported in the fileSize results.
That means that the figures reported do not reflect the actual disk usage of the collection with 100% accuracy. The actual disk usage of a
collection is normally slightly higher than the sum of the reported fileSize values. Still the sum of the fileSize values can still be used as a
lower bound approximation of the disk usage.
Examples
arangosh> db.demo.figures()
show execution results
Load
loads a collection
collection.load()
Loads a collection into memory.
Examples
arangosh> col = db.example;
[ArangoCollection 14724, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> col.load();
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 14724, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
Revision
returns the revision id of a collection
collection.revision()
Returns the revision id of the collection
46
Collection Methods
The revision id is updated when the document data is modified, either by inserting, deleting, updating or replacing documents in it.
The revision id of a collection can be used by clients to check whether data in a collection has changed or if it is still unmodified since a
previous fetch of the revision id.
The revision id returned is a string value. Clients should treat this value as an opaque string, and only use it for equality/non-equality
comparisons.
Checksum
calculates a checksum for the data in a collection
collection.checksum(withRevisions, withData)
The checksum operation calculates an aggregate hash value for all document keys contained in collection collection.
If the optional argument withRevisions is set to true, then the revision ids of the documents are also included in the hash calculation.
If the optional argument withData is set to true, then all user-defined document attributes are also checksummed. Including the document
data in checksumming will make the calculation slower, but is more accurate.
The checksum calculation algorithm changed in ArangoDB 3.0, so checksums from 3.0 and earlier versions for the same data will differ.
Note: this method is not available in a cluster.
Unload
unloads a collection
collection.unload()
Starts unloading a collection from memory. Note that unloading is deferred until all query have finished.
Examples
arangosh> col = db.example;
[ArangoCollection 7363, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> col.unload();
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 7363, "example" (type document, status unloaded)]
Rename
renames a collection
collection.rename(new-name)
Renames a collection using the new-name. The new-name must not already be used for a different collection. new-name must also be a
valid collection name. For more information on valid collection names please refer to the naming conventions.
If renaming fails for any reason, an error is thrown. If renaming the collection succeeds, then the collection is also renamed in all graph
definitions inside the
_graphs
collection in the current database.
Note: this method is not available in a cluster.
Examples
arangosh> c = db.example;
[ArangoCollection 14802, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> c.rename("better-example");
arangosh> c;
[ArangoCollection 14802, "better-example" (type document, status loaded)]
Rotate
rotates the current journal of a collection
collection.rotate()
47
Collection Methods
Rotates the current journal of a collection. This operation makes the current journal of the collection a read-only datafile so it may
become a candidate for garbage collection. If there is currently no journal available for the collection, the operation will fail with an
error.
Note: this method is not available in a cluster.
48
Database Methods
Database Methods
Collection
returns a single collection or null
db._collection(collection-name)
Returns the collection with the given name or null if no such collection exists.
db._collection(collection-identifier)
Returns the collection with the given identifier or null if no such collection exists. Accessing collections by identifier is discouraged for
end users. End users should access collections using the collection name.
Examples
Get a collection by name:
arangosh> db._collection("demo");
[ArangoCollection 93, "demo" (type document, status loaded)]
Get a collection by id:
arangosh> db._collection(123456);
[ArangoCollection 123456, "demo" (type document, status loaded)]
Unknown collection:
arangosh> db._collection("unknown");
null
Create
creates a new document or edge collection
db._create(collection-name)
Creates a new document collection named collection-name. If the collection name already exists or if the name format is invalid, an error
is thrown. For more information on valid collection names please refer to the naming conventions.
db._create(collection-name, properties)
properties must be an object with the following attributes:
waitForSync (optional, default false): If true creating a document will only return after the data was synced to disk.
journalSize (optional, default is a configuration parameter: The maximal size of a journal or datafile. Note that this also limits the
maximal size of a single object. Must be at least 1MB.
isSystem (optional, default is false): If true, create a system collection. In this case collection-name should start with an underscore.
End users should normally create non-system collections only. API implementors may be required to create system collections in
very special occasions, but normally a regular collection will do.
isVolatile (optional, default is false): If true then the collection data is kept in-memory only and not made persistent. Unloading the
collection will cause the collection data to be discarded. Stopping or re-starting the server will also cause full loss of data in the
collection. The collection itself will remain however (only the data is volatile). Setting this option will make the resulting collection
be slightly faster than regular collections because ArangoDB does not enforce any synchronization to disk and does not calculate
any CRC checksums for datafiles (as there are no datafiles).
keyOptions (optional): additional options for key generation. If specified, then keyOptions should be a JSON array containing the
following attributes (note: some of them are optional):
type: specifies the type of the key generator. The currently available generators are traditional and autoincrement.
allowUserKeys: if set to true, then it is allowed to supply own key values in the _key attribute of a document. If set to false,
49
Database Methods
then the key generator will solely be responsible for generating keys and supplying own key values in the _key attribute of
documents is considered an error.
increment: increment value for autoincrement key generator. Not used for other key generator types.
offset: initial offset value for autoincrement key generator. Not used for other key generator types.
numberOfShards (optional, default is 1): in a cluster, this value determines the number of shards to create for the collection. In a
single server setup, this option is meaningless.
shardKeys (optional, default is
[ "_key" ]
): in a cluster, this attribute determines which document attributes are used to determine
the target shard for documents. Documents are sent to shards based on the values they have in their shard key attributes. The values
of all shard key attributes in a document are hashed, and the hash value is used to determine the target shard. Note that values of
shard key attributes cannot be changed once set. This option is meaningless in a single server setup.
When choosing the shard keys, one must be aware of the following rules and limitations: In a sharded collection with more than one
shard it is not possible to set up a unique constraint on an attribute that is not the one and only shard key given in shardKeys. This is
because enforcing a unique constraint would otherwise make a global index necessary or need extensive communication for every
single write operation. Furthermore, if _key is not the one and only shard key, then it is not possible to set the _key attribute when
inserting a document, provided the collection has more than one shard. Again, this is because the database has to enforce the unique
constraint on the _key attribute and this can only be done efficiently if this is the only shard key by delegating to the individual
shards.
replicationFactor (optional, default is 1): in a cluster, this attribute determines how many copies of each shard are kept on different
DBServers. The value 1 means that only one copy (no synchronous replication) is kept. A value of k means that k-1 replicas are
kept. Any two copies reside on different DBServers. Replication between them is synchronous, that is, every write operation to the
"leader" copy will be replicated to all "follower" replicas, before the write operation is reported successful.
If a server fails, this is detected automatically and one of the servers holding copies take over, usually without an error being
reported.
When using the Enterprise version of ArangoDB the replicationFactor may be set to "satellite" making the collection locally
joinable on every database server. This reduces the number of network hops dramatically when using joins in AQL at the costs of
reduced write performance on these collections.
db._create(collection-name, properties, type)
Specifies the optional type of the collection, it can either be document or edge. On default it is document. Instead of giving a type you
can also use db._createEdgeCollection or db._createDocumentCollection.
Examples
With defaults:
arangosh> c = db._create("users");
arangosh> c.properties();
show execution results
With properties:
arangosh> c = db._create("users", { waitForSync : true,
........> journalSize : 1024 * 1204});
arangosh> c.properties();
show execution results
With a key generator:
arangosh> db._create("users",
........> { keyOptions: { type: "autoincrement", offset: 10, increment: 5 } });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "user 1" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "user 2" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "user 3" });
50
Database Methods
show execution results
With a special key option:
arangosh> db._create("users", { keyOptions: { allowUserKeys: false } });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "user 1" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "user 2", _key: "myuser" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "user 3" });
show execution results
creates a new edge collection
db._createEdgeCollection(collection-name)
Creates a new edge collection named collection-name. If the collection name already exists an error is thrown. The default value for
waitForSync is false.
db._createEdgeCollection(collection-name, properties)
properties must be an object with the following attributes:
waitForSync (optional, default false): If true creating a document will only return after the data was synced to disk.
journalSize (optional, default is "configuration parameter"): The maximal size of a journal or datafile. Note that this also limits the
maximal size of a single object and must be at least 1MB.
creates a new document collection
db._createDocumentCollection(collection-name)
Creates a new document collection named collection-name. If the document name already exists and error is thrown.
All Collections
returns all collections
db._collections()
Returns all collections of the given database.
Examples
arangosh> db._collections();
show execution results
Collection Name
selects a collection from the vocbase
db.collection-name
Returns the collection with the given collection-name. If no such collection exists, create a collection named collection-name with the
default properties.
Examples
arangosh> db.example;
[ArangoCollection 14536, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
Drop
drops a collection
db._drop(collection)
Drops a collection and all its indexes and data.
db._drop(collection-identifier)
Drops a collection identified by collection-identifier with all its indexes and data. No error is thrown if there is no such collection.
db._drop(collection-name)
Drops a collection named collection-name and all its indexes. No error is thrown if there is no such collection.
51
Database Methods
db._drop(collection-name, options)
In order to drop a system collection, one must specify an options object with attribute isSystem set to true. Otherwise it is not possible to
drop system collections.
Examples
Drops a collection:
arangosh> col = db.example;
[ArangoCollection 14578, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> db._drop(col);
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 14578, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
Drops a collection identified by name:
arangosh> col = db.example;
[ArangoCollection 14581, "example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> db._drop("example");
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 14581, "example" (type document, status deleted)]
Drops a system collection
arangosh> col = db._example;
[ArangoCollection 14584, "_example" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> db._drop("_example", { isSystem: true });
arangosh> col;
[ArangoCollection 14584, "_example" (type document, status deleted)]
Truncate
truncates a collection
db._truncate(collection)
Truncates a collection, removing all documents but keeping all its indexes.
db._truncate(collection-identifier)
Truncates a collection identified by collection-identified. No error is thrown if there is no such collection.
db._truncate(collection-name)
Truncates a collection named collection-name. No error is thrown if there is no such collection.
Examples
Truncates a collection:
arangosh> col = db.example;
arangosh> col.save({ "Hello" : "World" });
arangosh> col.count();
arangosh> db._truncate(col);
arangosh> col.count();
show execution results
Truncates a collection identified by name:
52
Database Methods
arangosh> col = db.example;
arangosh> col.save({ "Hello" : "World" });
arangosh> col.count();
arangosh> db._truncate("example");
arangosh> col.count();
show execution results
53
Documents
Documents
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's interface for working with documents from the JavaScript shell arangosh or in JavaScript code in
the server. For other languages see the corresponding language API.
Basics and Terminology: section on the basic approach
Collection Methods: detailed API description for collection objects
Database Methods: detailed API description for database objects
54
Basics and Terminology
Basics and Terminology
Documents in ArangoDB are JSON objects. These objects can be nested (to any depth) and may contain lists. Each document has a
unique primary key which identifies it within its collection. Furthermore, each document is uniquely identified by its document handle
across all collections in the same database. Different revisions of the same document (identified by its handle) can be distinguished by
their document revision. Any transaction only ever sees a single revision of a document. For example:
{
"_id" : "myusers/3456789",
"_key" : "3456789",
"_rev" : "14253647",
"firstName" : "John",
"lastName" : "Doe",
"address" : {
"street" : "Road To Nowhere 1",
"city" : "Gotham"
},
"hobbies" : [
{name: "swimming", howFavorite: 10},
{name: "biking", howFavorite: 6},
{name: "programming", howFavorite: 4}
]
}
All documents contain special attributes: the document handle is stored as a string in
the document revision in
_rev
. The value of the
_key
, the document's primary key in
attribute can be specified by the user when creating a document.
values are immutable once the document has been created. The
_key
_id
_rev
_key
_id
and
and
value is maintained by ArangoDB automatically.
Document Handle
A document handle uniquely identifies a document in the database. It is a string and consists of the collection's name and the document
key (
_key
attribute) separated by
/
.
Document Key
A document key uniquely identifies a document in the collection it is stored in. It can and should be used by clients when specific
documents are queried. The document key is stored in the
_key
attribute of each document. The key values are automatically indexed
by ArangoDB in a collection's primary index. Thus looking up a document by its key is a fast operation. The _key value of a document is
immutable once the document has been created. By default, ArangoDB will auto-generate a document key if no _key attribute is
specified, and use the user-specified _key otherwise. The generated _key is guaranteed to be unique in the collection it was generated for.
This also applies to sharded collections in a cluster. It can't be guaranteed that the _key is unique within a database or across a whole
node or instance however.
This behavior can be changed on a per-collection level by creating collections with the
Using
keyOptions
keyOptions
attribute.
it is possible to disallow user-specified keys completely, or to force a specific regime for auto-generating the
_key
values.
Document Revision
As ArangoDB supports MVCC (Multiple Version Concurrency Control), documents can exist in more than one revision. The document
revision is the MVCC token used to specify a particular revision of a document (identified by its
_id
). It is a string value that contained
(up to ArangoDB 3.0) an integer number and is unique within the list of document revisions for a single document. In ArangoDB >= 3.1
the _rev strings are in fact time stamps. They use the local clock of the DBserver that actually writes the document and have millisecond
accuracy. Actually, a "Hybrid Logical Clock" is used (for this concept see this paper).
Within one shard it is guaranteed that two different document revisions have a different _rev string, even if they are written in the same
millisecond, and that these stamps are ascending.
55
Basics and Terminology
Note however that different servers in your cluster might have a clock skew, and therefore between different shards or even between
different collections the time stamps are not guaranteed to be comparable.
The Hybrid Logical Clock feature does one thing to address this issue: Whenever a message is sent from some server A in your cluster to
another one B, it is ensured that any timestamp taken on B after the message has arrived is greater than any timestamp taken on A before
the message was sent. This ensures that if there is some "causality" between events on different servers, time stamps increase from cause
to effect. A direct consequence of this is that sometimes a server has to take timestamps that seem to come from the future of its own
clock. It will however still produce ever increasing timestamps. If the clock skew is small, then your timestamps will relatively
accurately describe the time when the document revision was actually written.
ArangoDB uses 64bit unsigned integer values to maintain document revisions internally. At this stage we intentionally do not document
the exact format of the revision values. When returning document revisions to clients, ArangoDB will put them into a string to ensure the
revision is not clipped by clients that do not support big integers. Clients should treat the revision returned by ArangoDB as an opaque
string when they store or use it locally. This will allow ArangoDB to change the format of revisions later if this should be required (as
has happened with 3.1 with the Hybrid Logical Clock). Clients can use revisions to perform simple equality/non-equality comparisons
(e.g. to check whether a document has changed or not), but they should not use revision ids to perform greater/less than comparisons
with them to check if a document revision is older than one another, even if this might work for some cases.
Document revisions can be used to conditionally query, update, replace or delete documents in the database. In order to find a particular
revision of a document, you need the document handle or key, and the document revision.
Multiple Documents in a single Command
Beginning with ArangoDB 3.0 the basic document API has been extended to handle not only single documents but multiple documents
in a single command. This is crucial for performance, in particular in the cluster situation, in which a single request can involve multiple
network hops within the cluster. Another advantage is that it reduces the overhead of individual network round trips between the client
and the server. The general idea to perform multiple document operations in a single command is to use JSON arrays of objects in the
place of a single document. As a consequence, document keys, handles and revisions for preconditions have to be supplied embedded in
the individual documents given. Multiple document operations are restricted to a single document or edge collection. See the API
descriptions for collection objects for details. Note that the API for database objects do not offer these operations.
56
Collection Methods
Collection Methods
All
collection.all()
Fetches all documents from a collection and returns a cursor. You can use toArray, next, or hasNext to access the result. The result can be
limited using the skip and limit operator.
Examples
Use toArray to get all documents at once:
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "one" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "two" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "three" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "four" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "five" });
arangosh> db.five.all().toArray();
show execution results
Use limit to restrict the documents:
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "one" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "two" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "three" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "four" });
arangosh> db.five.save({ name : "five" });
arangosh> db.five.all().limit(2).toArray();
show execution results
Query by example
collection.byExample(example)
Fetches all documents from a collection that match the specified example and returns a cursor.
You can use toArray, next, or hasNext to access the result. The result can be limited using the skip and limit operator.
An attribute name of the form a.b is interpreted as attribute path, not as attribute. If you use
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 } }
as example, then you will find all documents, such that the attribute a contains a document of the form {c : 1 }. For example the
document
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 }, "b" : 1 }
will match, but the document
{ "a" : { "c" : 1, "b" : 1 } }
will not.
However, if you use
57
Collection Methods
{ "a.c" : 1 }
then you will find all documents, which contain a sub-document in a that has an attribute c of value 1. Both the following documents
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 }, "b" : 1 }
and
{ "a" : { "c" : 1, "b" : 1 } }
will match.
collection.byExample(path1, value1, ...)
As alternative you can supply an array of paths and values.
Examples
Use toArray to get all documents at once:
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "Gerhard" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "Helmut" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "Angela" });
arangosh> db.users.all().toArray();
arangosh> db.users.byExample({ "_id" : "users/20" }).toArray();
arangosh> db.users.byExample({ "name" : "Gerhard" }).toArray();
arangosh> db.users.byExample({ "name" : "Helmut", "_id" : "users/15" }).toArray();
show execution results
Use next to loop over all documents:
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "Gerhard" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "Helmut" });
arangosh> db.users.save({ name: "Angela" });
arangosh> var a = db.users.byExample( {"name" : "Angela" } );
arangosh> while (a.hasNext()) print(a.next());
show execution results
First Example
collection.firstExample(example)
Returns some document of a collection that matches the specified example. If no such document exists, null will be returned. The
example has to be specified as paths and values. See byExample for details.
collection.firstExample(path1, value1, ...)
As alternative you can supply an array of paths and values.
Examples
arangosh> db.users.firstExample("name", "Angela");
show execution results
Range
58
Collection Methods
collection.range(attribute, left, right)
Returns all documents from a collection such that the attribute is greater or equal than left and strictly less than right.
You can use toArray, next, or hasNext to access the result. The result can be limited using the skip and limit operator.
An attribute name of the form a.b is interpreted as attribute path, not as attribute.
Note: the range simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in future versions of
ArangoDB. The preferred way for retrieving documents from a collection within a specific range is to use an AQL query as follows:
FOR doc IN @@collection
FILTER doc.value >= @left && doc.value < @right
LIMIT @skip, @limit
RETURN doc
Examples
Use toArray to get all documents at once:
arangosh> db.old.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "age" ] });
arangosh> db.old.save({ age: 15 });
arangosh> db.old.save({ age: 25 });
arangosh> db.old.save({ age: 30 });
arangosh> db.old.range("age", 10, 30).toArray();
show execution results
Closed range
collection.closedRange(attribute, left, right)
Returns all documents of a collection such that the attribute is greater or equal than left and less or equal than right.
You can use toArray, next, or hasNext to access the result. The result can be limited using the skip and limit operator.
An attribute name of the form a.b is interpreted as attribute path, not as attribute.
Note: the closedRange simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in future versions of
ArangoDB. The preferred way for retrieving documents from a collection within a specific range is to use an AQL query as follows:
FOR doc IN @@collection
FILTER doc.value >= @left && doc.value <= @right
LIMIT @skip, @limit
RETURN doc
Examples
Use toArray to get all documents at once:
arangosh> db.old.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "age" ] });
arangosh> db.old.save({ age: 15 });
arangosh> db.old.save({ age: 25 });
arangosh> db.old.save({ age: 30 });
arangosh> db.old.closedRange("age", 10, 30).toArray();
show execution results
Any
collection.any()
Returns a random document from the collection or null if none exists.
59
Collection Methods
Count
collection.count()
Returns the number of living documents in the collection.
Examples
arangosh> db.users.count();
0
toArray
collection.toArray()
Converts the collection into an array of documents. Never use this call in a production environment as it will basically create a copy of
your collection in RAM which will use resources depending on the number and size of the documents in your collecion.
Document
collection.document(object)
The document method finds a document given an object object containing the _id or _key attribute. The method returns the document if it
can be found. If both attributes are given, the _id takes precedence, it is an error, if the collection part of the _id does not match the
collection.
An error is thrown if _rev is specified but the document found has a different revision already. An error is also thrown if no document
exists with the given _id or _key value.
Please note that if the method is executed on the arangod server (e.g. from inside a Foxx application), an immutable document object will
be returned for performance reasons. It is not possible to change attributes of this immutable object. To update or patch the returned
document, it needs to be cloned/copied into a regular JavaScript object first. This is not necessary if the document method is called from
out of arangosh or from any other client.
collection.document(document-handle)
As before. Instead of object a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision can be specified in this case.
collection.document(document-key)
As before. Instead of object a document-key can be passed as first argument.
collection.document(array)
This variant allows to perform the operation on a whole array of arguments. The behavior is exactly as if document would have been
called on all members of the array and all results are returned in an array. If an error occurs with any of the documents, the operation
stops immediately returning only an error object.
Examples
Returns the document for a document-handle:
arangosh> db.example.document("example/2873916");
show execution results
Returns the document for a document-key:
arangosh> db.example.document("2873916");
show execution results
Returns the document for an object:
arangosh> db.example.document({_id: "example/2873916"});
60
Collection Methods
show execution results
Returns the document for an array of two keys:
arangosh> db.example.document(["2873916","2873917"]);
show execution results
An error is raised if the document is unknown:
arangosh> db.example.document("example/4472917");
[ArangoError 1202: document not found]
An error is raised if the handle is invalid:
arangosh> db.example.document("");
[ArangoError 1205: illegal document handle]
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
document can now query multiple documents with one call.
Exists
checks whether a document exists
collection.exists(object)
The exists method determines whether a document exists given an object
object
containing the _id or _key attribute. If both attributes
are given, the _id takes precedence, it is an error, if the collection part of the _id does not match the collection.
An error is thrown if _rev is specified but the document found has a different revision already.
Instead of returning the found document or an error, this method will only return an object with the attributes _id, _key and _rev, or false
if no document with the given _id or _key exists. It can thus be used for easy existence checks.
This method will throw an error if used improperly, e.g. when called with a non-document handle, a non-document, or when a crosscollection request is performed.
collection.exists(document-handle)
As before. Instead of object a document-handle can be passed as first argument.
collection.exists(document-key)
As before. Instead of object a document-key can be passed as first argument.
collection.exists(array)
This variant allows to perform the operation on a whole array of arguments. The behavior is exactly as if exists would have been called
on all members of the array and all results are returned in an array. If an error occurs with any of the documents, the operation stops
immediately returning only an error object.
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
In the case of a revision mismatch exists now throws an error instead of simply returning false. This is to make it possible to tell the
difference between a revision mismatch and a non-existing document.
exists can now query multiple documents with one call.
Lookup By Keys
collection.documents(keys)
61
Collection Methods
Looks up the documents in the specified collection using the array of keys provided. All documents for which a matching key was
specified in the keys array and that exist in the collection will be returned. Keys for which no document can be found in the underlying
collection are ignored, and no exception will be thrown for them.
This method is deprecated in favour of the array variant of document.
Examples
arangosh> keys = [ ];
arangosh> for (var i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
........>
db.example.insert({ _key: "test" + i, value: i });
........>
keys.push("test" + i);
........> }
arangosh> db.example.documents(keys);
show execution results
Insert
collection.insert(data)
Creates a new document in the collection from the given data. The data must be an object. The attributes _id and _rev are ignored and
are automatically generated. A unique value for the attribute _key will be automatically generated if not specified. If specified, there must
not be a document with the given _key in the collection.
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key and _rev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the newly
created document, the attribute _key the document key and the attribute _rev contains the document revision.
collection.insert(data, options)
Creates a new document in the collection from the given data as above. The optional options parameter must be an object and can be
used to specify the following options:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
silent: If this flag is set to true, the method does not return any output.
returnNew: If this flag is set to true, the complete new document is returned in the output under the attribute new.
Note: since ArangoDB 2.2, insert is an alias for save.
collection.insert(array)
collection.insert(array, options)
These two variants allow to perform the operation on a whole array of arguments. The behavior is exactly as if insert would have been
called on all members of the array and all results are returned in an array. If an error occurs with any of the documents, the operation
stops immediately returning only an error object. The options behave exactly as before.
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The options silent and returnNew are new. The method can now insert multiple documents with one call.
Examples
arangosh> db.example.insert({ Hello : "World" });
arangosh> db.example.insert({ Hello : "World" }, {waitForSync: true});
show execution results
62
Collection Methods
arangosh> db.example.insert([{ Hello : "World" }, {Hello: "there"}])
arangosh> db.example.insert([{ Hello : "World" }, {}], {waitForSync: true});
show execution results
Replace
collection.replace(selector, data)
Replaces an existing document described by the selector, which must be an object containing the _id or _key attribute. There must be a
document with that _id or _key in the current collection. This document is then replaced with the data given as second argument. Any
attribute _id, _key or _rev in data is ignored.
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key, _rev and _oldRev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the
updated document, the attribute _rev contains the document revision of the updated document, the attribute _oldRev contains the revision
of the old (now replaced) document.
If the selector contains a _rev attribute, the method first checks that the specified revision is the current revision of that document. If not,
there is a conflict, and an error is thrown.
collection.replace(selector, data, options)
As before, but options must be an object that can contain the following boolean attributes:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
overwrite: If this flag is set to true, a _rev attribute in the selector is ignored.
returnNew: If this flag is set to true, the complete new document is returned in the output under the attribute new.
returnOld: If this flag is set to true, the complete previous revision of the document is returned in the output under the attribute old.
silent: If this flag is set to true, no output is returned.
collection.replace(document-handle, data)
collection.replace(document-handle, data, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision precondition is tested.
collection.replace(document-key, data)
collection.replace(document-key, data, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-key can be passed as first argument. No revision precondition is tested.
collection.replace(selectorarray, dataarray)
collection.replace(selectorarray, dataarray, options)
These two variants allow to perform the operation on a whole array of selector/data pairs. The two arrays given as selectorarray and
dataarray must have the same length. The behavior is exactly as if replace would have been called on all respective members of the two
arrays and all results are returned in an array. If an error occurs with any of the documents, the operation stops immediately returning
only an error object. The options behave exactly as before.
Examples
Create and update a document:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> a2 = db.example.replace(a1, { a : 2 });
arangosh> a3 = db.example.replace(a1, { a : 3 });
show execution results
Use a document handle:
63
Collection Methods
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> a2 = db.example.replace("example/3903044", { a : 2 });
show execution results
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The options silent, returnNew and returnOld are new. The method can now replace multiple documents with one call.
Update
collection.update(selector, data)
Updates an existing document described by the selector, which must be an object containing the _id or _key attribute. There must be a
document with that _id or _key in the current collection. This document is then patched with the data given as second argument. Any
attribute _id, _key or _rev in data is ignored.
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key, _rev and _oldRev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the
updated document, the attribute _rev contains the document revision of the updated document, the attribute _oldRev contains the revision
of the old (now updated) document.
If the selector contains a _rev attribute, the method first checks that the specified revision is the current revision of that document. If not,
there is a conflict, and an error is thrown.
collection.update(selector, data, options)
As before, but options must be an object that can contain the following boolean attributes:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
overwrite: If this flag is set to true, a _rev attribute in the selector is ignored.
returnNew: If this flag is set to true, the complete new document is returned in the output under the attribute new.
returnOld: If this flag is set to true, the complete previous revision of the document is returned in the output under the attribute old.
silent: If this flag is set to true, no output is returned.
keepNull: The optional keepNull parameter can be used to modify the behavior when handling null values. Normally, null values are
stored in the database. By setting the keepNull parameter to false, this behavior can be changed so that all attributes in data with null
values will be removed from the target document.
mergeObjects: Controls whether objects (not arrays) will be merged if present in both the existing and the patch document. If set to
false, the value in the patch document will overwrite the existing document's value. If set to true, objects will be merged. The
default is true.
collection.update(document-handle, data)
collection.update(document-handle, data, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision precondition is tested.
collection.update(document-key, data)
collection.update(document-key, data, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-key can be passed as first argument. No revision precondition is tested.
collection.update(selectorarray, dataarray)
collection.update(selectorarray, dataarray, options)
These two variants allow to perform the operation on a whole array of selector/data pairs. The two arrays given as selectorarray and
dataarray must have the same length. The behavior is exactly as if update would have been called on all respective members of the two
arrays and all results are returned in an array. If an error occurs with any of the documents, the operation stops immediately returning
only an error object. The options behave exactly as before.
64
Collection Methods
Examples
Create and update a document:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({"a" : 1});
arangosh> a2 = db.example.update(a1, {"b" : 2, "c" : 3});
arangosh> a3 = db.example.update(a1, {"d" : 4});
arangosh> a4 = db.example.update(a2, {"e" : 5, "f" : 6 });
arangosh> db.example.document(a4);
arangosh> a5 = db.example.update(a4, {"a" : 1, c : 9, e : 42 });
arangosh> db.example.document(a5);
show execution results
Use a document handle:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({"a" : 1});
arangosh> a2 = db.example.update("example/18612115", { "x" : 1, "y" : 2 });
show execution results
Use the keepNull parameter to remove attributes with null values:
arangosh> db.example.insert({"a" : 1});
arangosh> db.example.update("example/19988371",
........> { "b" : null, "c" : null, "d" : 3 });
arangosh> db.example.document("example/19988371");
arangosh> db.example.update("example/19988371", { "a" : null }, false, false);
arangosh> db.example.document("example/19988371");
arangosh> db.example.update("example/19988371",
........> { "b" : null, "c": null, "d" : null }, false, false);
arangosh> db.example.document("example/19988371");
show execution results
Patching array values:
arangosh>
db.example.insert({"a" : { "one" : 1, "two" : 2, "three" : 3 },
........> "b" : { }});
arangosh> db.example.update("example/20774803", {"a" : { "four" : 4 },
........> "b" : { "b1" : 1 }});
arangosh> db.example.document("example/20774803");
arangosh> db.example.update("example/20774803", { "a" : { "one" : null },
........>
"b" : null },
........> false, false);
arangosh> db.example.document("example/20774803");
show execution results
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The options silent, returnNew and returnOld are new. The method can now update multiple documents with one call.
Remove
collection.remove(selector)
Removes a document described by the selector, which must be an object containing the _id or _key attribute. There must be a document
with that _id or _key in the current collection. This document is then removed.
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Collection Methods
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key and _rev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the removed
document, the attribute _rev contains the document revision of the removed document.
If the selector contains a _rev attribute, the method first checks that the specified revision is the current revision of that document. If not,
there is a conflict, and an error is thrown.
collection.remove(selector, options)
As before, but options must be an object that can contain the following boolean attributes:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
overwrite: If this flag is set to true, a _rev attribute in the selector is ignored.
returnOld: If this flag is set to true, the complete previous revision of the document is returned in the output under the attribute old.
silent: If this flag is set to true, no output is returned.
collection.remove(document-handle)
collection.remove(document-handle, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision check is performed.
collection.remove(document-key)
collection.remove(document-handle, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision check is performed.
collection.remove(selectorarray)
collection.remove(selectorarray,options)
These two variants allow to perform the operation on a whole array of selectors. The behavior is exactly as if remove would have been
called on all members of the array and all results are returned in an array. If an error occurs with any of the documents, the operation
stops immediately returning only an error object. The options behave exactly as before.
Examples
Remove a document:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> db.example.document(a1);
arangosh> db.example.remove(a1);
arangosh> db.example.document(a1);
show execution results
Remove a document with a conflict:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> a2 = db.example.replace(a1, { a : 2 });
arangosh> db.example.remove(a1);
arangosh> db.example.remove(a1, true);
arangosh> db.example.document(a1);
show execution results
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The method now returns not only true but information about the removed document(s). The options silent and returnOld are new. The
method can now remove multiple documents with one call.
Remove By Keys
66
Collection Methods
collection.removeByKeys(keys)
Looks up the documents in the specified collection using the array of keys provided, and removes all documents from the collection
whose keys are contained in the keys array. Keys for which no document can be found in the underlying collection are ignored, and no
exception will be thrown for them.
The method will return an object containing the number of removed documents in the removed sub-attribute, and the number of notremoved/ignored documents in the ignored sub-attribute.
This method is deprecated in favour of the array variant of remove.
Examples
arangosh> keys = [ ];
arangosh> for (var i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
........>
db.example.insert({ _key: "test" + i, value: i });
........>
keys.push("test" + i);
........> }
arangosh> db.example.removeByKeys(keys);
show execution results
Remove By Example
collection.removeByExample(example)
Removes all documents matching an example.
collection.removeByExample(document, waitForSync)
The optional waitForSync parameter can be used to force synchronization of the document deletion operation to disk even in case that
the waitForSync flag had been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync parameter can be used to force synchronization
of just specific operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to
false, then the collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable
synchronization for collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
collection.removeByExample(document, waitForSync, limit)
The optional limit parameter can be used to restrict the number of removals to the specified value. If limit is specified but less than the
number of documents in the collection, it is undefined which documents are removed.
Examples
arangosh> db.example.removeByExample( {Hello : "world"} );
1
Replace By Example
collection.replaceByExample(example, newValue)
Replaces all documents matching an example with a new document body. The entire document body of each document matching the
example will be replaced with newValue. The document meta-attributes _id, _key and _rev will not be replaced.
collection.replaceByExample(document, newValue, waitForSync)
The optional waitForSync parameter can be used to force synchronization of the document replacement operation to disk even in case
that the waitForSync flag had been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync parameter can be used to force
synchronization of just specific operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not
specified or set to false, then the collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to
disable synchronization for collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
collection.replaceByExample(document, newValue, waitForSync, limit)
The optional limit parameter can be used to restrict the number of replacements to the specified value. If limit is specified but less than
the number of documents in the collection, it is undefined which documents are replaced.
67
Collection Methods
Examples
arangosh> db.example.save({ Hello : "world" });
arangosh> db.example.replaceByExample({ Hello: "world" }, {Hello: "mars"}, false, 5);
show execution results
Update By Example
collection.updateByExample(example, newValue)
Partially updates all documents matching an example with a new document body. Specific attributes in the document body of each
document matching the example will be updated with the values from newValue. The document meta-attributes _id, _key and _rev cannot
be updated.
Partial update could also be used to append new fields, if there were no old field with same name.
collection.updateByExample(document, newValue, keepNull, waitForSync)
The optional keepNull parameter can be used to modify the behavior when handling null values. Normally, null values are stored in the
database. By setting the keepNull parameter to false, this behavior can be changed so that all attributes in data with null values will be
removed from the target document.
The optional waitForSync parameter can be used to force synchronization of the document replacement operation to disk even in case
that the waitForSync flag had been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync parameter can be used to force
synchronization of just specific operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not
specified or set to false, then the collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to
disable synchronization for collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
collection.updateByExample(document, newValue, keepNull, waitForSync, limit)
The optional limit parameter can be used to restrict the number of updates to the specified value. If limit is specified but less than the
number of documents in the collection, it is undefined which documents are updated.
collection.updateByExample(document, newValue, options)
Using this variant, the options for the operation can be passed using an object with the following sub-attributes:
keepNull
waitForSync
limit
mergeObjects
Examples
arangosh> db.example.save({ Hello : "world", foo : "bar" });
arangosh> db.example.updateByExample({ Hello: "world" }, { Hello: "foo", World: "bar" },
false);
arangosh> db.example.byExample({ Hello: "foo" }).toArray()
show execution results
Collection type
collection.type()
Returns the type of a collection. Possible values are:
2: document collection
3: edge collection
Get the Version of ArangoDB
db._version()
68
Collection Methods
Returns the server version string. Note that this is not the version of the database.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb").db._version();
3.1.19
Edges
Edges are normal documents that always contain a
_from
and a
_to
attribute. Therefore, you can use the document methods to
operate on edges. The following methods, however, are specific to edges.
edge-collection.edges(vertex)
The edges operator finds all edges starting from (outbound) or ending in (inbound) vertex.
edge-collection.edges(vertices)
The edges operator finds all edges starting from (outbound) or ending in (inbound) a document from vertices, which must be a list of
documents or document handles.
arangosh> db._create("vertex");
arangosh> db._createEdgeCollection("relation");
arangosh> var myGraph = {};
arangosh> myGraph.v1 = db.vertex.insert({ name : "vertex 1" });
arangosh> myGraph.v2 = db.vertex.insert({ name : "vertex 2" });
arangosh> myGraph.e1 = db.relation.insert(myGraph.v1, myGraph.v2,
........> { label : "knows"});
arangosh> db._document(myGraph.e1);
arangosh> db.relation.edges(myGraph.e1._id);
show execution results
edge-collection.inEdges(vertex)
The edges operator finds all edges ending in (inbound) vertex.
edge-collection.inEdges(vertices)
The edges operator finds all edges ending in (inbound) a document from vertices, which must a list of documents or document handles.
Examples
arangosh> db._create("vertex");
arangosh> db._createEdgeCollection("relation");
arangosh> myGraph.v1 = db.vertex.insert({ name : "vertex 1" });
arangosh> myGraph.v2 = db.vertex.insert({ name : "vertex 2" });
arangosh> myGraph.e1 = db.relation.insert(myGraph.v1, myGraph.v2,
........> { label : "knows"});
arangosh> db._document(myGraph.e1);
arangosh> db.relation.inEdges(myGraph.v1._id);
arangosh> db.relation.inEdges(myGraph.v2._id);
show execution results
edge-collection.outEdges(vertex)
The edges operator finds all edges starting from (outbound) vertices.
edge-collection.outEdges(vertices)
The edges operator finds all edges starting from (outbound) a document from vertices, which must a list of documents or document
handles.
Examples
69
Collection Methods
arangosh> db._create("vertex");
arangosh> db._createEdgeCollection("relation");
arangosh> myGraph.v1 = db.vertex.insert({ name : "vertex 1" });
arangosh> myGraph.v2 = db.vertex.insert({ name : "vertex 2" });
arangosh> myGraph.e1 = db.relation.insert(myGraph.v1, myGraph.v2,
........> { label : "knows"});
arangosh> db._document(myGraph.e1);
arangosh> db.relation.outEdges(myGraph.v1._id);
arangosh> db.relation.outEdges(myGraph.v2._id);
show execution results
Misc
collection.iterate(iterator, options)
Iterates over some elements of the collection and apply the function iterator to the elements. The function will be called with the
document as first argument and the current number (starting with 0) as second argument.
options must be an object with the following attributes:
limit (optional, default none): use at most limit documents.
probability (optional, default all): a number between 0 and 1. Documents are chosen with this probability.
Examples
arangosh> for (i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
for (j = -180;
........>
i += 10) {
j <= 180;
j += 10) {
db.example.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
home : [ i, j ],
........>
work : [ -i, -j ] });
........>
}
........> }
........>
arangosh> db.example.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "home" ] });
arangosh> items = db.example.getIndexes().map(function(x) { return x.id; });
........> db.example.index(items[1]);
show execution results
70
Database Methods
Database Methods
Document
db._document(object)
The _document method finds a document given an object object containing the _id attribute. The method returns the document if it can
be found.
An error is thrown if _rev is specified but the document found has a different revision already. An error is also thrown if no document
exists with the given _id.
Please note that if the method is executed on the arangod server (e.g. from inside a Foxx application), an immutable document object will
be returned for performance reasons. It is not possible to change attributes of this immutable object. To update or patch the returned
document, it needs to be cloned/copied into a regular JavaScript object first. This is not necessary if the _document method is called from
out of arangosh or from any other client.
db._document(document-handle)
As before. Instead of object a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision can be specified in this case.
Examples
Returns the document:
arangosh> db._document("example/12345");
show execution results
Exists
db._exists(object)
The _exists method determines whether a document exists given an object
object
containing the _id attribute.
An error is thrown if _rev is specified but the document found has a different revision already.
Instead of returning the found document or an error, this method will only return an object with the attributes _id, _key and _rev, or false
if no document with the given _id or _key exists. It can thus be used for easy existence checks.
This method will throw an error if used improperly, e.g. when called with a non-document handle, a non-document, or when a crosscollection request is performed.
db._exists(document-handle)
As before. Instead of object a document-handle can be passed as first argument.
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
In the case of a revision mismatch _exists now throws an error instead of simply returning false. This is to make it possible to tell the
difference between a revision mismatch and a non-existing document.
Replace
db._replace(selector, data)
Replaces an existing document described by the selector, which must be an object containing the _id attribute. There must be a document
with that _id in the current database. This document is then replaced with the data given as second argument. Any attribute _id, _key or
_rev in data is ignored.
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key, _rev and _oldRev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the
updated document, the attribute _rev contains the document revision of the updated document, the attribute _oldRev contains the revision
of the old (now replaced) document.
71
Database Methods
If the selector contains a _rev attribute, the method first checks that the specified revision is the current revision of that document. If not,
there is a conflict, and an error is thrown.
collection.replace(selector, data, options)
As before, but options must be an object that can contain the following boolean attributes:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
overwrite: If this flag is set to true, a _rev attribute in the selector is ignored.
returnNew: If this flag is set to true, the complete new document is returned in the output under the attribute new.
returnOld: If this flag is set to true, the complete previous revision of the document is returned in the output under the attribute old.
silent: If this flag is set to true, no output is returned.
db._replace(document-handle, data)
db._replace(document-handle, data, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision precondition is tested.
Examples
Create and replace a document:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> a2 = db._replace(a1, { a : 2 });
arangosh> a3 = db._replace(a1, { a : 3 });
show execution results
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The options silent, returnNew and returnOld are new.
Update
db._update(selector, data)
Updates an existing document described by the selector, which must be an object containing the _id attribute. There must be a document
with that _id in the current database. This document is then patched with the data given as second argument. Any attribute _id, _key or
_rev in data is ignored.
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key, _rev and _oldRev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the
updated document, the attribute _rev contains the document revision of the updated document, the attribute _oldRev contains the revision
of the old (now updated) document.
If the selector contains a _rev attribute, the method first checks that the specified revision is the current revision of that document. If not,
there is a conflict, and an error is thrown.
db._update(selector, data, options)
As before, but options must be an object that can contain the following boolean attributes:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
overwrite: If this flag is set to true, a _rev attribute in the selector is ignored.
returnNew: If this flag is set to true, the complete new document is returned in the output under the attribute new.
returnOld: If this flag is set to true, the complete previous revision of the document is returned in the output under the attribute old.
72
Database Methods
silent: If this flag is set to true, no output is returned.
keepNull: The optional keepNull parameter can be used to modify the behavior when handling null values. Normally, null values are
stored in the database. By setting the keepNull parameter to false, this behavior can be changed so that all attributes in data with null
values will be removed from the target document.
mergeObjects: Controls whether objects (not arrays) will be merged if present in both the existing and the patch document. If set to
false, the value in the patch document will overwrite the existing document's value. If set to true, objects will be merged. The
default is true.
db._update(document-handle, data)
db._update(document-handle, data, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision precondition is tested.
Examples
Create and update a document:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> a2 = db._update(a1, { b : 2 });
arangosh> a3 = db._update(a1, { c : 3 });
show execution results
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The options silent, returnNew and returnOld are new.
Remove
db._remove(selector)
Removes a document described by the selector, which must be an object containing the _id attribute. There must be a document with that
_id in the current database. This document is then removed.
The method returns a document with the attributes _id, _key and _rev. The attribute _id contains the document handle of the removed
document, the attribute _rev contains the document revision of the removed eocument.
If the selector contains a _rev attribute, the method first checks that the specified revision is the current revision of that document. If not,
there is a conflict, and an error is thrown.
db._remove(selector, options)
As before, but options must be an object that can contain the following boolean attributes:
waitForSync: One can force synchronization of the document creation operation to disk even in case that the waitForSync flag is
been disabled for the entire collection. Thus, the waitForSync option can be used to force synchronization of just specific
operations. To use this, set the waitForSync parameter to true. If the waitForSync parameter is not specified or set to false, then the
collection's default waitForSync behavior is applied. The waitForSync parameter cannot be used to disable synchronization for
collections that have a default waitForSync value of true.
overwrite: If this flag is set to true, a _rev attribute in the selector is ignored.
returnOld: If this flag is set to true, the complete previous revision of the document is returned in the output under the attribute old.
silent: If this flag is set to true, no output is returned.
db._remove(document-handle)
db._remove(document-handle, options)
As before. Instead of selector a document-handle can be passed as first argument. No revision check is performed.
Examples
Remove a document:
73
Database Methods
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> db._remove(a1);
arangosh> db._remove(a1);
arangosh> db._remove(a1, {overwrite: true});
show execution results
Remove the document in the revision
a1
with a conflict:
arangosh> a1 = db.example.insert({ a : 1 });
arangosh> a2 = db._replace(a1, { a : 2 });
arangosh> db._remove(a1);
arangosh> db._remove(a1, {overwrite: true} );
arangosh> db._document(a1);
show execution results
Remove a document using new signature:
arangosh> db.example.insert({ _key: "11265325374", a:
1 } );
arangosh> db.example.remove("example/11265325374",
........> { overwrite: true, waitForSync: false})
show execution results
Changes in 3.0 from 2.8:
The method now returns not only true but information about the removed document(s). The options silent and returnOld are new.
74
Graphs, Vertices & Edges
Graphs, Vertices & Edges
Graphs, vertices & edges are defined in the Graphs chapter in details.
Related blog posts:
Graphs in data modeling - is the emperor naked?
Index Free Adjacency or Hybrid Indexes for Graph Databases
75
Naming Conventions
Naming Conventions in ArangoDB
The following naming conventions should be followed by users when creating databases, collections and documents in ArangoDB.
76
Database Names
Database Names
ArangoDB will always start up with a default database, named _system. Users can create additional databases in ArangoDB, provided the
database names conform to the following constraints:
Database names must only consist of the letters a to z (both lower and upper case allowed), the numbers 0 to 9, and the underscore
(_) or dash (-) symbols This also means that any non-ASCII database names are not allowed
Database names must always start with a letter. Database names starting with an underscore are considered to be system databases,
and users should not create or delete those
The maximum allowed length of a database name is 64 bytes
Database names are case-sensitive
77
Collection Names
Collection Names
Users can pick names for their collections as desired, provided the following naming constraints are not violated:
Collection names must only consist of the letters a to z (both in lower and upper case), the numbers 0 to 9, and the underscore (_) or
dash (-) symbols. This also means that any non-ASCII collection names are not allowed
User-defined collection names must always start with a letter. System collection names must start with an underscore. All collection
names starting with an underscore are considered to be system collections that are for ArangoDB's internal use only. System
collection names should not be used by end users for their own collections
The maximum allowed length of a collection name is 64 bytes
Collection names are case-sensitive
78
Document Keys
Document Keys
Users can define their own keys for documents they save. The document key will be saved along with a document in the _key attribute.
Users can pick key values as required, provided that the values conform to the following restrictions:
The key must be a string value. Numeric keys are not allowed, but any numeric value can be put into a string and can then be used
as document key.
The key must be at least 1 byte and at most 254 bytes long. Empty keys are disallowed when specified (though it may be valid to
completely omit the _key attribute from a document)
It must consist of the letters a-z (lower or upper case), the digits 0-9 or any of the following punctuation characters:
@
(
)
+
,
=
;
$
!
*
'
_
-
:
.
%
Any other characters, especially multi-byte UTF-8 sequences, whitespace or punctuation characters cannot be used inside key
values
The key must be unique within the collection it is used
Keys are case-sensitive, i.e. myKey and MyKEY are considered to be different keys.
Specifying a document key is optional when creating new documents. If no document key is specified by the user, ArangoDB will create
the document key itself as each document is required to have a key.
There are no guarantees about the format and pattern of auto-generated document keys other than the above restrictions. Clients should
therefore treat auto-generated document keys as opaque values and not rely on their format.
The current format for generated keys is a string containing numeric digits. The numeric values reflect chronological time in the sense
that _key values generated later will contain higher numbers than _key values generated earlier. But the exact value that will be
generated by the server is not predictable. Note that if you sort on the _key attribute, string comparison will be used, which means
"100"
is less than
"99"
etc.
79
Attribute Names
Attribute Names
Users can pick attribute names for document attributes as desired, provided the following attribute naming constraints are not violated:
Attribute names starting with an underscore are considered to be system attributes for ArangoDB's internal use. Such attribute
names are already used by ArangoDB for special purposes:
_id is used to contain a document's handle
_key is used to contain a document's user-defined key
_rev is used to contain the document's revision number
In edge collections, the
_from
_to
attributes are used to reference other documents.
More system attributes may be added in the future without further notice so end users should try to avoid using their own attribute
names starting with underscores.
Theoretically, attribute names can include punctuation and special characters as desired, provided the name is a valid UTF-8 string.
For maximum portability, special characters should be avoided though. For example, attribute names may contain the dot symbol,
but the dot has a special meaning in JavaScript and also in AQL, so when using such attribute names in one of these languages, the
attribute name needs to be quoted by the end user. Overall it might be better to use attribute names which don't require any
quoting/escaping in all languages used. This includes languages used by the client (e.g. Ruby, PHP) if the attributes are mapped to
object members there.
Attribute names starting with an at-mark (@) will need to be enclosed in backticks when used in an AQL query to tell them apart
from bind variables. Therefore we do not encourage the use of attributes starting with at-marks, though they will work when used
properly.
ArangoDB does not enforce a length limit for attribute names. However, long attribute names may use more memory in result sets
etc. Therefore the use of long attribute names is discouraged.
Attribute names are case-sensitive.
Attributes with empty names (an empty string) are disallowed.
80
Indexing
Handling Indexes
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's interface for indexes in general.
There are special sections for
Index Basics: Introduction to all index types
Which index to use when: Index type and options adviser
Index Utilization: How ArangoDB uses indexes
Working with Indexes: How to handle indexes programmatically using the
db
object
Hash Indexes
Skiplists
Persistent Indexes
Fulltext Indexes
Geo-spatial Indexes
Vertex-centric Indexes
81
Index Basics
Index basics
Indexes allow fast access to documents, provided the indexed attribute(s) are used in a query. While ArangoDB automatically indexes
some system attributes, users are free to create extra indexes on non-system attributes of documents.
User-defined indexes can be created on collection level. Most user-defined indexes can be created by specifying the names of the index
attributes. Some index types allow indexing just one attribute (e.g. fulltext index) whereas other index types allow indexing multiple
attributes at the same time.
The system attributes
_id
,
_key
create extra indexes for them.
_id
,
_from
and
and
_key
_to
are automatically indexed by ArangoDB, without the user being required to
are covered by a collection's primary key, and
_from
and
_to
are covered by an edge
collection's edge index automatically.
Using the system attribute
_id
in user-defined indexes is not possible, but indexing
_key
,
_rev
,
_from
, and
_to
is.
ArangoDB provides the following index types:
Primary Index
For each collection there will always be a primary index which is a hash index for the document keys (
_key
in the collection. The primary index allows quick selection of documents in the collection using either the
will be used from within AQL queries automatically when performing equality lookups on
There are also dedicated functions to find a document given its
_key
or
_id
_key
or
_id
attribute) of all documents
_key
or
_id
attributes. It
.
that will always make use of the primary index:
db.collection.document("");
db._document("");
As the primary index is an unsorted hash index, it cannot be used for non-equality range queries or for sorting.
The primary index of a collection cannot be dropped or changed, and there is no mechanism to create user-defined primary indexes.
Edge Index
Every edge collection also has an automatically created edge index. The edge index provides quick access to documents by either their
_from
or
_to
attributes. It can therefore be used to quickly find connections between vertex documents and is invoked when the
connecting edges of a vertex are queried.
Edge indexes are used from within AQL when performing equality lookups on
also dedicated functions to find edges given their
_from
or
_to
_from
or
_to
values in an edge collections. There are
values that will always make use of the edge index:
db.collection.edges("");
db.collection.edges("");
db.collection.outEdges("");
db.collection.outEdges("");
db.collection.inEdges("");
db.collection.inEdges("");
Internally, the edge index is implemented as a hash index, which stores the union of all
_from
and
_to
attributes. It can be used for
equality lookups, but not for range queries or for sorting. Edge indexes are automatically created for edge collections. It is not possible to
create user-defined edge indexes. However, it is possible to freely use the
_from
and
_to
attributes in user-defined indexes.
An edge index cannot be dropped or changed.
Hash Index
A hash index can be used to quickly find documents with specific attribute values. The hash index is unsorted, so it supports equality
lookups but no range queries or sorting.
82
Index Basics
A hash index can be created on one or multiple document attributes. A hash index will only be used by a query if all index attributes are
present in the search condition, and if all attributes are compared using the equality (
AQL and several query functions, e.g.
byExample
,
firstExample
==
) operator. Hash indexes are used from within
etc.
Hash indexes can optionally be declared unique, then disallowing saving the same value(s) in the indexed attribute(s). Hash indexes can
optionally be sparse.
The different types of hash indexes have the following characteristics:
unique hash index: all documents in the collection must have different values for the attributes covered by the unique index. Trying
to insert a document with the same key value as an already existing document will lead to a unique constraint violation.
This type of index is not sparse. Documents that do not contain the index attributes or that have a value of
attribute(s) will still be indexed. A key value of
null
null
in the index
may only occur once in the index, so this type of index cannot be used for
optional attributes.
The unique option can also be used to ensure that no duplicate edges are created, by adding a combined index for the fields
and
_from
to an edge collection.
_to
unique, sparse hash index: all documents in the collection must have different values for the attributes covered by the unique
index. Documents in which at least one of the index attributes is not set or has a value of
null
are not included in the index. This
type of index can be used to ensure that there are no duplicate keys in the collection for documents which have the indexed
attributes set. As the index will exclude documents for which the indexed attributes are
null
or not set, it can be used for optional
attributes.
non-unique hash index: all documents in the collection will be indexed. This type of index is not sparse. Documents that do not
contain the index attributes or that have a value of
null
in the index attribute(s) will still be indexed. Duplicate key values can
occur and do not lead to unique constraint violations.
non-unique, sparse hash index: only those documents will be indexed that have all the indexed attributes set to a value other than
null
. It can be used for optional attributes.
The amortized complexity of lookup, insert, update, and removal operations in unique hash indexes is O(1).
Non-unique hash indexes have an amortized complexity of O(1) for insert, update, and removal operations. That means non-unique hash
indexes can be used on attributes with low cardinality.
If a hash index is created on an attribute that is missing in all or many of the documents, the behavior is as follows:
if the index is sparse, the documents missing the attribute will not be indexed and not use index memory. These documents will not
influence the update or removal performance for the index.
if the index is non-sparse, the documents missing the attribute will be contained in the index with a key value of
null
.
Hash indexes support indexing array values if the index attribute name is extended with a [*].
Skiplist Index
A skiplist is a sorted index structure. It can be used to quickly find documents with specific attribute values, for range queries and for
returning documents from the index in sorted order. Skiplists will be used from within AQL and several query functions, e.g.
byExample
,
firstExample
etc.
Skiplist indexes will be used for lookups, range queries and sorting only if either all index attributes are provided in a query, or if a
leftmost prefix of the index attributes is specified.
For example, if a skiplist index is created on attributes
<=
and
>=
value1
and
value2
, the following filter conditions can use the index (note: the
operators are intentionally omitted here for the sake of brevity):
FILTER doc.value1 == ...
FILTER doc.value1 < ...
FILTER doc.value1 > ...
FILTER doc.value1 > ... && doc.value1 < ...
FILTER doc.value1 == ... && doc.value2 == ...
FILTER doc.value1 == ... && doc.value2 > ...
FILTER doc.value1 == ... && doc.value2 > ... && doc.value2 < ...
83
Index Basics
In order to use a skiplist index for sorting, the index attributes must be specified in the
SORT
clause of the query in the same order as
they appear in the index definition. Skiplist indexes are always created in ascending order, but they can be used to access the indexed
elements in both ascending or descending order. However, for a combined index (an index on multiple attributes) this requires that the
sort orders in a single query as specified in the
SORT
clause must be either all ascending (optionally ommitted as ascending is the
default) or all descending.
For example, if the skiplist index is created on attributes
value1
and
value2
(in this order), then the following sorts clauses can use
the index for sorting:
SORT value1 ASC, value2 ASC
(and its equivalent
SORT value1, value2
)
SORT value1 DESC, value2 DESC
SORT value1 ASC
(and its equivalent
SORT value1
)
SORT value1 DESC
The following sort clauses cannot make use of the index order, and require an extra sort step:
SORT value1 ASC, value2 DESC
SORT value1 DESC, value2 ASC
SORT value2
(and its equivalent
SORT value2 DESC
SORT value2 ASC
(because first indexed attribute
)
value1
is not used in sort clause)
Note: the latter two sort clauses cannot use the index because the sort clause does not refer to a leftmost prefix of the index attributes.
Skiplists can optionally be declared unique, disallowing saving the same value in the indexed attribute. They can be sparse or non-sparse.
The different types of skiplist indexes have the following characteristics:
unique skiplist index: all documents in the collection must have different values for the attributes covered by the unique index.
Trying to insert a document with the same key value as an already existing document will lead to a unique constraint violation.
This type of index is not sparse. Documents that do not contain the index attributes or that have a value of
attribute(s) will still be indexed. A key value of
null
null
in the index
may only occur once in the index, so this type of index cannot be used for
optional attributes.
unique, sparse skiplist index: all documents in the collection must have different values for the attributes covered by the unique
index. Documents in which at least one of the index attributes is not set or has a value of
null
are not included in the index. This
type of index can be used to ensure that there are no duplicate keys in the collection for documents which have the indexed
attributes set. As the index will exclude documents for which the indexed attributes are
null
or not set, it can be used for optional
attributes.
non-unique skiplist index: all documents in the collection will be indexed. This type of index is not sparse. Documents that do not
contain the index attributes or that have a value of
null
in the index attribute(s) will still be indexed. Duplicate key values can
occur and do not lead to unique constraint violations.
non-unique, sparse skiplist index: only those documents will be indexed that have all the indexed attributes set to a value other
than
null
. It can be used for optional attributes.
The operational amortized complexity for skiplist indexes is logarithmically correlated with the number of documents in the index.
Skiplist indexes support indexing array values if the index attribute name is extended with a [*]`.
Persistent Index
The persistent index is a sorted index with persistence. The index entries are written to disk when documents are stored or updated. That
means the index entries do not need to be rebuilt from the collection data when the server is restarted or the indexed collection is initially
loaded. Thus using persistent indexes may reduce collection loading times.
The persistent index type can be used for secondary indexes at the moment. That means the persistent index currently cannot be made the
only index for a collection, because there will always be the in-memory primary index for the collection in addition, and potentially more
indexes (such as the edges index for an edge collection).
The index implementation is using the RocksDB engine, and it provides logarithmic complexity for insert, update, and remove
operations. As the persistent index is not an in-memory index, it does not store pointers into the primary index as all the in-memory
indexes do, but instead it stores a document's primary key. To retrieve a document via a persistent index via an index value lookup, there
84
Index Basics
will therefore be an additional O(1) lookup into the primary index to fetch the actual document.
As the persistent index is sorted, it can be used for point lookups, range queries and sorting operations, but only if either all index
attributes are provided in a query, or if a leftmost prefix of the index attributes is specified.
Geo Index
Users can create additional geo indexes on one or multiple attributes in collections. A geo index is used to find places on the surface of
the earth fast.
The geo index stores two-dimensional coordinates. It can be created on either two separate document attributes (latitude and longitude)
or a single array attribute that contains both latitude and longitude. Latitude and longitude must be numeric values.
The geo index provides operations to find documents with coordinates nearest to a given comparison coordinate, and to find documents
with coordinates that are within a specifiable radius around a comparison coordinate.
The geo index is used via dedicated functions in AQL or the simple queries functions, but will not be used for other types of queries or
conditions.
Fulltext Index
A fulltext index can be used to find words, or prefixes of words inside documents. A fulltext index can be created on a single attribute
only, and will index all words contained in documents that have a textual value in that attribute. Only words with a (specifiable)
minimum length are indexed. Word tokenization is done using the word boundary analysis provided by libicu, which is taking into
account the selected language provided at server start. Words are indexed in their lower-cased form. The index supports complete match
queries (full words) and prefix queries, plus basic logical operations such as
and
,
or
and
not
for combining partial results.
The fulltext index is sparse, meaning it will only index documents for which the index attribute is set and contains a string value.
Additionally, only words with a configurable minimum length will be included in the index.
The fulltext index is used via dedicated functions in AQL or the simple queries, but will not be enabled for other types of queries or
conditions.
Indexing attributes and sub-attributes
Top-level as well as nested attributes can be indexed. For attributes at the top level, the attribute names alone are required. To index a
single field, pass an array with a single element (string of the attribute key) to the fields parameter of the ensureIndex() method. To create
a combined index over multiple fields, simply add more members to the fields array:
// { name: "Smith", age: 35 }
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "name" ] })
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "name", "age" ] })
To index sub-attributes, specify the attribute path using the dot notation:
// { name: {last: "Smith", first: "John" } }
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "name.last" ] })
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "name.last", "name.first" ] })
Indexing array values
If an index attribute contains an array, ArangoDB will store the entire array as the index value by default. Accessing individual members
of the array via the index is not possible this way.
To make an index insert the individual array members into the index instead of the entire array value, a special array index needs to be
created for the attribute. Array indexes can be set up like regular hash or skiplist indexes using the
collection.ensureIndex()
function.
To make a hash or skiplist index an array index, the index attribute name needs to be extended with [*] when creating the index and
when filtering in an AQL query using the
IN
operator.
The following example creates an array hash index on the
tags
attribute in a collection named
posts
:
85
Index Basics
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "tags[*]" ] });
db.posts.insert({ tags: [ "foobar", "baz", "quux" ] });
This array index can then be used for looking up individual
tags
values from AQL queries via the
IN
operator:
FOR doc IN posts
FILTER 'foobar' IN doc.tags
RETURN doc
It is possible to add the array expansion operator [*], but it is not mandatory. You may use it to indicate that an array index is used, it is
purely cosmetic however:
FOR doc IN posts
FILTER 'foobar' IN doc.tags[*]
RETURN doc
The following FILTER conditions will not use the array index:
FILTER doc.tags ANY == 'foobar'
FILTER doc.tags ANY IN 'foobar'
FILTER doc.tags IN 'foobar'
FILTER doc.tags == 'foobar'
FILTER 'foobar' == doc.tags
It is also possible to create an index on subattributes of array values. This makes sense if the index attribute is an array of objects, e.g.
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "tags[*].name" ] });
db.posts.insert({ tags: [ { name: "foobar" }, { name: "baz" }, { name: "quux" } ] });
The following query will then use the array index (this does require the array expansion operator):
FOR doc IN posts
FILTER 'foobar' IN doc.tags[*].name
RETURN doc
If you store a document having the array which does contain elements not having the subattributes this document will also be indexed
with the value
null
, which in ArangoDB is equal to attribute not existing.
ArangoDB supports creating array indexes with a single [*] operator per index attribute. For example, creating an index as follows is not
supported:
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "tags[*].name[*].value" ] });
Array values will automatically be de-duplicated before being inserted into an array index. For example, if the following document is
inserted into the collection, the duplicate array value
bar
will be inserted only once:
db.posts.insert({ tags: [ "foobar", "bar", "bar" ] });
If an array index is declared unique, the de-duplication of array values will happen before inserting the values into the index, so the
above insert operation will not necessarily fail. It will fail if the index already contains an instance of the
the value
bar
bar
value, but will succeed if
is not already present in the index.
If an array index is declared and you store documents that do not have an array at the specified attribute this document will not be
inserted in the index. Hence the following objects will not be indexed:
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "tags[*]" ] });
db.posts.insert({ something: "else" });
db.posts.insert({ tags: null });
db.posts.insert({ tags: "this is no array" });
db.posts.insert({ tags: { content: [1, 2, 3] } });
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Index Basics
An array index is able to index an explicit
null
null
value and when queried for it, it will only return those documents having explicitly
stored in the array, it will not return any documents that do not have the array at all.
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "tags[*]" ] });
db.posts.insert({tags: null}) // Will not be indexed
db.posts.insert({tags: []})
// Will not be indexed
db.posts.insert({tags: [null]}); // Will be indexed for null
db.posts.insert({tags: [null, 1, 2]}); // Will be indexed for null, 1 and 2
Declaring an array index as sparse does not have an effect on the array part of the index, this in particular means that explicit
null
values are also indexed in the sparse version. If an index is combined from an array and a normal attribute the sparsity will apply for the
attribute e.g.:
db.posts.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "tags[*]", "name" ], sparse: true });
db.posts.insert({tags: null, name: "alice"}) // Will not be indexed
db.posts.insert({tags: [], name: "alice"}) // Will not be indexed
db.posts.insert({tags: [1, 2, 3]}) // Will not be indexed
db.posts.insert({tags: [1, 2, 3], name: null}) // Will not be indexed
db.posts.insert({tags: [1, 2, 3], name: "alice"})
// Will be indexed for [1, "alice"], [2, "alice"], [3, "alice"]
db.posts.insert({tags: [null], name: "bob"})
// Will be indexed for [null, "bob"]
Please note that filtering using array indexes only works from within AQL queries and only if the query filters on the indexed attribute
using the
IN
operator. The other comparison operators (
==
,
!=
,
>
,
>=
,
<
,
<=
,
ANY
,
ALL
,
NONE
) currently cannot use
array indexes.
Vertex centric indexes
As mentioned above, the most important indexes for graphs are the edge indexes, indexing the
_from
and
_to
attributes of edge
collections. They provide very quick access to all edges originating in or arriving at a given vertex, which allows to quickly find all
neighbours of a vertex in a graph.
In many cases one would like to run more specific queries, for example finding amongst the edges originating in a given vertex only
those with the 20 latest time stamps. Exactly this is achieved with "vertex centric indexes". In a sense these are localized indexes for an
edge collection, which sit at every single vertex.
Technically, they are implemented in ArangoDB as indexes, which sort the complete edge collection first by
attributes. If we for example have a skiplist index on the attributes
_from
and
timestamp
_from
and then by other
of an edge collection, we can answer the
above question very quickly with a single range lookup in the index.
Since ArangoDB 3.0 one can create sorted indexes (type "skiplist" and "persistent") that index the special edge attributes
_to
and additionally other attributes. Since ArangoDB 3.1, these are used in graph traversals, when appropriate
FILTER
_from
or
statements
are found by the optimizer.
For example, to create a vertex centric index of the above type, you would simply do
db.edges.ensureIndex({"type":"skiplist", "fields": ["_from", "timestamp"]});
Then, queries like
FOR v, e, p IN 1..1 OUTBOUND "V/1" edges
FILTER e.timestamp ALL >= "2016-11-09"
RETURN p
will be considerably faster in case there are many edges originating in vertex
"V/1"
but only few with a recent time stamp.
87
Which index to use when
Which Index to use when
ArangoDB automatically indexes the
that a document's
_id
_key
attribute in each collection. There is no need to index this attribute separately. Please note
attribute is derived from the
ArangoDB will also automatically create an index on
_key
attribute, and is thus implicitly indexed, too.
_from
and
_to
in any edge collection, meaning incoming and outgoing
connections can be determined efficiently.
Index types
Users can define additional indexes on one or multiple document attributes. Several different index types are provided by ArangoDB.
These indexes have different usage scenarios:
hash index: provides quick access to individual documents if (and only if) all indexed attributes are provided in the search query.
The index will only be used for equality comparisons. It does not support range queries and cannot be used for sorting.
The hash index is a good candidate if all or most queries on the indexed attribute(s) are equality comparisons. The unique hash
index provides an amortized complexity of O(1) for insert, update, remove and lookup operations. The non-unique hash index
provides O(1) inserts, updates and removes, and will allow looking up documents by index value with amortized O(n) complexity,
with n being the number of documents with that index value.
A non-unique hash index on an optional document attribute should be declared sparse so that it will not index documents for which
the index attribute is not set.
skiplist index: skiplists keep the indexed values in an order, so they can be used for equality lookups, range queries and for sorting.
For high selectivity attributes, skiplist indexes will have a higher overhead than hash indexes. For low selectivity attributes, skiplist
indexes will be more efficient than non-unique hash indexes.
Additionally, skiplist indexes allow more use cases (e.g. range queries, sorting) than hash indexes. Furthermore, they can be used for
lookups based on a leftmost prefix of the index attributes.
persistent index: a persistent index behaves much like the sorted skiplist index, except that all index values are persisted on disk and
do not need to be rebuilt in memory when the server is restarted or the indexed collection is reloaded. The operations in a persistent
index have logarithmic complexity, but operations have may have a higher constant factor than the operations in a skiplist index,
because the persistent index may need to make extra roundtrips to the primary index to fetch the actual documents.
A persistent index can be used for equality lookups, range queries and for sorting. For high selectivity attributes, persistent indexes
will have a higher overhead than skiplist or hash indexes.
Persistent indexes allow more use cases (e.g. range queries, sorting) than hash indexes. Furthermore, they can be used for lookups
based on a leftmost prefix of the index attributes. In contrast to the in-memory skiplist indexes, persistent indexes do not need to be
rebuilt in-memory so they don't influence the loading time of collections as other in-memory indexes do.
geo index: the geo index provided by ArangoDB allows searching for documents within a radius around a two-dimensional earth
coordinate (point), or to find documents with are closest to a point. Document coordinates can either be specified in two different
document attributes or in a single attribute, e.g.
{ "latitude": 50.9406645, "longitude": 6.9599115 }
or
{ "coords": [ 50.9406645, 6.9599115 ] }
Geo indexes will only be invoked via special functions.
fulltext index: a fulltext index can be used to index all words contained in a specific attribute of all documents in a collection. Only
words with a (specifiable) minimum length are indexed. Word tokenization is done using the word boundary analysis provided by
libicu, which is taking into account the selected language provided at server start.
88
Which index to use when
The index supports complete match queries (full words) and prefix queries. Fulltext indexes will only be invoked via special
functions.
Sparse vs. non-sparse indexes
Hash indexes and skiplist indexes can optionally be created sparse. A sparse index does not contain documents for which at least one of
the index attribute is not set or contains a value of
null
.
As such documents are excluded from sparse indexes, they may contain fewer documents than their non-sparse counterparts. This
enables faster indexing and can lead to reduced memory usage in case the indexed attribute does occur only in some, but not all
documents of the collection. Sparse indexes will also reduce the number of collisions in non-unique hash indexes in case non-existing or
optional attributes are indexed.
In order to create a sparse index, an object with the attribute
sparse
can be added to the index creation commands:
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "attributeName" ], sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "attributeName1", "attributeName2" ], sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "attributeName" ], unique: true, sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "attributeName1", "attributeName2" ], unique: true, sparse: true
});
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "attributeName" ], sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "attributeName1", "attributeName2" ], sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "attributeName" ], unique: true, sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "attributeName1", "attributeName2" ], unique: true, sparse: t
rue });
When not explicitly set, the
sparse
attribute defaults to
false
for new indexes. Other indexes than hash and skiplist do not support
sparsity.
As sparse indexes may exclude some documents from the collection, they cannot be used for all types of queries. Sparse hash indexes
cannot be used to find documents for which at least one of the indexed attributes has a value of
query cannot use a sparse index, even if one was created on attribute
attr
null
. For example, the following AQL
:
FOR doc In collection
FILTER doc.attr == null
RETURN doc
If the lookup value is non-constant, a sparse index may or may not be used, depending on the other types of conditions in the query. If
the optimizer can safely determine that the lookup value cannot be
null
, a sparse index may be used. When uncertain, the optimizer
will not make use of a sparse index in a query in order to produce correct results.
For example, the following queries cannot use a sparse index on
values which are compared to
doc.attr
will include
null
attr
because the optimizer will not know beforehand whether the
:
FOR doc In collection
FILTER doc.attr == SOME_FUNCTION(...)
RETURN doc
FOR other IN otherCollection
FOR doc In collection
FILTER doc.attr == other.attr
RETURN doc
Sparse skiplist indexes can be used for sorting if the optimizer can safely detect that the index range does not include
null
for any of
the index attributes.
Note that if you intend to use joins it may be clever to use non-sparsity and maybe even uniqueness for that attribute, else all items
containing the
null
value will match against each other and thus produce large results.
89
Index Utilization
Index Utilization
In most cases ArangoDB will use a single index per collection in a given query. AQL queries can use more than one index per collection
when multiple FILTER conditions are combined with a logical
OR
and these can be covered by indexes. AQL queries will use a single
index per collection when FILTER conditions are combined with logical
AND
.
Creating multiple indexes on different attributes of the same collection may give the query optimizer more choices when picking an
index. Creating multiple indexes on different attributes can also help in speeding up different queries, with FILTER conditions on
different attributes.
It is often beneficial to create an index on more than just one attribute. By adding more attributes to an index, an index can become more
selective and thus reduce the number of documents that queries need to process.
ArangoDB's primary indexes, edges indexes and hash indexes will automatically provide selectivity estimates. Index selectivity
estimates are provided in the web interface, the
getIndexes()
return value and in the
explain()
output for a given query.
The more selective an index is, the more documents it will filter on average. The index selectivity estimates are therefore used by the
optimizer when creating query execution plans when there are multiple indexes the optimizer can choose from. The optimizer will then
select a combination of indexes with the lowest estimated total cost. In general, the optimizer will pick the indexes with the highest
estimated selectivity.
Sparse indexes may or may not be picked by the optimizer in a query. As sparse indexes do not contain
used for queries if the optimizer cannot safely determine whether a FILTER condition includes
null
null
values, they will not be
values for the index attributes. The
optimizer policy is to produce correct results, regardless of whether or which index is used to satisfy FILTER conditions. If it is unsure
about whether using an index will violate the policy, it will not make use of the index.
Troubleshooting
When in doubt about whether and which indexes will be used for executing a given AQL query, click the Explain button in the web
interface in the Queries view or use the
explain()
method for the statement as follows (from the ArangoShell):
var query = "FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value > 42 RETURN doc";
var stmt = db._createStatement(query);
stmt.explain();
The
explain()
command will return a detailed JSON representation of the query's execution plan. The JSON explain output is
intended to be used by code. To get a human-readable and much more compact explanation of the query, there is an explainer tool:
var query = "FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value > 42 RETURN doc";
require("@arangodb/aql/explainer").explain(query);
If any of the explain methods shows that a query is not using indexes, the following steps may help:
check if the attribute names in the query are correctly spelled. In a schema-free database, documents in the same collection can have
varying structures. There is no such thing as a non-existing attribute error. A query that refers to attribute names not present in any
of the documents will not return an error, and obviously will not benefit from indexes.
check the return value of the
getIndexes()
method for the collections used in the query and validate that indexes are actually
present on the attributes used in the query's filter conditions.
if indexes are present but not used by the query, the indexes may have the wrong type. For example, a hash index will only be used
for equality comparisons (i.e.
==
) but not for other comparison types such as
<
,
<=
,
>
,
>=
. Additionally hash indexes will
only be used if all of the index attributes are used in the query's FILTER conditions. A skiplist index will only be used if at least its
first attribute is used in a FILTER condition. If additionally of the skiplist index attributes are specified in the query (from left-toright), they may also be used and allow to filter more documents.
using indexed attributes as function parameters or in arbitrary expressions will likely lead to the index on the attribute not being
used. For example, the following queries will not use an index on
value
:
90
Index Utilization
FOR doc IN collection FILTER TO_NUMBER(doc.value) == 42 RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value - 1 == 42 RETURN doc
In these cases the queries should be rewritten so that only the index attribute is present on one side of the operator, or additional
filters and indexes should be used to restrict the amount of documents otherwise.
certain AQL functions such as
WITHIN()
or
FULLTEXT()
do utilize indexes internally, but their use is not mentioned in the query
explanation for functions in general. These functions will raise query errors (at runtime) if no suitable index is present for the
collection in question.
the query optimizer will in general pick one index per collection in a query. It can pick more than one index per collection if the
FILTER condition contains multiple branches combined with logical
OR
. For example, the following queries can use indexes:
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value1 == 42 || doc.value1 == 23 RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value1 == 42 || doc.value2 == 23 RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value1 < 42 || doc.value2 > 23 RETURN doc
The two
OR
s in the first query will be converted to an
second query requires two separate indexes on
indexes on
value1
and
value2
value1
IN
and
list, and if there is a suitable index on
value2
value1
, it will be used. The
and will use them if present. The third query can use the
when they are sorted.
91
Working with Indexes
Working with Indexes
Index Identifiers and Handles
An index handle uniquely identifies an index in the database. It is a string and consists of the collection name and an index identifier
separated by a
/
. The index identifier part is a numeric value that is auto-generated by ArangoDB.
A specific index of a collection can be accessed using its index handle or index identifier as follows:
db.collection.index("");
db.collection.index("");
db._index("");
For example: Assume that the index handle, which is stored in the
created in a collection named
demo
_id
attribute of the index, is
demo/362549736
and the index was
. Then this index can be accessed as:
db.demo.index("demo/362549736");
Because the index handle is unique within the database, you can leave out the collection and use the shortcut:
db._index("demo/362549736");
Collection Methods
Listing all indexes of a collection
returns information about the indexes
getIndexes()
Returns an array of all indexes defined for the collection.
Note that
_key
implicitly has an index assigned to it.
arangosh> db.test.ensureHashIndex("hashListAttribute",
........> "hashListSecondAttribute.subAttribute");
arangosh> db.test.getIndexes();
show execution results
Creating an index
Indexes should be created using the general method ensureIndex. This method obsoletes the specialized index-specific methods
ensureHashIndex, ensureSkiplist, ensureUniqueConstraint etc.
ensures that an index exists
collection.ensureIndex(index-description)
Ensures that an index according to the index-description exists. A new index will be created if none exists with the given description.
The index-description must contain at least a type attribute. Other attributes may be necessary, depending on the index type.
type can be one of the following values:
hash: hash index
skiplist: skiplist index
fulltext: fulltext index
geo1: geo index, with one attribute
geo2: geo index, with two attributes
92
Working with Indexes
sparse can be true or false.
For hash, and skiplist the sparsity can be controlled, fulltext and geo are sparse by definition.
unique can be true or false and is supported by hash or skiplist
Calling this method returns an index object. Whether or not the index object existed before the call is indicated in the return attribute
isNewlyCreated.
Examples
arangosh> db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "a" ], sparse: true });
arangosh> db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "a", "b" ], unique: true });
show execution results
Dropping an index
drops an index
collection.dropIndex(index)
Drops the index. If the index does not exist, then false is returned. If the index existed and was dropped, then true is returned. Note that
you cannot drop some special indexes (e.g. the primary index of a collection or the edge index of an edge collection).
collection.dropIndex(index-handle)
Same as above. Instead of an index an index handle can be given.
arangosh> db.example.ensureSkiplist("a", "b");
arangosh> var indexInfo = db.example.getIndexes();
arangosh> indexInfo;
arangosh> db.example.dropIndex(indexInfo[0])
arangosh> db.example.dropIndex(indexInfo[1].id)
arangosh> indexInfo = db.example.getIndexes();
show execution results
Database Methods
Fetching an index by handle
finds an index
db._index(index-handle)
Returns the index with index-handle or null if no such index exists.
arangosh> db.example.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "a", "b" ] });
arangosh> var indexInfo = db.example.getIndexes().map(function(x) { return x.id; });
arangosh> indexInfo;
arangosh> db._index(indexInfo[0])
arangosh> db._index(indexInfo[1])
show execution results
Dropping an index
drops an index
db._dropIndex(index)
Drops the index. If the index does not exist, then false is returned. If the index existed and was dropped, then true is returned.
db._dropIndex(index-handle)
Drops the index with index-handle.
93
Working with Indexes
arangosh> db.example.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "a", "b" ] });
arangosh> var indexInfo = db.example.getIndexes();
arangosh> indexInfo;
arangosh> db._dropIndex(indexInfo[0])
arangosh> db._dropIndex(indexInfo[1].id)
arangosh> indexInfo = db.example.getIndexes();
show execution results
Revalidating whether an index is used
finds an index
So you've created an index, and since its maintainance isn't for free, you definitely want to know whether your query can utilize it.
You can use explain to verify whether skiplists or hash indexes are used (if you omit
colors: false
you will get nice colors in
ArangoShell):
arangosh> var explain = require("@arangodb/aql/explainer").explain;
arangosh> db.example.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "a", "b" ] });
arangosh> explain("FOR doc IN example FILTER doc.a < 23 RETURN doc", {colors:false});
show execution results
94
Hash Indexes
Hash Indexes
Introduction to Hash Indexes
It is possible to define a hash index on one or more attributes (or paths) of a document. This hash index is then used in queries to locate
documents in O(1) operations. If the hash index is unique, then no two documents are allowed to have the same set of attribute values.
Creating a new document or updating a document will fail if the uniqueness is violated. If the index is declared sparse, a document will
be excluded from the index and no uniqueness checks will be performed if any index attribute value is not set or has a value of
null
.
Accessing Hash Indexes from the Shell
Unique Hash Indexes
Ensures that a unique constraint exists:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ], unique:
true })
Creates a unique hash index on all documents using field1, ... fieldn as attribute paths. At least one attribute path has to be given. The
index will be non-sparse by default.
All documents in the collection must differ in terms of the indexed attributes. Creating a new document or updating an existing document
will will fail if the attribute uniqueness is violated.
To create a sparse unique index, set the sparse attribute to
true
:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ], unique: true, sparse: true })
In case that the index was successfully created, the index identifier is returned.
Non-existing attributes will default to
index attributes are
null
null
. In a sparse index all documents will be excluded from the index for which all specified
. Such documents will not be taken into account for uniqueness checks.
In a non-sparse index, all documents regardless of
null
- attributes will be indexed and will be taken into account for uniqueness
checks.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "a", "b.c" ], unique: true });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : 1, b : { c : 1 } });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : 1, b : { c : 1 } });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : 1, b : { c : null } });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : 1 });
show execution results
Non-unique Hash Indexes
Ensures that a non-unique hash index exists:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ] })
Creates a non-unique hash index on all documents using field1, ... fieldn as attribute paths. At least one attribute path has to be given. The
index will be non-sparse by default.
To create a sparse unique index, set the sparse attribute to
true
:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ], sparse: true })
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
95
Hash Indexes
arangosh> db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "a" ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : 1 });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : 1 });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : null });
show execution results
Hash Array Indexes
Ensures that a hash array index exists (non-unique):
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "field1[*]", ...,
"fieldn[*]" ] })
Creates a non-unique hash array index for the individual elements of the array attributes field1[*], ... fieldn[*] found in the documents.
At least one attribute path has to be given. The index always treats the indexed arrays as sparse.
It is possible to combine array indexing with standard indexing:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "field1[*]",
"field2" ] })
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "a[*]" ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : [ 1, 2 ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : [ 1, 3 ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : null });
show execution results
Ensure uniqueness of relations in edge collections
It is possible to create secondary indexes using the edge attributes
_from
and
_to
, starting with ArangoDB 3.0. A combined index
over both fields together with the unique option enabled can be used to prevent duplicate relations from being created.
For example, a document collection verts might contain vertices with the document handles
verts/A
,
verts/B
and
verts/C
.
Relations between these documents can be stored in an edge collection edges for instance. Now, you may want to make sure that the
vertex
verts/A
is never linked to
index for the fields
_from
and
verts/B
_to
by an edge more than once. This can be achieved by adding a unique, non-sparse hash
:
db.edges.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "_from", "_to" ], unique: true });
Creating an edge
{ _from: "verts/A", _to: "verts/B" }
in edges will be accepted, but only once. Another attempt to store an edge
with the relation A → B will be rejected by the server with a unique constraint violated error. This includes updates to the
_to
_from
and
fields.
Note that adding a relation B → A is still possible, so is A → A and B → B, because they are all different relations in a directed graph.
Each one can only occur once however.
96
Skiplists
Skiplists
Introduction to Skiplist Indexes
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's skiplists.
It is possible to define a skiplist index on one or more attributes (or paths) of documents. This skiplist is then used in queries to locate
documents within a given range. If the skiplist is declared unique, then no two documents are allowed to have the same set of attribute
values.
Creating a new document or updating a document will fail if the uniqueness is violated. If the skiplist index is declared sparse, a
document will be excluded from the index and no uniqueness checks will be performed if any index attribute value is not set or has a
value of
null
.
Accessing Skiplist Indexes from the Shell
Unique Skiplist Index
Ensures that a unique skiplist index exists:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ],
unique: true })
Creates a unique skiplist index on all documents using field1, ... fieldn as attribute paths. At least one attribute path has to be given. The
index will be non-sparse by default.
All documents in the collection must differ in terms of the indexed attributes. Creating a new document or updating an existing document
will will fail if the attribute uniqueness is violated.
To create a sparse unique index, set the sparse attribute to
true
:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ], unique: true, sparse: true })
In a sparse index all documents will be excluded from the index that do not contain at least one of the specified index attributes or that
have a value of
null
in any of the specified index attributes. Such documents will not be indexed, and not be taken into account for
uniqueness checks.
In a non-sparse index, these documents will be indexed (for non-present indexed attributes, a value of
null
will be used) and will be
taken into account for uniqueness checks.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.ids.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "myId" ], unique: true });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 123 });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 456 });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 789 });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 123 });
show execution results
arangosh> db.ids.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "name.first", "name.last" ],
unique: true });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "hans", "last": "hansen" }});
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "jens", "last": "jensen" }});
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "hans", "last": "jensen" }});
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "hans", "last": "hansen" }});
show execution results
97
Skiplists
Non-unique Skiplist Index
Ensures that a non-unique skiplist index exists:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ]
})
Creates a non-unique skiplist index on all documents using field1, ... fieldn as attribute paths. At least one attribute path has to be given.
The index will be non-sparse by default.
To create a sparse unique index, set the sparse attribute to
true
.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.names.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "first" ] });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tim" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tom" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "John" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tim" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tom" });
show execution results
Skiplist Array Index
Ensures that a skiplist array index exists (non-unique):
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "field1[*]", ...,
"fieldn[*]" ] })
Creates a non-unique skiplist array index for the individual elements of the array attributes field1[*], ... fieldn[*] found in the documents.
At least one attribute path has to be given. The index always treats the indexed arrays as sparse.
It is possible to combine array indexing with standard indexing:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [
"field1[*]", "field2" ] })
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", fields: [ "a[*]" ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : [ 1, 2 ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : [ 1, 3 ] });
arangosh> db.test.save({ a : null });
show execution results
Query by example using a skiplist index
Constructs a query-by-example using a skiplist index:
collection.byExample(example)
Selects all documents from the collection that match the specified example and returns a cursor. A skiplist index will be used if present.
You can use toArray, next, or hasNext to access the result. The result can be limited using the skip and limit operator.
An attribute name of the form a.b is interpreted as attribute path, not as attribute. If you use
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 } }
as example, then you will find all documents, such that the attribute a contains a document of the form {c : 1 }. For example the
document
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 }, "b" : 1 }
will match, but the document
{ "a" : { "c" : 1, "b" : 1 } }
98
Skiplists
will not.
However, if you use
{ "a.c" : 1 },
then you will find all documents, which contain a sub-document in a that has an attribute c of value 1. Both the following documents
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 }, "b" : 1 }
and
{ "a" : { "c" : 1, "b" : 1 } }
will match.
99
Persistent
Persistent indexes
Introduction to Persistent Indexes
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's persistent indexes.
It is possible to define a persistent index on one or more attributes (or paths) of documents. The index is then used in queries to locate
documents within a given range. If the index is declared unique, then no two documents are allowed to have the same set of attribute
values.
Creating a new document or updating a document will fail if the uniqueness is violated. If the index is declared sparse, a document will
be excluded from the index and no uniqueness checks will be performed if any index attribute value is not set or has a value of
null
.
Accessing Persistent Indexes from the Shell
ensures that a unique persistent index exists
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "persistent", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ],
unique: true })
Creates a unique persistent index on all documents using field1, ... fieldn as attribute paths. At least one attribute path has to be given.
The index will be non-sparse by default.
All documents in the collection must differ in terms of the indexed attributes. Creating a new document or updating an existing document
will will fail if the attribute uniqueness is violated.
To create a sparse unique index, set the sparse attribute to
true
:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "persistent", fields: [ "field1", ..., "fieldn" ], unique: true, sparse: true })
In a sparse index all documents will be excluded from the index that do not contain at least one of the specified index attributes or that
have a value of
null
in any of the specified index attributes. Such documents will not be indexed, and not be taken into account for
uniqueness checks.
In a non-sparse index, these documents will be indexed (for non-present indexed attributes, a value of
null
will be used) and will be
taken into account for uniqueness checks.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.ids.ensureIndex({ type: "persistent", fields: [ "myId" ], unique: true });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 123 });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 456 });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 789 });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "myId": 123 });
show execution results
arangosh> db.ids.ensureIndex({ type: "persistent", fields: [ "name.first", "name.last"
], unique: true });
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "hans", "last": "hansen" }});
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "jens", "last": "jensen" }});
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "hans", "last": "jensen" }});
arangosh> db.ids.save({ "name" : { "first" : "hans", "last": "hansen" }});
show execution results
ensures that a non-unique persistent index exists
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "persistent", fields: [ "field1", ...,
"fieldn" ] })
Creates a non-unique persistent index on all documents using field1, ... fieldn as attribute paths. At least one attribute path has to be
given. The index will be non-sparse by default.
100
Persistent
To create a sparse unique index, set the sparse attribute to
true
.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
arangosh> db.names.ensureIndex({ type: "persistent", fields: [ "first" ] });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tim" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tom" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "John" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tim" });
arangosh> db.names.save({ "first" : "Tom" });
show execution results
Query by example using a persistent index
constructs a query-by-example using a persistent index
collection.byExample(example)
Selects all documents from the collection that match the specified example and returns a cursor. A persistent index will be used if
present.
You can use toArray, next, or hasNext to access the result. The result can be limited using the skip and limit operator.
An attribute name of the form a.b is interpreted as attribute path, not as attribute. If you use
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 } }
as example, then you will find all documents, such that the attribute a contains a document of the form {c : 1 }. For example the
document
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 }, "b" : 1 }
will match, but the document
{ "a" : { "c" : 1, "b" : 1 } }
will not.
However, if you use
{ "a.c" : 1 },
then you will find all documents, which contain a sub-document in a that has an attribute c of value 1. Both the following documents
{ "a" : { "c" : 1 }, "b" : 1 }
and
{ "a" : { "c" : 1, "b" : 1 } }
will match.
Persistent Indexes and Server Language
The order of index entries in persistent indexes adheres to the configured server language. If, however, the server is restarted with a
different language setting as when the persistent index was created, not all documents may be returned anymore and the sort order of
those which are returned can be wrong (whenever the persistent index is consulted).
101
Persistent
To fix persistent indexes after a language change, delete and re-create them. Skiplist indexes are not affected, because they are not
persisted and automatically rebuilt on every server start.
102
Fulltext Indexes
Fulltext indexes
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's fulltext indexes.
Introduction to Fulltext Indexes
A fulltext index can be used to find words, or prefixes of words inside documents.
A fulltext index can be defined on one attribute only, and will include all words contained in documents that have a textual value in the
index attribute. Since ArangoDB 2.6 the index will also include words from the index attribute if the index attribute is an array of strings,
or an object with string value members.
For example, given a fulltext index on the
translations
attribute and the following documents, then searching for
fulltext index would return only the first document. Searching for the index for the exact string
documents, and searching for
prefix:Fox
Fox
лиса
using the
would return the first two
would return all three documents:
{ translations: { en: "fox", de: "Fuchs", fr: "renard", ru: "лиса" } }
{ translations: "Fox is the English translation of the German word Fuchs" }
{ translations: [ "ArangoDB", "document", "database", "Foxx" ] }
Note that deeper nested objects are ignored. For example, a fulltext index on translations would index Fuchs, but not fox, given the
following document structure:
{ translations: { en: { US: "fox" }, de: "Fuchs" }
If you need to search across multiple fields and/or nested objects, you may write all the strings into a special attribute, which you then
create the index on (it might be necessary to clean the strings first, e.g. remove line breaks and strip certain words).
If the index attribute is neither a string, an object or an array, its contents will not be indexed. When indexing the contents of an array
attribute, an array member will only be included in the index if it is a string. When indexing the contents of an object attribute, an object
member value will only be included in the index if it is a string. Other data types are ignored and not indexed.
Accessing Fulltext Indexes from the Shell
Ensures that a fulltext index exists:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "fulltext", fields: [ "field" ], minLength: minLength })
Creates a fulltext index on all documents on attribute field.
Fulltext indexes are implicitly sparse: all documents which do not have the specified field attribute or that have a non-qualifying value in
their field attribute will be ignored for indexing.
Only a single attribute can be indexed. Specifying multiple attributes is unsupported.
The minimum length of words that are indexed can be specified via the minLength parameter. Words shorter than minLength characters
will not be indexed. minLength has a default value of 2, but this value might be changed in future versions of ArangoDB. It is thus
recommended to explicitly specify this value.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details is returned.
103
Fulltext Indexes
arangosh> db.example.ensureIndex({ type: "fulltext", fields: [ "text" ], minLength: 3
});
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "the quick brown", b : { c : 1 } });
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "quick brown fox", b : { c : 2 } });
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "brown fox jums", b : { c : 3 } });
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "fox jumps over", b : { c : 4 } });
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "jumps over the", b : { c : 5 } });
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "over the lazy", b : { c : 6 } });
arangosh> db.example.save({ text : "the lazy dog", b : { c : 7 } });
arangosh> db._query("FOR document IN FULLTEXT(example, 'text', 'the') RETURN document");
show execution results
Looks up a fulltext index:
collection.lookupFulltextIndex(attribute, minLength)
Checks whether a fulltext index on the given attribute attribute exists.
Fulltext AQL Functions
Fulltext AQL functions are detailed in Fulltext functions.
104
Geo Indexes
Geo Indexes
Introduction to Geo Indexes
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's geo indexes.
AQL's geographic features are described in Geo functions.
ArangoDB uses Hilbert curves to implement geo-spatial indexes. See this blog for details.
A geo-spatial index assumes that the latitude is between -90 and 90 degree and the longitude is between -180 and 180 degree. A geo
index will ignore all documents which do not fulfill these requirements.
Accessing Geo Indexes from the Shell
ensures that a geo index exists
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "location" ] })
Creates a geo-spatial index on all documents using location as path to the coordinates. The value of the attribute has to be an array with
at least two numeric values. The array must contain the latitude (first value) and the longitude (second value).
All documents, which do not have the attribute path or have a non-conforming value in it are excluded from the index.
A geo index is implicitly sparse, and there is no way to control its sparsity.
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
To create a geo on an array attribute that contains longitude first, set the geoJson attribute to
true
. This corresponds to the format
described in positions
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "location" ], geoJson: true })
To create a geo-spatial index on all documents using latitude and longitude as separate attribute paths, two paths need to be specified in
the fields array:
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "latitude", "longitude" ] })
In case that the index was successfully created, an object with the index details, including the index-identifier, is returned.
Examples
Create a geo index for an array attribute:
arangosh> db.geo.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "loc" ] });
arangosh> for (i = -90;
........>
........>
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
db.geo.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j, loc: [ i, j ] });
}
........> }
arangosh> db.geo.count();
arangosh> db.geo.near(0, 0).limit(3).toArray();
arangosh> db.geo.near(0, 0).count();
show execution results
Create a geo index for a hash array attribute:
105
Geo Indexes
arangosh> db.geo2.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "location.latitude",
"location.longitude" ] });
arangosh> for (i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........>
db.geo2.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j, location: { latitude : i,
longitude : j } });
........>
}
........> }
arangosh> db.geo2.near(0, 0).limit(3).toArray();
show execution results
constructs a geo index selection
collection.geo(location-attribute)
Returns a geo index object if an index was found. The
near
or
within
Looks up a geo index defined on attribute location_attribute.
operators can then be used to execute a geo-spatial query on
this particular index. This is useful for collections with multiple defined geo indexes.
collection.geo(location_attribute, true)
Looks up a geo index on a compound attribute location_attribute. Returns a geo index object if an index was found. The
within
operators can then be used to execute a geo-spatial query on this particular index.
longitude_attribute)
near
or
collection.geo(latitude_attribute,
Looks up a geo index defined on the two attributes latitude_attribute and longitude-attribute. Returns a geo
index object if an index was found. The
near
or
within
operators can then be used to execute a geo-spatial query on this particular
index. Note: the geo simple query helper function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in future versions of
ArangoDB. The preferred way for running geo queries is to use their AQL equivalents.
Examples
Assume you have a location stored as list in the attribute home and a destination stored in the attribute work. Then you can use the
operator to select which geo-spatial attributes (and thus which index) to use in a
arangosh> for (i = -90;
........>
........>
geo
query.
i += 10) {
j <= 180;
j += 10) {
db.complex.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
home : [ i, j ],
........>
........>
i <= 90;
for (j = -180;
near
work : [ -i, -j ] });
}
........> }
........>
arangosh> db.complex.near(0, 170).limit(5);
arangosh> db.complex.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "home" ] });
arangosh> db.complex.near(0, 170).limit(5).toArray();
arangosh> db.complex.geo("work").near(0, 170).limit(5);
arangosh> db.complex.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "work" ] });
arangosh> db.complex.geo("work").near(0, 170).limit(5).toArray();
show execution results
constructs a near query for a collection
collection.near(latitude, longitude)
The returned list is sorted according to the distance,
with the nearest document to the coordinate (latitude, longitude) coming first. If there are near documents of equal distance, documents
are chosen randomly from this set until the limit is reached. It is possible to change the limit using the limit operator. In order to use the
near operator, a geo index must be defined for the collection. This index also defines which attribute holds the coordinates for the
document. If you have more then one geo-spatial index, you can use the geo operator to select a particular index. Note:
support negative skips. // However, you can still use
limit
followed to skip.
within
.
collection.near(latitude, longitude).distance()
limit
will raise the implicit
This will add an attribute
documents returned, which contains the distance between the given point and the document in meters.
longitude).distance(name)
does not
collection.near(latitude, longitude).limit(limit)
Limits the result to limit documents instead of the default 100. Note: Unlike with multiple explicit limits,
default limit imposed by
near
distance
to all
collection.near(latitude,
This will add an attribute name to all documents returned, which contains the distance between the given
point and the document in meters. Note: the near simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be
removed in future versions of ArangoDB. The preferred way for retrieving documents from a collection using the near operator is to use
the AQL NEAR function in an AQL query as follows:
106
Geo Indexes
FOR doc IN NEAR(@@collection, @latitude, @longitude, @limit)
RETURN doc
Examples
To get the nearest two locations:
arangosh> db.geo.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "loc" ] });
arangosh> for (var i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (var j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........>
db.geo.save({
........>
name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
loc: [ i, j ] });
........> } }
arangosh> db.geo.near(0, 0).limit(2).toArray();
show execution results
If you need the distance as well, then you can use the
distance
operator:
arangosh> db.geo.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "loc" ] });
arangosh> for (var i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (var j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........>
db.geo.save({
........>
name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
loc: [ i, j ] });
........> } }
arangosh> db.geo.near(0, 0).distance().limit(2).toArray();
show execution results
constructs a within query for a collection
collection.within(latitude, longitude, radius)
This will find all documents within a
given radius around the coordinate (latitude, longitude). The returned array is sorted by distance, beginning with the nearest document.
In order to use the within operator, a geo index must be defined for the collection. This index also defines which attribute holds the
coordinates for the document. If you have more then one geo-spatial index, you can use the
collection.within(latitude, longitude, radius).distance()
This will add an attribute
which contains the distance between the given point and the document in meters.
radius).distance(name)
geo
operator to select a particular index.
_distance
to all documents returned,
collection.within(latitude, longitude,
This will add an attribute name to all documents returned, which contains the distance between the given point
and the document in meters. Note: the within simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in
future versions of ArangoDB. The preferred way for retrieving documents from a collection using the within operator is to use the AQL
WITHIN function in an AQL query as follows:
FOR doc IN WITHIN(@@collection, @latitude, @longitude, @radius, @distanceAttributeName)
RETURN doc
Examples
To find all documents within a radius of 2000 km use:
arangosh> for (var i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (var j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........> db.geo.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j, loc: [ i, j ] }); } }
arangosh> db.geo.within(0, 0, 2000 * 1000).distance().toArray();
show execution results
ensures that a geo index exists
collection.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "location" ] })
107
Geo Indexes
Since ArangoDB 2.5, this method is an alias for ensureGeoIndex since geo indexes are always sparse, meaning that documents that do
not contain the index attributes or have non-numeric values in the index attributes will not be indexed. ensureGeoConstraint is
deprecated and ensureGeoIndex should be used instead.
The index does not provide a
unique
option because of its limited usability. It would prevent identical coordinates from being inserted
only, but even a slightly different location (like 1 inch or 1 cm off) would be unique again and not considered a duplicate, although it
probably should. The desired threshold for detecting duplicates may vary for every project (including how to calculate the distance even)
and needs to be implemented on the application layer as needed. You can write a Foxx service for this purpose and make use of the AQL
geo functions to find nearby coordinates supported by a geo index.
108
Vertex Centric Indexes
Vertex Centric Indexes
Introduction to Vertex Centric Indexes
In ArangoDB there are special indices designed to speed up graph operations, especially if the graph contains supernodes (vertices that
have an exceptionally high amount of connected edges). These indices are called vertex centric indexes and can be used in addition to the
existing edge index.
Motivation
The idea of this index is to index a combination of a vertex, the direction and any arbitrary set of other attributes on the edges. To take an
example, if we have an attribute called
type
on the edges, we can use an outbound vertex-centric index on this attribute to find all
edges attached to a vertex with a given
type
. The following query example could benefit from such an index:
FOR v, e, p IN 3..5 OUTBOUND @start GRAPH @graphName
FILTER p.edges[*].type ALL == "friend"
RETURN v
Using the built-in edge-index ArangoDB can find the list of all edges attached to the vertex fast, but still it has to walk through this list
and check if all of them have the attribute
the vertex having the attribute
type == "friend"
type == "friend"
. Using a vertex-centric index would allow ArangoDB to find all edges for
in the same time and can save the iteration to verify the condition.
Index creation
A vertex-centric can be either of the following types:
Hash Index
Skiplist Index
Persistent Index
And is created using their creation operations. However in the list of fields used to create the index we have to include either
_to
_from
or
. Let us again explain this by an example. Assume we want to create an hash-based outbound vertex-centric index on the attribute
type
. This can be created with the following way:
arangosh> db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", fields: [ "_from", "type" ] })
show execution results
All options that are supported by the respective indexes are supported by the vertex-centric index as well.
Index usage
The AQL optimizer can decide to use a vertex-centric whenever suitable, however it is not guaranteed that this index is used, the
optimizer may estimate that an other index is assumed to be better. The optimizer will consider this type of indexes on explicit filtering
of
_from
respectively
_to
:
FOR edge IN collection
FILTER edge._from == "vertices/123456" AND edge.type == "friend"
RETURN edge
and during pattern matching queries:
109
Vertex Centric Indexes
FOR v, e, p IN 3..5 OUTBOUND @start GRAPH @graphName
FILTER p.edges[*].type ALL == "friend"
RETURN v
110
Graphs
ArangoDB Graphs
First Steps with Graphs
A Graph consists of vertices and edges. Edges are stored as documents in edge collections. A vertex can be a document of a document
collection or of an edge collection (so edges can be used as vertices). Which collections are used within a named graph is defined via
edge definitions. A named graph can contain more than one edge definition, at least one is needed. Graphs allow you to structure your
models in line with your domain and group them logically in collections and giving you the power to query them in the same graph
queries.
Coming from a relational background - what's a graph?
In SQL you commonly have the construct of a relation table to store n:m relations between two data tables. An edge collection is
somewhat similar to these relation tables; vertex collections resemble the data tables with the objects to connect. While simple graph
queries with fixed number of hops via the relation table may be doable in SQL with several nested joins, graph databases can handle an
arbitrary number of these hops over edge collections - this is called traversal. Also edges in one edge collection may point to several
vertex collections. Its common to have attributes attached to edges, i.e. a label naming this interconnection. Edges have a direction, with
their relations
_from
and
_to
pointing from one document to another document stored in vertex collections. In queries you can define
in which directions the edge relations may be followed (
_to
OUTBOUND
:
_from
→
_to
,
INBOUND
:
_from
←
_to
,
ANY
:
_from
↔
).
Named Graphs
Named graphs are completely managed by arangodb, and thus also visible in the webinterface. They use the full spectrum of ArangoDBs
graph features. You may access them via several interfaces.
AQL Graph Operations with several flavors:
AQL Traversals on both named and anonymous graphs
AQL Shortest Path on both named and anonymous graph
JavaScript General Graph implementation, as you may use it in Foxx Services
Graph Management; creating & manipualating graph definitions; inserting, updating and deleting vertices and edges into
graphs
Graph Functions for working with edges and vertices, to analyze them and their relations
JavaScript Smart Graph implementation, for scalable graphs
Smart Graph Management; creating & manipualating SmartGraph definitions; Differences to General Graph
RESTful General Graph interface used to implement graph management in client drivers
Manipulating collections of named graphs with regular document functions
The underlying collections of the named graphs are still accessible using the standard methods for collections. However the graph
module adds an additional layer on top of these collections giving you the following guarantees:
All modifications are executed transactional
If you delete a vertex all edges will be deleted, you will never have loose ends
If you insert an edge it is checked if the edge matches the edge definitions, your edge collections will only contain valid edges
These guarantees are lost if you access the collections in any other way than the graph module or AQL, so if you delete documents from
your vertex collections directly, the edges pointing to them will be remain in place.
Anonymous graphs
Sometimes you may not need all the powers of named graphs, but some of its bits may be valuable to you. You may use anonymous
graphs in the traversals and in the Working with Edges chapter. Anonymous graphs don't have edge definitions describing which vertex
collection is connected by which edge collection. The graph model has to be maintained in the client side code. This gives you more
freedom than the strict named graphs.
AQL Graph Operations are available for both, named and anonymous graphs:
111
Graphs
AQL Traversals
AQL Shortest Path
When to choose anonymous or named graphs?
As noted above, named graphs ensure graph integrity, both when inserting or removing edges or vertices. So you won't encounter
dangling edges, even if you use the same vertex collection in several named graphs. This involves more operations inside the database
which don't come for free. Therefore anonymous graphs may be faster in many operations. So this question boils down to 'Can I afford
the additional effort or do I need the warranty for integrity?'.
Multiple edge collections vs. FILTER s on edge document attributes
If you want to only traverse edges of a specific type, there are two ways to achieve this. The first would be an attribute in the edge
document - i.e.
you can later
type
, where you specify a differentiator for the edge - i.e.
FILTER e.type = "friends"
"friends"
,
"family"
,
"married"
or
"workmates"
, so
if you only want to follow the friend edges.
Another way, which may be more efficient in some cases, is to use different edge collections for different types of edges, so you have
friend_eges
,
family_edges
,
married_edges
and
workmate_edges
as collection names. You can then configure several named
graphs including a subset of the available edge and vertex collections - or you use anonymous graph queries, where you specify a list of
edge collections to take into account in that query. To only follow friend edges, you would specify
friend_edges
as sole edge
collection.
Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages.
FILTER
operations on ede attributes will do comparisons on each traversed edge,
which may become CPU-intense. When not finding the edges in the first place because of the collection containing them is not traversed
at all, there will never be a reason to actualy check for their
type
attribute with
FILTER
.
The multiple edge collections approach is limited by the number of collections that can be used simultaneously in one query. Every
collection used in a query requires some resources inside of ArangoDB and the number is therefore limited to cap the resource
requirements. You may also have constraints on other edge attributes, such as a hash index with a unique constraint, which requires the
documents to be in a single collection for the uniqueness guarantee, and it may thus not be possible to store the different types of edges
in multiple edeg collections.
So, if your edges have about a dozen different types, it's okay to choose the collection approach, otherwise the
FILTER
preferred. You can still use
with the former
FILTER
operations on edges of course. You can get rid of a
FILTER
on the
type
approach is
approach, everything else can stay the same.
Which part of my data is an Edge and which a Vertex?
The main objects in your data model, such as users, groups or articles, are usually considered to be vertices. For each type of object, a
document collection (also called vertex collection) should store the individual entities. Entities can be connected by edges to express and
classify relations between vertices. It often makes sense to have an edge collection per relation type.
ArangoDB does not require you to store your data in graph structures with edges and vertices, you can also decide to embed attributes
such as which groups a user is part of, or
_id
s of documents in another document instead of connecting the documents with edges. It
can be a meaningful performance optimization for 1:n relationships, if your data is not very focused on relations and you don't need
graph traversal with varying depth. It usually means to introduce some redundancy and possibly inconsistencies if you embed data, but it
can be an acceptable tradeoff.
Vertices
Let's say we have two vertex collections,
Users
and
Groups
. Documents in the
Group, i.e. when it was founded, its subject, an icon URL and so on.
Users
Groups
collection contain the attributes of the
documents contain the data specific to a user - like all
names, birthdays, Avatar URLs, hobbies...
Edges
We can use an edge collection to store relations between users and groups. Since multiple users may be in an arbitrary number of groups,
this is an m:n relation. The edge collection can be called
_to
pointing to
Groups/BowlingGroupHappyPin
UsersInGroups
with i.e. one edge with
_from
pointing to
Users/John
and
. This makes the user John a member of the group Bowling Group Happy Pin.
112
Graphs
Attributes of this relation may contain qualifiers to this relation, like the permissions of John in this group, the date when he joined the
group etc.
Advantages of this approach
Graphs give you the advantage of not just being able to have a fixed number of m:n relations in a row, but an arbitrary number. Edges
can be traversed in both directions, so it's very easy to determine all groups a user is in, but also to find out which members a certain
group has. Users could also be interconnected to create a social network.
Using the graph data model, dealing with data that has lots of relations stays manageable and can be queried in very flexible ways,
whereas it would cause headache to handle it in a relational database system.
Backup and restore
For sure you want to have backups of your graph data, you can use Arangodump to create the backup, and Arangorestore to restore a
backup into a new ArangoDB. You should however note that:
you need the system collection
_graphs
if you backup named graphs.
you need to backup the complete set of all edge and vertex collections your graph consists of. Partial dump/restore may not work.
Example Graphs
ArangoDB comes with a set of easily graspable graphs that are used to demonstrate the APIs. You can use the
create graph
window in the webinterface, or load the module
@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph
add samples
tab in the
in arangosh and use it to
create instances of these graphs in your ArangoDB. Once you've created them, you can inspect them in the webinterface - which was
used to create the pictures below.
You can easily look into the innards of this script for reference about howto manage graphs programatically.
The Knows_Graph
113
Graphs
A set of persons knowing each other:
The knows graph consists of one vertex collection
persons
connected via one edge collection
knows
. It will contain five persons
Alice, Bob, Charlie, Dave and Eve. We will have the following directed relations:
Alice knows Bob
Bob knows Charlie
Bob knows Dave
Eve knows Alice
Eve knows Bob
This is how we create it, inspect its vertices and edges, and drop it again:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("knows_graph");
arangosh> db.persons.toArray()
arangosh> db.knows.toArray();
arangosh> examples.dropGraph("knows_graph");
show execution results
The Social Graph
A set of persons and their relations:
114
Graphs
This example has female and male persons as vertices in two vertex collections the
relation
female
and
male
. The edges are their connections in
edge collection. This is how we create it, inspect its vertices and edges, and drop it again:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> db.female.toArray()
arangosh> db.male.toArray()
arangosh> db.relation.toArray()
arangosh> examples.dropGraph("social");
show execution results
The City Graph
A set of european cities, and their fictional traveling distances as connections:
115
Graphs
The example has the cities as vertices in several vertex collections in several edge collections
germanCity
french / german / international Highway
and
frenchCity
. The edges are their interconnections
. This is how we create it, inspect its edges and vertices, and
drop it again:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> db.frenchCity.toArray();
arangosh> db.germanCity.toArray();
arangosh> db.germanHighway.toArray();
arangosh> db.frenchHighway.toArray();
arangosh> db.internationalHighway.toArray();
arangosh> examples.dropGraph("routeplanner");
show execution results
The Traversal Graph
This graph was designed to demonstrate filters in traversals. It has some labels to filter on it.
116
Graphs
The example has all its vertices in the circles collection, and an edges edge collection to connect them. Circles have unique numeric
labels. Edges have two boolean attributes (theFalse always being false, theTruth always being true) and a label sorting B - D to the left
side, G - K to the right side. Left and right side split into Paths - at B and G which are each direct neighbours of the root-node A. Starting
from A the graph has a depth of 3 on all its paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("traversalGraph");
arangosh> db.circles.toArray();
arangosh> db.edges.toArray();
arangosh> examples.dropGraph("traversalGraph");
show execution results
The World Graph
The world country graph structures its nodes like that: world → continent → country → capital. In some cases edge directions aren't
forward (therefore it will be displayed disjunct in the graph viewer). It has two ways of creating it. One using the named graph utilities
(worldCountry), one without (worldCountryUnManaged). It is used to demonstrate raw traversal operations.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("worldCountry");
arangosh> db.worldVertices.toArray();
arangosh> db.worldEdges.toArray();
arangosh> examples.dropGraph("worldCountry");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("worldCountryUnManaged");
arangosh> examples.dropGraph("worldCountryUnManaged");
show execution results
117
Graphs
Cookbook examples
The above referenced chapters describe the various APIs of ArangoDBs graph engine with small examples. Our cookbook has some
more real life examples:
Traversing a graph in full depth
Using an example vertex with the java driver
Retrieving documents from ArangoDB without knowing the structure
Using a custom visitor from node.js
AQL Example Queries on an Actors and Movies Database
Higher volume graph examples
All of the above examples are rather small so they are easier to comprehend and can demonstrate the way the functionality works. There
are however several datasets freely available on the web that are a lot bigger. We collected some of them with import scripts so you may
play around with them. Another huge graph is the Pokec social network from Slovakia that we used for performance testing on several
databases; You will find importing scripts etc. in this blogpost.
118
General Graphs
Graphs
This chapter describes the general-graph module. It allows you to define a graph that is spread across several edge and document
collections. This allows you to structure your models in line with your domain and group them logically in collections giving you the
power to query them in the same graph queries. There is no need to include the referenced collections within the query, this module will
handle it for you.
Three Steps to create a graph
Create a graph
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph");
arangosh> graph;
show execution results
Add some vertex collections
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("shop");
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("customer");
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("pet");
arangosh> graph;
show execution results
Define relations on the Graph
arangosh> var rel = graph_module._relation("isCustomer", ["shop"], ["customer"]);
arangosh> graph._extendEdgeDefinitions(rel);
arangosh> graph;
show execution results
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Graph Management
This chapter describes the javascript interface for creating and modifying named graphs. In order to create a non empty graph the
functionality to create edge definitions has to be introduced first:
Edge Definitions
An edge definition is always a directed relation of a graph. Each graph can have arbitrary many relations defined within the edge
definitions array.
Initialize the list
Create a list of edge definitions to construct a graph.
graph_module._edgeDefinitions(relation1, relation2, ..., relationN)
The list of edge definitions of a graph can be managed by the graph module itself. This function is the entry point for the management
and will return the correct list.
Parameters
relationX (optional) An object representing a definition of one relation in the graph
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> directed_relation = graph_module._relation("lives_in", "user", "city");
arangosh> undirected_relation = graph_module._relation("knows", "user", "user");
arangosh> edgedefinitions = graph_module._edgeDefinitions(directed_relation,
undirected_relation);
show execution results
Extend the list
Extend the list of edge definitions to construct a graph.
graph_module._extendEdgeDefinitions(edgeDefinitions, relation1, relation2, ..., relationN)
In order to add more edge definitions to the graph before creating this function can be used to add more definitions to the initial list.
Parameters
edgeDefinitions (required) A list of relation definition objects.
relationX (required) An object representing a definition of one relation in the graph
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> directed_relation = graph_module._relation("lives_in", "user", "city");
arangosh> undirected_relation = graph_module._relation("knows", "user", "user");
arangosh> edgedefinitions = graph_module._edgeDefinitions(directed_relation);
arangosh> edgedefinitions = graph_module._extendEdgeDefinitions(undirected_relation);
show execution results
Relation
Define a directed relation.
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graph_module._relation(relationName, fromVertexCollections, toVertexCollections)
The relationName defines the name of this relation and references to the underlying edge collection. The fromVertexCollections is an
Array of document collections holding the start vertices. The toVertexCollections is an Array of document collections holding the target
vertices. Relations are only allowed in the direction from any collection in fromVertexCollections to any collection in
toVertexCollections.
Parameters
relationName (required) The name of the edge collection where the edges should be stored. Will be created if it does not yet exist.
fromVertexCollections (required) One or a list of collection names. Source vertices for the edges have to be stored in these
collections. Collections will be created if they do not exist.
toVertexCollections (required) One or a list of collection names. Target vertices for the edges have to be stored in these collections.
Collections will be created if they do not exist.
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph_module._relation("has_bought", ["Customer", "Company"], ["Groceries",
"Electronics"]);
show execution results
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph_module._relation("has_bought", "Customer", "Product");
show execution results
Create a graph
After having introduced edge definitions a graph can be created.
Create a graph
graph_module._create(graphName, edgeDefinitions, orphanCollections)
The creation of a graph requires the name of the graph and a definition of its edges.
For every type of edge definition a convenience method exists that can be used to create a graph. Optionally a list of vertex collections
can be added, which are not used in any edge definition. These collections are referred to as orphan collections within this chapter. All
collections used within the creation process are created if they do not exist.
Parameters
graphName (required) Unique identifier of the graph
edgeDefinitions (optional) List of relation definition objects
orphanCollections (optional) List of additional vertex collection names
Examples
Create an empty graph, edge definitions can be added at runtime:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph = graph_module._create("myGraph");
show execution results
Create a graph using an edge collection
edges
and a single vertex collection
vertices
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arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> var edgeDefinitions = [ { collection: "edges", "from": [ "vertices" ], "to" :
[ "vertices" ] } ];
arangosh> graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", edgeDefinitions);
show execution results
Create a graph with edge definitions and orphan collections:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph = graph_module._create("myGraph",
........> [graph_module._relation("myRelation", ["male", "female"], ["male",
"female"])], ["sessions"]);
show execution results
Complete Example to create a graph
Example Call:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> var edgeDefinitions = graph_module._edgeDefinitions();
arangosh> graph_module._extendEdgeDefinitions(edgeDefinitions,
graph_module._relation("friend_of", "Customer", "Customer"));
arangosh> graph_module._extendEdgeDefinitions(
........> edgeDefinitions, graph_module._relation(
........> "has_bought", ["Customer", "Company"], ["Groceries", "Electronics"]));
arangosh> graph_module._create("myStore", edgeDefinitions);
show execution results
alternative call:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh>
var edgeDefinitions = graph_module._edgeDefinitions(
........>
graph_module._relation("friend_of", ["Customer"], ["Customer"]),
graph_module._relation(
........> "has_bought", ["Customer", "Company"], ["Groceries", "Electronics"]));
arangosh> graph_module._create("myStore", edgeDefinitions);
show execution results
List available graphs
List all graphs.
graph_module._list()
Lists all graph names stored in this database.
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph_module._list();
[ ]
Load a graph
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Get a graph
graph_module._graph(graphName)
A graph can be retrieved by its name.
Parameters
graphName (required) Unique identifier of the graph
Examples
Get a graph:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph = graph_module._graph("social");
show execution results
Remove a graph
Remove a graph
graph_module._drop(graphName, dropCollections)
A graph can be dropped by its name. This can drop all collections contained in the graph as long as they are not used within other graphs.
To drop the collections only belonging to this graph, the optional parameter drop-collections has to be set to true.
Parameters
graphName (required) Unique identifier of the graph
dropCollections (optional) Define if collections should be dropped (default: false)
Examples
Drop a graph and keep collections:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph_module._drop("social");
true
arangosh> db._collection("female");
[ArangoCollection 15754, "female" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> db._collection("male");
[ArangoCollection 15756, "male" (type document, status loaded)]
arangosh> db._collection("relation");
[ArangoCollection 15758, "relation" (type edge, status loaded)]
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> graph_module._drop("social", true);
true
arangosh> db._collection("female");
null
arangosh> db._collection("male");
null
arangosh> db._collection("relation");
null
Modify a graph definition during runtime
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Graph Management
After you have created an graph its definition is not immutable. You can still add, delete or modify edge definitions and vertex
collections.
Extend the edge definitions
Add another edge definition to the graph
graph._extendEdgeDefinitions(edgeDefinition)
Extends the edge definitions of a graph. If an orphan collection is used in this edge definition, it will be removed from the orphanage. If
the edge collection of the edge definition to add is already used in the graph or used in a different graph with different from and/or to
collections an error is thrown.
Parameters
edgeDefinition (required) The relation definition to extend the graph
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph")
arangosh> var ed1 = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var ed2 = graph_module._relation("myEC2", ["myVC1"], ["myVC3"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [ed1]);
arangosh> graph._extendEdgeDefinitions(ed2);
Modify an edge definition
Modify an relation definition
graph_module._editEdgeDefinition(edgeDefinition)
Edits one relation definition of a graph. The edge definition used as argument will replace the existing edge definition of the graph which
has the same collection. Vertex Collections of the replaced edge definition that are not used in the new definition will transform to an
orphan. Orphans that are used in this new edge definition will be deleted from the list of orphans. Other graphs with the same edge
definition will be modified, too.
Parameters
edgeDefinition (required) The edge definition to replace the existing edge definition with the same attribute collection.
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph")
arangosh> var original = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var modified = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC2"], ["myVC3"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [original]);
arangosh> graph._editEdgeDefinitions(modified);
Delete an edge definition
Delete one relation definition
graph_module._deleteEdgeDefinition(edgeCollectionName, dropCollection)
Deletes a relation definition defined by the edge collection of a graph. If the collections defined in the edge definition (collection, from,
to) are not used in another edge definition of the graph, they will be moved to the orphanage.
Parameters
edgeCollectionName (required) Name of edge collection in the relation definition.
dropCollection (optional) Define if the edge collection should be dropped. Default false.
Examples
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Remove an edge definition but keep the edge collection:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph")
arangosh> var ed1 = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var ed2 = graph_module._relation("myEC2", ["myVC1"], ["myVC3"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [ed1, ed2]);
arangosh> graph._deleteEdgeDefinition("myEC1");
arangosh> db._collection("myEC1");
[ArangoCollection 20077, "myEC1" (type edge, status loaded)]
Remove an edge definition and drop the edge collection:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph")
arangosh> var ed1 = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var ed2 = graph_module._relation("myEC2", ["myVC1"], ["myVC3"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [ed1, ed2]);
arangosh> graph._deleteEdgeDefinition("myEC1", true);
arangosh> db._collection("myEC1");
null
Extend vertex Collections
Each graph can have an arbitrary amount of vertex collections, which are not part of any edge definition of the graph. These collections
are called orphan collections. If the graph is extended with an edge definition using one of the orphans, it will be removed from the set of
orphan collection automatically.
Add a vertex collection
Add a vertex collection to the graph
graph._addVertexCollection(vertexCollectionName, createCollection)
Adds a vertex collection to the set of orphan collections of the graph. If the collection does not exist, it will be created. If it is already
used by any edge definition of the graph, an error will be thrown.
Parameters
vertexCollectionName (required) Name of vertex collection.
createCollection (optional) If true the collection will be created if it does not exist. Default: true.
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph");
arangosh> var ed1 = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [ed1]);
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("myVC3", true);
Get the orphaned collections
Get all orphan collections
graph._orphanCollections()
Returns all vertex collections of the graph that are not used in any edge definition.
Examples
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Graph Management
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph")
arangosh> var ed1 = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [ed1]);
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("myVC3", true);
arangosh> graph._orphanCollections();
[
"myVC3"
]
Remove a vertex collection
Remove a vertex collection from the graph
graph._removeVertexCollection(vertexCollectionName, dropCollection)
Removes a vertex collection from the graph. Only collections not used in any relation definition can be removed. Optionally the
collection can be deleted, if it is not used in any other graph.
Parameters
vertexCollectionName (required) Name of vertex collection.
dropCollection (optional) If true the collection will be dropped if it is not used in any other graph. Default: false.
Examples
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/general-graph")
arangosh> var ed1 = graph_module._relation("myEC1", ["myVC1"], ["myVC2"]);
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [ed1]);
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("myVC3", true);
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("myVC4", true);
arangosh> graph._orphanCollections();
arangosh> graph._removeVertexCollection("myVC3");
arangosh> graph._orphanCollections();
show execution results
Maniuplating Vertices
Save a vertex
Create a new vertex in vertexCollectionName
graph.vertexCollectionName.save(data)
Parameters
data (required) JSON data of vertex.
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.male.save({name: "Floyd", _key: "floyd"});
show execution results
Replace a vertex
Replaces the data of a vertex in collection vertexCollectionName
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graph.vertexCollectionName.replace(vertexId, data, options)
Parameters
vertexId (required) _id attribute of the vertex
data (required) JSON data of vertex.
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.male.save({neym: "Jon", _key: "john"});
arangosh> graph.male.replace("male/john", {name: "John"});
show execution results
Update a vertex
Updates the data of a vertex in collection vertexCollectionName
graph.vertexCollectionName.update(vertexId, data, options)
Parameters
vertexId (required) _id attribute of the vertex
data (required) JSON data of vertex.
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.female.save({name: "Lynda", _key: "linda"});
arangosh> graph.female.update("female/linda", {name: "Linda", _key: "linda"});
show execution results
Remove a vertex
Removes a vertex in collection vertexCollectionName
graph.vertexCollectionName.remove(vertexId, options)
Additionally removes all ingoing and outgoing edges of the vertex recursively (see edge remove).
Parameters
vertexId (required) _id attribute of the vertex
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.male.save({name: "Kermit", _key: "kermit"});
arangosh> db._exists("male/kermit")
arangosh> graph.male.remove("male/kermit")
arangosh> db._exists("male/kermit")
show execution results
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Graph Management
Manipulating Edges
Save a new edge
Creates an edge from vertex from to vertex to in collection edgeCollectionName
graph.edgeCollectionName.save(from, to, data, options)
Parameters
from (required) _id attribute of the source vertex
to (required) _id attribute of the target vertex
data (required) JSON data of the edge
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.relation.save("male/bob", "female/alice", {type: "married", _key:
"bobAndAlice"});
show execution results
If the collections of from and to are not defined in an edge definition of the graph, the edge will not be stored.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.relation.save(
........>
........>
"relation/aliceAndBob",
"female/alice",
........> {type: "married", _key: "bobAndAlice"});
[ArangoError 1906: invalid edge between relation/aliceAndBob and female/alice. Doesn't
conform to any edge definition]
Replace an edge
Replaces the data of an edge in collection edgeCollectionName. Note that
_from
and
_to
are mandatory.
graph.edgeCollectionName.replace(edgeId, data, options)
Parameters
edgeId (required) _id attribute of the edge
data (required) JSON data of the edge
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.relation.save("female/alice", "female/diana", {typo: "nose", _key:
"aliceAndDiana"});
arangosh> graph.relation.replace("relation/aliceAndDiana", {type: "knows", _from:
"female/alice", _to: "female/diana"});
show execution results
Update an edge
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Graph Management
Updates the data of an edge in collection edgeCollectionName
graph.edgeCollectionName.update(edgeId, data, options)
Parameters
edgeId (required) _id attribute of the edge
data (required) JSON data of the edge
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.relation.save("female/alice", "female/diana", {type: "knows", _key:
"aliceAndDiana"});
arangosh> graph.relation.update("relation/aliceAndDiana", {type: "quarreled", _key:
"aliceAndDiana"});
show execution results
Remove an edge
Removes an edge in collection edgeCollectionName
graph.edgeCollectionName.remove(edgeId, options)
If this edge is used as a vertex by another edge, the other edge will be removed (recursively).
Parameters
edgeId (required) _id attribute of the edge
options (optional) See collection documentation
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph.relation.save("female/alice", "female/diana", {_key: "aliceAndDiana"});
arangosh> db._exists("relation/aliceAndDiana")
arangosh> graph.relation.remove("relation/aliceAndDiana")
arangosh> db._exists("relation/aliceAndDiana")
show execution results
Connect edges
Get all connecting edges between 2 groups of vertices defined by the examples
graph._connectingEdges(vertexExample, vertexExample2, options)
The function accepts an id, an example, a list of examples or even an empty example as parameter for vertexExample.
Parameters
vertexExample1 (optional) See Definition of examples
vertexExample2 (optional) See Definition of examples
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
edgeExamples: Filter the edges, see Definition of examples
edgeCollectionRestriction : One or a list of edge-collection names that should be considered to be on the path.
vertex1CollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered on the intermediate vertex
steps.
vertex2CollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered on the intermediate vertex
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Graph Management
steps.
Examples
A route planner example, all connecting edges between capitals.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._getConnectingEdges({isCapital : true}, {isCapital : true});
[ ]
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Graph Functions
Graph Functions
This chapter describes various functions on a graph. A lot of these accept a vertex (or edge) example as parameter as defined in the next
section.
Examples will explain the API on the the city graph:
Definition of examples
For many of the following functions examples can be passed in as a parameter. Examples are used to filter the result set for objects that
match the conditions. These examples can have the following values:
null, there is no matching executed all found results are valid.
A string, only results are returned, which _id equal the value of the string
An example object, defining a set of attributes. Only results having these attributes are matched.
A list containing example objects and/or strings. All results matching at least one of the elements in the list are returned. Get
vertices from edges.
Get vertex from of an edge
Get the source vertex of an edge
graph._fromVertex(edgeId)
Returns the vertex defined with the attribute _from of the edge with edgeId as its _id.
Parameters
edgeId (required) _id attribute of the edge
Examples
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Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph._fromVertex("relation/aliceAndBob")
show execution results
Get vertex to of an edge
Get the target vertex of an edge
graph._toVertex(edgeId)
Returns the vertex defined with the attribute _to of the edge with edgeId as its _id.
Parameters
edgeId (required) _id attribute of the edge
Examples
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> graph._toVertex("relation/aliceAndBob")
show execution results
_neighbors
Get all neighbors of the vertices defined by the example
graph._neighbors(vertexExample, options)
The function accepts an id, an example, a list of examples or even an empty example as parameter for vertexExample. The complexity of
this method is O(n*m^x) with n being the vertices defined by the parameter vertexExamplex, m the average amount of neighbors and x
the maximal depths. Hence the default call would have a complexity of O(n*m);
Parameters
vertexExample (optional) See Definition of examples
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
edgeExamples: Filter the edges, see Definition of examples
neighborExamples: Filter the neighbor vertices, see Definition of examples
edgeCollectionRestriction : One or a list of edge-collection names that should be considered to be on the path.
vertexCollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered on the intermediate vertex
steps.
minDepth: Defines the minimal number of intermediate steps to neighbors (default is 1).
maxDepth: Defines the maximal number of intermediate steps to neighbors (default is 1).
Examples
A route planner example, all neighbors of capitals.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._neighbors({isCapital : true});
show execution results
A route planner example, all outbound neighbors of Hamburg.
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Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._neighbors('germanCity/Hamburg', {direction : 'outbound', maxDepth :
2});
show execution results
_commonNeighbors
Get all common neighbors of the vertices defined by the examples.
graph._commonNeighbors(vertex1Example, vertex2Examples, optionsVertex1, optionsVertex2)
This function returns the intersection of graph_module._neighbors(vertex1Example, optionsVertex1) and
graph_module._neighbors(vertex2Example, optionsVertex2). For parameter documentation see _neighbors.
The complexity of this method is O(n*m^x) with n being the maximal amount of vertices defined by the parameters vertexExamples, m
the average amount of neighbors and x the maximal depths. Hence the default call would have a complexity of O(n*m);
Examples
A route planner example, all common neighbors of capitals.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._commonNeighbors({isCapital : true}, {isCapital : true});
show execution results
A route planner example, all common outbound neighbors of Hamburg with any other location which have a maximal depth of 2 :
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._commonNeighbors(
........>
'germanCity/Hamburg',
........>
{},
........>
{direction : 'outbound', maxDepth : 2},
........> {direction : 'outbound', maxDepth : 2});
show execution results
_countCommonNeighbors
Get the amount of common neighbors of the vertices defined by the examples.
graph._countCommonNeighbors(vertex1Example, vertex2Examples, optionsVertex1, optionsVertex2)
Similar to _commonNeighbors but returns count instead of the elements.
Examples
A route planner example, all common neighbors of capitals.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> var example = { isCapital: true };
arangosh> var options = { includeData: true };
arangosh> graph._countCommonNeighbors(example, example, options, options);
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Graph Functions
show execution results
A route planner example, all common outbound neighbors of Hamburg with any other location which have a maximal depth of 2 :
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> var options = { direction: 'outbound', maxDepth: 2, includeData: true };
arangosh> graph._countCommonNeighbors('germanCity/Hamburg', {}, options, options);
show execution results
_commonProperties
Get the vertices of the graph that share common properties.
graph._commonProperties(vertex1Example, vertex2Examples, options)
The function accepts an id, an example, a list of examples or even an empty example as parameter for vertex1Example and
vertex2Example.
The complexity of this method is O(n) with n being the maximal amount of vertices defined by the parameters vertexExamples.
Parameters
vertex1Examples (optional) Filter the set of source vertices, see Definition of examples
vertex2Examples (optional) Filter the set of vertices compared to, see Definition of examples
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
vertex1CollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be searched for source vertices.
vertex2CollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be searched for compare vertices.
ignoreProperties : One or a list of attribute names of a document that should be ignored.
Examples
A route planner example, all locations with the same properties:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._commonProperties({}, {});
show execution results
A route planner example, all cities which share same properties except for population.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._commonProperties({}, {}, {ignoreProperties: 'population'});
show execution results
_countCommonProperties
Get the amount of vertices of the graph that share common properties.
graph._countCommonProperties(vertex1Example, vertex2Examples, options)
Similar to _commonProperties but returns count instead of the objects.
Examples
A route planner example, all locations with the same properties:
134
Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._countCommonProperties({}, {});
show execution results
A route planner example, all German cities which share same properties except for population.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._countCommonProperties({}, {}, {vertex1CollectionRestriction :
'germanCity',
........> vertex2CollectionRestriction : 'germanCity' ,ignoreProperties: 'population'});
show execution results
_paths
The _paths function returns all paths of a graph.
graph._paths(options)
This function determines all available paths in a graph.
The complexity of this method is O(n*n*m) with n being the amount of vertices in the graph and m the average amount of connected
edges;
Parameters
options (optional) An object containing options, see below:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are any, inbound and outbound (default).
followCycles (optional): If set to true the query follows cycles in the graph, default is false.
minLength (optional): Defines the minimal length a path must have to be returned (default is 0).
maxLength (optional): Defines the maximal length a path must have to be returned (default is 10).
Examples
Return all paths of the graph "social":
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> g._paths();
show execution results
Return all inbound paths of the graph "social" with a maximal length of 1 and a minimal length of 2:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("social");
arangosh> g._paths({direction : 'inbound', minLength : 1, maxLength :
2});
show execution results
_shortestPath
The _shortestPath function returns all shortest paths of a graph.
graph._shortestPath(startVertexExample, endVertexExample, options)
135
Graph Functions
This function determines all shortest paths in a graph. The function accepts an id, an example, a list of examples or even an empty
example as parameter for start and end vertex. If one wants to call this function to receive nearly all shortest paths for a graph the option
algorithm should be set to Floyd-Warshall to increase performance. If no algorithm is provided in the options the function chooses the
appropriate one (either Floyd-Warshall or Dijkstra) according to its parameters. The length of a path is by default the amount of edges
from one start vertex to an end vertex. The option weight allows the user to define an edge attribute representing the length.
Parameters
startVertexExample (optional) An example for the desired start Vertices (see Definition of examples).
endVertexExample (optional) An example for the desired end Vertices (see Definition of examples).
options (optional) An object containing options, see below:
direction: The direction of the edges as a string. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
edgeCollectionRestriction: One or multiple edge collection names. Only edges from these collections will be considered for the
path.
startVertexCollectionRestriction: One or multiple vertex collection names. Only vertices from these collections will be
considered as start vertex of a path.
endVertexCollectionRestriction: One or multiple vertex collection names. Only vertices from these collections will be
considered as end vertex of a path.
edgeExamples: A filter example for the edges in the shortest paths (see example).
algorithm: The algorithm to calculate the shortest paths. If both start and end vertex examples are empty Floyd-Warshall is
used, otherwise the default is Dijkstra
weight: The name of the attribute of the edges containing the length as a string.
defaultWeight: Only used with the option weight. If an edge does not have the attribute named as defined in option weight this
default is used as length. If no default is supplied the default would be positive Infinity so the path could not be calculated.
Examples
A route planner example, shortest path from all german to all french cities:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> g._shortestPath({}, {}, {weight : 'distance', endVertexCollectionRestriction :
'frenchCity',
........> startVertexCollectionRestriction : 'germanCity'});
show execution results
A route planner example, shortest path from Hamburg and Cologne to Lyon:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> g._shortestPath([{_id: 'germanCity/Cologne'},{_id: 'germanCity/Munich'}],
'frenchCity/Lyon',
........> {weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_distanceTo
The _distanceTo function returns all paths and there distance within a graph.
graph._distanceTo(startVertexExample, endVertexExample, options)
This function is a wrapper of graph._shortestPath. It does not return the actual path but only the distance between two vertices.
Examples
A route planner example, shortest distance from all german to all french cities:
136
Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> g._distanceTo({}, {}, {weight : 'distance', endVertexCollectionRestriction :
'frenchCity',
........> startVertexCollectionRestriction : 'germanCity'});
show execution results
A route planner example, shortest distance from Hamburg and Cologne to Lyon:
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var g = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> g._distanceTo([{_id: 'germanCity/Cologne'},{_id: 'germanCity/Munich'}],
'frenchCity/Lyon',
........> {weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_absoluteEccentricity
Get the eccentricity of the vertices defined by the examples.
graph._absoluteEccentricity(vertexExample, options)
The function accepts an id, an example, a list of examples or even an empty example as parameter for vertexExample.
Parameters
vertexExample (optional) Filter the vertices, see Definition of examples
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
edgeCollectionRestriction : One or a list of edge-collection names that should be considered to be on the path.
startVertexCollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered for source vertices.
endVertexCollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered for target vertices.
edgeExamples: Filter the edges to be followed, see Definition of examples
algorithm: The algorithm to calculate the shortest paths, possible values are Floyd-Warshall and Dijkstra.
weight: The name of the attribute of the edges containing the weight.
defaultWeight: Only used with the option weight. If an edge does not have the attribute named as defined in option weight this
default is used as weight. If no default is supplied the default would be positive infinity so the path and hence the eccentricity
can not be calculated.
Examples
A route planner example, the absolute eccentricity of all locations.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteEccentricity({});
show execution results
A route planner example, the absolute eccentricity of all locations. This considers the actual distances.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteEccentricity({}, {weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
A route planner example, the absolute eccentricity of all cities regarding only outbound paths.
137
Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteEccentricity({}, {startVertexCollectionRestriction :
'germanCity',
........> direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_eccentricity
Get the normalized eccentricity of the vertices defined by the examples.
graph._eccentricity(vertexExample, options)
Similar to _absoluteEccentricity but returns a normalized result.
Examples
A route planner example, the eccentricity of all locations.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._eccentricity();
show execution results
A route planner example, the weighted eccentricity.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._eccentricity({weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_absoluteCloseness
Get the closeness of the vertices defined by the examples.
graph._absoluteCloseness(vertexExample, options)
The function accepts an id, an example, a list of examples or even an empty example as parameter for vertexExample.
Parameters
vertexExample (optional) Filter the vertices, see Definition of examples
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
edgeCollectionRestriction : One or a list of edge-collection names that should be considered to be on the path.
startVertexCollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered for source vertices.
endVertexCollectionRestriction : One or a list of vertex-collection names that should be considered for target vertices.
edgeExamples: Filter the edges to be followed, see Definition of examples
algorithm: The algorithm to calculate the shortest paths, possible values are Floyd-Warshall and Dijkstra.
weight: The name of the attribute of the edges containing the weight.
defaultWeight: Only used with the option weight. If an edge does not have the attribute named as defined in option weight this
default is used as weight. If no default is supplied the default would be positive infinity so the path and hence the closeness can
not be calculated.
Examples
A route planner example, the absolute closeness of all locations.
138
Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteCloseness({});
show execution results
A route planner example, the absolute closeness of all locations. This considers the actual distances.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteCloseness({}, {weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
A route planner example, the absolute closeness of all German Cities regarding only outbound paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteCloseness({}, {startVertexCollectionRestriction : 'germanCity',
........> direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_closeness
Get the normalized closeness of graphs vertices.
graph._closeness(options)
Similar to _absoluteCloseness but returns a normalized value.
Examples
A route planner example, the normalized closeness of all locations.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._closeness();
show execution results
A route planner example, the closeness of all locations. This considers the actual distances.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._closeness({weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
A route planner example, the closeness of all cities regarding only outbound paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._closeness({direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_absoluteBetweenness
139
Graph Functions
Get the betweenness of all vertices in the graph.
graph._absoluteBetweenness(vertexExample, options)
Parameters
vertexExample (optional) Filter the vertices, see Definition of examples
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
weight: The name of the attribute of the edges containing the weight.
defaultWeight: Only used with the option weight. If an edge does not have the attribute named as defined in option weight this
default is used as weight. If no default is supplied the default would be positive infinity so the path and hence the betweeness
can not be calculated.
Examples
A route planner example, the absolute betweenness of all locations.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteBetweenness({});
show execution results
A route planner example, the absolute betweenness of all locations. This considers the actual distances.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteBetweenness({weight : 'distance'});
{
}
A route planner example, the absolute betweenness of all cities regarding only outbound paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._absoluteBetweenness({direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
{
}
_betweenness
Get the normalized betweenness of graphs vertices.
graph_module._betweenness(options)
Similar to _absoluteBetweeness but returns normalized values.
Examples
A route planner example, the betweenness of all locations.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._betweenness();
show execution results
A route planner example, the betweenness of all locations. This considers the actual distances.
140
Graph Functions
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._betweenness({weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
A route planner example, the betweenness of all cities regarding only outbound paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._betweenness({direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
show execution results
_radius
Get the radius of a graph.
`
Parameters
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
algorithm: The algorithm to calculate the shortest paths, possible values are Floyd-Warshall and Dijkstra.
weight: The name of the attribute of the edges containing the weight.
defaultWeight: Only used with the option weight. If an edge does not have the attribute named as defined in option weight this
default is used as weight. If no default is supplied the default would be positive infinity so the path and hence the radius can
not be calculated.
Examples
A route planner example, the radius of the graph.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._radius();
1
A route planner example, the radius of the graph. This considers the actual distances.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._radius({weight : 'distance'});
1
A route planner example, the radius of the graph regarding only outbound paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._radius({direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
1
_diameter
Get the diameter of a graph.
141
Graph Functions
graph._diameter(graphName, options)
Parameters
options (optional) An object defining further options. Can have the following values:
direction: The direction of the edges. Possible values are outbound, inbound and any (default).
algorithm: The algorithm to calculate the shortest paths, possible values are Floyd-Warshall and Dijkstra.
weight: The name of the attribute of the edges containing the weight.
defaultWeight: Only used with the option weight. If an edge does not have the attribute named as defined in option weight this
default is used as weight. If no default is supplied the default would be positive infinity so the path and hence the radius can
not be calculated.
Examples
A route planner example, the diameter of the graph.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._diameter();
1
A route planner example, the diameter of the graph. This considers the actual distances.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._diameter({weight : 'distance'});
1
A route planner example, the diameter of the graph regarding only outbound paths.
arangosh> var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
arangosh> var graph = examples.loadGraph("routeplanner");
arangosh> graph._diameter({direction : 'outbound', weight : 'distance'});
1
142
SmartGraphs
SmartGraphs
This feature is only available in the Enterprise Edition.
This chapter describes the smart-graph module. It enables you to manage graphs at scale, it will give a vast performance benefit for all
graphs sharded in an ArangoDB Cluster. On a single server this feature is pointless, hence it is only available in a cluster mode. In terms
of querying there is no difference between smart and General Graphs. The former are a transparent replacement for the latter. So for
querying the graph please refer to AQL Graph Operations and Graph Functions sections. The optimizer is clever enough to identify if we
are on a SmartGraph or not.
The difference is only in the management section: creating and modifying the underlying collections of the graph. For a detailed API
reference please refer to SmartGraph Management.
What makes a graph smart?
Most graphs have one feature that divides the entire graph into several smaller subgraphs. These subgraphs have a large amount of edges
that only connect vertices in the same subgraph and only have few edges connecting vertices from other subgraphs. Examples for these
graphs are:
Social Networks
Typically the feature here is the region/country users live in. Every user typicalliy has more contacts in the same region/country then
she has in other regions/countries
Transport Systems
For those also the feature is the region/country. You have many local transportion but only few accross countries.
E-Commerce
In this case probably the category of products is a good feature. Often products of the same category are bought together.
If this feature is known, SmartGraphs can make use if it. When creating a SmartGraph you have to define a smartAttribute, which is the
name of an attribute stored in every vertex. The graph will than be automatically sharded in such a way that all vertices with the same
value are stored on the same physical machine, all edges connecting vertices with identical smartAttribute values are stored on this
machine as well. During query time the query optimizer and the query executor both know for every document exactly where it is stored
and can thereby minimize network overhead. Everything that can be computed locally will be computed locally.
Benefits of SmartGraphs
Because of the above described guaranteed sharding, the performance of queries that only cover one subgraph have a performance
almost equal to an only local computation. Queries that cover more than one subgraph require some network overhead. The more
subgraphs are touched the more network cost will apply. However the overall performance is never worse than the same query on a
General Graph.
Getting started
First of all SmartGraphs cannot use existing collections, when switching to SmartGraph from an existing data set you have to import the
data into a fresh SmartGraph. This switch can be easily achieved with arangodump and arangorestore. The only thing you have to change
in this pipeline is that you create the new collections with the SmartGraph before starting
arangorestore
.
Create a graph
In comparison to General Graph we have to add more options when creating the graph. The two options
numberOfShards
smartGraphAttribute
and
are required and cannot be modifed later.
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/smart-graph");
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [], [], {smartGraphAttribute: "region", numberOfShards: 9})
;
arangosh> graph;
[ SmartGraph myGraph EdgeDefinitions: [ ] VertexCollections: [ ] ]
143
SmartGraphs
Add some vertex collections
This is again identical to General Graph. The module will setup correct sharding for all these collections. Note: The collections have
to be new.
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("shop");
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("customer");
arangosh> graph._addVertexCollection("pet");
arangosh> graph;
[ SmartGraph myGraph EdgeDefinitions: [ ] VertexCollections: [ "shop", "customer", "pet" ] ]
Define relations on the Graph
arangosh> var rel = graph_module._relation("isCustomer", ["shop"], ["customer"]);
arangosh> graph._extendEdgeDefinitions(rel);
arangosh> graph;
[ SmartGraph myGraph EdgeDefinitions: [
"isCustomer: [shop] -> [customer]" ] VertexCollections: [ "pet" ] ]
144
SmartGraph Management
Smart Graph Management
This chapter describes the JavaScript interface for creating and modifying SmartGraphs. At first you have to note that every SmartGraph
is a specialized version of a General Graph, which means all of the General Graph functionality is available on a SmartGraph as well.
The major difference of both modules is handling of the underlying collections, the General Graph does not enforce or maintain any
sharding of the collections and can therefor combine arbitrary sets of existing collections. SmartGraphs enforce and rely on a special
sharding of the underlying collections and hence can only work with collections that are created through the SmartGraph itself. This also
means that SmartGraphs cannot be overlapping, a collection can either be sharded for one SmartGraph or for the other. If you need to
make sure that all queries can be executed with SmartGraph performance, just create one large SmartGraph covering everything and
query it stating the subset of edge collections explicitly. To generally understand the concept of this module please read the chapter about
General Graph Management first. In the following we will only describe the overloaded functionality. Everything else works identical in
both modules.
Create a graph
Also SmartGraphs require edge relations to be created, the format of the relations is identical. The only difference is that all collections
used within the relations to create a new SmartGraph cannot exist yet. They have to be created by the Graph in order to enforce the
correct sharding.
Create a graph
graph_module._create(graphName, edgeDefinitions, orphanCollections, smartOptions)
The creation of a graph requires the name and some SmartGraph options. Due to the API
have to be given, but both can be empty arrays and can be created later. The
method
_relation
known from the
general-graph
edgeDefinitions
edgeDefinitions
module, which is also available here.
and
orphanCollections
can be created using the convenience
orphanCollections
again is just a list of
additional vertex collections which are not yet connected via edges but should follow the same sharding to be connected later on. All
collections used within the creation process are newly created. The process will fail if one of them already exists. All newly created
collections will immediately be dropped again in the failed case.
Parameters
graphName (required) Unique identifier of the graph
edgeDefinitions (required) List of relation definition objects, may be empty
orphanCollections (required) List of additional vertex collection names, may be empty
smartOptions (required) A JSON object having the following keys:
numberOfShards (required) The number of shards that will be created for each collection. To maintain the correct sharding all
collections need an identical number of shards. This cannot be modified after creation of the graph.
smartGraphAttribute (required) The attribute that will be used for sharding. All vertices are required to have this attribute set
and it has to be a string. Edges derive the attribute from their connected vertices.
Examples
Create an empty graph, edge definitions can be added at runtime:
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/smart-graph");
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [], [], {smartGraphAttribute: "region", numberOfShards: 9});
[ SmartGraph myGraph EdgeDefinitions: [ ] VertexCollections: [ ] ]
Create a graph using an edge collection
edges
and a single vertex collection
vertices
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/smart-graph");
arangosh> var edgeDefinitions = [ graph_module._relation("edges", "vertices", "vertices") ];
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", edgeDefinitions, [], {smartGraphAttribute: "region", numberOfSh
ards: 9});
[ SmartGraph myGraph EdgeDefinitions: [ "edges: [vertices] -> [vertices]" ] VertexCollections: [ ] ]
Create a graph with edge definitions and orphan collections:
145
SmartGraph Management
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/smart-graph");
arangosh> var edgeDefinitions = [ graph_module._relation("myRelation", ["male", "female"], ["male", "female"]) ];
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", edgeDefinitions, ["sessions"], {smartGraphAttribute: "region",
numberOfShards: 9});
[ Graph myGraph EdgeDefinitions: [
"myRelation: [female, male] -> [female, male]"
] VertexCollections: [
"sessions"
] ]
Modify a graph definition during runtime
After you have created a SmartGraph its definition is also not immutable. You can still add or remove relations. This is again identical to
General Graphs. However there is one important difference: You can only add collections that either do not exist, or that have been
created by this graph earlier. The later can be achieved if you for example remove an orphan collection from this graph, without dropping
the collection itself. Than after some time you decide to add it again, it can be used. This is because the enforced sharding is still applied
to this vertex collection, hence it is suitable to be added again.
Remove a vertex collection
Remove a vertex collection from the graph
graph._removeVertexCollection(vertexCollectionName, dropCollection)
In most cases this function works identically to the General Graph one. But there is one special case: The first vertex collection added to
the graph (either orphan or within a relation) defines the sharding for all collections within the graph. This collection can never be
removed from the graph.
Parameters
vertexCollectionName (required) Name of vertex collection.
dropCollection (optional) If true the collection will be dropped if it is not used in any other graph. Default: false.
Examples
The following example shows that you cannot drop the initial collection. You have to drop the complete graph. If you just want to get rid
of the data
truncate
it.
arangosh> var graph_module = require("@arangodb/smart-graph")
arangosh> var relation = graph_module._relation("edges", "vertices", "vertices");
arangosh> var graph = graph_module._create("myGraph", [relation], ["other"], {smartGraphAttribute: "region", number
OfShards: 9});
arangosh> graph._orphanCollections();
[
"other"
]
arangosh> graph._deleteEdgeDefinition("edges");
arangosh> graph._orphanCollections();
[
"vertices",
"other"
]
arangosh> graph._removeVertexCollection("other");
arangosh> graph._orphanCollections();
[
"vertices"
]
arangosh> graph._removeVertexCollection("vertices");
ArangoError 4002: cannot drop this smart collection
146
Traversals
Traversals
ArangoDB provides several ways to query graph data. Very simple operations can be composed with the low-level edge methods edges,
inEdges, and outEdges for edge collections. These work on named and anonymous graphs. For more complex operations, ArangoDB
provides predefined traversal objects.
Also Traversals have been added to AQL. Please read the chapter about AQL traversersals before you continue reading here. Most of the
traversal cases are covered by AQL and will be executed in an optimized way. Only if the logic for your is too complex to be defined
using AQL filters you can use the traversal object defined here which gives you complete programmatic access to the data.
For any of the following examples, we'll be using the example collections v and e, populated with continents, countries and capitals data
listed below (see Example Data).
Starting from Scratch
ArangoDB provides the edges, inEdges, and outEdges methods for edge collections. These methods can be used to quickly determine if a
vertex is connected to other vertices, and which. This functionality can be exploited to write very simple graph queries in JavaScript.
For example, to determine which edges are linked to the world vertex, we can use inEdges:
db.e.inEdges('v/world').forEach(function(edge) {
require("@arangodb").print(edge._from, "->", edge.type, "->", edge._to);
});
inEdges will give us all ingoing edges for the specified vertex v/world. The result is a JavaScript array that we can iterate over and print
the results:
v/continent-africa -> is-in -> v/world
v/continent-south-america -> is-in -> v/world
v/continent-asia -> is-in -> v/world
v/continent-australia -> is-in -> v/world
v/continent-europe -> is-in -> v/world
v/continent-north-america -> is-in -> v/world
Note: edges, inEdges, and outEdges return an array of edges. If we want to retrieve the linked vertices, we can use each edges' _from and
_to attributes as follows:
db.e.inEdges('v/world').forEach(function(edge) {
require("@arangodb").print(db._document(edge._from).name, "->", edge.type, "->", db._document(edge._to).name);
});
We are using the document method from the db object to retrieve the connected vertices now.
While this may be sufficient for one-level graph operations, writing a traversal by hand may become too complex for multi-level
traversals.
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Getting started
To use a traversal object, we first need to require the traversal module:
var traversal = require("@arangodb/graph/traversal");
var examples = require("@arangodb/graph-examples/example-graph.js");
examples.loadGraph("worldCountry");
We then need to setup a configuration for the traversal and determine at which vertex to start the traversal:
var config = {
datasource: traversal.generalGraphDatasourceFactory("worldCountry"),
strategy: "depthfirst",
order: "preorder",
filter: traversal.visitAllFilter,
expander: traversal.inboundExpander,
maxDepth: 1
};
var startVertex = db._document("v/world");
Note: The startVertex needs to be a document, not only a document id.
We can then create a traverser and start the traversal by calling its traverse method. Note that traverse needs a result object, which it can
modify in place:
var result = {
visited: {
vertices: [ ],
paths: [ ]
}
};
var traverser = new traversal.Traverser(config);
traverser.traverse(result, startVertex);
Finally, we can print the contents of the results object, limited to the visited vertices. We will only print the name and type of each visited
vertex for brevity:
require("@arangodb").print(result.visited.vertices.map(function(vertex) {
return vertex.name + " (" + vertex.type + ")";
}));
The full script, which includes all steps carried out so far is thus:
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var traversal = require("@arangodb/graph/traversal");
var config = {
datasource: traversal.generalGraphDatasourceFactory("worldCountry"),
strategy: "depthfirst",
order: "preorder",
filter: traversal.visitAllFilter,
expander: traversal.inboundExpander,
maxDepth: 1
};
var startVertex = db._document("v/world");
var result = {
visited: {
vertices: [ ],
paths: [ ]
}
};
var traverser = new traversal.Traverser(config);
traverser.traverse(result, startVertex);
require("@arangodb").print(result.visited.vertices.map(function(vertex) {
return vertex.name + " (" + vertex.type + ")";
}));
The result is an array of vertices that were visited during the traversal, starting at the start vertex (i.e. v/world in our example):
[
"World (root)",
"Africa (continent)",
"Asia (continent)",
"Australia (continent)",
"Europe (continent)",
"North America (continent)",
"South America (continent)"
]
Note: The result is limited to vertices directly connected to the start vertex. We achieved this by setting the maxDepth attribute to 1. Not
setting it would return the full array of vertices.
Traversal Direction
For the examples contained in this manual, we'll be starting the traversals at vertex v/world. Vertices in our graph are connected like this:
v/world <- is-in <- continent (Africa) <- is-in <- country (Algeria) <- is-in <- capital (Algiers)
To get any meaningful results, we must traverse the graph in inbound order. This means, we'll be following all incoming edges of to a
vertex. In the traversal configuration, we have specified this via the expander attribute:
var config = {
...
expander: traversal.inboundExpander
};
For other graphs, we might want to traverse via the outgoing edges. For this, we can use the outboundExpander. There is also an
anyExpander, which will follow both outgoing and incoming edges. This should be used with care and the traversal should always be
limited to a maximum number of iterations (e.g. using the maxIterations attribute) in order to terminate at some point.
To invoke the default outbound expander for a graph, simply use the predefined function:
var config = {
...
expander: traversal.outboundExpander
};
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Please note the outbound expander will not produce any output for the examples if we still start the traversal at the v/world vertex.
Still, we can use the outbound expander if we start somewhere else in the graph, e.g.
var traversal = require("@arangodb/graph/traversal");
var config = {
datasource: traversal.generalGraphDatasourceFactory("world_graph"),
strategy: "depthfirst",
order: "preorder",
filter: traversal.visitAllFilter,
expander: traversal.outboundExpander
};
var startVertex = db._document("v/capital-algiers");
var result = {
visited: {
vertices: [ ],
paths: [ ]
}
};
var traverser = new traversal.Traverser(config);
traverser.traverse(result, startVertex);
require("@arangodb").print(result.visited.vertices.map(function(vertex) {
return vertex.name + " (" + vertex.type + ")";
}));
The result is:
[
"Algiers (capital)",
"Algeria (country)",
"Africa (continent)",
"World (root)"
]
which confirms that now we're going outbound.
Traversal Strategy
Depth-first traversals
The visitation order of vertices is determined by the strategy and order attributes set in the configuration. We chose depthfirst and
preorder, meaning the traverser will visit each vertex before handling connected edges (pre-order), and descend into any connected
edges before processing other vertices on the same level (depth-first).
Let's remove the maxDepth attribute now. We'll now be getting all vertices (directly and indirectly connected to the start vertex):
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Using Traversal Objects
var config = {
datasource: traversal.generalGraphDatasourceFactory("world_graph"),
strategy: "depthfirst",
order: "preorder",
filter: traversal.visitAllFilter,
expander: traversal.inboundExpander
};
var result = {
visited: {
vertices: [ ],
paths: [ ]
}
};
var traverser = new traversal.Traverser(config);
traverser.traverse(result, startVertex);
require("@arangodb").print(result.visited.vertices.map(function(vertex) {
return vertex.name + " (" + vertex.type + ")";
}));
The result will be a longer array, assembled in depth-first, pre-order order. For each continent found, the traverser will descend into
linked countries, and then into the linked capital:
[
"World (root)",
"Africa (continent)",
"Algeria (country)",
"Algiers (capital)",
"Angola (country)",
"Luanda (capital)",
"Botswana (country)",
"Gaborone (capital)",
"Burkina Faso (country)",
"Ouagadougou (capital)",
...
]
Let's switch the order attribute from preorder to postorder. This will make the traverser visit vertices after all connected vertices were
visited (i.e. most distant vertices will be emitted first):
[
"Algiers (capital)",
"Algeria (country)",
"Luanda (capital)",
"Angola (country)",
"Gaborone (capital)",
"Botswana (country)",
"Ouagadougou (capital)",
"Burkina Faso (country)",
"Bujumbura (capital)",
"Burundi (country)",
"Yaounde (capital)",
"Cameroon (country)",
"N'Djamena (capital)",
"Chad (country)",
"Yamoussoukro (capital)",
"Cote d'Ivoire (country)",
"Cairo (capital)",
"Egypt (country)",
"Asmara (capital)",
"Eritrea (country)",
"Africa (continent)",
...
]
Breadth-first traversals
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Using Traversal Objects
If we go back to preorder, but change the strategy to breadth-first and re-run the traversal, we'll see that the return order changes, and
items on the same level will be returned adjacently:
[
"World (root)",
"Africa (continent)",
"Asia (continent)",
"Australia (continent)",
"Europe (continent)",
"North America (continent)",
"South America (continent)",
"Burkina Faso (country)",
"Burundi (country)",
"Cameroon (country)",
"Chad (country)",
"Algeria (country)",
"Angola (country)",
...
]
Note: The order of items returned for the same level is undefined. This is because there is no natural order of edges for a vertex with
multiple connected edges. To explicitly set the order for edges on the same level, you can specify an edge comparator function with the
sort attribute:
var config = {
...
sort: function (l, r) { return l._key < r._key ? 1 : -1; }
...
};
The arguments l and r are edge documents. This will traverse edges of the same vertex in backward _key order:
[
"World (root)",
"South America (continent)",
"North America (continent)",
"Europe (continent)",
"Australia (continent)",
"Asia (continent)",
"Africa (continent)",
"Ecuador (country)",
"Colombia (country)",
"Chile (country)",
"Brazil (country)",
"Bolivia (country)",
"Argentina (country)",
...
]
Note: This attribute only works for the usual expanders traversal.inboundExpander, traversal.outboundExpander,
traversal.anyExpander and their corresponding "WithLabels" variants. If you are using custom expanders you have to organize the
sorting within the specified expander.
Writing Custom Visitors
So far we have used much of the traverser's default functions. The traverser is very configurable and many of the default functions can be
overridden with custom functionality.
For example, we have been using the default visitor function (which is always used if the configuration does not contain the visitor
attribute). The default visitor function is called for each vertex in a traversal, and will push it into the result. This is the reason why the
result variable looked different after the traversal, and needed to be initialized before the traversal was started.
Note that the default visitor (named
trackingVisitor
) will add every visited vertex into the result, including the full paths from the
start vertex. This is useful for learning and debugging purposes, but should be avoided in production because it might produce (and copy)
huge amounts of data. Instead, only those data should be copied into the result that are actually necessary.
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The traverser comes with the following predefined visitors:
trackingVisitor: this is the default visitor. It will copy all data of each visited vertex plus the full path information into the result.
This can be slow if the result set is huge or vertices contain a lot of data.
countingVisitor: this is a very lightweight visitor: all it does is increase a counter in the result for each vertex visited. Vertex data and
paths will not be copied into the result.
doNothingVisitor: if no action shall be carried out when a vertex is visited, this visitor can be employed. It will not do anything and
will thus be fast. It can be used for performance comparisons with other visitors.
We can also write our own visitor function if we want to. The general function signature for visitor functions is as follows:
var config = {
...
visitor: function (config, result, vertex, path, connected) { ... }
};
Note: the connected parameter value will only be set if the traversal order is set to preorder-expander. Otherwise, this parameter won't be
set by the traverser.
Visitor functions are not expected to return any values. Instead, they can modify the result variable (e.g. by pushing the current vertex
into it), or do anything else. For example, we can create a simple visitor function that only prints information about the current vertex as
we traverse:
var config = {
datasource: traversal.generalGraphDatasourceFactory("world_graph"),
strategy: "depthfirst",
order: "preorder",
filter: traversal.visitAllFilter,
expander: traversal.inboundExpander,
visitor: function (config, result, vertex, path) {
require("@arangodb").print("visiting vertex", vertex.name);
}
};
var traverser = new traversal.Traverser(config);
traverser.traverse(undefined, startVertex);
To write a visitor that increments a counter each time a vertex is visited, we could write the following custom visitor:
config.visitor = function (config, result, vertex, path, connected) {
if (! result) {
result = { };
}
if (! result.hasOwnProperty('count')) {
result.count = 0;
}
++result.count;
}
Note that such visitor is already predefined (it's the countingVisitor described above). It can be used as follows:
config.visitor = traversal.countingVisitor;
Another example of a visitor is one that collects the
_id
values of all vertices visited:
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Using Traversal Objects
config.visitor = function (config, result, vertex, path, connected) {
if (! result) {
result = { };
}
if (! result.hasOwnProperty("visited")) {
result.visited = { vertices: [ ] };
}
result.visited.vertices.push(vertex._id);
}
When the traversal order is set to preorder-expander, the traverser will pass a fifth parameter value into the visitor function. This
parameter contains the connected edges of the visited vertex as an array. This can be handy because in this case the visitor will get all
information about the vertex and the connected edges together.
For example, the following visitor can be used to print only leaf nodes (that do not have any further connected edges):
config.visitor = function (config, result, vertex, path, connected) {
if (connected && connected.length === 0) {
require("@arangodb").print("found a leaf-node: ", vertex);
}
}
Note that for this visitor to work, the traversal order attribute needs to be set to the value preorder-expander.
Filtering Vertices and Edges
Filtering Vertices
So far we have printed or returned all vertices that were visited during the traversal. This is not always required. If the result shall be
restrict to just specific vertices, we can use a filter function for vertices. It can be defined by setting the filter attribute of a traversal
configuration, e.g.:
var config = {
filter: function (config, vertex, path) {
if (vertex.type !== 'capital') {
return 'exclude';
}
}
}
The above filter function will exclude all vertices that do not have a type value of capital. The filter function will be called for each
vertex found during the traversal. It will receive the traversal configuration, the current vertex, and the full path from the traversal start
vertex to the current vertex. The path consists of an array of edges, and an array of vertices. We could also filter everything but capitals
by checking the length of the path from the start vertex to the current vertex. Capitals will have a distance of 3 from the v/world start
vertex (capital → is-in → country → is-in → continent → is-in → world):
var config = {
...
filter: function (config, vertex, path) {
if (path.edges.length < 3) {
return 'exclude';
}
}
}
Note: If a filter function returns nothing (or undefined), the current vertex will be included, and all connected edges will be followed. If a
filter function returns exclude the current vertex will be excluded from the result, and all still all connected edges will be followed. If a
filter function returns prune, the current vertex will be included, but no connected edges will be followed.
For example, the following filter function will not descend into connected edges of continents, limiting the depth of the traversal. Still,
continent vertices will be included in the result:
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var config = {
...
filter: function (config, vertex, path) {
if (vertex.type === 'continent') {
return 'prune';
}
}
}
It is also possible to combine exclude and prune by returning an array with both values:
return [ 'exclude', 'prune' ];
Filtering Edges
It is possible to exclude certain edges from the traversal. To filter on edges, a filter function can be defined via the expandFilter attribute.
The expandFilter is a function which is called for each edge during a traversal.
It will receive the current edge (edge variable) and the vertex which the edge connects to (in the direction of the traversal). It also
receives the current path from the start vertex up to the current vertex (excluding the current edge and the vertex the edge points to).
If the function returns true, the edge will be followed. If the function returns false, the edge will not be followed. Here is a very simple
custom edge filter function implementation, which simply includes edges if the (edges) path length is less than 1, and will exclude any
other edges. This will effectively terminate the traversal after the first level of edges:
var config = {
...
expandFilter: function (config, vertex, edge, path) {
return (path.edges.length < 1);
}
};
Writing Custom Expanders
The edges connected to a vertex are determined by the expander. So far we have used a default expander (the default inbound expander
to be precise). The default inbound expander simply enumerates all connected ingoing edges for a vertex, based on the edge collection
specified in the traversal configuration.
There is also a default outbound expander, which will enumerate all connected outgoing edges. Finally, there is an any expander, which
will follow both ingoing and outgoing edges.
If connected edges must be determined in some different fashion for whatever reason, a custom expander can be written and registered
by setting the expander attribute of the configuration. The expander function signature is as follows:
var config = {
...
expander: function (config, vertex, path) { ... }
}
It is the expander's responsibility to return all edges and vertices directly connected to the current vertex (which is passed via the vertex
variable). The full path from the start vertex up to the current vertex is also supplied via the path variable. An expander is expected to
return an array of objects, which need to have an edge and a vertex attribute each.
Note: If you want to rely on a particular order in which the edges are traversed, you have to sort the edges returned by your expander
within the code of the expander. The functions to get outbound, inbound or any edges from a vertex do not guarantee any particular
order!
A custom implementation of an inbound expander could look like this (this is a non-deterministic expander, which randomly decides
whether or not to include connected edges):
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var config = {
...
expander: function (config, vertex, path) {
var connected = [ ];
var datasource = config.datasource;
datasource.getInEdges(vertex._id).forEach(function (edge) {
if (Math.random() >= 0.5) {
connected.push({ edge: edge, vertex: (edge._from) });
}
});
return connected;
}
};
A custom expander can also be used as an edge filter because it has full control over which edges will be returned.
Following are two examples of custom expanders that pick edges based on attributes of the edges and the connected vertices.
Finding the connected edges / vertices based on an attribute when in the connected vertices. The goal is to follow the edge that leads to
the vertex with the highest value in the when attribute:
var config = {
...
expander: function (config, vertex, path) {
var datasource = config.datasource;
// determine all outgoing edges
var outEdges = datasource.getOutEdges(vertex);
if (outEdges.length === 0) {
return [ ];
}
var data = [ ];
outEdges.forEach(function (edge) {
data.push({ edge: edge, vertex: datasource.getInVertex(edge) });
});
// sort outgoing vertices according to "when" attribute value
data.sort(function (l, r) {
if (l.vertex.when === r.vertex.when) {
return 0;
}
return (l.vertex.when < r.vertex.when ? 1 : -1);
});
// pick first vertex found (with highest "when" attribute value)
return [ data[0] ];
}
...
};
Finding the connected edges / vertices based on an attribute when in the edge itself. The goal is to pick the one edge (out of potentially
many) that has the highest when attribute value:
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var config = {
...
expander: function (config, vertex, path) {
var datasource = config.datasource;
// determine all outgoing edges
var outEdges = datasource.getOutEdges(vertex);
if (outEdges.length === 0) {
return [ ]; // return an empty array
}
// sort all outgoing edges according to "when" attribute
outEdges.sort(function (l, r) {
if (l.when === r.when) {
return 0;
}
return (l.when < r.when ? -1 : 1);
});
// return first edge (the one with highest "when" value)
var edge = outEdges[0];
try {
var v = datasource.getInVertex(edge);
return [ { edge: edge, vertex: v } ];
}
catch (e) { }
return [ ];
}
...
};
Handling Uniqueness
Graphs may contain cycles. To be on top of what happens when a traversal encounters a vertex or an edge it has already visited, there are
configuration options.
The default configuration is to visit every vertex, regardless of whether it was already visited in the same traversal. However, edges will
by default only be followed if they are not already present in the current path.
Imagine the following graph which contains a cycle:
A -> B -> C -> A
When the traversal finds the edge from C to A, it will by default follow it. This is because we have not seen this edge yet. It will also visit
vertex A again. This is because by default all vertices will be visited, regardless of whether already visited or not.
However, the traversal will not again following the outgoing edge from A to B. This is because we already have the edge from A to B in
our current path.
These default settings will prevent infinite traversals.
To adjust the uniqueness for visiting vertices, there are the following options for uniqueness.vertices:
"none": always visit a vertices, regardless of whether it was already visited or not
"global": visit a vertex only if it was not visited in the traversal
"path": visit a vertex if it is not included in the current path
To adjust the uniqueness for following edges, there are the following options for uniqueness.edges:
"none": always follow an edge, regardless of whether it was followed before
"global": follow an edge only if it wasn't followed in the traversal
"path": follow an edge if it is not included in the current path
Note that uniqueness checking will have some effect on both runtime and memory usage. For example, when uniqueness checks are set
to "global", arrays of visited vertices and edges must be kept in memory while the traversal is executed. Global uniqueness should thus
only be used when a traversal is expected to visit few nodes.
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In terms of runtime, turning off uniqueness checks (by setting both options to "none") is the best choice, but it is only safe for graphs that
do not contain cycles. When uniqueness checks are deactivated in a graph with cycles, the traversal might not abort in a sensible amount
of time.
Optimizations
There are a few options for making a traversal run faster.
The best option is to make the amount of visited vertices and followed edges as small as possible. This can be achieved by writing
custom filter and expander functions. Such functions should only include vertices of interest, and only follow edges that might be
interesting.
Traversal depth can also be bounded with the minDepth and maxDepth options.
Another way to speed up traversals is to write a custom visitor function. The default visitor function (trackingVisitor) will copy every
visited vertex into the result. If vertices contain lots of data, this might be expensive. It is therefore recommended to only copy such data
into the result that is actually needed. The default visitor function will also copy the full path to the visited document into the result. This
is even more expensive and should be avoided if possible.
If the goal of a traversal is to only count the number of visited vertices, the prefab countingVisitor
will be much more efficient than the default visitor.
For graphs that are known to not contain any cycles, uniqueness checks should be turned off. This can achieved via the uniqueness
configuration options. Note that uniqueness checks should not be turned off for graphs that are known contain cycles or if there is no
information about the graph's structure.
By default, a traversal will only process a limited number of vertices. This is protect the user from unintentionally run a never-ending
traversal on a graph with cyclic data. How many vertices will be processed at most is determined by the maxIterations configuration
option. If a traversal hits the cap specified by maxIterations, it will abort and throw a too many iterations exception. If this error is
encountered, the maxIterations value should be increased if it is made sure that the other traversal configuration parameters are sane and
the traversal will abort naturally at some point.
Finally, the buildVertices configuration option can be set to false to avoid looking up and fully constructing vertex data. If all that's
needed from vertices are the _id or _key attributes, the buildvertices option can be set to false. If visitor, filter or expandFilter functions
need to access other vertex attributes, the option should not be changed.
Configuration Overview
This section summarizes the configuration attributes for the traversal object. The configuration can consist of the following attributes:
visitor: visitor function for vertices. It will be called for all non-excluded vertices. The general visitor function signature is function
(config, result, vertex, path). If the traversal order is preorder-expander, the connecting edges of the visited vertex will be passed as
the fifth parameter, extending the function signature to: function (config, result, vertex, path, edges).
Visitor functions are not expected to return values, but they may modify the result variable as needed (e.g. by pushing vertex data
into the result).
expander: expander function that is responsible for returning edges and vertices directly connected to a vertex. The function
signature is function (config, vertex, path). The expander function is required to return an array of connection objects, consisting of
an edge and vertex attribute each. If there are no connecting edges, the expander is expected to return an empty array.
filter: vertex filter function. The function signature is function (config, vertex, path). It may return one of the following values:
undefined: vertex will be included in the result and connected edges will be traversed
"exclude": vertex will not be included in the result and connected edges will be traversed
"prune": vertex will be included in the result but connected edges will not be traversed
[ "prune", "exclude" ]: vertex will not be included in the result and connected edges will not be returned
expandFilter: filter function applied on each edge/vertex combination determined by the expander. The function signature is
function (config, vertex, edge, path). The function should return true if the edge/vertex combination should be processed, and false
if it should be ignored.
sort: a filter function to determine the order in which connected edges are processed. The function signature is function (l, r). The
function is required to return one of the following values:
-1 if l should have a sort value less than r
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1 if l should have a higher sort value than r
0 if l and r have the same sort value
strategy: determines the visitation strategy. Possible values are depthfirst and breadthfirst.
order: determines the visitation order. Possible values are preorder, postorder, and preorder-expander. preorder-expander is the
same as preorder, except that the signature of the visitor function will change as described above.
itemOrder: determines the order in which connections returned by the expander will be processed. Possible values are forward and
backward.
maxDepth: if set to a value greater than 0, this will limit the traversal to this maximum depth.
minDepth: if set to a value greater than 0, all vertices found on a level below the minDepth level will not be included in the result.
maxIterations: the maximum number of iterations that the traversal is allowed to perform. It is sensible to set this number so
unbounded traversals will terminate at some point.
uniqueness: an object that defines how repeated visitations of vertices should be handled. The uniqueness object can have a subattribute vertices, and a sub-attribute edges. Each sub-attribute can have one of the following values:
"none": no uniqueness constraints
"path": element is excluded if it is already contained in the current path. This setting may be sensible for graphs that contain
cycles (e.g. A → B → C → A).
"global": element is excluded if it was already found/visited at any point during the traversal.
buildVertices: this attribute controls whether vertices encountered during the traversal will be looked up in the database and will be
made available to visitor, filter, and expandFilter functions. By default, vertices will be looked up and made available. However,
there are some special use cases when fully constructing vertex objects is not necessary and can be avoided. For example, if a
traversal is meant to only count the number of visited vertices but do not read any data from vertices, this option might be set to
true.
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Example Data
Example Data
The following examples all use a vertex collection v and an edge collection e. The vertex collection v contains continents, countries, and
capitals. The edge collection e contains connections between continents and countries, and between countries and capitals.
To set up the collections and populate them with initial data, the following script was used:
db._create("v");
db._createEdgeCollection("e");
// vertices: root node
db.v.save({ _key: "world", name: "World", type: "root" });
// vertices: continents
db.v.save({ _key: "continent-africa", name: "Africa", type: "continent" });
db.v.save({ _key: "continent-asia", name: "Asia", type: "continent" });
db.v.save({ _key: "continent-australia", name: "Australia", type: "continent" });
db.v.save({ _key: "continent-europe", name: "Europe", type: "continent" });
db.v.save({ _key: "continent-north-america", name: "North America", type: "continent" });
db.v.save({ _key: "continent-south-america", name: "South America", type: "continent" });
// vertices: countries
db.v.save({ _key: "country-afghanistan", name: "Afghanistan", type: "country", code: "AFG" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-albania", name: "Albania", type: "country", code: "ALB" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-algeria", name: "Algeria", type: "country", code: "DZA" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-andorra", name: "Andorra", type: "country", code: "AND" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-angola", name: "Angola", type: "country", code: "AGO" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-antigua-and-barbuda", name: "Antigua and Barbuda", type: "country", code: "ATG" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-argentina", name: "Argentina", type: "country", code: "ARG" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-australia", name: "Australia", type: "country", code: "AUS" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-austria", name: "Austria", type: "country", code: "AUT" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bahamas", name: "Bahamas", type: "country", code: "BHS" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bahrain", name: "Bahrain", type: "country", code: "BHR" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bangladesh", name: "Bangladesh", type: "country", code: "BGD" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-barbados", name: "Barbados", type: "country", code: "BRB" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-belgium", name: "Belgium", type: "country", code: "BEL" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bhutan", name: "Bhutan", type: "country", code: "BTN" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bolivia", name: "Bolivia", type: "country", code: "BOL" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bosnia-and-herzegovina", name: "Bosnia and Herzegovina", type: "country", code: "BIH" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-botswana", name: "Botswana", type: "country", code: "BWA" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-brazil", name: "Brazil", type: "country", code: "BRA" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-brunei", name: "Brunei", type: "country", code: "BRN" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-bulgaria", name: "Bulgaria", type: "country", code: "BGR" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-burkina-faso", name: "Burkina Faso", type: "country", code: "BFA" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-burundi", name: "Burundi", type: "country", code: "BDI" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-cambodia", name: "Cambodia", type: "country", code: "KHM" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-cameroon", name: "Cameroon", type: "country", code: "CMR" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-canada", name: "Canada", type: "country", code: "CAN" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-chad", name: "Chad", type: "country", code: "TCD" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-chile", name: "Chile", type: "country", code: "CHL" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-colombia", name: "Colombia", type: "country", code: "COL" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-cote-d-ivoire", name: "Cote d'Ivoire", type: "country", code: "CIV" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-croatia", name: "Croatia", type: "country", code: "HRV" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-czech-republic", name: "Czech Republic", type: "country", code: "CZE" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-denmark", name: "Denmark", type: "country", code: "DNK" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-ecuador", name: "Ecuador", type: "country", code: "ECU" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-egypt", name: "Egypt", type: "country", code: "EGY" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-eritrea", name: "Eritrea", type: "country", code: "ERI" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-finland", name: "Finland", type: "country", code: "FIN" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-france", name: "France", type: "country", code: "FRA" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-germany", name: "Germany", type: "country", code: "DEU" });
db.v.save({ _key: "country-people-s-republic-of-china", name: "People's Republic of China", type: "country", code: "C
HN" });
// vertices: capitals
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-algiers", name: "Algiers", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-andorra-la-vella", name: "Andorra la Vella", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-asmara", name: "Asmara", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-bandar-seri-begawan", name: "Bandar Seri Begawan", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-beijing", name: "Beijing", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-berlin", name: "Berlin", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-bogota", name: "Bogota", type: "capital" });
160
Example Data
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-brasilia", name: "Brasilia", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-bridgetown", name: "Bridgetown", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-brussels", name: "Brussels", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-buenos-aires", name: "Buenos Aires", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-bujumbura", name: "Bujumbura", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-cairo", name: "Cairo", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-canberra", name: "Canberra", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-copenhagen", name: "Copenhagen", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-dhaka", name: "Dhaka", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-gaborone", name: "Gaborone", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-helsinki", name: "Helsinki", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-kabul", name: "Kabul", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-la-paz", name: "La Paz", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-luanda", name: "Luanda", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-manama", name: "Manama", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-nassau", name: "Nassau", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-n-djamena", name: "N'Djamena", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-ottawa", name: "Ottawa", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-ouagadougou", name: "Ouagadougou", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-paris", name: "Paris", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-phnom-penh", name: "Phnom Penh", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-prague", name: "Prague", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-quito", name: "Quito", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-saint-john-s", name: "Saint John's", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-santiago", name: "Santiago", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-sarajevo", name: "Sarajevo", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-sofia", name: "Sofia", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-thimphu", name: "Thimphu", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-tirana", name: "Tirana", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-vienna", name: "Vienna", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-yamoussoukro", name: "Yamoussoukro", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-yaounde", name: "Yaounde", type: "capital" });
db.v.save({ _key: "capital-zagreb", name: "Zagreb", type: "capital" });
// edges: continent -> world
db.e.save("v/continent-africa", "v/world", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/continent-asia", "v/world", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/continent-australia", "v/world", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/continent-europe", "v/world", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/continent-north-america", "v/world", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/continent-south-america", "v/world", { type: "is-in" });
// edges: country -> continent
db.e.save("v/country-afghanistan", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-albania", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-algeria", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-andorra", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-angola", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-antigua-and-barbuda", "v/continent-north-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-argentina", "v/continent-south-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-australia", "v/continent-australia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-austria", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bahamas", "v/continent-north-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bahrain", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bangladesh", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-barbados", "v/continent-north-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-belgium", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bhutan", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bolivia", "v/continent-south-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bosnia-and-herzegovina", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-botswana", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-brazil", "v/continent-south-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-brunei", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-bulgaria", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-burkina-faso", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-burundi", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-cambodia", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-cameroon", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-canada", "v/continent-north-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-chad", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-chile", "v/continent-south-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-colombia", "v/continent-south-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-cote-d-ivoire", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-croatia", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-czech-republic", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-denmark", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
161
Example Data
db.e.save("v/country-ecuador", "v/continent-south-america", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-egypt", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-eritrea", "v/continent-africa", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-finland", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-france", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-germany", "v/continent-europe", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/country-people-s-republic-of-china", "v/continent-asia", { type: "is-in" });
// edges: capital -> country
db.e.save("v/capital-algiers", "v/country-algeria", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-andorra-la-vella", "v/country-andorra", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-asmara", "v/country-eritrea", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-bandar-seri-begawan", "v/country-brunei", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-beijing", "v/country-people-s-republic-of-china", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-berlin", "v/country-germany", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-bogota", "v/country-colombia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-brasilia", "v/country-brazil", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-bridgetown", "v/country-barbados", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-brussels", "v/country-belgium", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-buenos-aires", "v/country-argentina", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-bujumbura", "v/country-burundi", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-cairo", "v/country-egypt", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-canberra", "v/country-australia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-copenhagen", "v/country-denmark", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-dhaka", "v/country-bangladesh", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-gaborone", "v/country-botswana", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-helsinki", "v/country-finland", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-kabul", "v/country-afghanistan", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-la-paz", "v/country-bolivia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-luanda", "v/country-angola", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-manama", "v/country-bahrain", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-nassau", "v/country-bahamas", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-n-djamena", "v/country-chad", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-ottawa", "v/country-canada", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-ouagadougou", "v/country-burkina-faso", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-paris", "v/country-france", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-phnom-penh", "v/country-cambodia", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-prague", "v/country-czech-republic", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-quito", "v/country-ecuador", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-saint-john-s", "v/country-antigua-and-barbuda", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-santiago", "v/country-chile", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-sarajevo", "v/country-bosnia-and-herzegovina", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-sofia", "v/country-bulgaria", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-thimphu", "v/country-bhutan", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-tirana", "v/country-albania", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-vienna", "v/country-austria", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-yamoussoukro", "v/country-cote-d-ivoire", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-yaounde", "v/country-cameroon", { type: "is-in" });
db.e.save("v/capital-zagreb", "v/country-croatia", { type: "is-in" });
162
Working with Edges
Edges, Identifiers, Handles
This is an introduction to ArangoDB's interface for edges. Edges may be used in graphs. Here we work with edges from the JavaScript
shell arangosh. For other languages see the corresponding language API.
A graph data model always consists of at least two collections: the relations between the nodes in the graphs are stored in an "edges
collection", the nodes in the graph are stored in documents in regular collections.
Edges in ArangoDB are special documents. In addition to the system attributes _key, _id and _rev, they have the attributes _from and _to,
which contain document handles, namely the start-point and the end-point of the edge.
Example:
the "edge" collection stores the information that a company's reception is sub-unit to the services unit and the services unit is subunit to the CEO. You would express this relationship with the _from and _to attributes
the "normal" collection stores all the properties about the reception, e.g. that 20 people are working there and the room number etc
_from is the document handle of the linked vertex (incoming relation)
_to is the document handle of the linked vertex (outgoing relation)
Edge collections are special collections that store edge documents. Edge documents are connection documents that reference other
documents. The type of a collection must be specified when a collection is created and cannot be changed afterwards.
To change edge endpoints you would need to remove old document/edge and insert new one. Other fields can be updated as in default
collection.
Working with Edges
Edges are normal documents that always contain a
_from
and a
_to
attribute.
163
Foxx Microservices
Foxx
Traditionally, server-side projects have been developed as standalone applications that guide the communication between the client-side
frontend and the database backend. This has led to applications that were either developed as single monoliths or that duplicated data
access and domain logic across all services that had to access the database. Additionally, tools to abstract away the underlying database
calls could incur a lot of network overhead when using remote databases without careful optimization.
ArangoDB allows application developers to write their data access and domain logic as microservices running directly within the
database with native access to in-memory data. The Foxx microservice framework makes it easy to extend ArangoDB's own REST API
with custom HTTP endpoints using modern JavaScript running on the same V8 engine you know from Node.js and the Google Chrome
web browser.
Unlike traditional approaches to storing logic in the database (like stored procedures), these microservices can be written as regular
structured JavaScript applications that can be easily distributed and version controlled. Depending on your project's needs Foxx can be
used to build anything from optimized REST endpoints performing complex data access to entire standalone applications running
directly inside the database.
164
At a glance
Foxx at a glance
Each Foxx service is defined by a JSON manifest specifying the entry point, any scripts defined by the service, possible configuration
options and Foxx dependencies, as well as other metadata. Within a service, these options are exposed as the service context.
At the heart of the Foxx framework lies the Foxx Router which is used to define HTTP endpoints. A service can access the database
either directly from its context using prefixed collections or the ArangoDB database API.
While Foxx is primarily designed to be used to access the database itself, ArangoDB also provides an API to make HTTP requests to
external services.
Finally, scripts can be used to perform one-off tasks, which can also be scheduled to be performed asynchronously using the built-in job
queue.
How does it work
Foxx services consist of JavaScript code running in the V8 JavaScript runtime embedded inside ArangoDB. Each service is mounted in
each available V8 context (the number of contexts can be adjusted in the ArangoDB configuration). Incoming requests are distributed
accross these contexts automatically.
If you're coming from another JavaScript environment like Node.js this is similar to running multiple Node.js processes behind a load
balancer: you should not rely on server-side state (other than the database itself) between different requests as there is no way of making
sure consecutive requests will be handled in the same context.
Because the JavaScript code is running inside the database another difference is that all Foxx and ArangoDB APIs are purely
synchronous and should be considered blocking. This is especially important for transactions, which in ArangoDB can execute arbitrary
code but may have to lock entire collections (effectively preventing any data to be written) until the code has completed.
For information on how this affects interoperability with third-party JavaScript modules written for other JavaScript environments see
the chapter on dependencies.
Development mode
Development mode allows you to make changes to deployed services in-place directly on the database server's file system without
downloading and re-uploading the service bundle.
You can toggle development mode on and off in the service settings tab of the web interface. Once activated the service's file system path
will be shown in the info tab.
Once enabled the service's source files and manifest will be re-evaluated every time a route of the service is accessed, effectively redeploying the service on every request. As the name indicates this is intended to be used strictly during development and is most
definitely a bad idea on production servers.
Also note that if you are serving static files as part of your service, accessing these files from a browser may also trigger a re-deployment
of the service. Finally, making HTTP requests to a service running in development mode from within the service (i.e. using the
@arangodb/request
module to access the service itself) is probably not a good idea either.
Beware of deleting the database the service is deployed on: it will erase the source files of the service along with the collections. You
should backup the code you worked on in development before doing that to avoid losing your progress.
Foxx store
The Foxx store provides access to a number of ready-to-use official and community-maintained Foxx services you can install with a
single click, including example services and wrappers for external SaaS tools like transactional e-mail services, bug loggers or analytics
trackers.
You can find the Foxx store in the web interface by using the Add Service button in the service list.
165
At a glance
Cluster-Foxx
When running ArangoDB in a cluster the Foxx services will run on each coordinator. Installing, upgrading and uninstalling services on
any coordinator will automatically affect the other coordinators, making deployments as easy as in single-server mode. However, this
means there are some limitations:
You should avoid any kind of file system state beyond the deployed service bundle itself. Don't write data to the file system or encode
any expectations of the file system state other than the files in the service folder that were installed as part of the service (e.g. file uploads
or custom log files).
Additionally, the development mode is not supported in cluster mode. The development mode is intended to allow modifying the
service's code and seeing the effect of those changes in realtime. The service is automatically deployed to multiple coordinators, but with
(temporarily) different copies of the service, the inconsistent state would lead to unpredictable behavior. It is recommended that you
either re-deploy services when making changes to code running in a cluster or use development mode on a single-server installation.
166
Getting started
Getting Started
We're going to start with an empty folder. This will be the root folder of our services. You can name it something clever but for the
course of this guide we'll assume it's called the name of your service:
First we need to create a manifest. Create a new file called
getting-started
manifest.json
.
and add the following content:
{
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^3.0.0"
}
}
This just tells ArangoDB the service is compatible with versions 3.0.0 and later (all the way up to but not including 4.0.0), allowing older
versions of ArangoDB to understand that this service likely won't work for them and newer versions what behavior to emulate should
they still support it.
The little hat to the left of the version number is not a typo, it's called a "caret" and indicates the version range. Foxx uses semantic
versioning (also called "semver") for most of its version handling. You can find out more about how semver works at the official semver
website.
Next we'll need to specify an entry point to our service. This is the JavaScript file that will be executed to define our service's HTTP
endpoints. We can do this by adding a "main" field to our manifest:
{
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^3.0.0"
},
"main": "index.js"
}
That's all we need in our manifest for now, so let's next create the
index.js
file:
'use strict';
const createRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/router');
const router = createRouter();
module.context.use(router);
The first line causes our file to be interpreted using strict mode. All examples in the ArangoDB documentation assume strict mode, so
you might want to familiarize yourself with it if you haven't encountered it before.
The second line imports the
function to create a new
The
module.context
@arangodb/foxx/router
router
module which provides a function for creating new Foxx routers. We're using this
object which we'll be using for our service.
is the so-called Foxx context or service context. This variable is available in all files that are part of your Foxx
service and provides access to Foxx APIs specific to the current service, like the
use
method, which tells Foxx to mount the
router
in this service (and to expose its routes to HTTP).
Next let's define a route that prints a generic greeting:
// continued
router.get('/hello-world', function (req, res) {
res.send('Hello World!');
})
.response(['text/plain'], 'A generic greeting.')
.summary('Generic greeting')
.description('Prints a generic greeting.');
The
router
provides the methods
get
,
post
, etc corresponding to each HTTP verb as well as the catch-all
all
. These methods
indicate that the given route should be used to handle incoming requests with the given HTTP verb (or any method when using
all
).
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Getting started
These methods take an optional path (if omitted, it defaults to
(request) and
res
"/"
) as well as a request handler, which is a function taking the
req
(response) objects to handle the incoming request and generate the outgoing response. If you have used the express
framework in Node.js, you may already be familiar with how this works, otherwise check out the chapter on routes.
The object returned by the router's methods provides additional methods to attach metadata and validation to the route. We're using
summary
and
to document what the route does -- these aren't strictly necessary but give us some nice auto-generated
description
documentation. The
response
method lets us additionally document the response content type and what the response body will
represent.
Try it out
At this point you can upload the service folder as a zip archive from the web interface using the Services tab.
Click Add Service then pick the Zip option in the dialog. You will need to provide a mount path, which is the URL prefix at which the
service will be mounted (e.g.
/getting-started
).
Once you have picked the zip archive using the file picker, the upload should begin immediately and your service should be installed.
Otherwise press the Install button and wait for the dialog to disappear and the service to show up in the service list.
Click anywhere on the card with your mount path on the label to open the service's details.
In the API documentation you should see the route we defined earlier (
HTTP method it supports and the
summary
/hello-world
) with the word
GET
next to it indicating the
we provided on the right. By clicking on the route's path you can open the documentation
for the route.
Note that the
description
we provided appears in the generated documentation as well as the description we added to the
(which should correctly indicate the content type
text/plain
response
, i.e. plain text).
Click the Try it out! button to send a request to the route and you should see an example request with the service's response: "Hello
World!".
Congratulations! You have just created, installed and used your first Foxx service.
Parameter validation
Let's add another route that provides a more personalized greeting:
// continued
const joi = require('joi');
router.get('/hello/:name', function (req, res) {
res.send(`Hello ${req.pathParams.name}`);
})
.pathParam('name', joi.string().required(), 'Name to greet.')
.response(['text/plain'], 'A personalized greeting.')
.summary('Personalized greeting')
.description('Prints a personalized greeting.');
The first line imports the
joi
module from npm which comes bundled with ArangoDB. Joi is a validation library that is used
throughout Foxx to define schemas and parameter types.
Note: You can bundle your own modules from npm by installing them in your service folder and making sure the
node_modules
folder
is included in your zip archive. For more information see the section on module dependencies in the chapter on dependencies.
The
pathParam
method allows us to specify parameters we are expecting in the path. The first argument corresponds to the parameter
name in the path, the second argument is a joi schema the parameter is expected to match and the final argument serves to describe the
parameter in the API documentation.
The path parameters are accessible from the
pathParams
property of the request object. We're using a template string to generate the
server's response containing the parameter's value.
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Getting started
Note that routes with path parameters that fail to validate for the request URL will be skipped as if they wouldn't exist. This allows you
to define multiple routes that are only distinguished by the schemas of their path parameters (e.g. a route taking only numeric parameters
and one taking any string as a fallback).
Let's take this further and create a route that takes a JSON request body:
// continued
router.post('/sum', function (req, res) {
const values = req.body.values;
res.send({
result: values.reduce(function (a, b) {
return a + b;
}, 0)
});
})
.body(joi.object({
values: joi.array().items(joi.number().required()).required()
}).required(), 'Values to add together.')
.response(joi.object({
result: joi.number().required()
}).required(), 'Sum of the input values.')
.summary('Add up numbers')
.description('Calculates the sum of an array of number values.');
Note that we used
post
to define this route instead of
this route's URL (in the absence of a
get
get
(which does not support request bodies). Trying to send a GET request to
route for the same path) will result in Foxx responding with an appropriate error response,
indicating the supported HTTP methods.
As this route not only expects a JSON object as input but also responds with a JSON object as output we need to define two schemas. We
don't strictly need a response schema but it helps documenting what the route should be expected to respond with and will show up in the
API documentation.
Because we're passing a schema to the
response
method we don't need to explicitly tell Foxx we are sending a JSON response. The
presence of a schema in the absence of a content type always implies we want JSON. Though we could just add
["application/json"]
as an additional argument after the schema if we wanted to make this more explicit.
The
body
method works the same way as the
response
method except the schema will be used to validate the request body. If the
request body can't be parsed as JSON or doesn't match the schema, Foxx will reject the request with an appropriate error response.
Creating collections
The real power of Foxx comes from interacting with the database itself. In order to be able to use a collection from within our service, we
should first make sure that the collection actually exists. The right place to create collections your service is going to use is in a setup
script, which Foxx will execute for you when installing or updating the service.
First create a new folder called "scripts" in the service folder, which will be where our scripts are going to live. For simplicity's sake, our
setup script will live in a file called
setup.js
inside that folder:
// continued
'use strict';
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const collectionName = 'myFoxxCollection';
if (!db._collection(collectionName)) {
db._createDocumentCollection(collectionName);
}
The script uses the
db
object from the
@arangodb
module, which lets us interact with the database the Foxx service was installed in
and the collections inside that database. Because the script may be executed multiple times (i.e. whenever we update the service or when
the server is restarted) we need to make sure we don't accidentally try to create the same collection twice (which would result in an
exception); we do that by first checking whether it already exists before creating it.
169
Getting started
The
_collection
method looks up a collection by name and returns
_createDocumentCollection
if no collection with that name was found. The
null
method creates a new document collection by name (
_createEdgeCollection
also exists and works
analogously for edge collections).
Note: Because we have hardcoded the collection name, multiple copies of the service installed alongside each other in the same database
will share the same collection. Because this may not always be what you want, the Foxx context also provides the
collectionName
method which applies a mount point specific prefix to any given collection name to make it unique to the service. It also provides the
collection
method, which behaves almost exactly like
db._collection
except it also applies the prefix before looking the collection
up.
Next we need to tell our service about the script by adding it to the manifest file:
{
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^3.0.0"
},
"main": "index.js",
"scripts": {
"setup": "scripts/setup.js"
}
}
The only thing that has changed is that we added a "scripts" field specifying the path of the setup script we just wrote.
Go back to the web interface and update the service with our new code, then check the Collections tab. If everything worked right, you
should see a new collection called "myFoxxCollection".
Accessing collections
Let's expand our service by adding a few more routes to our
index.js
:
// continued
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const errors = require('@arangodb').errors;
const foxxColl = db._collection('myFoxxCollection');
const DOC_NOT_FOUND = errors.ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_NOT_FOUND.code;
router.post('/entries', function (req, res) {
const data = req.body;
const meta = foxxColl.save(req.body);
res.send(Object.assign(data, meta));
})
.body(joi.object().required(), 'Entry to store in the collection.')
.response(joi.object().required(), 'Entry stored in the collection.')
.summary('Store an entry')
.description('Stores an entry in the "myFoxxCollection" collection.');
router.get('/entries/:key', function (req, res) {
try {
const data = foxxColl.document(req.pathParams.key);
res.send(data)
} catch (e) {
if (!e.isArangoError || e.errorNum !== DOC_NOT_FOUND) {
throw e;
}
res.throw(404, 'The entry does not exist', e);
}
})
.pathParam('key', joi.string().required(), 'Key of the entry.')
.response(joi.object().required(), 'Entry stored in the collection.')
.summary('Retrieve an entry')
.description('Retrieves an entry from the "myFoxxCollection" collection by key.');
We're using the
save
and
document
methods of the collection object to store and retrieve documents in the collection we created in
our setup script. Because we don't care what the documents look like we allow any attributes on the request body and just accept an
object.
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Getting started
Because the key will be automatically generated by ArangoDB when one wasn't specified in the request body, we're using
to apply the attributes of the metadata object returned by the
Object.assign
save
method to the document before returning it from
our first route.
The
an
document
method returns a document in a collection by its
ArangoError
_key
or
_id
. However when no matching document exists it throws
exception. Because we want to provide a more descriptive error message than ArangoDB does out of the box, we need
to handle that error explicitly.
All
ArangoError
about
instanceof
just import the
exceptions have a truthy attribute
checks. They also provide an
errors
object from the
isArangoError
errorNum
@arangodb
and an
that helps you recognizing these errors without having to worry
errorMessage
. If you want to check for specific errors you can
module instead of having to memorize numeric error codes.
Instead of defining our own response logic for the error case we just use
res.throw
, which makes the response object throw an
exception Foxx can recognize and convert to the appropriate server response. We also pass along the exception itself so Foxx can provide
more diagnostic information when we want it to.
We could extend the post route to support arrays of objects as well, each object following a certain schema:
// store schema in variable to make it re-usable, see .body()
const docSchema = joi.object().required().keys({
name: joi.string().required(),
age: joi.number().required()
}).unknown(); // allow additional attributes
router.post('/entries', function (req, res) {
const multiple = Array.isArray(req.body);
const body = multiple ? req.body : [req.body];
let data = [];
for (var doc of body) {
const meta = foxxColl.save(doc);
data.push(Object.assign(doc, meta));
}
res.send(multiple ? data : data[0]);
})
.body(joi.alternatives().try(
docSchema,
joi.array().items(docSchema)
), 'Entry or entries to store in the collection.')
.response(joi.alternatives().try(
joi.object().required(),
joi.array().items(joi.object().required())
), 'Entry or entries stored in the collection.')
.summary('Store entry or entries')
.description('Store a single entry or multiple entries in the "myFoxxCollection" collection.');
Writing database queries
Storing and retrieving entries is fine, but right now we have to memorize each key when we create an entry. Let's add a route that gives
us a list of the keys of all entries so we can use those to look an entry up in detail.
The naïve approach would be to use the
toArray()
method to convert the entire collection to an array and just return that. But we're
only interested in the keys and there might potentially be so many entries that first retrieving every single document might get unwieldy.
Let's write a short AQL query to do this instead:
171
Getting started
// continued
const aql = require('@arangodb').aql;
router.get('/entries', function (req, res) {
const keys = db._query(aql`
FOR entry IN ${foxxColl}
RETURN entry._key
`);
res.send(keys);
})
.response(joi.array().items(
joi.string().required()
).required(), 'List of entry keys.')
.summary('List entry keys')
.description('Assembles a list of keys of entries in the collection.');
Here we're using two new things:
The
_query
The
aql
method executes an AQL query in the active database.
template string handler allows us to write multi-line AQL queries and also handles query parameters and collection names.
Instead of hardcoding the name of the collection we want to use in the query we can simply reference the
foxxColl
variable we defined
earlier -- it recognizes the value as an ArangoDB collection object and knows we are specifying a collection rather than a regular value
even though AQL distinguishes between the two.
Note: If you aren't used to JavaScript template strings and template string handlers just think of
multiline string split at every
${}
aql
as a function that receives the
expression as well as an array of the values of those expressions -- that's actually all there is to it.
Alternatively, here's a version without template strings (notice how much cleaner the
aql
version will be in comparison when you have
multiple variables):
const keys = db._query(
'FOR entry IN @@coll RETURN entry._key',
{'@coll': foxxColl}
);
Next steps
You now know how to create a Foxx service from scratch, how to handle user input and how to access the database from within your
Foxx service to store, retrieve and query data you store inside ArangoDB. This should allow you to build meaningful APIs for your own
applications but there are many more things you can do with Foxx:
Need to go faster? Turn on development mode and hack on your code right on the server.
Concerned about security? You could add authentication to your service to protect access to the data before it even leaves the
database.
Writing a single page app? You could store some basic assets right inside your Foxx service.
Need to integrate external services? You can make HTTP requests from inside Foxx and use queued jobs to perform that work in the
background.
Tired of reinventing the wheel? Learn about dependencies.
Everything broken? You can write tests to make sure your logic remains sound.
172
Service manifest
Manifest files
Every service comes with a
configuration:
manifest.json
file providing metadata. The following fields are allowed in manifests:
(optional)
Object
An object defining the configuration options this service requires.
defaultDocument:
If specified, the
/
(optional)
string
(root) route of the service will automatically redirect to the given relative path, e.g.:
"defaultDocument": "index.html"
This would have the same effect as creating the following route in JavaScript:
const createRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/router');
const indexRouter = createRouter();
indexRouter.all('/', function (req, res) {
res.redirect('index.html');
});
module.context.use(indexRouter);
Note: As of 3.0.0 this field can safely be omitted; the value no longer defaults to
dependencies:
(optional) and provides:
Object
Object
"index.html"
.
(optional)
Objects specifying other services this service has as dependencies and what dependencies it can provide to other services.
engines:
Object
(optional)
An object indicating the semantic version ranges of ArangoDB (or compatible environments) the service will be compatible with,
e.g.:
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^3.0.0"
}
This should correctly indicate the minimum version of ArangoDB the service has been tested against. Foxx maintains a strict
semantic versioning policy as of ArangoDB 3.0.0 so it is generally safe to use semver ranges (e.g.
greater or equal to
files:
3.0.0
and below
4.0.0
^3.0.0
to match any version
) for maximum compatibility.
(optional)
Object
An object defining file assets served by this service.
lib:
string
(Default:
"."
)
The relative path to the Foxx JavaScript files in the service, e.g.:
"lib": "lib"
This would result in the main entry point (see below) and other JavaScript paths being resolved as relative to the
lib
folder inside
the service folder.
main:
string
(optional)
The relative path to the main entry point of this service (relative to lib, see above), e.g.:
"main": "index.js"
This would result in Foxx loading and executing the file
index.js
when the service is mounted or started.
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Service manifest
Note: while it is technically possible to omit this field, you will likely want to provide an entry point to your service as this is the
only way to expose HTTP routes or export a JavaScript API.
scripts:
(optional)
Object
An object defining named scripts provided by this service, which can either be used directly or as queued jobs by other services.
tests:
or
string
Array
(optional)
A path or list of paths of JavaScript tests provided for this service.
Additionally manifests can provide the following metadata:
author:
(optional)
string
The full name of the author of the service (i.e. you). This will be shown in the web interface.
contributors:
Array
(optional)
A list of names of people that have contributed to the development of the service in some way. This will be shown in the web
interface.
description:
string
(optional)
A human-readable description of the service. This will be shown in the web interface.
keywords:
Array
(optional)
A list of keywords that help categorize this service. This is used by the Foxx Store installers to organize services.
license:
(optional)
string
A string identifying the license under which the service is published, ideally in the form of an SPDX license identifier. This will be
shown in the web interface.
name:
string
(optional)
The name of the Foxx service. Allowed characters are A-Z, 0-9, the ASCII hyphen (
-
) and underscore (
_
) characters. The name
must not start with a number. This will be shown in the web interface.
thumbnail:
string
(optional)
The filename of a thumbnail that will be used alongside the service in the web interface. This should be a JPEG or PNG image that
looks good at sizes 50x50 and 160x160.
version:
string
(optional)
The version number of the Foxx service. The version number must follow the semantic versioning format. This will be shown in the
web interface.
Examples
174
Service manifest
{
"name": "example-foxx-service",
"version": "3.0.0-dev",
"license": "MIT",
"description": "An example service with a relatively full-featured manifest.",
"thumbnail": "foxx-icon.png",
"keywords": ["demo", "service"],
"author": "ArangoDB GmbH",
"contributors": [
"Alan Plum "
],
"lib": "dist",
"main": "entry.js",
"defaultDocument": "welcome.html",
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^3.0.0"
},
"files": {
"welcome.html": "assets/index.html",
"hello.jpg": "assets/hello.jpg"
"world.jpg": {
"path": "assets/world.jpg",
"type": "image/jpeg",
"gzip": false
}
},
"tests": "dist/**.spec.js"
}
175
Service context
Foxx service context
The service context provides access to methods and attributes that are specific to a given service. In a Foxx service the context is
generally available as the
module.context
variable. Within a router's request handler the request and response objects'
context
attribute also provide access to the context of the service the route was mounted in (which may be different from the one the route
handler was defined in).
Examples
// in service /my-foxx-1
const createRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/router');
const router = createRouter();
// See the chapter on dependencies for more info on
// how exports and dependencies work across services
module.exports = {routes: router};
router.get(function (req, res) {
module.context.mount === '/my-foxx-1';
req.context.mount === '/my-foxx-2';
res.write('Hello from my-foxx-1');
});
// in service /my-foxx-2
const createRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/router');
const router2 = createRouter();
module.context.use(router2);
router2.post(function (req, res) {
module.context.mount === '/my-foxx-2';
req.context.mount === '/my-foxx-2';
res.write('Hello from my-foxx-2');
});
const router1 = module.context.dependencies.myFoxx1.routes;
module.context.use(router1);
The service context specifies the following properties:
argv:
any
Any arguments passed in if the current file was executed as a script or queued job.
basePath:
string
The file system path of the service, i.e. the folder in which the service was installed to by ArangoDB.
baseUrl:
string
The base URL of the service, relative to the ArangoDB server, e.g.
collectionPrefix:
/_db/_system/my-foxx
.
string
The prefix that will be used by collection and collectionName to derive the names of service-specific collections. This is derived
from the service's mount point, e.g.
configuration:
/my-foxx
becomes
my_foxx
.
Object
Configuration options for the service.
dependencies:
Object
Configured dependencies for the service.
isDevelopment:
boolean
Indicates whether the service is running in development mode.
176
Service context
isProduction:
boolean
The inverse of isDevelopment.
manifest:
Object
The parsed manifest file of the service.
mount:
string
The mount point of the service, e.g.
/my-foxx
.
apiDocumentation
module.context.apiDocumentation([options]): Function
DEPRECATED
Creates a request handler that serves the API documentation.
Note: This method has been deprecated in ArangoDB 3.1 and replaced with the more straightforward
createDocumentationRouter
method providing the same functionality.
Arguments
See
createDocumentationRouter
below.
Examples
// Serve the API docs for the current service
router.get('/docs/*', module.context.apiDocumentation());
// Note that the path must end with a wildcard
// and the route must use HTTP GET.
createDocumentationRouter
module.context.createDocumentationRouter([options]): Router
Creates a router that serves the API documentation.
Note: The router can be mounted like any other child router (see examples below).
Arguments
options:
Object
(optional)
An object with any of the following properties:
mount:
string
(Default:
module.context.mount
)
The mount path of the service to serve the documentation of.
indexFile:
string
(Default:
"index.html"
)
File name of the HTML file serving the API documentation.
swaggerRoot:
string
(optional)
Full path of the folder containing the Swagger assets and the indexFile. Defaults to the Swagger assets used by the web
interface.
before:
Function
(optional)
A function that will be executed before a request is handled.
If the function returns
false
the request will not be processed any further.
If the function returns an object, its attributes will be used to override the options for the current request.
177
Service context
Any other return value will be ignored.
If options is a function it will be used as the before option.
If options is a string it will be used as the swaggerRoot option.
Returns a Foxx router.
Examples
// Serve the API docs for the current service
router.use('/docs', module.context.createDocumentationRouter());
// -- or -// Serve the API docs for the service the router is mounted in
router.use('/docs', module.context.createDocumentationRouter(function (req) {
return {mount: req.context.mount};
}));
// -- or -// Serve the API docs only for users authenticated with ArangoDB
router.use('/docs', module.context.createDocumentationRouter(function (req, res) {
if (req.suffix === 'swagger.json' && !req.arangoUser) {
res.throw(401, 'Not authenticated');
}
}));
collection
module.context.collection(name): ArangoCollection | null
Passes the given name to collectionName, then looks up the collection with the prefixed name.
Arguments
name:
string
Unprefixed name of the service-specific collection.
Returns a collection or
null
if no collection with the prefixed name exists.
collectionName
module.context.collectionName(name): string
Prefixes the given name with the collectionPrefix for this service.
Arguments
name:
string
Unprefixed name of the service-specific collection.
Returns the prefixed name.
Examples
module.context.mount === '/my-foxx'
module.context.collectionName('doodads') === 'my_foxx_doodads'
file
module.context.file(name, [encoding]): Buffer | string
Passes the given name to fileName, then loads the file with the resulting name.
178
Service context
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the file to load, relative to the current service.
encoding:
string
(optional)
Encoding of the file, e.g.
utf-8
. If omitted the file will be loaded as a raw buffer instead of a string.
Returns the file's contents.
fileName
module.context.fileName(name): string
Resolves the given file name relative to the current service.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the file, relative to the current service.
Returns the absolute file path.
use
module.context.use([path], router): Endpoint
Mounts a given router on the service to expose the router's routes on the service's mount point.
Arguments
path:
string
(Default:
"/"
)
Path to mount the router at, relative to the service's mount point.
router:
Router | Middleware
A router or middleware to mount.
Returns an Endpoint for the given router or middleware.
Note: Mounting services at run time (e.g. within request handlers or queued jobs) is not supported.
179
Configuration
Foxx configuration
Foxx services can define configuration parameters to make them more re-usable.
The
object maps names to configuration parameters:
configuration
The key is the name under whicht the parameter will be available on the service context's
configuration
property.
The value is a parameter definition.
The parameter definition can have the following properties:
description:
string
Human readable description of the parameter.
type:
(Default:
string
"string"
)
Type of the configuration parameter. Supported values are:
"integer"
or
"int"
: any finite integer number.
"boolean"
or
"bool"
: the values
true
or
false
"number"
: any finite decimal or integer number.
"string"
: any string value.
"json"
: any well-formed JSON value.
"password"
default:
.
: like string but will be displayed as a masked input field in the web frontend.
any
Default value of the configuration parameter.
required: (Default:
true
)
Whether the parameter is required.
If the configuration has parameters that do not specify a default value, you need to configure the service before it becomes active. In the
meantime a fallback servicelication will be mounted that responds to all requests with a HTTP 500 status code indicating a server-side
error.
The configuration parameters of a mounted service can be adjusted from the web interface by clicking the Configuration button in the
service details.
Examples
"configuration": {
"currency": {
"description": "Currency symbol to use for prices in the shop.",
"default": "$",
"type": "string"
},
"secretKey": {
"description": "Secret key to use for signing session tokens.",
"type": "password"
}
}
180
Dependencies
Dependency management
There are two things commonly called "dependencies" in Foxx:
Module dependencies, i.e. dependencies on external JavaScript modules (e.g. from the public npm registry)
Foxx dependencies, i.e. dependencies between Foxx services
Let's look at them in more detail:
Module dependencies
You can use the
node_modules
folder to bundle third-party Foxx-compatible npm and Node.js modules with your Foxx service.
Typically this is achieved by adding a
file to your project specifying npm dependencies using the
package.json
dependencies
attribute and installing them with the npm command-line tool.
Make sure to include the actual
folder in your Foxx service bundle as ArangoDB will not do anything special to install
node_modules
these dependencies. Also keep in mind that bundling extraneous modules like development dependencies may bloat the file size of your
Foxx service bundle.
Compatibility caveats
Unlike JavaScript in browsers or Node.js, the JavaScript environment in ArangoDB is synchronous. This means any modules that
depend on asynchronous behaviour like promises or
setTimeout
will not behave correctly in ArangoDB or Foxx. Additionally unlike
Node.js ArangoDB does not support native extensions. All modules have to be implemented in pure JavaScript.
While ArangoDB provides a lot of compatibility code to support modules written for Node.js, some Node.js built-in modules can not be
provided by ArangoDB. For a closer look at the Node.js modules ArangoDB does or does not provide check out the appendix on
JavaScript modules.
Also note that these restrictions not only apply on the modules you wish to install but also the dependencies of those modules. As a rule
of thumb: modules written to work in Node.js and the browser that do not rely on async behaviour should generally work; modules that
rely on network or filesystem I/O or make heavy use of async behaviour most likely will not.
Foxx dependencies
Foxx dependencies can be declared in a service's manifest using the
provides
provides
and
dependencies
fields:
lists the dependencies a given service provides, i.e. which APIs it claims to be compatible with
lists the dependencies a given service uses, i.e. which APIs its dependencies need to be compatible with
dependencies
A dependency name should generally use the same format as a namespaced (org-scoped) NPM module, e.g.
@foxx/sessions
.
Dependency names refer to the external JavaScript API of a service rather than specific services implementing those APIs. Some
dependency names defined by officially maintained services are:
@foxx/auth
(version
1.0.0
)
(version
1.0.0
)
@foxx/bugsnag
(versions
1.0.0
and
2.0.0
)
@foxx/mailgun
(versions
1.0.0
and
2.0.0
)
@foxx/api-keys
@foxx/postageapp
(versions
1.0.0
and
2.0.0
@foxx/postmark
(versions
1.0.0
and
2.0.0
)
@foxx/sendgrid
(versions
1.0.0
and
2.0.0
)
@foxx/oauth2
(versions
@foxx/segment-io
@foxx/sessions
@foxx/users
1.0.0
(versions
(versions
(versions
and
1.0.0
1.0.0
1.0.0
,
2.0.0
and
and
2.0.0
)
2.0.0
2.0.0
and
)
)
)
3.0.0
)
181
Dependencies
A
provides
definition maps each provided dependency's name to the provided version:
"provides": {
"@foxx/auth": "1.0.0"
}
A
dependencies
definition maps the local alias of a given dependency against its name and the supported version range (either as a
JSON object or a shorthand string):
"dependencies": {
"mySessions": "@foxx/sessions:^2.0.0",
"myAuth": {
"name": "@foxx/auth",
"version": "^1.0.0",
"description": "This description is entirely optional.",
"required": false
}
}
Dependencies can be configured from the web interface in a service's settings tab using the Dependencies button.
The value for each dependency should be the database-relative mount path of the service (including the leading slash). In order to be
usable as the dependency of another service both services need to be mounted in the same database. A service can be used to provide
multiple dependencies for the same service (as long as the expected JavaScript APIs don't conflict).
A service that has unconfigured required dependencies can not be used until all of its dependencies have been configured.
It is possible to specify the mount path of a service that does not actually declare the dependency as provided. There is currently no
validation beyond the manifest formats.
When a service uses another mounted service as a dependency the dependency's
in the
module.context.dependencies
main
entry file's
exports
object becomes available
object of the other service:
Examples
Service A and Service B are mounted in the same database. Service B has a dependency with the local alias
"greeter"
. The
dependency is configured to use the mount path of Service B.
// Entry file of Service A
module.exports = {
sayHi () {
return 'Hello';
}
};
// Somewhere in Service B
const greeter = module.context.dependencies.greeter;
res.write(greeter.sayHi());
182
Routers
Routers
const createRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/router');
Routers let you define routes that extend ArangoDB's HTTP API with custom endpoints.
Routers need to be mounted using the
use
method of a service context to expose their HTTP routes at a service's mount path.
You can pass routers between services mounted in the same database as dependencies. You can even nest routers within each other.
Creating a router
createRouter(): Router
This returns a new, clean router object that has not yet been mounted in the service and can be exported like any other object.
Request handlers
router.get([path], [...middleware], handler, [name]): Endpoint
router.post([path], [...middleware], handler, [name]): Endpoint
router.put([path], [...middleware], handler, [name]): Endpoint
router.patch([path], [...middleware], handler, [name]): Endpoint
router.delete([path], [...middleware], handler, [name]): Endpoint
router.all([path], [...middleware], handler, [name]): Endpoint
These methods let you specify routes on the router. The
all
method defines a route that will match any supported HTTP verb, the other
methods define routes that only match the HTTP verb with the same name.
Arguments
path:
string
(Default:
"/"
)
The path of the request handler relative to the base path the Router is mounted at. If omitted, the request handler will handle
requests to the base path of the Router. For information on defining dynamic routes see the section on path parameters in the chapter
on router endpoints.
middleware:
Function
(optional)
Zero or more middleware functions that take the following arguments:
req:
Request
An incoming server request object.
res:
Response
An outgoing server response object.
next:
Function
A callback that passes control over to the next middleware function and returns when that function has completed.
If a truthy argument is passed, that argument will be thrown as an error.
If there is no next middleware function, the
handler:
handler
will be invoked instead (see below).
Function
A function that takes the following arguments:
req:
Request
An incoming server request object.
183
Routers
res:
Response
An outgoing server response.
name:
(optional)
string
A name that can be used to generate URLs for the endpoint. For more information see the
reverse
method of the request object.
Returns an Endpoint for the route.
Examples
Simple index route:
router.get(function (req, res) {
res.set('content-type', 'text/plain');
res.write('Hello World!');
});
Restricting access to authenticated ArangoDB users:
router.get('/secrets', function (req, res, next) {
if (req.arangoUser) {
next();
} else {
res.throw(404, 'Secrets? What secrets?');
}
}, function (req, res) {
res.download('allOurSecrets.zip');
});
Multiple middleware functions:
function counting (req, res, next) {
if (!req.counter) req.counter = 0;
req.counter++;
next();
req.counter--;
}
router.get(counting, counting, counting, function (req, res) {
res.json({counter: req.counter}); // {"counter": 3}
});
Mounting child routers and middleware
router.use([path], middleware, [name]): Endpoint
The
use
method lets you mount a child router or middleware at a given path.
Arguments
path:
string
(optional)
The path of the middleware relative to the base path the Router is mounted at. If omitted, the middleware will handle requests to the
base path of the Router. For information on defining dynamic routes see the section on path parameters in the chapter on router
endpoints.
middleware:
Router | Middleware
An unmounted router object or a middleware.
name:
string
(optional)
A name that can be used to generate URLs for endpoints of this router. For more information see the
reverse
method of the
request object. Has no effect if handler is a Middleware.
Returns an Endpoint for the middleware or child router.
184
Routers
185
Endpoints
Endpoints
Endpoints are returned by the
use
,
all
and HTTP verb (e.g.
get
,
post
) methods of routers as well as the
use
method of the
service context. They can be used to attach metadata to mounted routes, middleware and child routers that affects how requests and
responses are processed or provides API documentation.
Endpoints should only be used to invoke the following methods. Endpoint methods can be chained together (each method returns the
endpoint itself).
header
endpoint.header(name, [schema], [description]): this
Defines a request header recognized by the endpoint. Any additional non-defined headers will be treated as optional string values. The
definitions will also be shown in the route details in the API documentation.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this header definition unless overridden.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the header. This should be considered case insensitive as all header names will be converted to lowercase.
schema:
Schema
(optional)
A schema describing the format of the header value. This can be a joi schema or anything that has a compatible
The value of this header will be set to the
value
validate
method.
property of the validation result. A validation failure will result in an automatic
400 (Bad Request) error response.
description:
string
(optional)
A human readable string that will be shown in the API documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.get(/* ... */)
.header('arangoVersion', joi.number().min(30000).default(30000));
pathParam
endpoint.pathParam(name, [schema], [description]): this
Defines a path parameter recognized by the endpoint. Path parameters are expected to be filled as part of the endpoint's mount path. Any
additional non-defined path parameters will be treated as optional string values. The definitions will also be shown in the route details in
the API documentation.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this parameter definition unless overridden.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the parameter.
schema:
Schema
(optional)
A schema describing the format of the parameter. This can be a joi schema or anything that has a compatible
validate
method.
186
Endpoints
The value of this parameter will be set to the
value
property of the validation result. A validation failure will result in the route
failing to match and being ignored (resulting in a 404 (Not Found) error response if no other routes match).
description:
string
(optional)
A human readable string that will be shown in the API documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.get('/some/:num/here', /* ... */)
.pathParam('num', joi.number().required());
queryParam
endpoint.queryParam(name, [schema], [description]): this
Defines a query parameter recognized by the endpoint. Any additional non-defined query parameters will be treated as optional string
values. The definitions will also be shown in the route details in the API documentation.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this parameter definition unless overridden.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the parameter.
schema:
Schema
(optional)
A schema describing the format of the parameter. This can be a joi schema or anything that has a compatible
The value of this parameter will be set to the
value
validate
method.
property of the validation result. A validation failure will result in an
automatic 400 (Bad Request) error response.
description:
string
(optional)
A human readable string that will be shown in the API documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.get(/* ... */)
.queryParam('num', joi.number().required());
body
endpoint.body([model], [mimes], [description]): this
Defines the request body recognized by the endpoint. There can only be one request body definition per endpoint. The definition will
also be shown in the route details in the API documentation.
In the absence of a request body definition, the request object's body property will be initialized to the unprocessed rawBody buffer.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this body definition unless overridden. If the endpoint is a middleware,
the request body will only be parsed once (i.e. the MIME types of the route matching the same request will be ignored but the body will
still be validated again).
Arguments
model:
Model | Schema | null
(optional)
A model or joi schema describing the request body. A validation failure will result in an automatic 400 (Bad Request) error
response.
187
Endpoints
If the value is a model with a
fromClient
method, that method will be applied to the parsed request body.
If the value is a schema or a model with a schema, the schema will be used to validate the request body and the
value
property of
the validation result of the parsed request body will be used instead of the parsed request body itself.
If the value is a model or a schema and the MIME type has been omitted, the MIME type will default to JSON instead.
If the value is explicitly set to
null
, no request body will be expected.
If the value is an array containing exactly one model or schema, the request body will be treated as an array of items matching that
model or schema.
mimes:
Array
(optional)
An array of MIME types the route supports.
Common non-mime aliases like "json" or "html" are also supported and will be expanded to the appropriate MIME type (e.g.
"application/json" and "text/html").
If the MIME type is recognized by Foxx the request body will be parsed into the appropriate structure before being validated.
Currently only JSON,
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
and multipart formats are supported in this way.
If the MIME type indicated in the request headers does not match any of the supported MIME types, the first MIME type in the list
will be used instead.
Failure to parse the request body will result in an automatic 400 (Bad Request) error response.
description:
string
(optional)
A human readable string that will be shown in the API documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.post('/expects/some/json', /* ... */)
.body(
joi.object().required(),
'This implies JSON.'
);
router.post('/expects/nothing', /* ... */)
.body(null); // No body allowed
router.post('/expects/some/plaintext', /* ... */)
.body(['text/plain'], 'This body will be a string.');
response
endpoint.response([status], [model], [mimes], [description]): this
Defines a response body for the endpoint. When using the response object's
send
method in the request handler of this route, the
definition with the matching status code will be used to generate the response body. The definitions will also be shown in the route
details in the API documentation.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this response definition unless overridden. If the endpoint is a
middleware, this method has no effect.
Arguments
status:
number | string
(Default:
200
or
204
)
HTTP status code the response applies to. If a string is provided instead of a numeric status code it will be used to look up a numeric
status code using the statuses module.
model:
Model | Schema | null
(optional)
A model or joi schema describing the response body.
188
Endpoints
If the value is a model with a
forClient
method, that method will be applied to the data passed to
response.send
within the
route if the response status code matches (but also if no status code has been set).
If the value is a schema or a model with a schema, the actual schema will not be used to validate the response body and only serves
to document the response in more detail in the API documentation.
If the value is a model or a schema and the MIME type has been omitted, the MIME type will default to JSON instead.
If the value is explicitly set to
instead of
200
null
and the status code has been omitted, the status code will default to
204
("no content")
.
If the value is an array containing exactly one model or schema, the response body will be an array of items matching that model or
schema.
mimes:
Array
(optional)
An array of MIME types the route might respond with for this status code.
Common non-mime aliases like "json" or "html" are also supported and will be expanded to the appropriate MIME type (e.g.
"application/json" and "text/html").
When using the
description:
response.send
string
method the response body will be converted to the appropriate MIME type if possible.
(optional)
A human-readable string that briefly describes the response and will be shown in the endpoint's detailed documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
// This example only provides documentation
// and implies a generic JSON response body.
router.get(/* ... */)
.response(
joi.array().items(joi.string()),
'A list of doodad identifiers.'
);
// No response body will be expected here.
router.delete(/* ... */)
.response(null, 'The doodad no longer exists.');
// An endpoint can define multiple response types
// for different status codes -- but never more than
// one for each status code.
router.post(/* ... */)
.response('found', 'The doodad is located elsewhere.')
.response(201, ['text/plain'], 'The doodad was created so here is a haiku.');
// Here the response body will be set to
// the querystring-encoded result of
// FormModel.forClient({some: 'data'})
// because the status code defaults to 200.
router.patch(function (req, res) {
// ...
res.send({some: 'data'});
})
.response(FormModel, ['application/x-www-form-urlencoded'], 'OMG.');
// In this case the response body will be set to
// SomeModel.forClient({some: 'data'}) because
// the status code has been set to 201 before.
router.put(function (req, res) {
// ...
res.status(201);
res.send({some: 'data'});
})
.response(201, SomeModel, 'Something amazing happened.');
error
189
Endpoints
endpoint.error(status, [description]): this
Documents an error status for the endpoint.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this error description unless overridden. If the endpoint is a middleware,
this method has no effect.
This method only affects the generated API documentation and has not other effect within the service itself.
Arguments
status:
number | string
HTTP status code for the error (e.g.
400
for "bad request"). If a string is provided instead of a numeric status code it will be used
to look up a numeric status code using the statuses module.
description:
string
(optional)
A human-readable string that briefly describes the error condition and will be shown in the endpoint's detailed documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.get(function (req, res) {
// ...
res.throw(403, 'Validation error at x.y.z');
})
.error(403, 'Indicates that a validation has failed.');
summary
endpoint.summary(summary): this
Adds a short description to the endpoint's API documentation.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this summary unless overridden. If the endpoint is a middleware, this
method has no effect.
This method only affects the generated API documentation and has not other effect within the service itself.
Arguments
summary:
string
A human-readable string that briefly describes the endpoint and will appear next to the endpoint's path in the documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.get(/* ... */)
.summary('List all discombobulated doodads')
description
endpoint.description(description): this
Adds a long description to the endpoint's API documentation.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will use this description unless overridden. If the endpoint is a middleware, this
method has no effect.
This method only affects the generated API documentation and has not other effect within the service itself.
Arguments
190
Endpoints
description:
string
A human-readable string that describes the endpoint in detail and will be shown in the endpoint's detailed documentation.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
// The "dedent" library helps formatting
// multi-line strings by adjusting indentation
// and removing leading and trailing blank lines
const dd = require('dedent');
router.post(/* ... */)
.description(dd`
This route discombobulates the doodads by
frobnicating the moxie of the request body.
`)
deprecated
endpoint.deprecated([deprecated]): this
Marks the endpoint as deprecated.
If the endpoint is a child router, all routes of that router will also be marked as deprecated. If the endpoint is a middleware, this method
has no effect.
This method only affects the generated API documentation and has not other effect within the service itself.
Arguments
deprecated:
boolean
(Default:
true
)
Whether the endpoint should be marked as deprecated. If set to
false
the endpoint will be explicitly marked as not deprecated.
Returns the endpoint.
Examples
router.get(/* ... */)
.deprecated();
191
Middleware
Middleware
Middleware in Foxx refers to functions that can be mounted like routes and can manipulate the request and response objects before and
after the route itself is invoked. They can also be used to control access or to provide common logic like logging etc. Unlike routes,
middleware is mounted with the
Instead of a function the
use
use
method like a router.
method can also accept an object with a
register
function that will be passed the endpoint the
middleware will be mounted at and returns the actual middleware function. This allows manipulating the endpoint before creating the
middleware (e.g. to document headers, request bodies, path parameters or query parameters).
Examples
Restrict access to ArangoDB-authenticated users:
module.context.use(function (req, res, next) {
if (!req.arangoUser) {
res.throw(401, 'Not authenticated with ArangoDB');
}
next();
});
Any truthy argument passed to the
next
function will be thrown as an error:
module.context.use(function (req, res, next) {
let err = null;
if (!req.arangoUser) {
err = new Error('This should never happen');
}
next(err); // throws if the error was set
})
Trivial logging middleware:
module.context.use(function (req, res, next) {
const start = Date.now();
try {
next();
} finally {
console.log(`Handled request in ${Date.now() - start}ms`);
}
});
More complex example for header-based sessions:
192
Middleware
const sessions = module.context.collection('sessions');
module.context.use({
register (endpoint) {
endpoint.header('x-session-id', joi.string().optional(), 'The session ID.');
return function (req, res, next) {
const sid = req.get('x-session-id');
if (sid) {
try {
req.session = sessions.document(sid);
} catch (e) {
delete req.headers['x-session-id'];
}
}
next();
if (req.session) {
if (req.session._rev) {
sessions.replace(req.session, req.session);
res.set('x-session-id', req.session._key);
} else {
const meta = sessions.save(req.session);
res.set('x-session-id', meta._key);
}
}
};
}
});
193
Request
Request objects
The request object specifies the following properties:
arangoUser:
string | null
The authenticated ArangoDB username used to make the request. This value is only set if authentication is enabled in ArangoDB
and the request set an
authorization
header ArangoDB was able to verify. You are strongly encouraged to implement your own
authentication logic for your own services but this property can be useful if you need to integrate with ArangoDB's own
authentication mechanisms.
arangoVersion:
number
The numeric value of the
x-arango-version
header or the numeric version of the ArangoDB server (e.g.
30102
for version
3.1.2) if no valid header was provided.
baseUrl:
string
Root-relative base URL of the service, i.e. the prefix
body:
"/_db/"
followed by the value of database.
any
The processed and validated request body for the current route. If no body has been defined for the current route, the value will be
identical to rawBody.
For details on how request bodies can be processed and validated by Foxx see the body method of the endpoint object.
context:
Context
The service context in which the router was mounted (rather than the context in which the route was defined).
database:
string
The name of the database in which the request is being handled, e.g.
headers:
"_system"
.
object
The raw headers object.
For details on how request headers can be validated by Foxx see the header method of the endpoint object.
hostname:
string
The hostname (domain name) indicated in the request headers.
Defaults to the hostname portion (i.e. excluding the port) of the
method:
Host
header and falls back to the listening address of the server.
string
The HTTP verb used to make the request, e.g.
originalUrl:
"GET"
.
string
Root-relative URL of the request, i.e. path followed by the raw query parameters, if any.
path:
string
Database-relative path of the request URL (not including the query parameters).
pathParams:
object
An object mapping the names of path parameters of the current route to their validated values.
For details on how path parameters can be validated by Foxx see the pathParam method of the endpoint object.
port:
number
The port indicated in the request headers.
194
Request
Defaults to the port portion (i.e. excluding the hostname) of the
default port (
for HTTPS or
443
80
Host
header and falls back to the listening port or the appropriate
for HTTP, depending on secure) if the header only indicates a hostname.
If the request was made using a trusted proxy (see trustProxy), this is set to the port portion of the
X-Forwarded-Host
header (or
approriate default port) if present.
protocol:
string
The protocol used for the request.
Defaults to
or
"https"
"http"
depending on whether ArangoDB is configured to use SSL or not.
If the request was made using a trusted proxy (see trustProxy), this is set to the value of the
queryParams:
X-Forwarded-Proto
header if present.
object
An object mapping the names of query parameters of the current route to their validated values.
For details on how query parameters can be validated by Foxx see the queryParam method of the endpoint object.
rawBody:
Buffer
The raw, unparsed, unvalidated request body as a buffer.
remoteAddress:
string
The IP of the client that made the request.
If the request was made using a trusted proxy (see trustProxy), this is set to the first IP listed in the
X-Forwarded-For
header if
present.
remoteAddresses:
Array
A list containing the IP addresses used to make the request.
Defaults to the value of remoteAddress wrapped in an array.
If the request was made using a trusted proxy (see trustProxy), this is set to the list of IPs specified in the
X-Forwarded-For
header
if present.
remotePort:
number
The listening port of the client that made the request.
If the request was made using a trusted proxy (see trustProxy), this is set to the port specified in the
X-Forwarded-Port
header if
present.
secure:
boolean
Whether the request was made over a secure connection (i.e. HTTPS).
This is set to
suffix:
false
when protocol is
and
"http"
true
when protocol is
"https"
.
string
The trailing path relative to the current route if the current route ends in a wildcard.
trustProxy:
boolean
Indicates whether the request was made using a trusted proxy. If the origin server's address was specified in the ArangoDB
configuration using
will be
url:
false
--frontend.trusted-proxy
or the service's
trustProxy
setting is enabled, this will be
true
, otherwise it
.
string
The URL of the request.
xhr:
boolean
Whether the request indicates it was made within a browser using AJAX.
This is set to
true
if the
X-Requested-With
header is present and is a case-insensitive match for the value
"xmlhttprequest"
.
195
Request
Note that this value does not guarantee whether the request was made from inside a browser or whether AJAX was used and is
merely a convention established by JavaScript frameworks like jQuery.
accepts
req.accepts(types): string | false
req.accepts(...types): string | false
req.acceptsCharsets(charsets): string | false
req.acceptsCharsets(...charsets): string | false
req.acceptsEncodings(encodings): string | false
req.acceptsEncodings(...encodings): string | false
req.acceptsLanguages(languages): string | false
req.acceptsLanguages(...languages): string | false
These methods wrap the corresponding content negotiation methods of the accepts module for the current request.
Examples
if (req.accepts(['json', 'html']) === 'html') {
// Client explicitly prefers HTML over JSON
res.write('Client prefers HTML
');
} else {
// Otherwise just send JSON
res.json({success: true});
}
cookie
req.cookie(name, options): string | null
Gets the value of a cookie by name.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the cookie.
options:
(optional)
object
An object with any of the following properties:
secret:
string
(optional)
Secret that was used to sign the cookie.
If a secret is specified, the cookie's signature is expected to be present in a second cookie with the same name and the suffix
.sig
. Otherwise the signature (if present) will be ignored.
algorithm:
string
(Default:
"sha256"
)
Algorithm that was used to sign the cookie.
If a string is passed instead of an options object it will be interpreted as the secret option.
Returns the value of the cookie or
null
if the cookie is not set or its signature is invalid.
get / header
req.get(name): string
req.header(name): string
196
Request
Gets the value of a header by name. You can validate request headers using the header method of the endpoint.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the header.
Returns the header value.
is
req.is(types): string
req.is(...types): string
This method wraps the (request body) content type detection method of the type-is module for the current request.
Examples
const type = req.is('html', 'application/xml', 'application/*+xml');
if (type === false) { // no match
handleDefault(req.rawBody);
} else if (type === 'html') {
handleHtml(req.rawBody);
} else { // is XML
handleXml(req.rawBody);
}
json
req.json(): any
Attempts to parse the raw request body as JSON and returns the result.
It is generally more useful to define a request body on the endpoint and use the
Returns
undefined
if the request body is empty. May throw a
SyntaxError
req.body
property instead.
if the body could not be parsed.
makeAbsolute
req.makeAbsolute(path, [query]): string
Resolves the given path relative to the
req.context.service
's mount path to a full URL.
Arguments
path:
string
The path to resovle.
query:
string | object
A string or object with query parameters to add to the URL.
Returns the formatted absolute URL.
params
req.param(name): any
Arguments
Looks up a parameter by name, preferring
It's probably better style to use the
pathParams
req.pathParams
or
over
queryParams
req.queryParams
.
objects directly.
197
Request
name:
string
Name of the parameter.
Returns the (validated) value of the parameter.
range
req.range([size]): Ranges | number
This method wraps the range header parsing method of the range-parser module for the current request.
Arguments
size:
number
(Default:
Infinity
)
Length of the satisfiable range (e.g. number of bytes in the full response). If present, ranges exceeding the size will be considered
unsatisfiable.
Returns
undefined
if the
Range
header is absent,
-2
if the header is present but malformed,
-1
if the range is invalid (e.g. start
offset is larger than end offset) or unsatisfiable for the given size.
Otherwise returns an array of objects with the properties start and end values for each range. The array has an additional property type
indicating the request range type.
Examples
console.log(req.headers.range); // "bytes=40-80"
const ranges = req.range(100);
console.log(ranges); // [{start: 40, end: 80}]
console.log(ranges.type); // "bytes"
reverse
req.reverse(name, [params]): string
Looks up the URL of a named route for the given parameters.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the route to look up.
params:
object
(optional)
An object containing values for the (path or query) parameters of the route.
Returns the URL of the route for the given parameters.
Examples
router.get('/items/:id', function (req, res) {
/* ... */
}, 'getItemById');
router.post('/items', function (req, res) {
// ...
const url = req.reverse('getItemById', {id: createdItem._key});
res.set('location', req.makeAbsolute(url));
});
198
Response
Response objects
The response object specifies the following properties:
body:
Buffer | string
Response body as a string or buffer. Can be set directly or using some of the response methods.
context:
Context
The service context in which the router was mounted (rather than the context in which the route was defined).
headers:
object
The raw headers object.
statusCode:
number
Status code of the response. Defaults to
200
(body set and not an empty string or buffer) or
204
(otherwise) if not changed from
.
undefined
attachment
res.attachment([filename]): this
Sets the
content-disposition
header to indicate the response is a downloadable file with the given name.
Note: This does not actually modify the response body or access the file system. To send a file from the file system see the
or
download
methods.
sendFile
Arguments
filename:
string
(optional)
Name of the downloadable file in the response body.
If present, the extension of the filename will be used to set the response
content-type
if it has not yet been set.
Returns the response object.
cookie
res.cookie(name, value, [options]): this
Sets a cookie with the given name.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the cookie.
value:
string
Value of the cookie.
options:
object
(optional)
An object with any of the following properties:
secret:
string
(optional)
Secret that will be used to sign the cookie.
If a secret is specified, the cookie's signature will be stored in a second cookie with the same options, the same name and the
suffix
.sig
. Otherwise no signature will be added.
199
Response
algorithm:
string
(Default:
"sha256"
)
Algorithm that will be used to sign the cookie.
ttl:
number
(optional)
Time to live of the cookie.
path:
(optional)
number
Path of the cookie.
domain:
(optional)
number
Domain of the cookie.
secure:
number
(Default:
false
)
Whether the cookie should be marked as secure (i.e. HTTPS/SSL-only).
httpOnly:
boolean
(Default:
false
)
Whether the cookie should be marked as HTTP-only.
If a string is passed instead of an options object it will be interpreted as the secret option.
If a number is passed instead of an options object it will be interpreted as the ttl option.
Returns the response object.
download
res.download(path, [filename]): this
The equivalent of calling
res.attachment(filename).sendFile(path)
.
Arguments
path:
string
Path to the file on the local filesystem to be sent as the response body.
filename:
string
(optional)
Filename to indicate in the
content-disposition
header.
If omitted the path will be used instead.
Returns the response object.
getHeader
res.getHeader(name): string
Gets the value of the header with the given name.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the header to get.
Returns the value of the header or
undefined
.
json
res.json(data): this
Sets the response body to the JSON string value of the given data.
200
Response
Arguments
data:
any
The data to be used as the response body.
Returns the response object.
redirect
res.redirect([status], path): this
Redirects the response by setting the response
location
header and status code.
Arguments
status:
number | string
(optional)
Response status code to set.
If the status code is the string value
"permanent"
it will be treated as the value
301
.
If the status code is a string it will be converted to a numeric status code using the statuses module first.
If the status code is omitted but the response status has not already been set, the response status will be set to
path:
302
.
string
URL to set the
location
header to.
Returns the response object.
removeHeader
res.removeHeader(name): this
Removes the header with the given name from the response.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the header to remove.
Returns the response object.
send
res.send(data, [type]): this
Sets the response body to the given data with respect to the response definition for the response's current status code.
Arguments
data:
any
The data to be used as the response body. Will be converted according the response definition for the response's current status code
(or
200
) in the following way:
If the data is an ArangoDB result set, it will be converted to an array first.
If the response definition specifies a model with a
array and the response definition has the
multiple
forClient
method, that method will be applied to the data first. If the data is an
flag set, the method will be applied to each entry individually instead.
Finally the data will be processed by the response type handler to conver the response body to a string or buffer.
type:
string
(Default:
"auto"
)
201
Response
Content-type of the response body.
If set to
"auto"
the first MIME type specified in the response definition for the response's current status code (or
200
) will be
used instead.
If set to
"auto"
and no response definition exists, the MIME type will be determined the following way:
If the data is a buffer the MIME type will be set to binary (
application/octet-stream
).
If the data is an object the MIME type will be set to JSON and the data will be converted to a JSON string.
Otherwise the MIME type will be set to HTML and the data will be converted to a string.
Returns the response object.
sendFile
res.sendFile(path, [options]): this
Sends a file from the local filesystem as the response body.
Arguments
path:
string
Path to the file on the local filesystem to be sent as the response body.
If no
content-type
options:
object
header has been set yet, the extension of the filename will be used to set the value of that header.
(optional)
An object with any of the following properties:
lastModified:
boolean
If set to
or if no
true
(optional)
last-modified
header has been set yet and the value is not set to
false
the
last-modified
header
will be set to the modification date of the file in milliseconds.
Returns the response object.
Examples
// Send the file "favicon.ico" from this service's folder
res.sendFile(module.context.fileName('favicon.ico'));
sendStatus
res.sendStatus(status): this
Sends a plaintext response for the given status code. The response status will be set to the given status code, the response body will be set
to the status message corresponding to that status code.
Arguments
status:
number | string
Response status code to set.
If the status code is a string it will be converted to a numeric status code using the statuses module first.
Returns the response object.
setHeader / set
res.setHeader(name, value): this
res.set(name, value): this
202
Response
res.set(headers): this
Sets the value of the header with the given name.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the header to set.
value:
string
Value to set the header to.
headers:
object
Header object mapping header names to values.
Returns the response object.
status
res.status(status): this
Sets the response status to the given status code.
Arguments
status:
number | string
Response status code to set.
If the status code is a string it will be converted to a numeric status code using the statuses module first.
Returns the response object.
throw
res.throw(status, [reason], [options]): void
Throws an HTTP exception for the given status, which will be handled by Foxx to serve the appropriate JSON error response.
Arguments
status:
number | string
Response status code to set.
If the status code is a string it will be converted to a numeric status code using the statuses module first.
If the status code is in the 500-range (500-599), its stacktrace will always be logged as if it were an unhandled exception.
If development mode is enabled, the error's stacktrace will be logged as a warning if the status code is in the 400-range (400-499) or
as a regular message otherwise.
reason:
string
(optional)
Message for the exception.
If omitted, the status message corresponding to the status code will be used instead.
options:
object
(optional)
An object with any of the following properties:
cause:
Error
(optional)
Cause of the exception that will be logged as part of the error's stacktrace (recursively, if the exception also has a
cause
property and so on).
203
Response
extra:
object
(optional)
Additional properties that will be added to the error response body generated by Foxx.
If development mode is enabled, an
stacktrace
exception
property will be added to this value containing the error message and a
property will be added containing an array with each line of the error's stacktrace.
If an error is passed instead of an options object it will be interpreted as the cause option. If no reason was provided the error's
message
will be used as the reason instead.
Returns nothing.
type
res.type([type]): string
Sets the response content-type to the given type if provided or returns the previously set content-type.
Arguments
type:
string
(optional)
Content-type of the response body.
Unlike
res.set('content-type', type)
MIME type (e.g.
json
becomes
file extensions can be provided as values and will be translated to the corresponding
application/json
).
Returns the content-type of the response body.
vary
res.vary(names): this
res.vary(...names): this
This method wraps the
vary
header manipulation method of the vary module for the current response.
The given names will be added to the response's
vary
header if not already present.
Returns the response object.
Examples
res.vary('user-agent');
res.vary('cookie');
res.vary('cookie'); // duplicates will be ignored
// -- or -res.vary('user-agent', 'cookie');
// -- or -res.vary(['user-agent', 'cookie']);
write
res.write(data): this
Appends the given data to the response body.
Arguments
data:
string | Buffer
Data to append.
204
Response
If the data is a buffer the response body will be converted to a buffer first.
If the response body is a buffer the data will be converted to a buffer first.
If the data is an object it will be converted to a JSON string first.
If the data is any other non-string value it will be converted to a string first.
Returns the response object.
205
Using GraphQL
Using GraphQL in Foxx
const createGraphQLRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/graphql');
Foxx bundles the
graphql-sync
module, which is a synchronous wrapper for the official JavaScript GraphQL reference
implementation, to allow writing GraphQL schemas directly inside Foxx.
Additionally the
of the
@arangodb/foxx/graphql
express-graphql
For more information on
lets you create routers for serving GraphQL requests, which closely mimicks the behaviour
module.
graphql-sync
see the
API reference (note that
graphql-js
graphql-sync
always uses raw values instead
of wrapping them in promises).
For an example of a GraphQL schema in Foxx that resolves fields using the database see the GraphQL example service (also available
from the Foxx store).
Examples
const graphql = require('graphql-sync');
const graphqlSchema = new graphql.GraphQLSchema({
// ...
});
// Mounting a graphql endpoint directly in a service:
module.context.use('/graphql', createGraphQLRouter({
schema: graphqlSchema,
graphiql: true
}));
// Or at the service's root URL:
module.context.use(createGraphQLRouter({
schema: graphqlSchema,
graphiql: true
}));
// Or inside an existing router:
router.get('/hello', function (req, res) {
res.write('Hello world!');
});
router.use('/graphql', createGraphQLRouter({
schema: graphqlSchema,
graphiql: true
}));
Creating a router
createGraphQLRouter(options): Router
This returns a new router object with POST and GET routes for serving GraphQL requests.
Arguments
options:
object
An object with any of the following properties:
schema:
GraphQLSchema
A GraphQL Schema object from
context:
any
graphql-sync
(optional)
The GraphQL context that will be passed to the
rootValue:
.
object
graphql()
function from
graphql-sync
to handle GraphQL queries.
(optional)
The GraphQL root value that will be passed to the
graphql()
function from
graphql-sync
to handle GraphQL queries.
206
Using GraphQL
(Default:
)
pretty:
boolean
If
, JSON responses will be pretty-printed.
true
formatError:
Function
false
(optional)
A function that will be used to format errors produced by
graphql-sync
graphql-sync
. If omitted, the
formatError
function from
will be used instead.
validationRules:
Array
(optional)
Additional validation rules queries must satisfy in addition to those defined in the GraphQL spec.
graphiql:
If
true
boolean
(Default:
false
)
, the GraphiQL explorer will be served when loaded directly from a browser.
If a GraphQL Schema object is passed instead of an options object it will be interpreted as the schema option.
Generated routes
The router handles GET and POST requests to its root path and accepts the following parameters, which can be provided either as query
parameters or as the POST request body:
query:
string
A GraphQL query that will be executed.
variables:
object | string
(optional)
An object or a string containing a JSON object with runtime values to use for any GraphQL query variables.
operationName:
string
If the provided
query
raw:
(Default:
boolean
(optional)
contains multiple named operations, this specifies which operation should be executed.
false
)
Forces a JSON response even if graphiql is enabled and the request was made using a browser.
The POST request body can be provided as JSON or as query string using
passed as
application/graphql
will be interpreted as the
query
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
. A request body
parameter.
207
Sessions middleware
Session Middleware
const sessionMiddleware = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions');
The session middleware adds the
session
and
sessionStorage
properties to the request object and deals with serializing and
deserializing the session as well as extracting session identifiers from incoming requests and injecting them into outgoing responses.
Examples
// Create a session middleware
const sessions = sessionsMiddleware({
storage: module.context.collection('sessions'),
transport: ['header', 'cookie']
});
// First enable the middleware for this service
module.context.use(sessions);
// Now mount the routers that use the session
const router = createRouter();
module.context.use(router);
router.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.send(`Hello ${req.session.uid || 'anonymous'}!`);
}, 'hello');
router.post('/login', function (req, res) {
req.session.uid = req.body;
req.sessionStorage.save(req.session);
res.redirect(req.reverse('hello'));
});
.body(['text/plain'], 'Username');
Creating a session middleware
sessionMiddleware(options): Middleware
Creates a session middleware.
Arguments
options:
Object
An object with the following properties:
storage:
Storage
Storage that will be used to persist the sessions.
The storage is also exposed as the
sessionStorage
on all request objects and as the
storage
property of the middleware.
If a string or collection is passed instead of a Storage, it will be used to create a Collection Storage.
transport:
Transport | Array
Transport or array of transports that will be used to extract the session identifiers from incoming requests and inject them into
outgoing responses. When attempting to extract a session identifier, the transports will be used in the order specified until a
match is found. When injecting (or clearing) session identifiers, all transports will be invoked.
The transports are also exposed as the
transport
property of the middleware.
If the string
"cookie"
is passed instead of a Transport, the Cookie Transport will be used with the default settings instead.
If the string
"header"
is passed instead of a Transport, the Header Transport will be used with the default settings instead.
autoCreate:
boolean
(Default:
If enabled the session storage's
true
new
)
method will be invoked to create an empty session whenever the transport failed to return
a session for the incoming request. Otherwise the session will be initialized as
null
.
208
Sessions middleware
Returns the session middleware.
209
Session storages
Session Storages
Session storages are used by the sessions middleware to persist sessions across requests. Session storages must implement the
fromClient
and
forClient
methods and can optionally implement the
new
method.
The built-in session storages generally provide the following attributes:
uid:
string
(Default:
null
)
A unique identifier indicating the active user.
created:
number
(Default:
Date.now()
)
The numeric timestamp of when the session was created.
data:
any
(Default:
null
)
Arbitrary data to persisted in the session.
new
storage.new(): Session
Generates a new session object representing an empty session. The empty session object should not be persisted unless necessary. The
return value will be exposed by the middleware as the
session
property of the request object if no session identifier was returned by
the session transports and auto-creation is not explicitly disabled in the session middleware.
Examples
new() {
return {
uid: null,
created: Date.now(),
data: null
};
}
fromClient
storage.fromClient(sid): Session | null
Resolves or deserializes a session identifier to a session object.
Arguments
sid:
string
Session identifier to resolve or deserialize.
Returns a session object representing the session with the given session identifier that will be exposed by the middleware as the
session
property of the request object. This method will only be called if any of the session transports returned a session identifier. If
the session identifier is invalid or expired, the method should return a
null
value to indicate no matching session.
Examples
fromClient(sid) {
return db._collection('sessions').firstExample({_key: sid});
}
forClient
storage.forClient(session): string | null
210
Session storages
Derives a session identifier from the given session object.
Arguments
session:
Session
Session to derive a session identifier from.
Returns a session identifier for the session represented by the given session object. This method will be called with the
property of the request object unless that property is empty (e.g.
null
session
).
Examples
forClient(session) {
if (!session._key) {
const meta = db._collection('sessions').save(session);
return meta._key;
}
db._collection('sessions').replace(session._key, session);
return session._key;
}
211
Session storages
Collection Session Storage
const collectionStorage = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions/storages/collection');
The collection session storage persists sessions to a collection in the database.
Creating a storage
collectionStorage(options): Storage
Creates a Storage that can be used in the sessions middleware.
Arguments
options:
Object
An object with the following properties:
collection:
ArangoCollection
The collection that should be used to persist the sessions. If a string is passed instead of a collection it is assumed to be the
fully qualified name of a collection in the current database.
ttl:
number
(Default:
60 * 60
)
The time in seconds since the last update until a session will be considered expired.
pruneExpired:
boolean
(Default:
false
)
Whether expired sessions should be removed from the collection when they are accessed instead of simply being ignored.
autoUpdate:
boolean
(Default:
true
)
Whether sessions should be updated in the collection every time they are accessed to keep them from expiring. Disabling this
option will improve performance but means you will have to take care of keeping your sessions alive yourself.
If a string or collection is passed instead of an options object, it will be interpreted as the collection option.
prune
storage.prune(): Array
Removes all expired sessions from the collection. This method should be called even if the pruneExpired option is enabled to clean up
abandoned sessions.
Returns an array of the keys of all sessions that were removed.
save
storage.save(session): Session
Saves (replaces) the given session object in the collection. This method needs to be invoked explicitly after making changes to the
session or the changes will not be persisted. Assigns a new
_key
to the session if it previously did not have one.
Arguments
session:
Session
A session object.
Returns the modified session.
clear
212
Session storages
storage.clear(session): boolean
Removes the session from the collection. Has no effect if the session was already removed or has not yet been saved to the collection (i.e.
has no
_key
).
Arguments
session:
Session
A session object.
Returns
true
if the session was removed or
false
if it had no effect.
213
Session storages
JWT Session Storage
const jwtStorage = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions/storages/jwt');
The JWT session storage converts sessions to and from JSON Web Tokens.
Examples
// Pass in a secure secret from the Foxx configuration
const secret = module.context.configuration.jwtSecret;
const sessions = sessionsMiddleware({
storage: jwtStorage(secret),
transport: 'header'
});
module.context.use(sessions);
Creating a storage
jwtStorage(options): Storage
Creates a Storage that can be used in the sessions middleware.
Note: while the "none" algorithm (i.e. no signature) is supported this dummy algorithm provides no security and allows clients to make
arbitrary modifications to the payload and should not be used unless you are certain you specifically need it.
Arguments
options:
Object
An object with the following properties:
algorithm:
string
(Default:
"HS512"
)
The algorithm to use for signing the token.
Supported values:
"HS256"
(HMAC-SHA256)
"HS384"
(HMAC-SHA384)
"HS512"
(HMAC-SHA512)
"none"
secret:
(no signature)
string
The secret to use for signing the token.
This field is forbidden when using the "none" algorithm but required otherwise.
ttl:
number
(Default:
3600
)
The maximum lifetime of the token in seconds. You may want to keep this short as a new token is generated on every request
allowing clients to refresh tokens automatically.
verify:
boolean
If set to
false
(Default:
true
)
the signature will not be verified but still generated (unless using the "none" algorithm).
If a string is passed instead of an options object it will be interpreted as the secret option.
214
Session transports
Session Transports
Session transports are used by the sessions middleware to store and retrieve session identifiers in requests and responses. Session
transports must implement the
get
and/or
set
methods and can optionally implement the
clear
method.
get
transport.get(request): string | null
Retrieves a session identifier from a request object.
If present this method will automatically be invoked for each transport until a transport returns a session identifier.
Arguments
request:
Request
Request object to extract a session identifier from.
Returns the session identifier or
null
if the transport can not find a session identifier in the request.
Examples
get(req) {
return req.get('x-session-id') || null;
}
set
transport.set(response, sid): void
Attaches a session identifier to a response object.
If present this method will automatically be invoked at the end of a request regardless of whether the session was modified or not.
Arguments
response:
Response
Response object to attach a session identifier to.
sid:
string
Session identifier to attach to the response.
Returns nothing.
Examples
set(res) {
res.set('x-session-id', value);
}
clear
transport.clear(response): void
Attaches a payload indicating that the session has been cleared to the response object. This can be used to clear a session cookie when the
session has been destroyed (e.g. during logout).
If present this method will automatically be invoked instead of
set
when the
req.session
attribute was removed by the route
handler.
215
Session transports
Arguments
response:
Response
Response object to remove the session identifier from.
Returns nothing.
216
Session transports
Cookie Session Transport
const cookieTransport = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions/transports/cookie');
The cookie transport stores session identifiers in cookies on the request and response object.
Examples
// Pass in a secure secret from the Foxx configuration
const secret = module.context.configuration.cookieSecret;
const sessions = sessionsMiddleware({
storage: module.context.collection('sessions'),
transport: cookieTransport({
name: 'FOXXSESSID',
ttl: 60 * 60 * 24 * 7, // one week in seconds
algorithm: 'sha256',
secret: secret
})
});
module.context.use(sessions);
Creating a transport
cookieTransport([options]): Transport
Creates a Transport that can be used in the sessions middleware.
Arguments
options:
Object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
(Default:
"sid"
)
The name of the cookie.
ttl:
number
(optional)
Cookie lifetime in seconds.
algorithm:
string
(optional)
The algorithm used to sign and verify the cookie. If no algorithm is specified, the cookie will not be signed or verified. See the
cookie method on the response object.
secret:
string
(optional)
Secret to use for the signed cookie. Will be ignored if no algorithm is provided.
If a string is passed instead of an options object, it will be interpreted as the name option.
217
Session transports
Header Session Transport
const headerTransport = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions/transports/header');
The header transport stores session identifiers in headers on the request and response objects.
Examples
const sessions = sessionsMiddleware({
storage: module.context.collection('sessions'),
transport: headerTransport('X-FOXXSESSID')
});
module.context.use(sessions);
Creating a transport
headerTransport([options]): Transport
Creates a Transport that can be used in the sessions middleware.
Arguments
options:
Object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
(Default:
X-Session-Id
)
Name of the header that contains the session identifier (not case sensitive).
If a string is passed instead of an options object, it will be interpreted as the name option.
218
Serving files
Static file assets
The most flexible way to serve files in your Foxx service is to simply pass them through in your router using the context object's
fileName
method and the response object's
sendFile
method:
router.get('/some/filename.png', function (req, res) {
const filePath = module.context.fileName('some-local-filename.png');
res.sendFile(filePath);
});
While allowing for greater control of how the file should be sent to the client and who should be able to access it, doing this for all your
static assets can get tedious.
Alternatively you can specify file assets that should be served by your Foxx service directly in the service manifest using the
files
attribute:
"files": {
"/some/filename.png": {
"path": "some-local-filename.png",
"type": "image/png",
"gzip": false
},
"/favicon.ico": "bookmark.ico",
"/static": "my-assets-folder"
}
Each entry in the
files
attribute can represent either a single file or a directory. When serving entire directories, the key acts as a prefix
and requests to that prefix will be resolved within the given directory.
Options
path:
string
The relative path of the file or folder within the service.
type:
string
(optional)
The MIME content type of the file. Defaults to an intelligent guess based on the filename's extension.
gzip:
boolean
If set to
true
(Default:
false
)
the file will be served with gzip-encoding if supported by the client. This can be useful when serving text files like
client-side JavaScript, CSS or HTML.
If a string is provided instead of an object, it will be interpreted as the path option.
219
Writing tests
Writing tests
Foxx provides out of the box support for running tests against an installed service using the Mocha test runner.
Test files have full access to the service context and all ArangoDB APIs but like scripts can not define Foxx routes.
Running tests
An installed service's tests can be executed from the administrative web interface:
1. Open the "Services" tab of the web interface
2. Click on the installed service to be tested
3. Click on the "Settings" tab
4. Click on the flask icon in the top right
5. Accept the confirmation dialog
Note that running tests in a production database is not recommended and may result in data loss if the tests access the database.
When running a service in development mode special care needs to be taken as performing requests to the service's own routes as part of
the test suites may result in tests being executed while the database is in an inconsistent state, leading to unexpected behaviour.
Test file paths
In order to tell Foxx about files containing test suites, one or more patterns need to be specified in the
tests
option of the service
manifest:
{
"tests": [
"**/test_*.js",
"**/*_test.js"
]
}
These patterns can be either relative file paths or "globstar" patterns where
*
matches zero or more characters in a filename
**
matches zero or more nested directories
For example, given the following directory structure:
++ test/
|++ a/
||+- a1.js
||+- a2.js
||+- test.js
|+- b.js
|+- c.js
|+- d_test.js
+- e_test.js
+- test.js
The following patterns would match the following files:
220
Writing tests
test.js:
test.js
test/*.js:
/test/b.js
/test/c.js
/test/d_test.js
test/**/*.js:
/test/a/a1.js
/test/a/a2.js
/test/a/test.js
/test/b.js
/test/c.js
/test/d_test.js
**/test.js:
/test/a/test.js
**/*test.js:
/test/a/test.js
/test/d_test.js
/e_test.js
/test.js
Even if multiple patterns match the same file the tests in that file will only be run once.
The order of tests is always determined by the file paths, not the order in which they are matched or specified in the manifest.
Test structure
Mocha test suites can be defined using one of three interfaces: BDD, TDD or Exports.
The QUnit interface of Mocha is not supported in ArangoDB.
Like all ArangoDB code, test code is always synchronous.
BDD interface
The BDD interface defines test suites using the
describe
function and each test case is defined using the
it
function:
'use strict';
const assert = require('assert');
const trueThing = true;
describe('True things', () => {
it('are true', () => {
assert.equal(trueThing, true);
});
});
The BDD interface also offers the alias
Test fixtures can be handled using
context
before
and
for
describe
after
and
specify
for
for suite-wide fixtures and
it
.
beforeEach
and
afterEach
for per-test fixtures:
describe('False things', () => {
let falseThing;
before(() => {
falseThing = !true;
});
it('are false', () => {
assert.equal(falseThing, false);
});
});
TDD interface
221
Writing tests
The TDD interface defines test suites using the
suite
function and each test case is defined using the
test
function:
and
teardown
'use strict';
const assert = require('assert');
const trueThing = true;
suite('True things', () => {
test('are true', () => {
assert.equal(trueThing, true);
});
});
Test fixtures can be handled using
suiteSetup
and
suiteTeardown
for suite-wide fixtures and
setup
for per-test
fixtures:
suite('False things', () => {
let falseThing;
suiteSetup(() => {
falseThing = !true;
});
test('are false', () => {
assert.equal(falseThing, false);
});
});
Exports interface
The Exports interface defines test cases as methods of plain object properties of the
module.exports
object:
'use strict';
const assert = require('assert');
const trueThing = true;
exports['True things'] = {
'are true': function() {
assert.equal(trueThing, true);
}
};
The keys
before
,
after
,
beforeEach
and
afterEach
are special-cased and behave like the corresponding functions in the BDD
interface:
let falseThing;
exports['False things'] = {
before () {
falseThing = false;
},
'are false': function() {
assert.equal(falseThing, false);
}
};
Assertions
ArangoDB provides two bundled modules to define assertions:
assert
chai
corresponds to the Node.js
assert
module, providing low-level assertions that can optionally specify an error message.
is the popular Chai Assertion Library, providing both BDD and TDD style assertions using a familiar syntax.
222
Scripts and queued jobs
Foxx scripts and queued jobs
Foxx lets you define scripts that can be executed as part of the installation and removal process, invoked manually or scheduled to run at
a later time using the job queue.
To register your script, just add a
scripts
section to your service manifest:
{
...
"scripts": {
"setup": "scripts/setup.js",
"send-mail": "scripts/send-mail.js"
}
...
}
The scripts you define in your service manifest can be invoked from the web interface in the service's settings page with the Scripts
dropdown.
You can also use the scripts as queued jobs:
'use strict';
const queues = require('@arangodb/foxx/queues');
queues.get('default').push(
{mount: '/my-service-mount-point', name: 'send-mail'},
{to: 'user@example.com', body: 'Hello'}
);
Script arguments and return values
If the script was invoked with any arguments, you can access them using the
To return data from your script, you can assign the data to
module.exports
module.context.argv
array.
as usual. Please note that this data will be converted to
JSON.
Any errors raised by the script will be handled depending on how the script was invoked:
if the script was invoked from the HTTP API (e.g. using the web interface), it will return an error response using the exception's
statusCode
property if specified or 500.
if the script was invoked from a Foxx job queue, the job's failure counter will be incremented and the job will be rescheduled or
marked as failed if no attempts remain.
Examples
Let's say you want to define a script that takes two numeric values and returns the result of multiplying them:
'use strict';
const assert = require('assert');
const argv = module.context.argv;
assert.equal(argv.length, 2, 'Expected exactly two arguments');
assert.equal(typeof argv[0], 'number', 'Expected first argument to be a number');
assert.equal(typeof argv[1], 'number', 'Expected second argument to be a number');
module.exports = argv[0] * argv[1];
Lifecycle Scripts
Foxx recognizes lifecycle scripts if they are defined and will invoke them during the installation, update and removal process of the
service if you want.
223
Scripts and queued jobs
The following scripts are currently recognized as lifecycle scripts by their name:
"setup"
and
"teardown"
.
Setup Script
The setup script will be executed without arguments during the installation of your Foxx service.
The setup script is typically used to create collections your service needs or insert seed data like initial administrative user accounts and
so on.
Examples
'use strict';
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const textsCollectionName = module.context.collectionName('texts');
// `textsCollectionName` is now the prefixed name of this service's "texts" collection.
// e.g. "example_texts" if the service has been mounted at `/example`
if (db._collection(textsCollectionName) === null) {
const collection = db._create(textsCollectionName);
collection.save({text: 'entry 1 from collection texts'});
collection.save({text: 'entry 2 from collection texts'});
collection.save({text: 'entry 3 from collection texts'});
} else {
console.log(`collection ${texts} already exists. Leaving it untouched.`);
}
Teardown Script
The teardown script will be executed without arguments during the removal of your Foxx service.
It can also optionally be executed before upgrading an service.
This script typically removes the collections and/or documents created by your service's setup script.
Examples
'use strict';
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const textsCollection = module.context.collection('texts');
if (textsCollection) {
textsCollection.drop();
}
Queues
const queues = require('@arangodb/foxx/queues')
Foxx allows defining job queues that let you perform slow or expensive actions asynchronously. These queues can be used to send emails, call external APIs or perform other actions that you do not want to perform directly or want to retry on failure.
enable or disable the Foxx queues feature
--foxx.queues flag
executed asynchronously. The default is true. When set to
If true, the Foxx queues will be available and jobs in the queues will be
false
the queue manager will be disabled and any jobs are prevented from
being processed, which may reduce CPU load a bit. Please note that Foxx job queues are database-specific. Queues and jobs are always
relative to the database in which they are created or accessed.
poll interval for Foxx queues
--foxx.queues-poll-interval value
The poll interval for the Foxx queues manager. The value is
specified in seconds. Lower values will mean more immediate and more frequent Foxx queue job execution, but will make the queue
thread wake up and query the queues more often. When set to a low value, the queue thread might cause CPU load. The default is 1
second. If Foxx queues are not used much, then this value may be increased to make the queues thread wake up less. For the low-level
functionality see the chapter on the task management module.
Creating or updating a queue
224
Scripts and queued jobs
queues.create(name, [maxWorkers]): Queue
Returns the queue for the given name. If the queue does not exist, a new queue with the given name will be created. If a queue with the
given name already exists and maxWorkers is set, the queue's maximum number of workers will be updated. The queue will be created in
the current database.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the queue to create.
maxWorkers:
number
(Default:
1
)
The maximum number of workers.
Examples
// Create a queue with the default number of workers (i.e. one)
const queue1 = queues.create("my-queue");
// Create a queue with a given number of workers
const queue2 = queues.create("another-queue", 2);
// Update the number of workers of an existing queue
const queue3 = queues.create("my-queue", 10);
// queue1 and queue3 refer to the same queue
assertEqual(queue1, queue3);
Fetching an existing queue
queues.get(name): Queue
Returns the queue for the given name. If the queue does not exist an exception is thrown instead.
The queue will be looked up in the current database.
Arguments
name:
string
Name of the queue to fetch.
Examples
If the queue does not yet exist an exception is thrown:
queues.get("some-queue");
// Error: Queue does not exist: some-queue
//
at ...
Otherwise the queue will be returned:
const queue1 = queues.create("some-queue");
const queue2 = queues.get("some-queue");
assertEqual(queue1, queue2);
Deleting a queue
queues.delete(name): boolean
Returns
true
if the queue was deleted successfully. If the queue did not exist, it returns
false
instead. The queue will be looked up
and deleted in the current database.
When a queue is deleted, jobs on that queue will no longer be executed.
Deleting a queue will not delete any jobs on that queue.
Arguments
name:
string
225
Scripts and queued jobs
Name of the queue to delete.
Examples
const queue = queues.create("my-queue");
queues.delete("my-queue"); // true
queues.delete("my-queue"); // false
Adding a job to a queue
queue.push(script, data, [opts]): string
The job will be added to the specified queue in the current database.
Returns the job id.
Arguments
script:
object
A job type definition, consisting of an object with the following properties:
name:
string
Name of the script that will be invoked.
mount:
string
Mount path of the service that defines the script.
backOff:
Function | number
(Default:
1000
)
Either a function that takes the number of times the job has failed before as input and returns the number of milliseconds to
wait before trying the job again, or the delay to be used to calculate an exponential back-off, or
maxFailures:
number | Infinity
(Default:
0
0
for no delay.
):
Number of times a single run of a job will be re-tried before it is marked as
"failed"
. A negative value or
Infinity
means
that the job will be re-tried on failure indefinitely.
schema:
Schema
(optional)
Schema to validate a job's data against before enqueuing the job.
preprocess:
Function
(optional)
Function to pre-process a job's (validated) data before serializing it in the queue.
repeatTimes:
Function
(Default:
0
)
If set to a positive number, the job will be repeated this many times (not counting recovery when using maxFailures). If set to a
negative number or
repeatUntil:
Infinity
number | Date
, the job will be repeated indefinitely. If set to
0
the job will not be repeated.
(optional)
If the job is set to automatically repeat, this can be set to a timestamp in milliseconds (or
will no longer repeat. Setting this value to zero, a negative value or
repeatDelay:
number
(Default:
0
Infinity
Date
instance) after which the job
has no effect.
)
If the job is set to automatically repeat, this can be set to a non-negative value to set the number of milliseconds for which the
job will be delayed before it is started again.
data:
any
Job data of the job; must be serializable to JSON.
opts:
object
(optional)
Object with any of the following properties:
226
Scripts and queued jobs
success:
Function
(optional)
Function to be called after the job has been completed successfully.
failure:
Function
(optional)
Function to be called after the job has failed too many times.
delayUntil:
number | Date
Timestamp in milliseconds (or
backOff:
(Default:
Function | number
Date.now()
)
instance) until which the execution of the job should be delayed.
Date
(Default:
1000
)
See script.backOff.
maxFailures:
number | Infinity
(Default:
0
):
See script.maxFailures.
repeatTimes:
Function
(Default:
0
)
See script.repeatTimes.
repeatUntil:
number | Date
(optional)
See script.repeatUntil.
repeatDelay:
number
(Default:
0
)
See script.repeatDelay.
Note that if you pass a function for the backOff calculation, success callback or failure callback options the function will be serialized to
the database as a string and therefore must not rely on any external scope or external variables.
When the job is set to automatically repeat, the failure callback will only be executed when a run of the job has failed more than
maxFailures times. Note that if the job fails and maxFailures is set, it will be rescheduled according to the backOff until it has either
failed too many times or completed successfully before being scheduled according to the repeatDelay again. Recovery attempts by
maxFailures do not count towards repeatTimes.
The success and failure callbacks receive the following arguments:
result:
any
The return value of the script for the current run of the job.
jobData:
any
The data passed to this method.
job:
object
ArangoDB document representing the job's current state.
Examples
Let's say we have an service mounted at
/mailer
that provides a script called
send-mail
:
'use strict';
const queues = require('@arangodb/foxx/queues');
const queue = queues.create('my-queue');
queue.push(
{mount: '/mailer', name: 'send-mail'},
{to: 'hello@example.com', body: 'Hello world'}
);
This will not work, because
log
was defined outside the callback function (the callback must be serializable to a string):
227
Scripts and queued jobs
// WARNING: THIS DOES NOT WORK!
'use strict';
const queues = require('@arangodb/foxx/queues');
const queue = queues.create('my-queue');
const log = require('console').log; // outside the callback's function scope
queue.push(
{mount: '/mailer', name: 'send-mail'},
{to: 'hello@example.com', body: 'Hello world'},
{success: function () {
log('Yay!'); // throws 'log is not defined'
}}
);
Here's an example of a job that will be executed every 5 seconds until tomorrow:
'use strict';
const queues = require('@arangodb/foxx').queues;
const queue = queues.create('my-queue');
queue.push(
{mount: '/mailer', name: 'send-mail'},
{to: 'hello@example.com', body: 'Hello world'},
{
repeatTimes: Infinity,
repeatUntil: Date.now() + (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000),
repeatDelay: 5 * 1000
}
);
Fetching a job from the queue
queue.get(jobId): Job
Creates a proxy object representing a job with the given job id.
The job will be looked up in the specified queue in the current database.
Returns the job for the given jobId. Properties of the job object will be fetched whenever they are referenced and can not be modified.
Arguments
jobId:
string
The id of the job to create a proxy object for.
Examples
const jobId = queue.push({mount: '/logger', name: 'log'}, 'Hello World!');
const job = queue.get(jobId);
assertEqual(job.id, jobId);
Deleting a job from the queue
queue.delete(jobId): boolean
Deletes a job with the given job id. The job will be looked up and deleted in the specified queue in the current database.
Arguments
jobId:
string
The id of the job to delete.
Returns
true
if the job was deleted successfully. If the job did not exist it returns
false
instead.
Fetching an array of jobs in a queue
Examples
228
Scripts and queued jobs
const logScript = {mount: '/logger', name: 'log'};
queue.push(logScript, 'Hello World!', {delayUntil: Date.now() + 50});
assertEqual(queue.pending(logScript).length, 1);
// 50 ms later...
assertEqual(queue.pending(logScript).length, 0);
assertEqual(queue.progress(logScript).length, 1);
// even later...
assertEqual(queue.progress(logScript).length, 0);
assertEqual(queue.complete(logScript).length, 1);
Fetching an array of pending jobs in a queue
queue.pending([script]): Array
Returns an array of job ids of jobs in the given queue with the status
"pending"
, optionally filtered by the given job type. The jobs will
be looked up in the specified queue in the current database.
Arguments
script:
object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
Name of the script.
mount:
string
Mount path of the service defining the script.
Fetching an array of jobs that are currently in progress
queue.progress([script])
Returns an array of job ids of jobs in the given queue with the status
"progress"
, optionally filtered by the given job type. The jobs
will be looked up in the specified queue in the current database.
Arguments
script:
object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
Name of the script.
mount:
string
Mount path of the service defining the script.
Fetching an array of completed jobs in a queue
queue.complete([script]): Array
Returns an array of job ids of jobs in the given queue with the status
"complete"
, optionally filtered by the given job type. The jobs
will be looked up in the specified queue in the current database.
Arguments
script:
object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
Name of the script.
mount:
string
Mount path of the service defining the script.
229
Scripts and queued jobs
Fetching an array of failed jobs in a queue
queue.failed([script]): Array
Returns an array of job ids of jobs in the given queue with the status
"failed"
, optionally filtered by the given job type. The jobs will
be looked up in the specified queue in the current database.
Arguments
script:
object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
Name of the script.
mount:
string
Mount path of the service defining the script.
Fetching an array of all jobs in a queue
queue.all([script]): Array
Returns an array of job ids of all jobs in the given queue, optionally filtered by the given job type. The jobs will be looked up in the
specified queue in the current database.
Arguments
script:
object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
name:
string
Name of the script.
mount:
string
Mount path of the service defining the script.
Aborting a job
job.abort(): void
Aborts a non-completed job.
Sets a job's status to
"failed"
if it is not already
"complete"
, without calling the job's onFailure callback.
230
Migrating 2.x services
Migrating 2.x services to 3.0
When migrating services from older versions of ArangoDB it is generally recommended you make sure they work in legacy
compatibility mode, which can also serve as a stop-gap solution.
This chapter outlines the major differences in the Foxx API between ArangoDB 2.8 and ArangoDB 3.0.
General changes
The
console
object in later versions of ArangoDB 2.x implemented a special Foxx console API and would optionally log messages to
a collection. ArangoDB 3.0 restores the original behaviour where
console
is the same object available from the console module.
231
Migrating from pre-2.8
Migrating from pre-2.8
When migrating from a version older than ArangoDB 2.8 please note that starting with ArangoDB 2.8 the behaviour of the
require
function more closely mimics the behaviour observed in Node.js and module bundlers for browsers, e.g.:
In a file
/routes/examples.js
require('./my-module')
(relative to the root folder of the service):
will be attempted to be resolved in the following order:
1.
/routes/my-module
2.
/routes/my-module.js
3.
/routes/my-module.json
4.
/routes/my-module/index.js
5.
/routes/my-module/index.json
require('lodash')
(relative to service root)
(relative to service root)
(relative to service root)
(relative to service root)
(relative to service root)
will be attempted to be resolved in the following order:
1.
/routes/node_modules/lodash
2.
/node_modules/lodash
3. ArangoDB module
(relative to service root)
lodash
4. Node compatibility module
5. Bundled NPM module
require('/abs/path')
(relative to service root)
lodash
lodash
will be attempted to be resolved in the following order:
1.
/abs/path
2.
/abs/path.js
(relative to file system root)
3.
/abs/path.json
4.
/abs/path/index.js
5.
/abs/path/index.json
(relative to file system root)
(relative to file system root)
(relative to file system root)
(relative to file system root)
This behaviour is incompatible with the source code generated by the Foxx generator in the web interface before ArangoDB 2.8.
Note: The
org/arangodb
to the old name
@arangodb
module is aliased to the new name
org/arangodb
@arangodb
in ArangoDB 3.0.0 and the
@arangodb
module was aliased
in ArangoDB 2.8.0. Either one will work in 2.8 and 3.0 but outside of legacy services you should use
going forward.
Foxx queue
In ArangoDB 2.6 Foxx introduced a new way to define queued jobs using Foxx scripts to replace the function-based job type definitions
which were causing problems when restarting the server. The function-based jobs have been removed in 2.7 and are no longer supported
at all.
CoffeeScript
ArangoDB 3.0 no longer provides built-in support for CoffeeScript source files, even in legacy compatibility mode. If you want to use an
alternative language like CoffeeScript, make sure to pre-compile the raw source files to JavaScript and use the compiled JavaScript files
in the service.
The request module
The
@arangodb/request
module when used with the
json
option previously overwrote the string in the
body
property of the
response object of the response with the parsed JSON body. In 2.8 this was changed so the parsed JSON body is added as the
property of the response object in addition to overwriting the
body
property is no longer overwritten and must use the
body
json
json
property. In 3.0 and later (including legacy compatibility mode) the
property instead. Note that this only affects code using the
json
option when making the request.
232
Migrating from pre-2.8
Bundled NPM modules
The bundled NPM modules have been upgraded and may include backwards-incompatible changes, especially the API of
joi
has
changed several times. If in doubt you should bundle your own versions of these modules to ensure specific versions will be used.
The utility module
lodash
is now available and should be used instead of
underscore
, but both modules will continue to be provided.
233
manifest.json
Manifest
Many of the fields that were required in ArangoDB 2.x are now optional and can be safely omitted.
To avoid compatibility problems with future versions of ArangoDB you should always specify the
engines
field, e.g.:
{
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^3.0.0"
}
}
Controllers & exports
Previously Foxx distinguished between
these have been merged into a single
exports
main
and
controllers
, each of which could be specified as an object. In ArangoDB 3.0
field specifying an entry file.
The easiest way to migrate services using multiple exports and/or controllers is to create a separate entry file that imports these files:
Old (manifest.json):
{
"exports": {
"doodads": "doodads.js",
"dingbats": "dingbats.js"
},
"controllers": {
"/doodads": "routes/doodads.js",
"/dingbats": "routes/dingbats.js",
"/": "routes/root.js"
}
}
New (manifest.json):
{
"main": "index.js"
}
New (index.js):
'use strict';
module.context.use('/doodads', require('./routes/doodads'));
module.context.use('/dingbats', require('./routes/dingbats'));
module.context.use('/', require('./routes/root'));
module.exports = {
doodads: require('./doodads'),
dingbats: require('./dingbats')
};
Index redirect
If you previously did not define the
value
index.html
defaultDocument
field, please note that in ArangoDB 3.0 the field will no longer default to the
when omitted:
Old:
{
// no defaultDocument
}
234
manifest.json
New:
{
"defaultDocument": "index.html"
}
This also means it is no longer necessary to specify the
to serve requests at the
/
defaultDocument
field with an empty value to prevent the redirect and be able
(root) path of the mount point:
Old:
{
"defaultDocument": ""
}
New:
{
// no defaultDocument
}
Assets
The
assets
field is no longer supported in ArangoDB 3.0 outside of legacy compatibility mode.
If you previously used the field to serve individual files as-is you can simply use the
files
field instead:
Old:
{
"assets": {
"client.js": {
"files": ["assets/client.js"],
"contentType": "application/javascript"
}
}
}
New:
{
"files": {
"client.js": {
"path": "assets/client.js",
"type": "application/javascript"
}
}
}
If you relied on being able to specify multiple files that should be concatenated, you will have to use build tools outside of ArangoDB to
prepare these files accordingly.
Root element
The
rootElement
field is no longer supported and has been removed entirely.
If your controllers relied on this field being available you need to adjust your schemas and routes to be able to handle the full JSON
structure of incoming documents.
System services
235
manifest.json
The
isSystem
field is no longer supported. The presence or absence of the field had no effect in most recent versions of ArangoDB 2.x
and has now been removed entirely.
236
applicationContext
The application context
The global
applicationContext
variable available in Foxx modules has been replaced with the
context
attribute of the
module
variable. For consistency it is now referred to as the service context throughout this documentation.
Some methods of the service context have changed in ArangoDB 3.0:
fileName()
path()
now behaves like
has been removed (use
foxxFileName()
Additionally the
The
and
and
name
instead)
fileName()
instead)
attributes have been removed and can now only be accessed via the
manifest.name
manifest
attribute (as
). Note that the corresponding manifest fields are now optional and may be omitted.
attribute has also been removed as it should be considered an implementation detail. You should instead access the
options
dependencies
The internal
did in ArangoDB 2.x
fileName()
has been removed (use
version
manifest.version
path()
and
configuration
_prefix
attributes directly.
attribute (which was an alias for
basePath
) and the internal
comment
and
clearComments
methods (which
were used by the magical documentation comments in ArangoDB 2.x) have also been removed.
The internal
_service
attribute (which provides access to the service itself) has been renamed to
service
.
237
Repositories and Models
Repositories and models
Previously Foxx was heavily built around the concept of repositories and models, which provided complex but rarely necessary
abstractions on top of ArangoDB collections and documents. In ArangoDB 3.0 these have been removed entirely.
Repositories vs collections
Repositories mostly wrapped methods that already existed on ArangoDB collection objects and primarily dealt with converting between
plain ArangoDB documents and Foxx model instances. In ArangoDB 3.0 you can simply use these collections directly and treat
documents as plain JavaScript objects.
Old:
'use strict';
const Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
const myRepo = new Foxx.Repository(
applicationContext.collection('myCollection'),
{model: Foxx.Model}
);
// ...
const models = myRepo.byExample({color: 'green'});
res.json(models.map(function (model) {
return model.forClient();
}));
New:
'use strict';
const myDocs = module.context.collection('myCollection');
// ...
const docs = myDocs.byExample({color: 'green'});
res.json(docs);
Schema validation
The main purpose of models in ArangoDB 2.x was to validate incoming data using joi schemas. In more recent versions of ArangoDB
2.x it was already possible to pass these schemas directly in most places where a model was expected as an argument. The only
difference is that schemas should now be considered the default.
If you previously relied on the automatic validation of Foxx model instances when setting attributes or instantiating models from
untrusted data, you can simply use the schema's
validate
method directly.
Old:
238
Repositories and Models
'use strict';
const joi = require('joi');
const mySchema = {
name: joi.string().required(),
size: joi.number().required()
};
const Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
const MyModel = Foxx.Model.extend({schema: mySchema});
// ...
const model = new MyModel(req.json());
if (!model.isValid) {
res.status(400);
res.write('Bad request');
return;
}
New:
'use strict';
const joi = require('joi');
// Note this is now wrapped in a joi.object()
const mySchema = joi.object({
name: joi.string().required(),
size: joi.number().required()
}).required();
// ...
const result = mySchema.validate(req.body);
if (result.errors) {
res.status(400);
res.write('Bad request');
return;
}
Migrating models
While most use cases for models can now be replaced with plain joi schemas, there is still the concept of a "model" in Foxx in
ArangoDB 3.0 although it is quite different from Foxx models in ArangoDB 2.x.
A model in Foxx now refers to a plain JavaScript object with an optional
fromClient
schema
attribute and the optional methods
forClient
and
. Models can be used instead of plain joi schemas to define request and response bodies but there are no model "instances"
in ArangoDB 3.0.
Old:
'use strict';
const _ = require('underscore');
const joi = require('joi');
const Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
const MyModel = Foxx.Model.extend({
schema: {
name: joi.string().required(),
size: joi.number().required()
},
forClient () {
return _.omit(this.attributes, ['_key', '_id', '_rev']);
}
});
// ...
ctrl.get(/* ... */)
.bodyParam('body', {type: MyModel});
New:
239
Repositories and Models
'use strict';
const _ = require('lodash');
const joi = require('joi');
const MyModel = {
schema: joi.object({
name: joi.string().required(),
size: joi.number().required()
}).required(),
forClient (data) {
return _.omit(data, ['_key', '_id', '_rev']);
}
};
// ...
router.get(/* ... */)
.body(MyModel);
Triggers
When saving, updating, replacing or deleting models in ArangoDB 2.x using the repository methods the repository and model would fire
events that could be subscribed to in order to perform side-effects.
Note that even in 2.x these events would not fire when using queries or manipulating documents in any other way than using the specific
repository methods that operated on individual documents.
This behaviour is no longer available in ArangoDB 3.0 but can be emulated by using an
EventEmitter
directly if it is not possible to
solve the problem differently:
Old:
'use strict';
const Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
const MyModel = Foxx.Model.extend({
// ...
}, {
afterRemove () {
console.log(this.get('name'), 'was removed');
}
});
// ...
const model = myRepo.firstExample({name: 'myName'});
myRepo.remove(model);
// -> "myName was removed successfully"
New:
'use strict';
const EventEmitter = require('events');
const emitter = new EventEmitter();
emitter.on('afterRemove', function (doc) {
console.log(doc.name, 'was removed');
});
// ...
const doc = myDocs.firstExample({name: 'myName'});
myDocs.remove(doc);
emitter.emit('afterRemove', doc);
// -> "myName was removed successfully"
Or simply:
240
Repositories and Models
'use strict';
function afterRemove(doc) {
console.log(doc.name, 'was removed');
}
// ...
const doc = myDocs.firstExample({name: 'myName'});
myDocs.remove(doc);
afterRemove(doc);
// -> "myName was removed successfully"
241
Controllers
Controllers vs routers
Foxx Controllers have been replaced with routers. This is more than a cosmetic change as there are significant differences in behaviour:
Controllers were automatically mounted when the file defining them was executed. Routers need to be explicitly mounted using the
module.context.use
method. Routers can also be exported, imported and even nested. This makes it easier to split up complex routing
trees across multiple files.
Old:
'use strict';
const Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
const ctrl = new Foxx.Controller(applicationContext);
ctrl.get('/hello', function (req, res) {
// ...
});
New:
'use strict';
const createRouter = require('org/arangodb/foxx/router');
const router = createRouter();
// If you are importing this file from your entry file ("main"):
module.exports = router;
// Otherwise: module.context.use(router);
router.get('/hello', function (req, res) {
// ...
});
Some general changes in behaviour that might trip you up:
When specifying path parameters with schemas Foxx will now ignore the route if the schema does not match (i.e.
will no longer match
if
/hello/:num
num
specifies a schema that doesn't match the value
"foxx"
/hello/foxx
). With controllers this could
previously result in users seeing a 400 (bad request) error when they should instead be served a 404 (not found) response.
When a request is made with an HTTP verb not supported by an endpoint, Foxx will now respond with a 405 (method not allowed)
error with an appropriate
Allowed
header listing the supported HTTP verbs for that endpoint.
Foxx will no longer parse your JSDoc comments to generate route documentation (use the
summary
and
description
methods of
the endpoint instead).
The
apiDocumentation
method now lives on the service context and behaves slightly differently.
There is no router equivalent for the
activateAuthentication
and
activateSessions
methods. Instead you should use the
session middleware (see the section on sessions below).
There is no
del
alias for the
delete
method on routers. It has always been safe to use keywords as method names in Foxx, so
the use of this alias was already discouraged before.
The
allRoutes
proxy is no lot available on routers but can easily be replaced with middleware or child routers.
242
Controllers
The request context
When defining a route on a controller the controller would return an object called request context. Routers return a similar object called
endpoint. Routers also return endpoints when mounting child routers or middleware, as does the
use
method of the service context.
The main differences between the new endpoints and the objects returned by controllers in previous versions of ArangoDB are:
bodyParam
is now simply called
body
; it is no longer neccessary or possible to give the body a name and the request body will
not show up in the request parameters. It's also possible to specify a MIME type
body
,
queryParam
and
pathParam
now take position arguments instead of an object. For specifics see the endpoint
documentation.
notes
onlyIf
is now called
and
description
onlyIfAuthenticated
and takes a single string argument.
are no longer available; they can be emulated with middleware if necessary:
Old:
ctrl.get(/* ... */)
.onlyIf(function (req) {
if (!req.user) {
throw new Error('Not authenticated!');
}
});
New:
router.use(function (req, res, next) {
if (!req.arangoUser) {
res.throw(403, 'Not authenticated!');
}
next();
});
router.get(/* ... */);
243
Controllers
Error handling
The
errorResponse
method provided by controller request contexts has no equivalent in router endpoints. If you want to handle
specific error types with specific status codes you need to catch them explicitly, either in the route or in a middleware:
Old:
ctrl.get('/puppies', function (req, res) {
// Exception is thrown here
})
.errorResponse(TooManyPuppiesError, 400, 'Something went wrong!');
New:
ctrl.get('/puppies', function (req, res) {
try {
// Exception is thrown here
} catch (e) {
if (!(e instanceof TooManyPuppiesError)) {
throw e;
}
res.throw(400, 'Something went wrong!');
}
})
// The "error" method merely documents the meaning
// of the status code and has no other effect.
.error(400, 'Thrown if there are too many puppies.');
Note that errors created with
http-errors
are still handled by Foxx intelligently. In fact
res.throw
is just a helper method for
creating and throwing these errors.
244
Controllers
Before, after and around
The
before
,
after
and
around
methods can easily be replaced by middleware:
Old:
let start;
ctrl.before(function (req, res) {
start = Date.now();
});
ctrl.after(function (req, res) {
console.log('Request handled in ', (Date.now() - start), 'ms');
});
New:
router.use(function (req, res, next) {
let start = Date.now();
next();
console.log('Request handled in ', (Date.now() - start), 'ms');
});
Note that unlike
around
middleware receives the
next
function as the third argument (the "opts" argument has no equivalent).
245
Controllers
Request objects
The names of some attributes of the request object have been adjusted to more closely align with those of the corresponding methods on
the endpoint objects and established conventions in other JavaScript frameworks:
is now called
req.urlParameters
req.parameters
req.params()
is now called
is now called
req.param()
req.method
is now called
req.compatibility
is now called
req.user
req.queryParams
is now called
req.requestType
req.pathParams
req.arangoVersion
req.arangoUser
Some attributes have been removed or changed:
has been removed entirely (use
req.cookies
Additionally the
)
has been removed entirely (see below)
req.requestBody
req.suffix
req.cookie(name)
is now a string rather than an array
req.server
and
req.client
attributes are no longer available. The information is now exposed in a way that can
(optionally) transparently handle proxy forwarding headers:
req.hostname
req.port
defaults to
defaults to
Finally, the
req.server.port
defaults to
req.remoteAddress
req.remotePort
req.server.address
defaults to
req.cookie
client.address
client.port
method now takes the
signed
options directly.
Old:
const sid = req.cookie('sid', {
signed: {
secret: 'keyboardcat',
algorithm: 'sha256'
}
});
New:
const sid = req.cookie('sid', {
secret: 'keyboardcat',
algorithm: 'sha256'
});
Request bodies
The
req.body
req.rawBody
is no longer a method and no longer automatically parses JSON request bodies unless a request body was defined. The
now corresponds to the
req.rawBodyBuffer
of ArangoDB 2.x and is also no longer a method.
Old:
246
Controllers
ctrl.post('/', function (req, res) {
const data = req.body();
// ...
});
New:
router.post('/', function (req, res) {
const data = req.body;
// ...
})
.body(['json']);
Or simply:
const joi = require('joi');
router.post('/', function (req, res) {
const data = req.body;
// ...
})
.body(joi.object().optional());
Multipart requests
The
req.requestParts
method has been removed entirely. If you need to accept multipart request bodies, you can simply define the
request body using a multipart MIME type like
multipart/form-data
:
Old:
ctrl.post('/', function (req, res) {
const parts = req.requestParts();
// ...
});
New:
router.post('/', function (req, res) {
const parts = req.body;
// ...
})
.body(['multipart/form-data']);
247
Controllers
Response objects
The response object has a lot of new methods in ArangoDB 3.0 but otherwise remains similar to the response object of previous
versions:
The
res.send
method behaves very differently from how the method with the same name behaved in ArangoDB 2.x: the conversion
now takes the response body definition of the route into account. There is a new method
Note that consecutive calls to
The
res.contentType
you should set the
res.write
that implements the old behaviour.
will append to the response body rather than replacing it like
res.write
res.send
.
property is also no longer available. If you want to set the MIME type of the response body to an explicit value
content-type
header instead:
Old:
res.contentType = 'application/json';
res.body = JSON.stringify(results);
New:
res.set('content-type', 'application/json');
res.body = JSON.stringify(results);
Or simply:
// sets the content type to JSON
// if it has not already been set
res.json(results);
The
res.cookie
method now takes the
signed
options as part of the regular options object.
Old:
res.cookie('sid', 'abcdef', {
ttl: 60 * 60,
signed: {
secret: 'keyboardcat',
algorithm: 'sha256'
}
});
New:
res.cookie('sid', 'abcdef', {
ttl: 60 * 60,
secret: 'keyboardcat',
algorithm: 'sha256'
});
248
Controllers
Dependency injection
There is no equivalent of the
addInjector
method available in ArangoDB 2.x controllers. Most use cases can be solved by simply
using plain variables but if you need something more flexible you can also use middleware:
Old:
ctrl.addInjector('magicNumber', function () {
return Math.random();
});
ctrl.get('/', function (req, res, injected) {
res.json(injected.magicNumber);
});
New:
function magicMiddleware(name) {
return {
register () {
let magic;
return function (req, res, next) {
if (!magic) {
magic = Math.random();
}
req[name] = magic;
next();
};
}
};
}
router.use(magicMiddleware('magicNumber'));
router.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.json(req.magicNumber);
});
Or simply:
const magicNumber = Math.random();
router.get('/', function (req, res) {
res.json(magicNumber);
});
249
Sessions
Sessions
The
ctrl.activateSessions
method and the related
util-sessions-local
Foxx service have been replaced with the Foxx sessions
middleware. It is no longer possible to use the built-in session storage but you can simply pass in any document collection directly.
Old:
const localSessions = applicationContext.dependencies.localSessions;
const sessionStorage = localSessions.sessionStorage;
ctrl.activateSessions({
sessionStorage: sessionStorage,
cookie: {secret: 'keyboardcat'}
});
ctrl.destroySession('/logout', function (req, res) {
res.json({message: 'Goodbye!'});
});
New:
const sessionMiddleware = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions');
const cookieTransport = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions/transports/cookie');
router.use(sessionMiddleware({
storage: module.context.collection('sessions'),
transport: cookieTransport('keyboardcat')
}));
router.post('/logout', function (req, res) {
req.sessionStorage.clear(req.session);
res.json({message: 'Goodbye!'});
});
250
Auth and OAuth2
Auth and OAuth2
The
util-simple-auth
and
util-oauth2
Foxx services have been replaced with the Foxx auth and Foxx OAuth2 modules. It is no
longer necessary to install these services as dependencies in order to use the functionality.
Old:
'use strict';
const auth = applicationContext.dependencies.simpleAuth;
// ...
const valid = auth.verifyPassword(authData, password);
New:
'use strict';
const createAuth = require('@arangodb/foxx/auth');
const auth = createAuth(); // Use default configuration
// ...
const valid = auth.verifyPassword(authData, password);
251
Foxx Queries
Foxx queries
The
createQuery
db._query
method has been removed. It can be trivially replaced with plain JavaScript functions and direct calls to the
method:
Old:
'use strict';
const Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
const query = Foxx.createQuery({
query: 'FOR u IN _users SORT u.user ASC RETURN u[@propName]',
params: ['propName'],
transform: function (results, uppercase) {
return (
uppercase
? results[0].toUpperCase()
: results[0].toLowerCase()
);
}
});
query('user', true);
New:
'use strict';
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const aql = require('@arangodb').aql;
function query(propName, uppercase) {
const results = db._query(aql`
FOR u IN _users
SORT u.user ASC
RETURN u[${propName}]
`);
return (
uppercase
? results[0].toUpperCase()
: results[0].toLowerCase()
);
}
query('user', true);
252
Legacy compatibility mode
Legacy compatibility mode for 2.8 services
ArangoDB 3 continues to support Foxx services written for ArangoDB 2.8 by running them in a special legacy compatibility mode that
provides access to some of the modules and APIs no longer provided in 3.0 and beyond.
Note: Legacy compatibility mode is strictly intended as a temporary stop gap solution for supporting existing services while upgrading
to ArangoDB 3.0 and should not be considered a permanent feature of ArangoDB or Foxx.
In order to mark an existing service as a legacy service, just make sure the following attribute is defined in the service manifest:
"engines": {
"arangodb": "^2.8.0"
}
This semantic version range denotes that the service is known to work with ArangoDB 2.8.0 and supports all newer versions of
ArangoDB up to but not including 3.0.0 (nor any development version of 3.0.0 and greater).
Any similar version range the does not include 3.0.0 or greater will have the same effect (e.g.
compatibility mode, as will
, but
1.2.3
>=2.8.0
^2.5.0
will also trigger the legacy
will not as it indicates compatibility with all versions greater or equal 2.8.0, not just
those within the 2.x version range).
Features supported in legacy compatibility mode
Legacy compatibility mode supports the old manifest format, specifically:
main
is ignored
controllers
exports
will be mounted as in 2.8
will be executed as in 2.8
Additionally the
attribute will be ignored if present but does not result in a warning in legacy compatibility mode.
isSystem
The Foxx console is available as the
console
The service context is available as the
tests
pseudo-global variable (shadowing the global console object).
applicationContext
pseudo-global variable in the
controllers
,
exports
,
scripts
and
as in 2.8. The following additional properties are available on the service context in legacy compatibility mode:
is an alias for 3.x
path()
fileName()
foxxFileName()
version
name
is an alias for 2.x
path.join
fs.safeJoin
to build file paths)
to build file paths)
fileName
exposes the service manifest's
exposes the service manifest's
options
(using
fileName()
behaves as in 2.x (using
version
name
attribute
attribute
exposes the service's raw options
The following methods are removed on the service context in legacy compatibility mode:
use()
-- use
@arangodb/foxx/controller
apiDocumentation()
registerType()
-- use
instead
controller.apiDocumentation()
instead
-- not supported in legacy compatibility mode
The following modules that have been removed or replaced in 3.0.0 are available in legacy compatibility mode:
@arangodb/foxx/authentication
@arangodb/foxx/console
@arangodb/foxx/controller
@arangodb/foxx/model
@arangodb/foxx/query
@arangodb/foxx/repository
@arangodb/foxx/schema
@arangodb/foxx/sessions
@arangodb/foxx/template_middleware
253
Legacy compatibility mode
The
@arangodb/foxx
Controller
from
from
Repository
queues
@arangodb/foxx/query
@arangodb/foxx/model
from
toJSONSchema
getExports
@arangodb/foxx/controller
from
createQuery
Model
module also provides the same exports as in 2.8, namely:
and
from
@arangodb/foxx/repository
from
@arangodb/foxx/schema
requireApp
from
@arangodb/foxx/manager
@arangodb/foxx/queues
Any feature not supported in 2.8 will also not work in legacy compatibility mode. When migrating from an older version of ArangoDB it
is a good idea to migrate to ArangoDB 2.8 first for an easier upgrade path.
Additionally please note the differences laid out in the chapter Migrating from pre-2.8 in the migration guide.
254
User management
User management
Foxx does not provide any user management out of the box but it is very easy to roll your own solution:
The session middleware provides mechanisms for adding session logic to your service, using e.g. a collection or JSON Web Tokens to
store the sessions between requests.
The auth module provides utilities for basic password verification and hashing.
The following example service demonstrates how user management can be implemented using these basic building blocks.
Setting up the collections
Let's say we want to store sessions and users in collections. We can use the setup script to make sure these collections are created before
the service is mounted.
First add a setup script to your manifest if it isn't already defined:
"scripts": {
"setup": "scripts/setup.js"
}
Then create the setup script with the following content:
'use strict';
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const sessions = module.context.collectionName('sessions');
const users = module.context.collectionName('users');
if (!db._collection(sessions)) {
db._createDocumentCollection(sessions);
}
if (!db._collection(users)) {
db._createDocumentCollection(users);
}
db._collection(users).ensureIndex({
type: 'hash',
fields: ['username'],
unique: true
});
Creating the router
The following main file demonstrates basic user management:
'use strict';
const joi = require('joi');
const createAuth = require('@arangodb/foxx/auth');
const createRouter = require('@arangodb/foxx/router');
const sessionsMiddleware = require('@arangodb/foxx/sessions');
const auth = createAuth();
const router = createRouter();
const users = module.context.collection('users');
const sessions = sessionsMiddleware({
storage: module.context.collection('sessions'),
transport: 'cookie'
});
module.context.use(sessions);
module.context.use(router);
router.get('/whoami', function (req, res) {
255
User management
try {
const user = users.document(req.session.uid);
res.send({username: user.username});
} catch (e) {
res.send({username: null});
}
})
.description('Returns the currently active username.');
router.post('/login', function (req, res) {
// This may return a user object or null
const user = users.firstExample({
username: req.body.username
});
const valid = auth.verify(
// Pretend to validate even if no user was found
user ? user.authData : {},
req.body.password
);
if (!valid) res.throw('unauthorized');
// Log the user in
req.session.uid = user._key;
req.sessionStorage.save(req.session);
res.send({sucess: true});
})
.body(joi.object({
username: joi.string().required(),
password: joi.string().required()
}).required(), 'Credentials')
.description('Logs a registered user in.');
router.post('/logout', function (req, res) {
if (req.session.uid) {
req.session.uid = null;
req.sessionStorage.save(req.session);
}
res.send({success: true});
})
.description('Logs the current user out.');
router.post('/signup', function (req, res) {
const user = req.body;
try {
// Create an authentication hash
user.authData = auth.create(user.password);
delete user.password;
const meta = users.save(user);
Object.assign(user, meta);
} catch (e) {
// Failed to save the user
// We'll assume the UniqueConstraint has been violated
res.throw('bad request', 'Username already taken', e);
}
// Log the user in
req.session.uid = user._key;
req.sessionStorage.save(req.session);
res.send({success: true});
})
.body(joi.object({
username: joi.string().required(),
password: joi.string().required()
}).required(), 'Credentials')
.description('Creates a new user and logs them in.');
256
Related modules
Related modules
These are some of the modules outside of Foxx you will find useful when writing Foxx services.
Additionally there are modules providing some level of compatibility with Node.js as well as a number of bundled NPM modules (like
lodash and joi). For more information on these modules see the JavaScript modules appendix.
The
@arangodb
module
require('@arangodb')
This module provides access to various ArangoDB internals as well as three of the most important exports necessary to work with the
database in Foxx:
db
,
aql
and
errors
.
You can find a full description of this module in the ArangoDB module appendix.
The
@arangodb/request
module
require('@arangodb/request')
This module provides a function for making HTTP requests to external services. Note that while this allows communicating with thirdparty services it may affect database performance by blocking Foxx requests as ArangoDB waits for the remote service to respond. If
you routinely make requests to slow external services and are not directly interested in the response it is probably a better idea to delegate
the actual request/response cycle to a gateway service running outside ArangoDB.
You can find a full description of this module in the request module appendix.
The
@arangodb/general-graph
module
require('@arangodb/general-graph')
This module provides access to ArangoDB graph definitions and various low-level graph operations in JavaScript. For more complex
queries it is probably better to use AQL but this module can be useful in your setup and teardown scripts to create and destroy graph
definitions.
For more information see the chapter on the general graph module.
257
Authentication
Authentication
const createAuth = require('@arangodb/foxx/auth');
Authenticators allow implementing basic password mechanism using simple built-in hashing functions.
For a full example of sessions with authentication and registration see the example in the chapter on User Management.
Creating an authenticator
createAuth([options]): Authenticator
Creates an authenticator.
Arguments
options:
Object
(optional)
An object with the following properties:
method:
string
(Default:
"sha256"
)
The hashing algorithm to use to create password hashes. The authenticator will be able to verify passwords against hashes
using any supported hashing algorithm. This only affects new hashes created by the authenticator.
Supported values:
"md5"
"sha1"
"sha224"
"sha256"
"sha384"
"sha512"
saltLength:
number
(Default:
16
)
Length of the salts that will be generated for password hashes.
Returns an authenticator.
Creating authentication data objects
auth.create(password): AuthData
Creates an authentication data object for the given password with the following properties:
method:
string
The method used to generate the hash.
salt:
string
A random salt used to generate this hash.
hash:
string
The hash string itself.
Arguments
password:
string
A password to hash.
Returns the authentication data object.
258
Authentication
Validating passwords against authentication data objects
auth.verify([hash, [password]]): boolean
Verifies the given password against the given hash using a constant time string comparison.
Arguments
hash:
AuthData
(optional)
A authentication data object generated with the create method.
password:
string
(optional)
A password to verify against the hash.
Returns
true
if the hash matches the given password. Returns
false
otherwise.
259
OAuth 2.0
OAuth 2.0
const createOAuth2Client = require('@arangodb/foxx/oauth2');
The OAuth2 module provides abstractions over OAuth2 providers like Facebook, GitHub and Google.
Examples
The following extends the user management example:
const crypto = require('@arangodb/crypto');
const router = createRouter();
const oauth2 = createOAuth2Client({
// We'll use Facebook for this example
authEndpoint: 'https://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth',
tokenEndpoint: 'https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token',
activeUserEndpoint: 'https://graph.facebook.com/v2.0/me',
clientId: 'keyboardcat',
clientSecret: 'keyboardcat'
});
module.context.use('/oauth2', router);
// See the user management example for setting up the
// sessions and users objects used in this example
router.use(sessions);
router.post('/auth', function (req, res) {
const csrfToken = crypto.genRandomAlphaNumbers(32);
const url = req.reverse('oauth2_callback', {csrfToken});
const redirect_uri = req.makeAbsolute(url);
// Set CSRF cookie for five minutes
res.cookie('oauth2_csrf_token', csrfToken, {ttl: 60 * 5});
// Redirect to the provider's authorization URL
res.redirect(303, oauth2.getAuthUrl(url));
});
router.get('/auth', function (req, res) {
// Some providers pass errors as query parameter
if (req.queryParams.error) {
res.throw(500, `Provider error: ${req.queryParams.error}`)
}
// Make sure CSRF cookie matches the URL
const expectedToken = req.cookie('oauth2_csrf_token');
if (!expectedToken || req.queryParams.csrfToken !== expectedToken) {
res.throw(400, 'CSRF mismatch.');
}
// Make sure the URL contains a grant token
if (!req.queryParams.code) {
res.throw(400, 'Provider did not pass grant token.');
}
// Reconstruct the redirect_uri used for the grant token
const url = req.reverse('oauth2_callback');
const redirect_uri = req.makeAbsolute(url);
// Fetch an access token from the provider
const authData = oauth2.exchangeGrantToken(
req.queryParams.code,
redirect_uri
);
const facebookToken = authData.access_token;
// Fetch the active user's profile info
const profile = oauth2.fetchActiveUser(facebookToken);
const facebookId = profile.id;
// Try to find an existing user with the user ID
// (this requires the users collection)
let user = users.firstExample({facebookId});
if (user) {
// Update the access_token if it has changed
if (user.facebookToken !== facebookToken) {
users.update(user, {facebookToken});
}
} else {
260
OAuth 2.0
// Create a new user document
user = {
username: `fb:${facebookId}`,
facebookId,
access_token
}
const meta = users.save(user);
Object.assign(user, meta);
}
// Log the user in (this requires the session middleware)
req.session.uid = user._key;
req.session.access_token = authData.access_token;
req.sessionStorage.save(req.session);
// Redirect to the default route
res.redirect(303, req.makeAbsolute('/'));
}, 'oauth2_callback')
.queryParam('error', joi.string().optional())
.queryParam('csrfToken', joi.string().optional())
.queryParam('code', joi.string().optional());
Creating an OAuth2 client
createOAuth2Client(options): OAuth2Client
Creates an OAuth2 client.
Arguments
options:
Object
An object with the following properties:
authEndpoint:
string
The fully-qualified URL of the provider's authorization endpoint.
tokenEndpoint:
string
The fully-qualified URL of the provider's token endpoint.
refreshEndpoint:
string
(optional)
The fully-qualified URL of the provider's refresh token endpoint.
activeUserEndpoint:
string
(optional)
The fully-qualified URL of the provider's endpoint for fetching details about the current user.
clientId:
string
The application's Client ID (or App ID) for the provider.
clientSecret:
string
The application's Client Secret (or App Secret) for the provider.
Returns an OAuth2 client for the given provider.
Setting up OAuth2 for Facebook
If you want to use Facebook as the OAuth2 provider, use the following options:
authEndpoint:
tokenEndpoint:
https://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth
https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token
activeUserEndpoint:
https://graph.facebook.com/v2.0/me
You also need to obtain a client ID and client secret from Facebook:
1. Create a regular account at Facebook or use an existing account you own.
2. Visit the Facebook Developers page.
261
OAuth 2.0
3. Click on Apps in the menu, then select Register as a Developer (the only option) and follow the instructions provided. You may
need to verify your account by phone.
4. Click on Apps in the menu, then select Create a New App and follow the instructions provided.
5. Open the app dashboard, then note down the App ID and App Secret. The secret may be hidden by default.
6. Click on Settings, then Advanced and enter one or more Valid OAuth redirect URIs. At least one of them must match your
redirect_uri later. Don't forget to save your changes.
7. Set the option clientId to the App ID and the option clientSecret to the App Secret.
Setting up OAuth2 for GitHub
If you want to use GitHub as the OAuth2 provider, use the following options:
authEndpoint:
https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize?scope=user
tokenEndpoint:
https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token
activeUserEndpoint:
https://api.github.com/user
You also need to obtain a client ID and client secret from GitHub:
1. Create a regular account at GitHub or use an existing account you own.
2. Go to Account Settings > Applications > Register new application.
3. Provide an authorization callback URL. This must match your redirect_uri later.
4. Fill in the other required details and follow the instructions provided.
5. Open the application page, then note down the Client ID and Client Secret.
6. Set the option clientId to the Client ID and the option clientSecret to the Client Secret.
Setting up OAuth2 for Google
If you want to use Google as the OAuth2 provider, use the following options:
authEndpoint:
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?access_type=offline&scope=profile
tokenEndpoint:
https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token
activeUserEndpoint:
https://www.googleapis.com/plus/v1/people/me
You also need to obtain a client ID and client secret from Google:
1. Create a regular account at Google or use an existing account you own.
2. Visit the Google Developers Console.
3. Click on Create Project, then follow the instructions provided.
4. When your project is ready, open the project dashboard, then click on Enable an API.
5. Enable the Google+ API to allow your app to distinguish between different users.
6. Open the Credentials page and click Create new Client ID, then follow the instructions provided. At least one Authorized Redirect
URI must match your redirect_uri later. At least one Authorized JavaScript Origin must match your app's fully-qualified domain.
7. When the Client ID is ready, note down the Client ID and Client secret.
8. Set the option clientId to the Client ID and the option clientSecret to the Client secret.
Get the authorization URL
oauth2.getAuthUrl(redirect_uri, args): string
Generates the authorization URL for the authorization endpoint.
Arguments
redirect_uri:
string
The fully-qualified URL of your application's OAuth2 callback.
args: (optional)
An object with any of the following properties:
response_type:
string
(Default:
"code"
)
262
OAuth 2.0
See RFC 6749.
Returns a fully-qualified URL for the authorization endpoint of the provider by appending the client ID and any additional arguments
from args to the authEndpoint.
Exchange a grant code for an access token
oauth2.exchangeGrantToken(code, redirect_uri)
Exchanges a grant code for an access token.
Performs a POST response to the tokenEndpoint.
Throws an exception if the remote server responds with an empty response body.
Arguments
code:
string
A grant code returned by the provider's authorization endpoint.
redirect_uri:
string
The original callback URL with which the code was requested.
args:
Object
(optional)
An object with any of the following properties:
grant_type:
string
(Default:
"authorization_code"
)
See RFC 6749.
Returns the parsed response object.
Fetch the active user
oauth2.fetchActiveUser(access_token): Object
Fetches details of the active user.
Performs a GET response to the activeUserEndpoint.
Throws an exception if the remote server responds with an empty response body.
Also throws an exception if the activeUserEndpoint is not configured.
Arguments
access_token:
string
An OAuth2 access token as returned by exchangeGrantToken.
Returns the parsed response object.
Examples
const authData = oauth2.exchangeGrantToken(code, redirect_uri);
const userData = oauth2.fetchActiveUser(authData.access_token);
263
Transactions
Transactions
Starting with version 1.3, ArangoDB provides support for user-definable transactions.
Transactions in ArangoDB are atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID).
These ACID properties provide the following guarantees:
The atomicity principle makes transactions either complete in their entirety or have no effect at all.
The consistency principle ensures that no constraints or other invariants will be violated during or after any transaction.
The isolation property will hide the modifications of a transaction from other transactions until the transaction commits.
Finally, the durability proposition makes sure that operations from transactions that have committed will be made persistent. The
amount of transaction durability is configurable in ArangoDB, as is the durability on collection level.
264
Transaction invocation
Transaction invocation
ArangoDB transactions are different from transactions in SQL.
In SQL, transactions are started with explicit BEGIN or START TRANSACTION command. Following any series of data retrieval or
modification operations, an SQL transaction is finished with a COMMIT command, or rolled back with a ROLLBACK command. There
may be client/server communication between the start and the commit/rollback of an SQL transaction.
In ArangoDB, a transaction is always a server-side operation, and is executed on the server in one go, without any client interaction. All
operations to be executed inside a transaction need to be known by the server when the transaction is started.
There are no individual BEGIN, COMMIT or ROLLBACK transaction commands in ArangoDB. Instead, a transaction in ArangoDB is
started by providing a description of the transaction to the db._executeTransaction JavaScript function:
db._executeTransaction(description);
This function will then automatically start a transaction, execute all required data retrieval and/or modification operations, and at the end
automatically commit the transaction. If an error occurs during transaction execution, the transaction is automatically aborted, and all
changes are rolled back.
Execute transaction
executes a transaction
db._executeTransaction(object)
Executes a server-side transaction, as specified by object.
object must have the following attributes:
collections: a sub-object that defines which collections will be used in the transaction. collections can have these attributes:
read: a single collection or a list of collections that will be used in the transaction in read-only mode
write: a single collection or a list of collections that will be used in the transaction in write or read mode.
action: a Javascript function or a string with Javascript code containing all the instructions to be executed inside the transaction. If
the code runs through successfully, the transaction will be committed at the end. If the code throws an exception, the transaction will
be rolled back and all database operations will be rolled back.
Additionally, object can have the following optional attributes:
waitForSync: boolean flag indicating whether the transaction is forced to be synchronous.
lockTimeout: a numeric value that can be used to set a timeout for waiting on collection locks. If not specified, a default value will
be used. Setting lockTimeout to 0 will make ArangoDB not time out waiting for a lock.
params: optional arguments passed to the function specified in action.
Declaration of collections
All collections which are to participate in a transaction need to be declared beforehand. This is a necessity to ensure proper locking and
isolation.
Collections can be used in a transaction in write mode or in read-only mode.
If any data modification operations are to be executed, the collection must be declared for use in write mode. The write mode allows
modifying and reading data from the collection during the transaction (i.e. the write mode includes the read mode).
Contrary, using a collection in read-only mode will only allow performing read operations on a collection. Any attempt to write into a
collection used in read-only mode will make the transaction fail.
Collections for a transaction are declared by providing them in the collections attribute of the object passed to the _executeTransaction
function. The collections attribute has the sub-attributes read and write:
265
Transaction invocation
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: [ "users", "logins" ],
read: [ "recommendations" ]
}
});
read and write are optional attributes, and only need to be specified if the operations inside the transactions demand for it.
The contents of read or write can each be lists arrays collection names or a single collection name (as a string):
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users",
read: "recommendations"
}
});
Note: It is currently optional to specify collections for read-only access. Even without specifying them, it is still possible to read from
such collections from within a transaction, but with relaxed isolation. Please refer to Transactions Locking for more details.
In order to make a transaction fail when a non-declared collection is used inside for reading, the optional allowImplicit sub-attribute of
collections can be set to false:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
read: "recommendations",
allowImplicit: false
/* this disallows read access to other collections
than specified */
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
return db.foobar.toArray(); /* will fail because db.foobar must not be accessed
for reading inside this transaction */
}
});
The default value for allowImplicit is true. Write-accessing collections that have not been declared in the collections array is never
possible, regardless of the value of allowImplicit.
Declaration of data modification and retrieval operations
All data modification and retrieval operations that are to be executed inside the transaction need to be specified in a Javascript function,
using the action attribute:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users"
},
action: function () {
// all operations go here
}
});
Any valid Javascript code is allowed inside action but the code may only access the collections declared in collections. action may be a
Javascript function as shown above, or a string representation of a Javascript function:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users"
},
action: "function () { doSomething(); }"
});
266
Transaction invocation
Please note that any operations specified in action will be executed on the server, in a separate scope. Variables will be bound late.
Accessing any JavaScript variables defined on the client-side or in some other server context from inside a transaction may not work.
Instead, any variables used inside action should be defined inside action itself:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users"
},
action: function () {
var db = require(...).db;
db.users.save({ ... });
}
});
When the code inside the action attribute is executed, the transaction is already started and all required locks have been acquired. When
the code inside the action attribute finishes, the transaction will automatically commit. There is no explicit commit command.
To make a transaction abort and roll back all changes, an exception needs to be thrown and not caught inside the transaction:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users"
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
db.users.save({ _key: "hello" });
// will abort and roll back the transaction
throw "doh!";
}
});
There is no explicit abort or roll back command.
As mentioned earlier, a transaction will commit automatically when the end of the action function is reached and no exception has been
thrown. In this case, the user can return any legal JavaScript value from the function:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users"
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
db.users.save({ _key: "hello" });
// will commit the transaction and return the value "hello"
return "hello";
}
});
Examples
The first example will write 3 documents into a collection named c1. The c1 collection needs to be declared in the write attribute of the
collections attribute passed to the executeTransaction function.
The action attribute contains the actual transaction code to be executed. This code contains all data modification operations (3 in this
example).
267
Transaction invocation
// setup
db._create("c1");
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: [ "c1" ]
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
db.c1.save({ _key: "key1" });
db.c1.save({ _key: "key2" });
db.c1.save({ _key: "key3" });
}
});
db.c1.count(); // 3
Aborting the transaction by throwing an exception in the action function will revert all changes, so as if the transaction never happened:
// setup
db._create("c1");
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: [ "c1" ]
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
db.c1.save({ _key: "key1" });
db.c1.count(); // 1
db.c1.save({ _key: "key2" });
db.c1.count(); // 2
throw "doh!";
}
});
db.c1.count(); // 0
The automatic rollback is also executed when an internal exception is thrown at some point during transaction execution:
// setup
db._create("c1");
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: [ "c1" ]
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
db.c1.save({ _key: "key1" });
// will throw duplicate a key error, not explicitly requested by the user
db.c1.save({ _key: "key1" });
// we'll never get here...
}
});
db.c1.count(); // 0
As required by the consistency principle, aborting or rolling back a transaction will also restore secondary indexes to the state at
transaction start.
Cross-collection transactions
There's also the possibility to run a transaction across multiple collections. In this case, multiple collections need to be declared in the
collections attribute, e.g.:
268
Transaction invocation
// setup
db._create("c1");
db._create("c2");
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: [ "c1", "c2" ]
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
db.c1.save({ _key: "key1" });
db.c2.save({ _key: "key2" });
}
});
db.c1.count(); // 1
db.c2.count(); // 1
Again, throwing an exception from inside the action function will make the transaction abort and roll back all changes in all collections:
// setup
db._create("c1");
db._create("c2");
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: [ "c1", "c2" ]
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
for (var i = 0; i < 100; ++i) {
db.c1.save({ _key: "key" + i });
db.c2.save({ _key: "key" + i });
}
db.c1.count(); // 100
db.c2.count(); // 100
// abort
throw "doh!"
}
});
db.c1.count(); // 0
db.c2.count(); // 0
269
Passing parameters
Passing parameters to transactions
Arbitrary parameters can be passed to transactions by setting the params attribute when declaring the transaction. This feature is handy to
re-use the same transaction code for multiple calls but with different parameters.
A basic example:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: { },
action: function (params) {
return params[1];
},
params: [ 1, 2, 3 ]
});
The above example will return 2.
Some example that uses collections:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users",
read: [ "c1", "c2" ]
},
action: function (params) {
var db = require('@arangodb').db;
var doc = db.c1.document(params['c1Key']);
db.users.save(doc);
doc = db.c2.document(params['c2Key']);
db.users.save(doc);
},
params: {
c1Key: "foo",
c2Key: "bar"
}
});
270
Locking and isolation
Locking and Isolation
All collections specified in the collections attribute are locked in the requested mode (read or write) at transaction start. Locking of
multiple collections is performed in alphabetical order. When a transaction commits or rolls back, all locks are released in reverse order.
The locking order is deterministic to avoid deadlocks.
While locks are held, modifications by other transactions to the collections participating in the transaction are prevented. A transaction
will thus see a consistent view of the participating collections' data.
Additionally, a transaction will not be interrupted or interleaved with any other ongoing operations on the same collection. This means
each transaction will run in isolation. A transaction should never see uncommitted or rolled back modifications by other transactions.
Additionally, reads inside a transaction are repeatable.
Note that the above is true only for all collections that are declared in the collections attribute of the transaction.
Lazily adding collections
There might be situations when declaring all collections a priori is not possible, for example, because further collections are determined
by a dynamic AQL query inside the transaction, for example a query using AQL graph traversal.
In this case, it would be impossible to know beforehand which collection to lock, and thus it is legal to not declare collections that will be
accessed in the transaction in read-only mode. Accessing a non-declared collection in read-only mode during a transaction will add the
collection to the transaction lazily, and fetch data from the collection as usual. However, as the collection is added lazily, there is no
isolation from other concurrent operations or transactions. Reads from such collections are potentially non-repeatable.
Examples:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
read: "users"
},
action: function () {
const db = require("@arangodb").db;
/* Execute an AQL query that traverses a graph starting at a "users" vertex.
It is yet unknown into which other collections the query might traverse */
db._createStatement({
query: `FOR v IN ANY "users/1234" connections RETURN v`
}).execute().toArray().forEach(function (d) {
/* ... */
});
}
});
This automatic lazy addition of collections to a transaction also introduces the possibility of deadlocks. Deadlocks may occur if there are
concurrent transactions that try to acquire locks on the same collections lazily.
In order to make a transaction fail when a non-declared collection is used inside a transaction for reading, the optional allowImplicit subattribute of collections can be set to false:
271
Locking and isolation
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
read: "users",
allowImplicit: false
},
action: function () {
/* The below query will now fail because the collection "connections" has not
been specified in the list of collections used by the transaction */
const db = require("@arangodb").db;
db._createStatement({
query: `FOR v IN ANY "users/1234" connections RETURN v`
}).execute().toArray().forEach(function (d) {
/* ... */
});
}
});
The default value for allowImplicit is true. Write-accessing collections that have not been declared in the collections array is never
possible, regardless of the value of allowImplicit.
If users/1234 has an edge in connections, linking it to another document in the users collection, then the following explicit declaration
will work:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
read: ["users", "connections"],
allowImplicit: false
},
/* ... */
If the edge points to a document in another collection however, then the query will fail, unless that other collection is added to the
declaration as well.
Note that if a document handle is used as starting point for a traversal, e.g.
{_id: "users/not_linked"} ...
allowImplicit: false
FOR v IN ANY "users/not_linked" ...
or
FOR v IN ANY
, then no error is raised in the case of the start vertex not having any edges to follow, with
and users not being declared for read access. AQL only sees a string and does not consider it a read access,
unless there are edges connected to it.
FOR v IN ANY DOCUMENT("users/not_linked") ...
will fail even without edges, as it is always
considered to be a read access to the users collection.
Deadlocks and Deadlock detection
A deadlock is a situation in which two or more concurrent operations (user transactions or AQL queries) try to access the same resources
(collections, documents) and need to wait for the others to finish, but none of them can make any progress.
A good example for a deadlock is two concurrently executing transactions T1 and T2 that try to access the same collections but that need
to wait for each other. In this example, transaction T1 will write to collection
c1
, but will also read documents from collection
c2
without announcing it:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "c1"
},
action: function () {
const db = require("@arangodb").db;
/* write into c1 (announced) */
db.c1.insert({ foo: "bar" });
/* some operation here that takes long to execute... */
/* read from c2 (unannounced) */
db.c2.toArray();
}
});
Transaction T2 announces to write into collection
c2
, but will also read documents from collection
c1
without announcing it:
272
Locking and isolation
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "c2"
},
action: function () {
var db = require("@arangodb").db;
/* write into c2 (announced) */
db.c2.insert({ bar: "baz" });
/* some operation here that takes long to execute... */
/* read from c1 (unannounced) */
db.c1.toArray();
}
});
In the above example, a deadlock will occur if transaction T1 and T2 have both acquired their write locks (T1 for collection
for collection
c2
) and are then trying to read from the other other (T1 will read from
acquire the read lock on collection
c2
c2
, T2 will read from
c1
and T2
c1
). T1 will then try to
, which is prevented by transaction T2. T2 however will wait for the read lock on collection
c1
,
which is prevented by transaction T1.
In case of such deadlock, there would be no progress for any of the involved transactions, and none of the involved transactions could
ever complete. This is completely undesirable, so the automatic deadlock detection mechanism in ArangoDB will automatically abort
one of the transactions involved in such deadlock. Aborting means that all changes done by the transaction will be rolled back and error
29 (
deadlock detected
) will be thrown.
Client code (AQL queries, user transactions) that accesses more than one collection should be aware of the potential of deadlocks and
should handle the error 29 (
deadlock detected
) properly, either by passing the exception to the caller or retrying the operation.
To avoid both deadlocks and non-repeatable reads, all collections used in a transaction should be specified in the
collections
attribute
when known in advance. In case this is not possible because collections are added dynamically inside the transaction, deadlocks may
occur and the deadlock detection may kick in and abort the transaction.
273
Durability
Durability
Transactions are executed in main memory first until there is either a rollback or a commit. On rollback, no data will be written to disk,
but the operations from the transaction will be reversed in memory.
On commit, all modifications done in the transaction will be written to the collection datafiles. These writes will be synchronized to disk
if any of the modified collections has the waitForSync property set to true, or if any individual operation in the transaction was executed
with the waitForSync attribute. Additionally, transactions that modify data in more than one collection are automatically synchronized to
disk. This synchronization is done to not only ensure durability, but to also ensure consistency in case of a server crash.
That means if you only modify data in a single collection, and that collection has its waitForSync property set to false, the whole
transaction will not be synchronized to disk instantly, but with a small delay.
There is thus the potential risk of losing data between the commit of the transaction and the actual (delayed) disk synchronization. This is
the same as writing into collections that have the waitForSync property set to false outside of a transaction. In case of a crash with
waitForSync set to false, the operations performed in the transaction will either be visible completely or not at all, depending on whether
the delayed synchronization had kicked in or not.
To ensure durability of transactions on a collection that have the waitForSync property set to false, you can set the waitForSync attribute
of the object that is passed to executeTransaction. This will force a synchronization of the transaction to disk even for collections that
have waitForSync set to false:
db._executeTransaction({
collections: {
write: "users"
},
waitForSync: true,
action: function () { ... }
});
An alternative is to perform an operation with an explicit sync request in a transaction, e.g.
db.users.save({ _key: "1234" }, true);
In this case, the true value will make the whole transaction be synchronized to disk at the commit.
In any case, ArangoDB will give users the choice of whether or not they want full durability for single collection transactions. Using the
delayed synchronization (i.e. waitForSync with a value of false) will potentially increase throughput and performance of transactions, but
will introduce the risk of losing the last committed transactions in the case of a crash.
In contrast, transactions that modify data in more than one collection are automatically synchronized to disk. This comes at the cost of
several disk sync. For a multi-collection transaction, the call to the _executeTransaction function will only return after the data of all
modified collections has been synchronized to disk and the transaction has been made fully durable. This not only reduces the risk of
losing data in case of a crash but also ensures consistency after a restart.
In case of a server crash, any multi-collection transactions that were not yet committed or in preparation to be committed will be rolled
back on server restart.
For multi-collection transactions, there will be at least one disk sync operation per modified collection. Multi-collection transactions thus
have a potentially higher cost than single collection transactions. There is no configuration to turn off disk synchronization for multicollection transactions in ArangoDB. The disk sync speed of the system will thus be the most important factor for the performance of
multi-collection transactions.
274
Limitations
Limitations
In General
Transactions in ArangoDB have been designed with particular use cases in mind. They will be mainly useful for short and small data
retrieval and/or modification operations.
The implementation is not optimized for very long-running or very voluminous operations, and may not be usable for these cases.
One limitation is that a transaction operation information must fit into main memory. The transaction information consists of record
pointers, revision numbers and rollback information. The actual data modification operations of a transaction are written to the writeahead log and do not need to fit entirely into main memory.
Ongoing transactions will also prevent the write-ahead logs from being fully garbage-collected. Information in the write-ahead log files
cannot be written to collection data files or be discarded while transactions are ongoing.
To ensure progress of the write-ahead log garbage collection, transactions should be kept as small as possible, and big transactions
should be split into multiple smaller transactions.
Transactions in ArangoDB cannot be nested, i.e. a transaction must not start another transaction. If an attempt is made to call a
transaction from inside a running transaction, the server will throw error 1651 (nested transactions detected).
It is also disallowed to execute user transaction on some of ArangoDB's own system collections. This shouldn't be a problem for regular
usage as system collections will not contain user data and there is no need to access them from within a user transaction.
Some operations are not allowed inside transactions in general:
creation and deletion of collections (
creation and deletion of indexes (
db._create()
,
db._drop()
db.ensure...Index()
,
,
db._rename()
db.dropIndex()
)
)
If an attempt is made to carry out any of these operations during a transaction, ArangoDB will abort the transaction with error code 1653
(disallowed operation inside transaction).
Finally, all collections that may be modified during a transaction must be declared beforehand, i.e. using the collections attribute of the
object passed to the _executeTransaction function. If any attempt is made to carry out a data modification operation on a collection that
was not declared in the collections attribute, the transaction will be aborted and ArangoDB will throw error 1652 unregistered collection
used in transaction. It is legal to not declare read-only collections, but this should be avoided if possible to reduce the probability of
deadlocks and non-repeatable reads.
Please refer to Locking and Isolation for more details.
In Clusters
Using a single instance of ArangoDB, multi-document / multi-collection queries are guaranteed to be fully ACID. This is more than
many other NoSQL database systems support. In cluster mode, single-document operations are also fully ACID. Multi-document / multicollection queries in a cluster are not ACID, which is equally the case with competing database systems. Transactions in a cluster will be
supported in a future version of ArangoDB and make these operations fully ACID as well. Note that for non-sharded collections in a
cluster, the transactional properties of a single server apply (fully ACID).
275
Deployment
Deployment
In this chapter we describe various possibilities to deploy ArangoDB. In particular for the cluster mode, there are different ways and we
want to highlight their advantages and disadvantages. We even document in detail, how to set up a cluster by simply starting various
ArangoDB processes on different machines, either directly or using Docker containers.
Single instance
Cluster: DC/OS, Apache Mesos and Marathon
Cluster: Test setup on a local machine
Cluster: Starting processes on different machines
Cluster: Launching an ArangoDB cluster using Docker containers
Agency
276
Single instance
Single instance deployment
The latest official builds of ArangoDB for all supported operating systems may be obtained from https://www.arangodb.com/download/.
Linux remarks
Besides the official images which are provided for the most popular linux distributions there are also a variety of unofficial images
provided by the community. We are tracking most of the community contributions (including new or updated images) in our newsletter:
https://www.arangodb.com/category/newsletter/
Windows remarks
Please note that ArangoDB will only work on 64bit.
Docker
The simplest way to deploy ArangoDB is using Docker. To get a general understanding of Docker have a look at their excellent
documentation.
Authentication
To start the official Docker container you will have to decide on an authentication method. Otherwise the container won't start.
Provide one of the arguments to Docker as an environment variable.
There are three options:
1. ARANGO_NO_AUTH=1
Disable authentication completely. Useful for local testing or for operating in a trusted network (without a public interface).
2. ARANGO_ROOT_PASSWORD=password
Start ArangoDB with the given password for root
3. ARANGO_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD=1
Let ArangoDB generate a random root password
To get going quickly:
docker run -e ARANGO_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD=1 arangodb/arangodb
For an in depth guide about Docker and ArangoDB please check the official documentation:
https://hub.docker.com/r/arangodb/arangodb/ . Note that we are using the image
current one. There is also the "official" one called
arangodb
arangodb/arangodb
here which is always the most
whose documentation is here: https://hub.docker.com/_/arangodb/
277
Cluster: Mesos, DC/OS
Distributed deployment using Apache Mesos
ArangoDB has a sophisticated and yet easy way to use cluster mode. To leverage the full cluster feature set (monitoring, scaling,
automatic failover and automatic replacement of failed nodes) you have to run ArangoDB on some kind of cluster management system.
Currently ArangoDB relies on Apache Mesos in that matter. Mesos is a cluster operating system which powers some of the worlds
biggest datacenters running several thousands of nodes.
DC/OS
DC/OS is the recommended way to install a cluster as it eases much of the process to install a Mesos cluster. You can deploy it very
quickly on a variety of cloud hosters or setup your own DC/OS locally. DC/OS is a set of tools built on top of Apache Mesos. Apache
Mesos is a so called "Distributed Cluster Operation System" and the core of DC/OS. Apache Mesos has the concept of so called
persistent volumes which make it perfectly suitable for a database.
Installing
First prepare a DC/OS cluster by going to https://dcos.io and following the instructions there.
DC/OS comes with its own package management. Packages can be installed from the so called "Universe". As an official DC/OS partner
ArangoDB can be installed from there straight away.
1. Installing via DC/OS UI
i. Open your browser and go to the DC/OS admin interface
ii. Open the "Universe" tab
iii. Locate arangodb and hit "Install Package"
iv. Press "Install Package"
2. Installing via the DC/OS command line
i. Install the dcos cli
ii. Open a terminal and issue
dcos install arangodb
Both options are essentially doing the same in the background. Both are starting ArangoDB with its default options set.
To review the default options using the web interface simply click "Advanced Installation" in the web interface. There you will find a list
of options including some explanation.
To review the default options using the CLI first type
dcos package describe --config arangodb
. This will give you a flat list of
default settings.
To get an explanation of the various command line options please check the latest options here (choose the most recent number and have
a look at
config.json
):
https://github.com/mesosphere/universe/tree/version-3.x/repo/packages/A/arangodb
After installation DC/OS will start deploying the ArangoDB cluster on the DC/OS cluster. You can watch ArangoDB starting on the
"Services" tab in the web interface. Once it is listed as healthy click the link next to it and you should see the ArangoDB web interface.
ArangoDB Mesos framework
As soon as ArangoDB was deployed Mesos will keep your cluster running. The web interface has many monitoring facilities so be sure
to make yourself familiar with the DC/OS web interface. As a fault tolerant system Mesos will take care of most failure scenarios
automatically. Mesos does that by running ArangoDB as a so called "framework". This framework has been specifically built to keep
ArangoDB running in a healthy condition on the Mesos cluster. From time to time a task might fail. The ArangoDB framework will then
take care of rescheduling the failed task. As it knows about the very specifics of each cluster task and its role it will automatically take
care of most failure scenarios.
To inspect what the framework is doing go to
http://web-interface-url/mesos
in your browser. Locate the task "arangodb" and
inspect stderr in the "Sandbox". This can be of interest for example when a slave got lost and the framework is rescheduling the task.
278
Cluster: Mesos, DC/OS
Using ArangoDB
To use ArangoDB as a datastore in your DC/OS cluster you can facilitate the service discovery of DC/OS. Assuming you deployed a
standard ArangoDB cluster the mesos dns will know about
arangodb.mesos
. By doing a SRV DNS request (check the documentation of
mesos dns) you can find out the port where the internal HAProxy of ArangoDB is running. This will offer a round robin load balancer to
access all ArangoDB coordinators.
Scaling ArangoDB
To change the settings of your ArangoDB Cluster access the ArangoDB UI and hit "Nodes". On the scale tab you will have the ability to
scale your cluster up and down.
After changing the settings the ArangoDB framework will take care of the rest. Scaling your cluster up is generally a straightforward
operation as Mesos will simply launch another task and be done with it. Scaling down is a bit more complicated as the data first has to be
moved to some other place so that will naturally take somewhat longer.
Please note that scaling operations might not always work. For example if the underlying Mesos cluster is completely saturated with its
running tasks scaling up will not be possible. Scaling down might also fail due to the cluster not being able to move all shards of a
DBServer to a new destination because of size limitations. Be sure to check the output of the ArangoDB framework.
Deinstallation
Deinstalling ArangoDB is a bit more difficult as there is much state being kept in the Mesos cluster which is not automatically cleaned
up. To deinstall from the command line use the following one liner:
dcos arangodb uninstall ; dcos package uninstall arangodb
This will first cleanup the state in the cluster and then uninstall arangodb.
arangodb-cleanup-framework
Should you forget to cleanup the state you can do so later by using the arangodb-cleanup-framework container. Otherwise you might not
be able to deploy a new arangodb installation.
The cleanup framework will announce itself as a normal ArangoDB. Mesos will recognize this and offer all persistent volumes it still has
for ArangoDB to this framework. The cleanup framework will then properly free the persistent volumes. Finally it will clean up any state
left in zookeeper (the central configuration manager in a Mesos cluster).
To deploy the cleanup framework, follow the instructions in the github repository. After deployment watch the output in the sandbox of
the Mesos web interface. After a while there shouldn't be any persistent resource offers anymore as everything was cleaned up. After that
you can delete the cleanup framework again via Marathon.
Apache Mesos and Marathon
You can also install ArangoDB on a bare Apache Mesos cluster provided that Marathon is running on it.
Doing so has the following downsides:
1. Manual Mesos cluster setup
2. You need to implement your own service discovery
3. You are missing the dcos cli
4. Installation and deinstallation are tedious
5. You need to setup some kind of proxy tunnel to access ArangoDB from the outside
6. Sparse monitoring capabilities
However these are things which do not influence ArangoDB itself and operating your cluster like this is fully supported.
Installing via Marathon
To install ArangoDB via marathon you need a proper config file:
279
Cluster: Mesos, DC/OS
{
"id": "arangodb",
"cpus": 0.25,
"mem": 256.0,
"ports": [0, 0, 0],
"instances": 1,
"args": [
"framework",
"--framework_name=arangodb",
"--master=zk://172.17.0.2:2181/mesos",
"--zk=zk://172.17.0.2:2181/arangodb",
"--user=",
"--principal=pri",
"--role=arangodb",
"--mode=cluster",
"--async_replication=true",
"--minimal_resources_agent=mem(*):512;cpus(*):0.25;disk(*):512",
"--minimal_resources_dbserver=mem(*):512;cpus(*):0.25;disk(*):1024",
"--minimal_resources_secondary=mem(*):512;cpus(*):0.25;disk(*):1024",
"--minimal_resources_coordinator=mem(*):512;cpus(*):0.25;disk(*):1024",
"--nr_agents=1",
"--nr_dbservers=2",
"--nr_coordinators=2",
"--failover_timeout=86400",
"--arangodb_image=arangodb/arangodb-mesos:3.1",
"--secondaries_with_dbservers=false",
"--coordinators_with_dbservers=false"
],
"container": {
"type": "DOCKER",
"docker": {
"image": "arangodb/arangodb-mesos-framework:3.1",
"network": "HOST"
}
},
"healthChecks": [
{
"protocol": "HTTP",
"path": "/framework/v1/health.json",
"gracePeriodSeconds": 3,
"intervalSeconds": 10,
"portIndex": 0,
"timeoutSeconds": 10,
"maxConsecutiveFailures": 0
}
]
}
Carefully review the settings (especially the IPs and the resources). Then you can deploy to Marathon:
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" http://url-of-marathon/v2/apps -d @arangodb3.json
Alternatively use the web interface of Marathon to deploy ArangoDB. It has a JSON mode and you can use the above configuration file.
Deinstallation via Marathon
As with DC/OS you first need to properly cleanup any state leftovers.
The easiest is to simply delete ArangoDB and then deploy the cleanup-framework (see section arangodb-cleanup-framework).
Configuration options
The Arangodb Mesos framework has a ton of different options which are listed and described here:
https://github.com/arangodb/arangodb-mesos-framework/tree/3.1
280
Cluster: Local test
Launching an ArangoDB cluster for testing
An ArangoDB cluster consists of several running tasks which form the cluster. ArangoDB itself won't start or monitor any of these tasks.
So it will need some kind of supervisor which is monitoring and starting these tasks. For production usage we recommend using Apache
Mesos as the cluster supervisor.
However starting a cluster manually is possible and is a very easy method to get a first impression of what an ArangoDB cluster looks
like.
The easiest way to start a local cluster for testing purposes is to run
1 Agency, 2 DBServers and 1 Coordinator. To stop the cluster issue
from a clone of the source
scripts/startLocalCluster.sh
repository after compiling ArangoDB from source (see instructions in the file
in the repository. This will start
README_maintainers.md
scripts/stopLocalCluster.sh
.
This section will discuss the required parameters for every role in an ArangoDB cluster. Be sure to read the Architecture documentation
to get a basic understanding of the underlying architecture and the involved roles in an ArangoDB cluster.
In the following sections we will go through the relevant options per role.
Agency
To start up an agency you first have to activate it. This is done by providing
--agency.activate true
To start up the agency in its fault tolerant mode set the
. You will then have to provide at least 3 agents before the
--agency.size
to
3
.
agency will start operation.
During initialization the agents have to find each other. To do so provide at least one common
--agency.endpoint
. The agents will then
coordinate startup themselves. They will announce themselves with their external address which may be specified using
address
--agency.my-
. This is required in bridged docker setups or NATed environments.
So in summary this is what your startup might look like:
281
Cluster: Local test
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5001 --agency.my-address=tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --server.authentication false -agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --agency.supervision true --database.dir
ectory agency1 &
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5002 --agency.my-address=tcp://127.0.0.1:5002 --server.authentication false -agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --agency.supervision true --database.dir
ectory agency2 &
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5003 --agency.my-address=tcp://127.0.0.1:5003 --server.authentication false -agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --agency.supervision true --database.dir
ectory agency3 &
If you are happy with a single agent, then simply use a single command like this:
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5001 --server.authentication false --agency.activate true --agency.size 1 --a
gency.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --agency.supervision true --database-directory agency1 &
Furthermore, in the following sections when
use a single option
--cluster.agency-address
--cluster.agency.address tcp://127.0.0.1:5001
is used multiple times to specify all three agent addresses, just
instead.
Coordinators and DBServers
These two roles share a common set of relevant options. First you should specify the role using
PRIMARY
(a database server) or
COORDINATOR
--cluster.my-role
. This can either be
. Both need some unique information with which they will register in the agency, too.
This could for example be some combination of host name and port or whatever you have at hand. However it must be unique for each
instance and be provided as value for
via
--cluster.my-address
--cluster.my-local-info
. Furthermore provide the external endpoint (IP and port) of the task
.
The following is a full-example of what it might look like:
arangod --server.authentication=false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8529 --cluster.my-address tcp://127.0.0.1:8529
--cluster.my-local-info db1 --cluster.my-role PRIMARY --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --cluster.agency
-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5002 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5003 --database.directory primary1 &
arangod --server.authentication=false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8530 --cluster.my-address tcp://127.0.0.1:8530
--cluster.my-local-info db2 --cluster.my-role PRIMARY --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --cluster.agency
-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5002 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5003 --database.directory primary2 &
arangod --server.authentication=false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8531 --cluster.my-address tcp://127.0.0.1:8531
--cluster.my-local-info coord1 --cluster.my-role COORDINATOR --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --cluster
.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5002 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5003 --database.directory coordinator
&
Note in particular that the endpoint descriptions given under
the IP address
0.0.0.0
-server.endpoint
--cluster.my-address
and
--cluster.agency-endpoint
because they must contain an actual address that can be routed to the corresponding server. The
must not use
0.0.0.0
in
-
simply means that the server binds itself to all available network devices with all available IP addresses.
Upon registering with the agency during startup the cluster will assign an ID to every task. The generated ID will be printed out to the
log or can be accessed via the http API by calling
simply reuse the same value for
http://server-address/_admin/server/id
--cluster.my-local-info
. Should you ever have to restart a task,
and the same ID will be picked.
You have now launched a complete ArangoDB cluster and can contact its coordinator at the endpoint
means that you can reach the web UI under
http://127.0.0.1:8531
tcp://127.0.0.1:8531
, which
.
Secondaries
Secondaries need a bit more work. Secondaries need to have some primary assigned. To do that there is a special route. To register a
secondary you must first find out the Server-ID of the primary server. Then generate your own ID for the secondary you are about to start
and call one of the coordinators like this (replace the value of "newSecondary" in the command):
curl -f -X PUT --data '{"primary": "DBServer001", "oldSecondary": "none", "newSecondary": "Secondary001"}' -H "Conten
t-Type: application/json" http://127.0.0.1:8531/_admin/cluster/replaceSecondary
If that call was successful you can start the secondary. Instead of providing
the curl call above via
--cluster.my-id
. You can omit the
--cluster.my-local-info
--cluster.my-role
you should now provide the Id in
in this case. The secondary will find out from the
agency about its role.
282
Cluster: Local test
To sum it up:
curl -f -X PUT --data '{"primary": "DBServer001", "oldSecondary": "none", "newSecondary": "Secondary001"}' -H "Conten
t-Type: application/json" http://127.0.0.1:8531/_admin/cluster/replaceSecondary && arangod --server.authentication=fa
lse --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8629 --cluster.my-id Secondary001 --cluster.my-address tcp://127.0.0.1:8629 --clu
ster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5002 --cluster.agency-endpoint tc
p://127.0.0.1:5003 secondary1 &
curl -f -X PUT --data '{"primary": "DBServer002", "oldSecondary": "none", "newSecondary": "Secondary002"}' -H "Conten
t-Type: application/json" http://127.0.0.1:8531/_admin/cluster/replaceSecondary && arangod --server.authentication=fa
lse --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8630 --cluster.my-id Secondary002 --cluster.my-address tcp://127.0.0.1:8630 --clu
ster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:5002 --cluster.agency-endpoint tc
p://127.0.0.1:5003 secondary2 &
283
Cluster: Processes
Launching an ArangoDB cluster on multiple machines
Essentially, one can use the method from the previous section to start an ArangoDB cluster on multiple machines as well. The only
changes are that one has to replace all local addresses
127.0.0.1
by the actual IP address of the corresponding server.
If we assume that you want to start you ArangoDB cluster on three different machines with IP addresses
192.168.1.1
192.168.1.2
192.168.1.3
then the commands you have to use are (you can use host names if they can be resolved to IP addresses on all machines):
On 192.168.1.1:
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5001 --agency.my-address tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --server.authentication false
--agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.supervision true --database.directory agency
On 192.168.1.2:
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5001 --agency.my-address tcp://192.168.1.2:5001 --server.authentication false
--agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.supervision true --database.directory agency
On 192.168.1.3:
arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:5001 --agency.my-address tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --server.authentication false
--agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --agency.endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:
5001 --agency.endpoint tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --agency.supervision true --database.directory agency
On 192.168.1.1:
arangod --server.authentication=false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8529 --cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.1:852
9 --cluster.my-local-info db1 --cluster.my-role PRIMARY --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --cluster.ag
ency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --database.directory primary1 &
On 192.168.1.2:
arangod --server.authentication=false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8530 --cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.2:853
0 --cluster.my-local-info db2 --cluster.my-role PRIMARY --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --cluster.ag
ency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --database.directory primary2 &
On 192.168.1.3:
arangod --server.authentication=false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8531 --cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.3:853
1 --cluster.my-local-info coord1 --cluster.my-role COORDINATOR --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --clu
ster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --database.directory coo
rdinator &
Obviously, it would no longer be necessary to use different port numbers on different servers. We have chosen to keep all port numbers
in comparison to the local setup to minimize the necessary changes.
If you want to setup secondaries, the following commands will do the job:
On 192.168.1.2:
curl -f -X PUT --data '{"primary": "DBServer001", "oldSecondary": "none", "newSecondary": "Secondary001"}' -H "Conten
t-Type: application/json" http://192.168.1.3:8531/_admin/cluster/replaceSecondary && arangod --server.authentication=
false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8629 --cluster.my-id Secondary001 --cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.2:8629 -cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:5001 --cluster.agency-end
point tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --database.directory secondary1 &
284
Cluster: Processes
On 192.168.1.1:
curl -f -X PUT --data '{"primary": "DBServer002", "oldSecondary": "none", "newSecondary": "Secondary002"}' -H "Conten
t-Type: application/json" http://localhost:8531/_admin/cluster/replaceSecondary && arangod --server.authentication=fa
lse --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8630 --cluster.my-id Secondary002 --cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.1:8630 --c
luster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:5001 --cluster.agency-endpo
int tcp://192.168.1.3:5001 --database.directory secondary2 &
Note that we have started the
DBServer002
Secondary002
on the same machine as
DBServer001
and
Secondary001
on the same machine as
to avoid that a complete pair is lost when a machine fails. Furthermore, note that ArangoDB does not yet perform
automatic failover to the secondary, if a primary fails. This only works in the Apache Mesos setting. For synchronous replication,
automatic failover always works and you do not need to setup secondaries for this.
After having swallowed these longish commands, we hope that you appreciate the simplicity of the setup with Apache Mesos and
DC/OS.
285
Cluster: Docker
ArangoDB Cluster and Docker
Networking
A bit of extra care has to be invested due to the way in which Docker isolates its network. By default it fully isolates the network and by
doing so an endpoint like
--server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8529
will only bind to all interfaces inside the Docker container which
does not include any external interface on the host machine. This may be sufficient if you just want to access it locally but in case you
want to expose it to the outside you must facilitate Dockers port forwarding using the
-p
command line option. Be sure to check the
official Docker documentation.
To simply make arangodb available on all host interfaces on port 8529:
docker run -p 8529:8529 -e ARANGO_NO_AUTH=1 arangodb
Another possibility is to start Docker via network mode
host
. This is possible but generally not recommended. To do it anyway check
the Docker documentation for details.
Docker and Cluster tasks
To start the cluster via Docker is basically the same as starting locally or on multiple machines. However just like with the single
networking image we will face networking issues. You can simply use the
-p
flag to make the individual task available on the host
machine or you could use Docker's links to enable task intercommunication.
Please note that there are some flags that specify how ArangoDB can reach a task from the outside. These are very important and built
for this exact usecase. An example configuration might look like this:
docker run -e ARANGO_NO_AUTH=1 -p 192.168.1.1:10000:8529 arangodb/arangodb arangod --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:85
29 --cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.1:10000 --cluster.my-local-info db1 --cluster.my-role PRIMARY --cluster.agenc
y-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:5001 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.2:5002 --cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://19
2.168.1.3:5003
This will start a primary DB server within a Docker container with an isolated network. Within the Docker container it will bind to all
interfaces (this will be 127.0.0.1:8529 and some internal Docker ip on port 8529). By supplying
-p 192.168.1.1:10000:8529
we are
establishing a port forwarding from our local IP (192.168.1.1 port 10000 in this example) to port 8529 inside the container. Within the
command we are telling arangod how it can be reached from the outside
--cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.1:10000
. This
information will be forwarded to the agency so that the other tasks in your cluster can see how this particular DBServer may be reached.
286
Agency
Launching ArangoDB's standalone "agency"
Multiple ArangoDB instances can be deployed as a fault-tolerant distributed state
machine.
What is a fault-tolerant state machine in the first place?
In many service deployments consisting of arbitrary components distributed over multiple machines one is faced with the challenge of
creating a dependable centralised knowledge base or configuration. Implementation of such a service turns out to be one of the most
fundamental problems in information engineering. While it may seem as if the realisation of such a service is easily conceivable,
dependablity formulates a paradoxon on computer networks per se. On the one hand, one needs a distributed system to avoid a single
point of failure. On the other hand, one has to establish consensus among the computers involved.
Consensus is the keyword here and its realisation on a network proves to be far from trivial. Many papers and conference proceedings
have discussed and evaluated this key challenge. Two algorithms, historically far apart, have become widely popular, namely Paxos and
its derivatives and Raft. Discussing them and their differences, although highly enjoyable, must remain far beyond the scope of this
document. Find the references to the main publications at the bottom of this page.
At ArangoDB, we decided to implement Raft as it is arguably the easier to understand and thus implement. In simple terms, Raft
guarantees that a linear stream of transactions, is replicated in realtime among a group of machines through an elected leader, who in turn
must have access to and project leadership upon an overall majority of participating instances. In ArangoDB we like to call the entirety
of the components of the replicated transaction log, that is the machines and the ArangoDB instances, which constitute the replicated log,
the agency.
Startup
The agency must consists of an odd number of agents in order to be able to establish an overall majority and some means for the agents
to be able to find one another at startup.
The most obvious way would be to inform all agents of the addresses and ports of the rest. This however, is more information than
needed. For example, it would suffice, if all agents would know the address and port of the next agent in a cyclic fashion. Another
straitforward solution would be to inform all agents of the address and port of say the first agent.
Clearly all cases, which would form disjunct subsets of agents would break or in the least impair the functionality of the agency. From
there on the agents will gossip the missing information about their peers.
Typically, one achieves fairly high fault-tolerance with low, odd number of agents while keeping the necessary network traffic at a
minimum. It seems that the typical agency size will be in range of 3 to 7 agents.
The below commands start up a 3-host agency on one physical/logical box with ports 8529, 8530 and 8531 for demonstration purposes.
The adress of the first instance, port 8529, is known to the other two. After atmost 2 rounds of gossipping, the last 2 agents will have a
complete picture of their surrounding and persist it for the next restart.
./build/bin/arangod --agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.my-address tcp://localhost:8529 --server.authenti
cation false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8529 agency-8529
./build/bin/arangod --agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.endpoint tcp://localhost:8529 --agency.my-address
tcp://localhost:8530 --server.authentication false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8530 agency-8530
./build/bin/arangod --agency.activate true --agency.size 3 --agency.endpoint tcp://localhost:8529 --agency.my-address
tcp://localhost:8531 --server.authentication false --server.endpoint tcp://0.0.0.0:8531 agency-8531
The parameter
agency.endpoint
is the key ingredient for the second and third instances to find the first instance and thus form a
complete agency. Please refer to the the shell-script
scripts/startStandaloneAgency.sh
on github or in the source directory.
Key-value-store API
The agency should be up and running within a couple of seconds, during which the instances have gossiped their way into knowing the
other agents and elected a leader. The public API can be checked for the state of the configuration:
curl -s localhost:8529/_api/agency/config
287
Agency
{
"term": 1,
"leaderId": "f5d11cde-8468-4fd2-8747-b4ef5c7dfa98",
"lastCommitted": 1,
"lastAcked": {
"ac129027-b440-4c4f-84e9-75c042942171": 0.21,
"c54dbb8a-723d-4c82-98de-8c841a14a112": 0.21,
"f5d11cde-8468-4fd2-8747-b4ef5c7dfa98": 0
},
"configuration": {
"pool": {
"ac129027-b440-4c4f-84e9-75c042942171": "tcp://localhost:8531",
"c54dbb8a-723d-4c82-98de-8c841a14a112": "tcp://localhost:8530",
"f5d11cde-8468-4fd2-8747-b4ef5c7dfa98": "tcp://localhost:8529"
},
"active": [
"ac129027-b440-4c4f-84e9-75c042942171",
"c54dbb8a-723d-4c82-98de-8c841a14a112",
"f5d11cde-8468-4fd2-8747-b4ef5c7dfa98"
],
"id": "f5d11cde-8468-4fd2-8747-b4ef5c7dfa98",
"agency size": 3,
"pool size": 3,
"endpoint": "tcp://localhost:8529",
"min ping": 0.5,
"max ping": 2.5,
"supervision": false,
"supervision frequency": 5,
"compaction step size": 1000,
"supervision grace period": 120
}
}
To highlight some details in the above output look for
"term"
and
"leaderId"
. Both are key information about the current state of the
Raft algorithm. You may have noted that the first election term has established a random leader for the agency, who is in charge of
replication of the state machine and for all external read and write requests until such time that the process gets isolated from the other
two subsequenctly losing its leadership.
Read and Write APIs
Generally, all read and write accesses are transactions moreover any read and write access may consist of multiple such transactions
formulated as arrays of arrays in JSON documents.
Read transaction
An agency started from scratch will deal with the simplest query as follows:
curl -L localhost:8529/_api/agency/read -d '[["/"]]'
[{}]
The above request for an empty key value store will return with an empty document. The inner array brackets will aggregate a result
from multiple sources in the key-value-store while the outer array will deliver multiple such aggregated results. Also note the
-L
curl
flag, which allows the request to follow redirects to the current leader.
Consider the following key-value-store:
288
Agency
{
"baz": 12,
"corge": {
"e": 2.718281828459045,
"pi": 3.14159265359
},
"foo": {
"bar": "Hello World"
},
"qux": {
"quux": "Hello World"
}
}
The following array of read transactions will yield:
curl -L localhost:8529/_api/agency/read -d '[["/foo", "/foo/bar", "/baz"],["/qux"]]'
[
{
"baz": 12,
"foo": {
"bar": "Hello World"
}
},
{
"qux": {
"quux": "Hello World"
}
}
]
Note that the result is an array of two results for the first and second read transactions from above accordingly. Also note that the results
from the first read transaction are aggregated into
{
"baz": 12,
"foo": {
"bar": "Hello World"
}
}
The aggregation is performed on 2 levels:
1.
/foo/bar
is eliminated as a subset of
2. The results from
/foo
and
/bar
/foo
are joined
The word transaction means here that it is guaranteed that all aggregations happen in quasi-realtime and that no write access could have
happened in between.
Btw, the same transaction on the virgin key-value store would produce
[{},{}]
Write API:
The write API must unfortunately be a little more complex. Multiple roads lead to Rome:
curl -L localhost:8529/_api/agency/write -d '[[{"/foo":{"op":"push","new":"bar"}}]]'
curl -L localhost:8529/_api/agency/write -d '[[{"/foo":{"op":"push","new":"baz"}}]]'
curl -L localhost:8529/_api/agency/write -d '[[{"/foo":{"op":"push","new":"qux"}}]]'
and
curl -L localhost:8529/_api/agency/write -d '[[{"foo":["bar","baz","qux"]}]]'
289
Agency
are equivalent for example and will create and fill an array at
/foo
. Here, again, the outermost array is the container for the transaction
arrays.
We documentent a complete guide of the API in the API section.
290
Administration
Administration
Most administration can be managed using the arangosh.
291
Web Interface
Web Interface
ArangoDB comes with a built-in web interface for administration. The interface differs for standalone instances and cluster setups.
Standalone:
Cluster:
292
Web Interface
293
Queries
Query View
The query view offers you three different subviews:
Editor
Running Queries
Slow Query History
AQL Query Editor
The web interface offers a AQL Query Editor:
The editor is split into two parts, the query editor pane and the bind parameter pane.
The left pane is your regular query input field, where you can edit and then execute or explain your queries. By default, the entered bind
parameter will automatically be recognized and shown in the bind parameter table in the right pane, where you can easily edit them.
The input fields are equipped with type detection. This means you don't have to use quote marks around string, just write them as-is.
Numbers will be treated as numbers, true and false as booleans, null as null-type value. Square brackets can be used to define arrays, and
curly braces for objects (keys and values have to be surrounded by double quotes). This will mostly be what you want. But if you want to
force something to be treated as string, use quotation marks for the value:
123
// interpreted as number
"123" // interpreted as string
["foo", "bar", 123, true] // interpreted as array
['foo', 'bar', 123, true] // interpreted as string
294
Queries
If you are used to work with JSON, you may want to switch the bind parameter editor to JSON mode by clicking on the upper right
toggle button. You can then edit the bind parameters in raw JSON format.
Custom Queries
To save the current query use the Save button in the top left corner of the editor or use the shortcut (see below).
By pressing the Queries button in the top left corner of the editor you activate the custom queries view. Here you can select a previously
stored custom query or one of our query examples.
Click on a query title to get a code preview. In addition, there are action buttons to:
Copy to editor
Explain query
Run query
Delete query
For the built-in example queries, there is only Copy to editor available.
To export or import queries to and from JSON you can use the buttons on the right-hand side.
Result
295
Queries
Each query you execute or explain opens up a new result box, so you are able to fire up multiple queries and view their results at the
same time. Every query result box gives you detailed query information and of course the query result itself. The result boxes can be
dismissed individually, or altogether using the Remove results button. The toggle button in the top right corner of each box switches back
and forth between the Result and AQL query with bind parameters.
Spotlight
The spotlight feature opens up a modal view. There you can find all AQL keywords, AQL functions and collections (filtered by their
type) to help you to be more productive in writing your queries. Spotlight can be opened by the magic wand icon in the toolbar or via
shortcut (see below).
AQL Editor Shortcuts
296
Queries
Ctrl / Cmd + Return to execute a query
Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + Return to explain a query
Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + S to save the current query
Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + C to toggle comments
Ctrl + Space to open up the spotlight search
Ctrl + Cmd + Z to undo last change
Ctrl + Cmd + Shift + Z to redo last change
Running Queries
The Running Queries tab gives you a compact overview of all running queries. By clicking the red minus button, you can abort the
execution of a running query.
Slow Query History
297
Queries
The Slow Query History tab gives you a compact overview of all past slow queries.
298
Collections
Collections
The collections section displays all available collections. From here you can create new collections and jump into a collection for details
(click on a collection tile).
Functions:
A: Toggle filter properties
B: Search collection by name
D: Create collection
C: Filter properties
H: Show collection details (click tile)
Information:
E: Collection type
F: Collection state(unloaded, loaded, ...)
G: Collection name
Collection
299
Collections
There are four view categories:
1. Content:
Create a document
Delete a document
Filter documents
Download documents
Upload documents
2. Indices:
Create indices
Delete indices
3. Info:
Detailed collection information and statistics
4. Settings:
Configure name, journal size, index buckets, wait for sync
Delete collection
Truncate collection
Unload/Load collection
Save modifed properties (name, journal size, index buckets, wait for sync)
Additional information:
Upload format:
I. Line-wise
{ "_key": "key1", ... }
{ "_key": "key2", ... }
II. JSON documents in a list
300
Collections
[
{ "_key": "key1", ... },
{ "_key": "key2", ... }
]
301
Cluster
Cluster
The cluster section displays statistics about the general cluster performance.
Statistics:
Available and missing coordinators
Available and missing database servers
Memory usage (percent)
Current connections
Data (bytes)
HTTP (bytes)
Average request time (seconds)
Nodes
Overview
The overview shows available and missing coordinators and database servers.
302
Cluster
Functions:
Coordinator Dashboard: Click on a Coordinator will open a statistics dashboard.
Information (Coordinator / Database servers):
Name
Endpoint
Last Heartbeat
Status
Health
Shards
The shard section displays all available sharded collections.
303
Cluster
Functions:
Move Shard Leader: Click on a leader database of a shard server will open a move shard dialog. Shards can be transferred to all
available databas servers, except the leading database server or an available follower.
Move Shard Follower: Click on a follower database of a shard will open a move shard dialog. Shards can be transferred to all
available databas servers, except the leading database server or an available follower.
Rebalance Shards: A new database server will not have any shards. With the rebalance functionality the cluster will start to
rebalance shards including empty database servers.
Information (collection):
Shard
Leader (green state: sync is complete)
Followers
304
Dashboard
Dashboard
The Dashboard tab provides statistics which are polled regularly from the ArangoDB server.
Requests Statistics:
Requests per second
Request types
Number of client connections
Transfer size
Transfer size (distribution)
Average request time
Average request time (distribution)
System Resources:
Number of threads
Memory
Virtual size
Major page faults
Used CPU time
Replication:
Replication state
Totals
Ticks
Progress
305
Document
Document
The document section offers a editor which let you edit documents and edges of a collection.
Functions:
Edit document
Save document
Delete docment
Switch between Tree/Code - Mode
Create a new document
Information:
Displays: _id, _rev, _key properties
306
Logs
Logs
The logs section displays all available log entries. Log entries are filterable by their log level types.
Functions:
Filter log entries by log level (all, info, error, warning, debug)
Information:
Loglevel
Date
Message
307
Services
Services
The services section displays all installed foxx applications. You can create new services or go into a detailed view of a choosen service.
Create Service
There are four different possibilities to create a new service:
1. Create service via zip file
2. Create service via github repository
3. Create service via official ArangoDB store
4. Create a blank service from scratch
308
Services
Service View
This section offers several information about a specific service.
There are four view categories:
1. Info:
Displays name, short description, license, version, mode (production, development)
Offers a button to go to the services interface (if available)
309
Services
2. Api:
Display API as SwaggerUI
Display API as RAW JSON
3. Readme:
Displays the services manual (if available)
4. Settings:
Download service as zip file
Run service tests (if available)
Run service scripts (if available)
Configure dependencies (if available)
Change service parameters (if available)
Change mode (production, development)
Replace the service
Delete the service
310
Graphs
Graphs
The Graphs tab provides a viewer facility for graph data stored in ArangoDB. It allows browsing ArangoDB graphs stored in the
_graphs system collection or a graph consisting of an arbitrary vertex and edge collection.
Please note that the graph viewer requires canvas (optional: webgl) support in your browser. Especially Internet Explorer browsers older
than version 9 are likely to not support this.
Graph Viewer
311
Graphs
Top Toolbar Functions:
Load full graph (Also nodes without connections will be drawn. Useful during graph modeling setup)
Take a graph screenshot
Start full screen mode
Open graph options menu
Default Context Menu (mouse-click background):
Add a new node
Close visible context menu(s)
Node Context Menu (mouse-click node):
Delete node
Edit node
Expand node (Show all bound edges)
Draw edge (Connect with another node)
Set as startnode (The Graph will rerender starting the selected node and given options (graph options menu))
Edge Context Menu (mouse-click edge):
Edit edge
Delete edge
Edge Highlighting (right-mouse-click node):
Highlight all edges connected to the node (right-click at the background will remove highlighting)
312
Graphs
Graph Viewer Options
Graph Options Menu:
Startnode (string - valid node id or space seperated list of id's): Heart of your graph. Rendering and traversing will start from here.
Empty value means: a random starting point will be used.
Layout: Different graph layouting algoritms. No overlap (optimal: big graph), force layout (optimal: medium graph), fruchtermann
(optimal: little to medium graph).
Renderer: Canvas mode allows editing. WebGL currently offers only display mode (a lot faster with much nodes/edges).
Search depth (number): Search depth which is starting from your start node.
Limit (number): Limit nodes count. If empty or zero, no limit is set.
Nodes Options Menu:
Label (string): Nodes will be labeled by this attribute. If node attribute is not found, no label will be displayed.
Add Collection Name: This appends the collection name to the label, if it exists.
Color By Collections: Should nodes be colorized by their collection? If enabled, node color and node color attribute will be ignored.
Color: Default node color.
Color Attribute (string): If an attribute is given, nodes will then be colorized by the attribute. This setting ignores default node color
if set.
Size By Connections: Should nodes be sized by their edges count? If enabled, node sizing attribute will be ignored.
Sizing Attribute (number): Default node size. Numeric value > 0.
Edges Options Menu:
Label (string): Edges will be labeled by this attribute. If edge attribute is not found, no label will be displayed.
Add Collection Name: This appends the collection name to the label, if it exists.
Color By Collections: Should edges be colorized by their collection? If enabled, edge color and edge color attribute will be ignored.
Color: Default edge color.
Color Attribute (string): If an attribute is given, edges will then be colorized by the attribute. This setting ignores default node color
if set.
Type: The renderer offers multiple types of rendering. They only differ in their display style, except for the type 'curved'. The
curved type allows to display more than one edges between two nodes.
313
Graphs
314
ArangoDB Shell
ArangoDB Shell Introduction
The ArangoDB shell (arangosh) is a command-line tool that can be used for administration of ArangoDB, including running ad-hoc
queries.
The arangosh binary is shipped with ArangoDB. It offers a JavaScript shell environment providing access to the ArangoDB server.
Arangosh can be invoked like this:
unix> arangosh
By default arangosh will try to connect to an ArangoDB server running on server localhost on port 8529. It will use the username root
and an empty password by default. Additionally it will connect to the default database (_system). All these defaults can be changed using
the following command-line options:
--server.database : name of the database to connect to
--server.endpoint : endpoint to connect to
--server.username : database username
--server.password : password to use when connecting
--server.authentication : whether or not to use authentication
For example, to connect to an ArangoDB server on IP 192.168.173.13 on port 8530 with the user foo and using the database test, use:
unix> arangosh
\
--server.endpoint tcp://192.168.173.13:8530
--server.username foo
--server.database test
\
\
\
--server.authentication true
arangosh will then display a password prompt and try to connect to the server after the password was entered.
To change the current database after the connection has been made, you can use the
db._useDatabase()
command in arangosh:
arangosh> db._createDatabase("myapp");
true
arangosh> db._useDatabase("myapp");
true
arangosh> db._useDatabase("_system");
true
arangosh> db._dropDatabase("myapp");
true
To get a list of available commands, arangosh provides a help() function. Calling it will display helpful information.
arangosh also provides auto-completion. Additional information on available commands and methods is thus provided by typing the first
few letters of a variable and then pressing the tab key. It is recommend to try this with entering db. (without pressing return) and then
pressing tab.
By the way, arangosh provides the db object by default, and this object can be used for switching to a different database and managing
collections inside the current database.
For a list of available methods for the db object, type
arangosh> db._help();
show execution results
you can paste multiple lines into arangosh, given the first line ends with an opening brace:
315
ArangoDB Shell
arangosh> for (var i = 0; i < 10; i ++) {
........>
require("@arangodb").print("Hello world " + i + "!\n");
........> }
show execution results
To load your own JavaScript code into the current JavaScript interpreter context, use the load command:
require("internal").load("/tmp/test.js")
// <- Linux / MacOS
require("internal").load("c:\\tmp\\test.js") // <- Windows
Exiting arangosh can be done using the key combination
or by typing
+ D
quit
Escaping
In AQL, escaping is done traditionally with the backslash character:
\
. As seen above, this leads to double backslashes when
specifying Windows paths. Arangosh requires another level of escaping, also with the backslash character. It adds up to four backslashes
that need to be written in Arangosh for a single literal backslash (
c:\tmp\test.js
):
db._query('RETURN "c:\\\\tmp\\\\test.js"')
You can use bind variables to mitigate this:
var somepath = "c:\\tmp\\test.js"
db._query(aql`RETURN ${somepath}`)
316
Shell Output
ArangoDB Shell Output
By default, the ArangoDB shell uses a pretty printer when JSON documents are printed. This ensures documents are printed in a humanreadable way:
arangosh> db._create("five")
arangosh> for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) db.five.save({value:i})
arangosh> db.five.toArray()
show execution results
While the pretty-printer produces nice looking results, it will need a lot of screen space for each document. Sometimes, a more dense
output might be better. In this case, the pretty printer can be turned off using the command stop_pretty_print().
To turn on pretty printing again, use the start_pretty_print() command.
317
Configuration
ArangoDB Shell Configuration
arangosh will look for a user-defined startup script named .arangosh.rc in the user's home directory on startup. The home directory will
likely be
and
/home//
%HOMEPATH%
on Unix/Linux, and is determined on Windows by peeking into the environment variables
%HOMEDRIVE%
.
If the file .arangosh.rc is present in the home directory, arangosh will execute the contents of this file inside the global scope.
You can use this to define your own extra variables and functions that you need often. For example, you could put the following into the
.arangosh.rc file in your home directory:
// "var" keyword avoided intentionally...
// otherwise "timed" would not survive the scope of this script
global.timed = function (cb) {
console.time("callback");
cb();
console.timeEnd("callback");
};
This will make a function named timed available in arangosh in the global scope.
You can now start arangosh and invoke the function like this:
timed(function () {
for (var i = 0; i < 1000; ++i) {
db.test.save({ value: i });
}
});
Please keep in mind that, if present, the .arangosh.rc file needs to contain valid JavaScript code. If you want any variables in the global
scope to survive you need to omit the var keyword for them. Otherwise the variables will only be visible inside the script itself, but not
outside.
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Details
Details about the ArangoDB Shell
After the server has been started, you can use the ArangoDB shell (arangosh) to administrate the server. Without any arguments, the
ArangoDB shell will try to contact the server on port 8529 on the localhost. For more information see the ArangoDB Shell
documentation. You might need to set additional options (endpoint, username and password) when connecting:
unix> ./arangosh --server.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:8529 --server.username root
The shell will print its own version number and if successfully connected to a server the version number of the ArangoDB server.
Command-Line Options
Use
--help
to get a list of command-line options:
unix> ./arangosh --help
STANDARD options:
--audit-log
audit log file to save commands and results to
--configuration
read configuration file
--help
help message
--max-upload-size
maximum size of import chunks (in bytes) (default: 500000)
--no-auto-complete
disable auto completion
--no-colors
deactivate color support
--pager
output pager (default: "less -X -R -F -L")
--pretty-print
pretty print values
--quiet
no banner
--temp.path
path for temporary files (default: "/tmp/arangodb")
--use-pager
use pager
JAVASCRIPT options:
--javascript.check
syntax check code JavaScript code from file
--javascript.execute
execute JavaScript code from file
--javascript.execute-string
execute JavaScript code from string
--javascript.startup-directory
startup paths containing the JavaScript files
--javascript.unit-tests
do not start as shell, run unit tests instead
--jslint
do not start as shell, run jslint instead
LOGGING options:
--log.level
log level (default: "info")
CLIENT options:
--server.connect-timeout
connect timeout in seconds (default: 3)
--server.authentication
whether or not to use authentication (default: true)
--server.endpoint
endpoint to connect to, use 'none' to start without a server (default: "t
cp://127.0.0.1:8529")
--server.password
password to use when connecting (leave empty for prompt)
--server.request-timeout
request timeout in seconds (default: 300)
--server.username
username to use when connecting (default: "root")
Database Wrappers
The
db
object is available in arangosh as well as on arangod i.e. if you're using Foxx. While its interface is persistant between the
arangosh and the arangod implementations, its underpinning is not. The arangod implementation are JavaScript wrappers around
ArangoDB's native C++ implementation, whereas the arangosh implementation wraps HTTP accesses to ArangoDB's RESTfull API.
So while this code may produce similar results when executed in arangosh and arangod, the cpu usage and time required will be really
different:
for (i = 0; i < 100000; i++) {
db.test.save({ name: { first: "Jan" }, count: i});
}
Since the arangosh version will be doing around 100k HTTP requests, and the arangod version will directly write to the database.
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Details
Using
arangosh
via unix shebang mechanisms
In unix operating systems you can start scripts by specifying the interpreter in the first line of the script. This is commonly called
shebang
or
hash bang
. You can also do that with
arangosh
, i.e. create
~/test.js
:
#!/usr/bin/arangosh --javascript.execute
require("internal").print("hello world")
db._query("FOR x IN test RETURN x").toArray()
Note that the first line has to end with a blank in order to make it work. Mark it executable to the OS:
#> chmod a+x ~/test.js
and finaly try it out:
#> ~/test.js
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Arangoimp
Arangoimp
This manual describes the ArangoDB importer arangoimp, which can be used for bulk imports.
The most convenient method to import a lot of data into ArangoDB is to use the arangoimp command-line tool. It allows you to import
data records from a file into an existing database collection.
It is possible to import document keys with the documents using the _key attribute. When importing into an edge collection, it is
mandatory that all imported documents have the _from and _to attributes, and that they contain valid references.
Let's assume for the following examples you want to import user data into an existing collection named "users" on the server.
Importing Data into an ArangoDB Database
Importing JSON-encoded Data
Let's further assume the import at hand is encoded in JSON. We'll be using these example user records to import:
{ "name" : { "first" : "John", "last" : "Connor" }, "active" : true, "age" : 25, "likes" : [ "swimming"] }
{ "name" : { "first" : "Jim", "last" : "O'Brady" }, "age" : 19, "likes" : [ "hiking", "singing" ] }
{ "name" : { "first" : "Lisa", "last" : "Jones" }, "dob" : "1981-04-09", "likes" : [ "running" ] }
To import these records, all you need to do is to put them into a file (with one line for each record to import) and run the following
command:
> arangoimp --file "data.json" --type json --collection "users"
This will transfer the data to the server, import the records, and print a status summary. To show the intermediate progress during the
import process, the option --progress can be added. This option will show the percentage of the input file that has been sent to the server.
This will only be useful for big import files.
> arangoimp --file "data.json" --type json --collection users --progress true
It is also possible to use the output of another command as an input for arangoimp. For example, the following shell command can be
used to pipe data from the
cat
process to arangoimp:
> cat data.json | arangoimp --file - --type json --collection users
Note that you have to use
--file -
if you want to use another command as input for arangoimp. No progress can be reported for such
imports as the size of the input will be unknown to arangoimp.
By default, the endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:8529 will be used. If you want to specify a different endpoint, you can use the --server.endpoint
option. You probably want to specify a database user and password as well. You can do so by using the options --server.username and -server.password. If you do not specify a password, you will be prompted for one.
> arangoimp --server.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:8529 --server.username root --file "data.json" --type json --collection
"users"
Note that the collection (users in this case) must already exist or the import will fail. If you want to create a new collection with the
import data, you need to specify the --create-collection option. Note that by default it will create a document collection and no ede
collection.
> arangoimp --file "data.json" --type json --collection "users" --create-collection true
To create an edge collection instead, use the --create-collection-type option and set it to edge:
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Arangoimp
> arangoimp --file "data.json" --collection "myedges" --create-collection true --create-collection-type edge
When importing data into an existing collection it is often convenient to first remove all data from the collection and then start the
import. This can be achieved by passing the --overwrite parameter to arangoimp. If it is set to true, any existing data in the collection
will be removed prior to the import. Note that any existing index definitions for the collection will be preserved even if --overwrite is set
to true.
> arangoimp --file "data.json" --type json --collection "users" --overwrite true
As the import file already contains the data in JSON format, attribute names and data types are fully preserved. As can be seen in the
example data, there is no need for all data records to have the same attribute names or types. Records can be inhomogeneous.
Please note that by default, arangoimp will import data into the specified collection in the default database (_system). To specify a
different database, use the --server.database option when invoking arangoimp.
JSON input file formats
Note: arangoimp supports two formats when importing JSON data from a file. The first format (also used above) requires the input file
to contain one complete JSON document in each line, e.g.
{ "_key": "one", "value": 1 }
{ "_key": "two", "value": 2 }
{ "_key": "foo", "value": "bar" }
...
The above format can be imported sequentially by arangoimp. It will read data from the input file in chunks and send it in batches to the
server. Each batch will be about as big as specified in the command-line parameter --batch-size.
An alternative is to put one big JSON document into the input file like this:
[
{ "_key": "one", "value": 1 },
{ "_key": "two", "value": 2 },
{ "_key": "foo", "value": "bar" },
...
]
This format allows line breaks within the input file as required. The downside is that the whole input file will need to be read by
arangoimp before it can send the first batch. This might be a problem if the input file is big. By default, arangoimp will allow importing
such files up to a size of about 16 MB.
If you want to allow your arangoimp instance to use more memory, you may want to increase the maximum file size by specifying the
command-line option --batch-size. For example, to set the batch size to 32 MB, use the following command:
> arangoimp --file "data.json" --type json --collection "users" --batch-size 33554432
Please also note that you may need to increase the value of --batch-size if a single document inside the input file is bigger than the value
of --batch-size.
Importing CSV Data
arangoimp also offers the possibility to import data from CSV files. This comes handy when the data at hand is in CSV format already
and you don't want to spend time converting them to JSON for the import.
To import data from a CSV file, make sure your file contains the attribute names in the first row. All the following lines in the file will be
interpreted as data records and will be imported.
The CSV import requires the data to have a homogeneous structure. All records must have exactly the same amount of columns as there
are headers.
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Arangoimp
The cell values can have different data types though. If a cell does not have any value, it can be left empty in the file. These values will
not be imported so the attributes will not "be there" in document created. Values enclosed in quotes will be imported as strings, so to
import numeric values, boolean values or the null value, don't enclose the value in quotes in your file.
We'll be using the following import for the CSV import:
"first","last","age","active","dob"
"John","Connor",25,true,
"Jim","O'Brady",19,,
"Lisa","Jones",,,"1981-04-09"
Hans,dos Santos,0123,,
Wayne,Brewer,,false,
The command line to execute the import is:
> arangoimp --file "data.csv" --type csv --collection "users"
The above data will be imported into 5 documents which will look as follows:
{ "first" : "John", "last" : "Connor", "active" : true, "age" : 25 }
{ "first" : "Jim", "last" : "O'Brady", "age" : 19 }
{ "first" : "Lisa", "last" : "Jones", "dob" : "1981-04-09" }
{ "first" : "Hans", "last" : "dos Santos", "age" : 123 }
{ "first" : "Wayne", "last" : "Brewer", "active" : false }
As can be seen, values left completely empty in the input file will be treated as absent. Numeric values not enclosed in quotes will be
treated as numbers. Note that leading zeros in numeric values will be removed. To import numbers with leading zeros, please use strings.
The literals true and false will be treated as booleans if they are not enclosed in quotes. Other values not enclosed in quotes will be
treated as strings. Any values enclosed in quotes will be treated as strings, too.
String values containing the quote character or the separator must be enclosed with quote characters. Within a string, the quote character
itself must be escaped with another quote character (or with a backslash if the --backslash-escape option is used).
Note that the quote and separator characters can be adjusted via the --quote and --separator arguments when invoking arangoimp. The
quote character defaults to the double quote ("). To use a literal quote in a string, you can use two quote characters. To use backslash for
escaping quote characters, please set the option --backslash-escape to true.
The importer supports Windows (CRLF) and Unix (LF) line breaks. Line breaks might also occur inside values that are enclosed with the
quote character.
Here's an example for using literal quotes and newlines inside values:
"name","password"
"Foo","r4ndom""123!"
"Bar","wow!
this is a
multine password!"
"Bartholomew ""Bart"" Simpson","Milhouse"
Extra whitespace at the end of each line will be ignored. Whitespace at the start of lines or between field values will not be ignored, so
please make sure that there is no extra whitespace in front of values or between them.
Importing TSV Data
You may also import tab-separated values (TSV) from a file. This format is very simple: every line in the file represents a data record.
There is no quoting or escaping. That also means that the separator character (which defaults to the tabstop symbol) must not be used
anywhere in the actual data.
As with CSV, the first line in the TSV file must contain the attribute names, and all lines must have an identical number of values.
If a different separator character or string should be used, it can be specified with the --separator argument.
An example command line to execute the TSV import is:
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Arangoimp
> arangoimp --file "data.tsv" --type tsv --collection "users"
Importing into an Edge Collection
arangoimp can also be used to import data into an existing edge collection. The import data must, for each edge to import, contain at
least the _from and _to attributes. These indicate which other two documents the edge should connect. It is necessary that these attributes
are set for all records, and point to valid document ids in existing collections.
Examples
{ "_from" : "users/1234", "_to" : "users/4321", "desc" : "1234 is connected to 4321" }
Note: The edge collection must already exist when the import is started. Using the --create-collection flag will not work because
arangoimp will always try to create a regular document collection if the target collection does not exist.
Updating existing documents
By default, arangoimp will try to insert all documents from the import file into the specified collection. In case the import file contains
documents that are already present in the target collection (matching is done via the _key attributes), then a default arangoimp run will
not import these documents and complain about unique key constraint violations.
However, arangoimp can be used to update or replace existing documents in case they already exist in the target collection. It provides
the command-line option --on-duplicate to control the behavior in case a document is already present in the database.
The default value of --on-duplicate is error. This means that when the import file contains a document that is present in the target
collection already, then trying to re-insert a document with the same _key value is considered an error, and the document in the database
will not be modified.
Other possible values for --on-duplicate are:
update: each document present in the import file that is also present in the target collection already will be updated by arangoimp.
update will perform a partial update of the existing document, modifying only the attributes that are present in the import file and
leaving all other attributes untouched.
The values of system attributes _id, _key, _rev, _from and _to cannot be updated or replaced in existing documents.
replace: each document present in the import file that is also present in the target collection already will be replace by arangoimp.
replace will replace the existing document entirely, resulting in a document with only the attributes specified in the import file.
The values of system attributes _id, _key, _rev, _from and _to cannot be updated or replaced in existing documents.
ignore: each document present in the import file that is also present in the target collection already will be ignored and not modified
in the target collection.
When --on-duplicate is set to either update or replace, arangoimp will return the number of documents updated/replaced in the updated
return value. When set to another value, the value of updated will always be zero. When --on-duplicate is set to ignore, arangoimp will
return the number of ignored documents in the ignored return value. When set to another value, ignored will always be zero.
It is possible to perform a combination of inserts and updates/replaces with a single arangoimp run. When --on-duplicate is set to update
or replace, all documents present in the import file will be inserted into the target collection provided they are valid and do not already
exist with the specified _key. Documents that are already present in the target collection (identified by _key attribute) will instead be
updated/replaced.
Arangoimp result output
An arangoimp import run will print out the final results on the command line. It will show the
number of documents created (created)
number of documents updated/replaced (updated/replaced, only non-zero if --on-duplicate was set to update or replace, see below)
number of warnings or errors that occurred on the server side (warnings/errors)
number of ignored documents (only non-zero if --on-duplicate was set to ignore).
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Arangoimp
Example
created:
2
warnings/errors:
0
updated/replaced: 0
ignored:
0
For CSV and TSV imports, the total number of input file lines read will also be printed (lines read).
arangoimp will also print out details about warnings and errors that happened on the server-side (if any).
Attribute Naming and Special Attributes
Attributes whose names start with an underscore are treated in a special way by ArangoDB:
the optional _key attribute contains the document's key. If specified, the value must be formally valid (e.g. must be a string and
conform to the naming conventions). Additionally, the key value must be unique within the collection the import is run for.
_from: when importing into an edge collection, this attribute contains the id of one of the documents connected by the edge. The
value of _from must be a syntactically valid document id and the referred collection must exist.
_to: when importing into an edge collection, this attribute contains the id of the other document connected by the edge. The value of
_to must be a syntactically valid document id and the referred collection must exist.
_rev: this attribute contains the revision number of a document. However, the revision numbers are managed by ArangoDB and
cannot be specified on import. Thus any value in this attribute is ignored on import.
If you import values into _key, you should make sure they are valid and unique.
When importing data into an edge collection, you should make sure that all import documents can _from and _to and that their values
point to existing documents.
To avoid specifying complete document ids (consisting of collection names and document keys) for _from and _to values, there are the
options --from-collection-prefix and --to-collection-prefix. If specified, these values will be automatically prepended to each value in
_from (or _to resp.). This allows specifying only document keys inside _from and/or _to.
Example
> arangoimp --from-collection-prefix users --to-collection-prefix products ...
Importing the following document will then create an edge between users/1234 and products/4321:
{ "_from" : "1234", "_to" : "4321", "desc" : "users/1234 is connected to products/4321" }
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Arangodump
Dumping Data from an ArangoDB database
To dump data from an ArangoDB server instance, you will need to invoke arangodump. Dumps can be re-imported with arangorestore.
arangodump can be invoked by executing the following command:
unix> arangodump --output-directory "dump"
This will connect to an ArangoDB server and dump all non-system collections from the default database (_system) into an output
directory named dump. Invoking arangodump will fail if the output directory already exists. This is an intentional security measure to
prevent you from accidentally overwriting already dumped data. If you are positive that you want to overwrite data in the output
directory, you can use the parameter --overwrite true to confirm this:
unix> arangodump --output-directory "dump" --overwrite true
arangodump will by default connect to the _system database using the default endpoint. If you want to connect to a different database or
a different endpoint, or use authentication, you can use the following command-line options:
--server.database : name of the database to connect to
--server.endpoint : endpoint to connect to
--server.username : username
--server.password : password to use (omit this and you'll be prompted for the password)
--server.authentication : whether or not to use authentication
Here's an example of dumping data from a non-standard endpoint, using a dedicated database name:
unix> arangodump --server.endpoint tcp://192.168.173.13:8531 --server.username backup --server.database mydb --output
-directory "dump"
When finished, arangodump will print out a summary line with some aggregate statistics about what it did, e.g.:
Processed 43 collection(s), wrote 408173500 byte(s) into datafiles, sent 88 batch(es)
By default, arangodump will dump both structural information and documents from all non-system collections. To adjust this, there are
the following command-line arguments:
--dump-data : set to true to include documents in the dump. Set to false to exclude documents. The default value is true.
--include-system-collections : whether or not to include system collections in the dump. The default value is false.
For example, to only dump structural information of all collections (including system collections), use:
unix> arangodump --dump-data false --include-system-collections true --output-directory "dump"
To restrict the dump to just specific collections, there is is the --collection option. It can be specified multiple times if required:
unix> arangodump --collection myusers --collection myvalues --output-directory "dump"
Structural information for a collection will be saved in files with name pattern .structure.json. Each structure file will contains a JSON
object with these attributes:
parameters: contains the collection properties
indexes: contains the collection indexes
Document data for a collection will be saved in files with name pattern .data.json. Each line in a data file is a document insertion/update
or deletion marker, alongside with some meta data.
Starting with Version 2.1 of ArangoDB, the arangodump tool also supports sharding. Simply point it to one of the coordinators and it
will behave exactly as described above, working on sharded collections in the cluster.
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Arangodump
However, as opposed to the single instance situation, this operation does not guarantee to dump a consistent snapshot if write operations
happen during the dump operation. It is therefore recommended not to perform any data-modifcation operations on the cluster whilst
arangodump is running.
As above, the output will be one structure description file and one data file per sharded collection. Note that the data in the data file is
sorted first by shards and within each shard by ascending timestamp. The structural information of the collection contains the number of
shards and the shard keys.
Note that the version of the arangodump client tool needs to match the version of the ArangoDB server it connects to. By default,
arangodump will produce a dump that can be restored with the arangorestore tool of the same version. An exception is arangodump in
3.0, which supports dumping data in a format compatible with ArangoDB 2.8. In order to produce a 2.8-compatible dump with a 3.0
ArangoDB, please specify the option
--compat28 true
when invoking arangodump.
unix> arangodump --compat28 true --collection myvalues --output-directory "dump"
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Arangorestore
Arangorestore
To reload data from a dump previously created with arangodump, ArangoDB provides the arangorestore tool.
Reloading Data into an ArangoDB database
Invoking arangorestore
arangorestore can be invoked from the command-line as follows:
unix> arangorestore --input-directory "dump"
This will connect to an ArangoDB server and reload structural information and documents found in the input directory dump. Please note
that the input directory must have been created by running arangodump before.
arangorestore will by default connect to the _system database using the default endpoint. If you want to connect to a different database or
a different endpoint, or use authentication, you can use the following command-line options:
--server.database : name of the database to connect to
--server.endpoint : endpoint to connect to
--server.username : username
--server.password : password to use (omit this and you'll be prompted for the password)
--server.authentication : whether or not to use authentication
Since version 2.6 arangorestore provides the option --create-database. Setting this option to true will create the target database if it does
not exist. When creating the target database, the username and passwords passed to arangorestore (in options --server.username and -server.password) will be used to create an initial user for the new database.
Here's an example of reloading data to a non-standard endpoint, using a dedicated database name:
unix> arangorestore --server.endpoint tcp://192.168.173.13:8531 --server.username backup --server.database mydb --inp
ut-directory "dump"
To create the target database whe restoring, use a command like this:
unix> arangorestore --server.username backup --server.database newdb --create-database true --input-directory "dump"
arangorestore will print out its progress while running, and will end with a line showing some aggregate statistics:
Processed 2 collection(s), read 2256 byte(s) from datafiles, sent 2 batch(es)
By default, arangorestore will re-create all non-system collections found in the input directory and load data into them. If the target
database already contains collections which are also present in the input directory, the existing collections in the database will be dropped
and re-created with the data found in the input directory.
The following parameters are available to adjust this behavior:
--create-collection : set to true to create collections in the target database. If the target database already contains a collection with
the same name, it will be dropped first and then re-created with the properties found in the input directory. Set to false to keep
existing collections in the target database. If set to false and arangorestore encounters a collection that is present in both the target
database and the input directory, it will abort. The default value is true.
--import-data : set to true to load document data into the collections in the target database. Set to false to not load any document
data. The default value is true.
--include-system-collections : whether or not to include system collections when re-creating collections or reloading data. The
default value is false.
For example, to (re-)create all non-system collections and load document data into them, use:
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Arangorestore
unix> arangorestore --create-collection true --import-data true --input-directory "dump"
This will drop potentially existing collections in the target database that are also present in the input directory.
To include system collections too, use --include-system-collections true:
unix> arangorestore --create-collection true --import-data true --include-system-collections true --input-directory "
dump"
To (re-)create all non-system collections without loading document data, use:
unix> arangorestore --create-collection true --import-data false --input-directory "dump"
This will also drop existing collections in the target database that are also present in the input directory.
To just load document data into all non-system collections, use:
unix> arangorestore --create-collection false --import-data true --input-directory "dump"
To restrict reloading to just specific collections, there is is the --collection option. It can be specified multiple times if required:
unix> arangorestore --collection myusers --collection myvalues --input-directory "dump"
Collections will be processed by in alphabetical order by arangorestore, with all document collections being processed before all edge
collections. This is to ensure that reloading data into edge collections will have the document collections linked in edges (_from and _to
attributes) loaded.
Restoring Revision Ids and Collection Ids
arangorestore will reload document and edges data with the exact same _key, _from and _to values found in the input directory.
However, when loading document data, it will assign its own values for the _rev attribute of the reloaded documents. Though this
difference is intentional (normally, every server should create its own _rev values) there might be situations when it is required to re-use
the exact same _rev values for the reloaded data. This can be achieved by setting the --recycle-ids parameter to true:
unix> arangorestore --collection myusers --collection myvalues --recycle-ids true --input-directory "dump"
Note that setting --recycle-ids to true will also cause collections to be (re-)created in the target database with the exact same collection id
as in the input directory. Any potentially existing collection in the target database with the same collection id will then be dropped.
Setting --recycle-ids to false or omitting it will only use the collection name from the input directory and allow the target database to
create the collection with a different id (though with the same name) than in the input directory.
Reloading Data into a different Collection
With some creativity you can use arangodump and arangorestore to transfer data from one collection into another (either on the same
server or not). For example, to copy data from a collection myvalues in database mydb into a collection mycopyvalues in database
mycopy, you can start with the following command:
unix> arangodump --collection myvalues --server.database mydb --output-directory "dump"
This will create two files, myvalues.structure.json and myvalues.data.json, in the output directory. To load data from the datafile into an
existing collection mycopyvalues in database mycopy, rename the files to mycopyvalues.structure.json and mycopyvalues.data.json. After
that, run the following command:
unix> arangorestore --collection mycopyvalues --server.database mycopy --input-directory "dump"
Using arangorestore with sharding
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Arangorestore
As of Version 2.1 the arangorestore tool supports sharding. Simply point it to one of the coordinators in your cluster and it will work as
usual but on sharded collections in the cluster.
If arangorestore is asked to drop and re-create a collection, it will use the same number of shards and the same shard keys as when the
collection was dumped. The distribution of the shards to the servers will also be the same as at the time of the dump. This means in
particular that DBservers with the same IDs as before must be present in the cluster at time of the restore.
If a collection was dumped from a single instance, one can manually add the structural description for the shard keys and the number and
distribution of the shards and then the restore into a cluster will work.
If you restore a collection that was dumped from a cluster into a single ArangoDB instance, the number of shards and the shard keys will
silently be ignored.
Note that in a cluster, every newly created collection will have a new ID, it is not possible to reuse the ID from the originally dumped
collection. This is for safety reasons to ensure consistency of IDs.
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Managing Users
Managing Users
The user management in ArangoDB 3 is similar to the one found in MySQL, Postgres, or other database systems.
An ArangoDB server contains a list of users. Each user can have access to one or more databases (or none for that matter).
In order to manage users use the web interface. Log into the _system database and go to the "User" section.
Using the ArangoDB shell
Alternatively, you can use the ArangoDB shell. Fire up arangosh and require the users module.
arangosh> var users = require("@arangodb/users");
arangosh> users.save("admin@testapp", "mypassword");
Creates an user call admin@testapp. This user will have no access at all.
arangosh> users.grantDatabase("admin@testapp", "testdb");
This grants the user access to the database testdb.
revokeDatabase
will revoke the right.
Save
users.save(user, passwd, active, extra)
This will create a new ArangoDB user. The username must be specified in user and must not be empty.
The password must be given as a string, too, but can be left empty if required. If you pass the special value
ARANGODB_DEFAULT_ROOT_PASSWORD, the password will be set the value stored in the environment variable
ARANGODB_DEFAULT_ROOT_PASSWORD
. This can be used to pass an instance variable into ArangoDB. For example, the instance identifier
from Amazon.
If the active attribute is not specified, it defaults to true. The extra attribute can be used to save custom data with the user.
This method will fail if either the username or the passwords are not specified or given in a wrong format, or there already exists a user
with the specified name.
Note: the user will not have permission to access any database. You need to grant the access rights for one or more databases using
grantDatabase.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").save("my-user", "my-secret-password");
show execution results
Grant Database
users.grantDatabase(user, database)
This grants read/write access to the database for the user.
If a user has access rights to the _system database, he is considered superuser.
Revoke Database
users.revokeDatabase(user, database)
This revokes read/write access to the database for the user.
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Managing Users
Replace
users.replace(user, passwd, active, extra)
This will look up an existing ArangoDB user and replace its user data.
The username must be specified in user, and a user with the specified name must already exist in the database.
The password must be given as a string, too, but can be left empty if required.
If the active attribute is not specified, it defaults to true. The extra attribute can be used to save custom data with the user.
This method will fail if either the username or the passwords are not specified or given in a wrong format, or if the specified user cannot
be found in the database.
Note: this function will not work from within the web interface
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").replace("my-user", "my-changed-password");
show execution results
Update
users.update(user, passwd, active, extra)
This will update an existing ArangoDB user with a new password and other data.
The username must be specified in user and the user must already exist in the database.
The password must be given as a string, too, but can be left empty if required.
If the active attribute is not specified, the current value saved for the user will not be changed. The same is true for the extra attribute.
This method will fail if either the username or the passwords are not specified or given in a wrong format, or if the specified user cannot
be found in the database.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").update("my-user", "my-secret-password");
show execution results
isValid
users.isValid(user, password)
Checks whether the given combination of username and password is valid. The function will return a boolean value if the combination of
username and password is valid.
Each call to this function is penalized by the server sleeping a random amount of time.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").isValid("my-user", "my-secret-password");
true
Remove
users.remove(user)
Removes an existing ArangoDB user from the database.
The username must be specified in User and the specified user must exist in the database.
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Managing Users
This method will fail if the user cannot be found in the database.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").remove("my-user");
Document
users.document(user)
Fetches an existing ArangoDB user from the database.
The username must be specified in user.
This method will fail if the user cannot be found in the database.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").document("my-user");
show execution results
all()
users.all()
Fetches all existing ArangoDB users from the database.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").all();
show execution results
Reload
users.reload()
Reloads the user authentication data on the server
All user authentication data is loaded by the server once on startup only and is cached after that. When users get added or deleted, a
cache flush is done automatically, and this can be performed by called this method.
Examples
arangosh> require("@arangodb/users").reload();
Comparison to ArangoDB 2
ArangoDB 2 contained separate users per database. It was not possible to give an user access to two or more databases. This proved
impractical. Therefore we switch to a more common user model in ArangoDB 3.
Command-Line Options for the Authentication and Authorization
--server.authentication
Setting this option to false will turn off authentication on the server side so all clients can execute any action
without authorization and privilege checks. The default value is true.
--server.authentication-system-only boolean
Controls whether incoming requests need authentication only if they are directed to
the ArangoDB's internal APIs and features, located at /_api/, /_admin/ etc. If the flag is set to true, then HTTP authentication is only
required for requests going to URLs starting with /_, but not for other URLs. The flag can thus be used to expose a user-made API
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Managing Users
without HTTP authentication to the outside world, but to prevent the outside world from using the ArangoDB API and the admin
interface without authentication. Note that checking the URL is performed after any database name prefix has been removed. That means
when the actual URL called is /_db/_system/myapp/myaction, the URL /myapp/myaction will be used for authentication-system-only
check. The default is true. Note that authentication still needs to be enabled for the server regularly in order for HTTP authentication to
be forced for the ArangoDB API and the web interface. Setting only this flag is not enough. You can control ArangoDB's general
authentication feature with the --server.authentication flag.
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Server Configuration
Command-line options
General Options
General help
--help
-h
Prints a list of the most common options available and then exits. In order to see all options use --help-all.
Version
--version
-v
Prints the version of the server and exits.
Configuration Files
Options can be specified on the command line or in configuration files. If a string Variable occurs in the value, it is replaced by the
corresponding environment variable.
--configuration filename
-c filename
Specifies the name of the configuration file to use.
If this command is not passed to the server, then by default, the server will attempt to first locate a file named ~/.arango/arangod.conf in
the user's home directory.
If no such file is found, the server will proceed to look for a file arangod.conf in the system configuration directory. The system
configuration directory is platform-specific, and may be changed when compiling ArangoDB yourself. It may default to /etc/arangodb or
/usr/local/etc/arangodb. This file is installed when using a package manager like rpm or dpkg. If you modify this file and later upgrade
to a new version of ArangoDB, then the package manager normally warns you about the conflict. In order to avoid these warning for
small adjustments, you can put local overrides into a file arangod.conf.local.
Only command line options with a value should be set within the configuration file. Command line options which act as flags should be
entered on the command line when starting the server.
Whitespace in the configuration file is ignored. Each option is specified on a separate line in the form
key = value
Alternatively, a header section can be specified and options pertaining to that section can be specified in a shorter form
[log]
level = trace
rather than specifying
log.level = trace
So you see in general
--section.param value
translates to
[section]
param=value
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Server Configuration
Where one section may occur multiple times, and the last occurance of
param
will become the final value. In case of parameters being
vectors, multiple occurance adds another item to the vector. Vectors can be identified by the
...
in the
--help
output of the binaries.
Comments can be placed in the configuration file, only if the line begins with one or more hash symbols (#).
There may be occasions where a configuration file exists and the user wishes to override configuration settings stored in a configuration
file. Any settings specified on the command line will overwrite the same setting when it appears in a configuration file. If the user wishes
to completely ignore configuration files without necessarily deleting the file (or files), then add the command line option
-c none
or
--configuration none
When starting up the server. Note that, the word none is case-insensitive.
336
Managing Endpoints
Managing Endpoints
The ArangoDB server can listen for incoming requests on multiple endpoints.
The endpoints are normally specified either in ArangoDB's configuration file or on the command-line, using the
--server.endpoint
.
ArangoDB supports different types of endpoints:
tcp://ipv4-address:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv4
tcp://[ipv6-address]:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv6
ssl://ipv4-address:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv4, SSL encryption
ssl://[ipv6-address]:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv6, SSL encryption
unix:///path/to/socket - Unix domain socket endpoint
If a TCP/IP endpoint is specified without a port number, then the default port (8529) will be used. If multiple endpoints need to be used,
the option can be repeated multiple times.
The default endpoint for ArangoDB is tcp://127.0.0.1:8529 or tcp://localhost:8529.
EXAMPLES
unix> ./arangod --server.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:8529
--server.endpoint ssl://127.0.0.1:8530
--ssl.keyfile server.pem /tmp/vocbase
2012-07-26T07:07:47Z [8161] INFO using SSL protocol version 'TLSv1'
2012-07-26T07:07:48Z [8161] INFO using endpoint 'ssl://127.0.0.1:8530' for http ssl requests
2012-07-26T07:07:48Z [8161] INFO using endpoint 'tcp://127.0.0.1:8529' for http tcp requests
2012-07-26T07:07:49Z [8161] INFO ArangoDB (version 1.1.alpha) is ready for business
2012-07-26T07:07:49Z [8161] INFO Have Fun!
TCP Endpoints
Given a hostname:
--server.endpoint tcp://hostname:port
Given an IPv4 address:
--server.endpoint tcp://ipv4-address:port
Given an IPv6 address:
--server.endpoint tcp://[ipv6-address]:port
On one specific ethernet interface each port can only be bound exactly once. You can look up your available interfaces using the ifconfig
command on Linux / MacOSX - the Windows equivalent is ipconfig (See Wikipedia for more details). The general names of the
interfaces differ on OS's and hardwares they run on. However, typically every host has a so called loopback interface, which is a virtual
interface. By convention it always has the address 127.0.0.1 or ::1 (ipv6), and can only be reached from exactly the very same host.
Ethernet interfaces usually have names like eth0, wlan0, eth1:17, le0 or a plain text name in Windows.
To find out which services already use ports (so ArangoDB can't bind them anymore), you can use the netstat command (it behaves a
little different on each platform, run it with -lnpt on Linux, -p tcp on MacOSX or with -an on windows for valuable information).
ArangoDB can also do a so called broadcast bind using tcp://0.0.0.0:8529. This way it will be reachable on all interfaces of the host.
This may be useful on development systems that frequently change their network setup like laptops.
Reuse address
--tcp.reuse-address
If this boolean option is set to true then the socket option SO_REUSEADDR is set on all server endpoints, which is the default. If this
option is set to false it is possible that it takes up to a minute after a server has terminated until it is possible for a new server to use the
same endpoint again. This is why this is activated by default.
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Managing Endpoints
Please note however that under some operating systems this can be a security risk because it might be possible for another process to
bind to the same address and port, possibly hijacking network traffic. Under Windows, ArangoDB additionally sets the flag
SO_EXCLUSIVEADDRUSE as a measure to alleviate this problem.
Backlog size
--tcp.backlog-size
Allows to specify the size of the backlog for the listen system call The default value is 10. The maximum value is platform-dependent.
Specifying a higher value than defined in the system header's SOMAXCONN may result in a warning on server start. The actual value
used by listen may also be silently truncated on some platforms (this happens inside the listen system call).
338
SSL Configuration
SSL Configuration
SSL Endpoints
Given a hostname:
--server.endpoint tcp://hostname:port
Given an IPv4 address:
--server.endpoint tcp://ipv4-address:port
Given an IPv6 address:
--server.endpoint tcp://[ipv6-address]:port
Note: If you are using SSL-encrypted endpoints, you must also supply the path to a server certificate using the
--ssl.keyfile
option.
Keyfile
--ssl.keyfile filename
If SSL encryption is used, this option must be used to specify the filename of the server private key. The file must be PEM formatted and
contain both the certificate and the server's private key.
The file specified by filename can be generated using openssl:
# create private key in file "server.key"
openssl genrsa -des3 -out server.key 1024
# create certificate signing request (csr) in file "server.csr"
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
# copy away original private key to "server.key.org"
cp server.key server.key.org
# remove passphrase from the private key
openssl rsa -in server.key.org -out server.key
# sign the csr with the key, creates certificate PEM file "server.crt"
openssl x509 -req -days 365 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crt
# combine certificate and key into single PEM file "server.pem"
cat server.crt server.key > server.pem
You may use certificates issued by a Certificate Authority or self-signed certificates. Self-signed certificates can be created by a tool of
your choice. When using OpenSSL for creating the self-signed certificate, the following commands should create a valid keyfile:
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE----(base64 encoded certificate)
-----END CERTIFICATE---------BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----(base64 encoded private key)
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
For further information please check the manuals of the tools you use to create the certificate.
CA File
--ssl.cafile filename
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SSL Configuration
This option can be used to specify a file with CA certificates that are sent to the client whenever the server requests a client certificate. If
the file is specified, The server will only accept client requests with certificates issued by these CAs. Do not specify this option if you
want clients to be able to connect without specific certificates.
The certificates in filename must be PEM formatted.
SSL protocol
--ssl.protocol value
Use this option to specify the default encryption protocol to be used. The following variants are available:
1: SSLv2
2: SSLv23
3: SSLv3
4: TLSv1
5: TLSv1.2 (recommended)
The default value is 4 (i.e. TLSv1). If available, set it to 5 (i.e. TLSv1.2), because lower protocol versions are known to be vulnerable to
POODLE attack variants.
SSL cache
--ssl.session-cache value
Set to true if SSL session caching should be used.
value has a default value of false (i.e. no caching).
SSL peer certificate
This feature is available in the Enterprise Edition.
--ssl.require-peer-certificate
Require a peer certificate from the client before connecting.
SSL options
--ssl.options value
This option can be used to set various SSL-related options. Individual option values must be combined using bitwise OR.
Which options are available on your platform is determined by the OpenSSL version you use. The list of options available on your
platform might be retrieved by the following shell command:
> grep "#define SSL_OP_.*" /usr/include/openssl/ssl.h
#define SSL_OP_MICROSOFT_SESS_ID_BUG
0x00000001L
#define SSL_OP_NETSCAPE_CHALLENGE_BUG
0x00000002L
#define SSL_OP_LEGACY_SERVER_CONNECT
0x00000004L
#define SSL_OP_NETSCAPE_REUSE_CIPHER_CHANGE_BUG
0x00000008L
#define SSL_OP_SSLREF2_REUSE_CERT_TYPE_BUG
0x00000010L
#define SSL_OP_MICROSOFT_BIG_SSLV3_BUFFER
0x00000020L
...
A description of the options can be found online in the OpenSSL documentation
SSL cipher
--ssl.cipher-list cipher-list
This option can be used to restrict the server to certain SSL ciphers only, and to define the relative usage preference of SSL ciphers.
The format of cipher-list is documented in the OpenSSL documentation.
To check which ciphers are available on your platform, you may use the following shell command:
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SSL Configuration
> openssl ciphers -v
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
SSLv3 Kx=ECDH
Au=RSA
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA
SSLv3 Kx=ECDH
Au=ECDSA Enc=AES(256)
Enc=AES(256)
Mac=SHA1
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
SSLv3 Kx=DH
Au=RSA
Enc=AES(256)
Mac=SHA1
DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA
SSLv3 Kx=DH
Au=DSS
Enc=AES(256)
Mac=SHA1
DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA SSLv3 Kx=DH
Au=RSA
Enc=Camellia(256)
Mac=SHA1
Mac=SHA1
...
The default value for cipher-list is "ALL".
341
Logging Options
Command-Line Options for Logging
Log levels and topics
ArangoDB's log output is grouped into topics.
--log.level
can be specified multiple times at startup, for as many topics as needed.
The log verbosity and output files can be adjusted per log topic. For example
--log.level startup=trace --log.level queries=trace --log.level info
will log messages concerning startup at trace level, AQL queries at trace level and everything else at info level.
In a configuration file, it is written like this:
[log]
level = startup=trace
level = queries=trace
level = info
Note that there must not be any whitespace around the second
=
.
The available log levels are:
fatal
: only logs fatal errors
error
: only logs errors
warning
info
: only logs warnings and errors
: logs information messages, warnings and errors
debug
: logs debug and information messages, warnings and errors
trace
: logs trace, debug and information messages, warnings and errors
Note that levels
debug
and
trace
will be very verbose.
Some relevant log topics available in ArangoDB 3 are:
agency
: information about the agency
collector
: information about the WAL collector's state
compactor
: information about the collection datafile compactor
datafiles
: datafile-related operations
mmap
: information about memory-mapping operations (including msync)
performance
queries
: performance-releated messages
: executed AQL queries, slow queries
replication
requests
: replication-related info
: HTTP requests
startup
: information about server startup and shutdown
threads
: information about threads
Log outputs
The log option
definition
--log.output
-
for stdin
+
for stderr
allows directing the global or per-topic log output to different outputs. The output
can be one of
syslog://
syslog:///
file://
The option can be specified multiple times in order to configure the output for different log topics. To set up a per-topic output
configuration, use
--log.output =
, e.g.
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Logging Options
queries=file://queries.txt
logs all queries to the file "queries.txt".
The old option
--log.file
is still available in 3.0 for convenience reasons. In 3.0 it is a shortcut for the more general option
log.output file://filename
The old option
--
.
--log.requests-file
is still available in 3.0. It is now a shortcut for the more general option
--log.output
requests=file://...
.
Using
also allows directing log output to different files based on topics. For example, to log all AQL queries to a file
--log.output
"queries.log" one can use the options:
--log.level queries=trace --log.output queries=file:///path/to/queries.log
To additionally log HTTP request to a file named "requests.log" add the options:
--log.level requests=info --log.output requests=file:///path/to/requests.log
Forcing direct output
The option
--log.force-direct
can be used to disable logging in an extra logging thread. If set to
true
, any log messages are
immediately printed in the thread that triggered the log message. This is non-optimal for performance but can aid debugging. If set to
false
, log messages are handed off to an extra logging thread, which asynchronously writes the log messages.
Local time
Log dates and times in local time zone:
--log.use-local-time
If specified, all dates and times in log messages will use the server's local time-zone. If not specified, all dates and times in log messages
will be printed in UTC / Zulu time. The date and time format used in logs is always
UTC time is used, a
Z
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
, regardless of this setting. If
will be appended to indicate Zulu time.
Line number
Log line number:
--log.line-number
Normally, if an human readable fatal, error, warning or info message is logged, no information about the file and line number is
provided. The file and line number is only logged for debug and trace message. This option can be use to always log these pieces of
information.
Prefix
Log prefix:
--log.prefix prefix
This option is used specify an prefix to logged text.
Thread
Log thread identifier:
--log.thread
Whenever log output is generated, the process ID is written as part of the log information. Setting this option appends the thread id of the
calling thread to the process id. For example,
2010-09-20T13:04:01Z [19355] INFO ready for business
when no thread is logged and
2010-09-20T13:04:17Z [19371-18446744072487317056] ready for business
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Logging Options
when this command line option is set.
344
General Options
General Options
Database Upgrade
--database.auto-upgrade
Specifying this option will make the server perform a database upgrade at start. A database upgrade will first compare the version
number stored in the file VERSION in the database directory with the current server version.
If the two version numbers match, the server will start normally.
If the version number found in the database directory is higher than the version number the server is running, the server expects this is an
unintentional downgrade and will warn about this. It will however start normally. Using the server in these conditions is however not
recommended nor supported.
If the version number found in the database directory is lower than the version number the server is running, the server will check
whether there are any upgrade tasks to perform. It will then execute all required upgrade tasks and print their statuses. If one of the
upgrade tasks fails, the server will exit and refuse to start. Re-starting the server with the upgrade option will then again trigger the
upgrade check and execution until the problem is fixed. If all tasks are finished, the server will start normally.
Whether or not this option is specified, the server will always perform a version check on startup. Running the server with a nonmatching version number in the VERSION file will make the server refuse to start.
Daemon
--daemon
Runs the server as a daemon (as a background process). This parameter can only be set if the pid (process id) file is specified. That is,
unless a value to the parameter pid-file is given, then the server will report an error and exit.
Default Language
--default-language default-language
The default language ist used for sorting and comparing strings. The language value is a two-letter language code (ISO-639) or it is
composed by a two-letter language code with and a two letter country code (ISO-3166). Valid languages are "de", "en", "en_US" or
"en_UK".
The default default-language is set to be the system locale on that platform.
Supervisor
--supervisor
Executes the server in supervisor mode. In the event that the server unexpectedly terminates due to an internal error, the supervisor will
automatically restart the server. Setting this flag automatically implies that the server will run as a daemon. Note that, as with the daemon
flag, this flag requires that the pid-file parameter will set.
unix> ./arangod --supervisor --pid-file /var/run/arangodb.pid /tmp/vocbase/
2012-06-27T15:58:28Z [10133] INFO starting up in supervisor mode
As can be seen (e.g. by executing the ps command), this will start a supervisor process and the actual database process:
unix> ps fax | grep arangod
10137 ?
Ssl
0:00 ./arangod --supervisor --pid-file /var/run/arangodb.pid /tmp/vocbase/
10142 ?
Sl
0:00
\_ ./arangod --supervisor --pid-file /var/run/arangodb.pid /tmp/vocbase/
When the database process terminates unexpectedly, the supervisor process will start up a new database process:
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General Options
> kill -SIGSEGV 10142
> ps fax | grep arangod
10137 ?
Ssl
0:00 ./arangod --supervisor --pid-file /var/run/arangodb.pid /tmp/vocbase/
10168 ?
Sl
0:00
\_ ./arangod --supervisor --pid-file /var/run/arangodb.pid /tmp/vocbase/
User identity
--uid uid
The name (identity) of the user the server will run as. If this parameter is not specified, the server will not attempt to change its UID, so
that the UID used by the server will be the same as the UID of the user who started the server. If this parameter is specified, then the
server will change its UID after opening ports and reading configuration files, but before accepting connections or opening other files
(such as recovery files). This is useful when the server must be started with raised privileges (in certain environments) but security
considerations require that these privileges be dropped once the server has started work.
Observe that this parameter cannot be used to bypass operating system security. In general, this parameter (and its corresponding relative
gid) can lower privileges but not raise them.
Group identity
--gid gid
The name (identity) of the group the server will run as. If this parameter is not specified, then the server will not attempt to change its
GID, so that the GID the server runs as will be the primary group of the user who started the server. If this parameter is specified, then
the server will change its GID after opening ports and reading configuration files, but before accepting connections or opening other files
(such as recovery files).
This parameter is related to the parameter uid.
Process identity
--pid-file filename
The name of the process ID file to use when running the server as a daemon. This parameter must be specified if either the flag daemon
or supervisor is set.
Console
--console
Runs the server in an exclusive emergency console mode. When starting the server with this option, the server is started with an
interactive JavaScript emergency console, with all networking and HTTP interfaces of the server disabled.
No requests can be made to the server in this mode, and the only way to work with the server in this mode is by using the emergency
console. Note that the server cannot be started in this mode if it is already running in this or another mode.
Random Generator
--random.generator arg
The argument is an integer (1,2,3 or 4) which sets the manner in which random numbers are generated. The default method (3) is to use
the a non-blocking random (or pseudorandom) number generator supplied by the operating system.
Specifying an argument of 2, uses a blocking random (or pseudorandom) number generator. Specifying an argument 1 sets a
pseudorandom number generator using an implication of the Mersenne Twister MT19937 algorithm. Algorithm 4 is a combination of the
blocking random number generator and the Mersenne Twister.
Enable/disable authentication
--server.authentication
Setting this option to false will turn off authentication on the server side so all clients can execute any action
without authorization and privilege checks. The default value is true.
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General Options
JWT Secret
--server.jwt-secret secret
ArangoDB will use JWTs to authenticate requests. Using this option lets you specify a JWT.
In single server setups and when not specifying this secret ArangoDB will generate a secret.
In cluster deployments which have authentication enabled a secret must be set consistently across all cluster tasks so they can talk to each
other.
Enable/disable authentication for UNIX domain sockets
--server.authentication-unix-sockets value
Setting value to true will turn off authentication on the server side for requests coming in via UNIX domain sockets. With this flag
enabled, clients located on the same host as the ArangoDB server can use UNIX domain sockets to connect to the server without
authentication. Requests coming in by other means (e.g. TCP/IP) are not affected by this option.
The default value is false.
Note: this option is only available on platforms that support UNIX domain sockets.
Enable/disable authentication for system API requests only
--server.authentication-system-only boolean
Controls whether incoming requests need authentication only if they are directed to
the ArangoDB's internal APIs and features, located at /_api/, /_admin/ etc. If the flag is set to true, then HTTP authentication is only
required for requests going to URLs starting with /_, but not for other URLs. The flag can thus be used to expose a user-made API
without HTTP authentication to the outside world, but to prevent the outside world from using the ArangoDB API and the admin
interface without authentication. Note that checking the URL is performed after any database name prefix has been removed. That means
when the actual URL called is /_db/_system/myapp/myaction, the URL /myapp/myaction will be used for authentication-system-only
check. The default is true. Note that authentication still needs to be enabled for the server regularly in order for HTTP authentication to
be forced for the ArangoDB API and the web interface. Setting only this flag is not enough. You can control ArangoDB's general
authentication feature with the --server.authentication flag.
Enable/disable replication applier
--database.replication-applier flag
If false the server will start with replication appliers turned off, even if the replication appliers are configured with the autoStart option.
Using the command-line option will not change the value of the autoStart option in the applier configuration, but will suppress autostarting the replication applier just once.
If the option is not used, ArangoDB will read the applier configuration from the file REPLICATION-APPLIER-CONFIG on startup, and
use the value of the autoStart attribute from this file.
The default is true.
Keep-alive timeout
--http.keep-alive-timeout
Allows to specify the timeout for HTTP keep-alive connections. The timeout value must be specified in seconds. Idle keep-alive
connections will be closed by the server automatically when the timeout is reached. A keep-alive-timeout value 0 will disable the keep
alive feature entirely.
Hide Product header
--http.hide-product-header
If true, the server will exclude the HTTP header "Server: ArangoDB" in HTTP responses. If set to false, the server will send the header
in responses.
The default is false.
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General Options
Allow method override
--http.allow-method-override
When this option is set to true, the HTTP request method will optionally be fetched from one of the following HTTP request headers if
present in the request:
x-http-method
x-http-method-override
x-method-override
If the option is set to true and any of these headers is set, the request method will be overridden by the value of the header. For example,
this allows issuing an HTTP DELETE request which to the outside world will look like an HTTP GET request. This allows bypassing
proxies and tools that will only let certain request types pass.
Setting this option to true may impose a security risk so it should only be used in controlled environments.
The default value for this option is false.
Server threads
--server.threads number
Specifies the number of threads that are spawned to handle requests.
Toggling server statistics
--server.statistics value
If this option is value is false, then ArangoDB's statistics gathering is turned off. Statistics gathering causes regular CPU activity so using
this option to turn it off might relieve heavy-loaded instances a bit.
Session timeout
time to live for server sessions
--server.session-timeout value
The timeout for web interface sessions, using for authenticating requests to the web interface (/_admin/aardvark) and related areas.
Sessions are only used when authentication is turned on.
Foxx queues
enable or disable the Foxx queues feature
--foxx.queues flag
executed asynchronously. The default is true. When set to
If true, the Foxx queues will be available and jobs in the queues will be
false
the queue manager will be disabled and any jobs are prevented from
being processed, which may reduce CPU load a bit.
Foxx queues poll interval
poll interval for Foxx queues
--foxx.queues-poll-interval value
The poll interval for the Foxx queues manager. The value is
specified in seconds. Lower values will mean more immediate and more frequent Foxx queue job execution, but will make the queue
thread wake up and query the queues more often. When set to a low value, the queue thread might cause CPU load. The default is 1
second. If Foxx queues are not used much, then this value may be increased to make the queues thread wake up less.
Directory
--database.directory directory
The directory containing the collections and datafiles. Defaults to /var/lib/arango. When specifying the database directory, please make
sure the directory is actually writable by the arangod process.
You should further not use a database directory which is provided by a network filesystem such as NFS. The reason is that networked
filesystems might cause inconsistencies when there are multiple parallel readers or writers or they lack features required by arangod (e.g.
flock()).
348
General Options
directory
When using the command line version, you can simply supply the database directory as argument.
Examples
> ./arangod --server.endpoint tcp://127.0.0.1:8529 --database.directory
/tmp/vocbase
Journal size
--database.maximal-journal-size size
Maximal size of journal in bytes. Can be overwritten when creating a new collection. Note
that this also limits the maximal size of a single document. The default is 32MB.
Wait for sync
default wait for sync behavior
--database.wait-for-sync boolean
Default wait-for-sync value. Can be overwritten when creating a
new collection. The default is false.
Force syncing of properties
force syncing of collection properties to disk
--database.force-sync-properties boolean
Force syncing of collection properties to
disk after creating a collection or updating its properties. If turned off, no fsync will happen for the collection and database properties
stored in
parameter.json
files in the file system. Turning off this option will speed up workloads that create and drop a lot of
collections (e.g. test suites). The default is true.
Limiting memory for AQL queries
--query.memory-limit value
The default maximum amount of memory (in bytes) that a single AQL query can use. When a single AQL query reaches the specified
limit value, the query will be aborted with a resource limit exceeded exception. In a cluster, the memory accounting is done per shard, so
the limit value is effectively a memory limit per query per shard.
The global limit value can be overriden per query by setting the memoryLimit option value for individual queries when running an AQL
query.
The default value is 0, meaning that there is no memory limit.
Enable/disable AQL query tracking
--query.tracking flag
If true, the server's AQL slow query tracking feature will be enabled by default. Tracking of queries can be disabled by setting the option
to false.
The default is true.
Threshold for slow AQL queries
--query.slow-threshold value
By setting value it can be controlled after what execution time an AQL query is considered "slow". Any slow queries that exceed the
execution time specified in value will be logged when they are finished. The threshold value is specified in seconds. Tracking of slow
queries can be turned off entirely by setting the option
--query.tracking
to false.
The default value is 10.0.
Throw collection not loaded error
--database.throw-collection-not-loaded-error flag
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General Options
Accessing a not-yet loaded collection will automatically load a collection on first access. This flag controls what happens in case an
operation would need to wait for another thread to finalize loading a collection. If set to true, then the first operation that accesses an
unloaded collection will load it. Further threads that try to access the same collection while it is still loading will get an error (1238,
collection not loaded). When the initial operation has completed loading the collection, all operations on the collection can be carried out
normally, and error 1238 will not be thrown.
If set to false, the first thread that accesses a not-yet loaded collection will still load it. Other threads that try to access the collection
while loading will not fail with error 1238 but instead block until the collection is fully loaded. This configuration might lead to all server
threads being blocked because they are all waiting for the same collection to complete loading. Setting the option to true will prevent this
from happening, but requires clients to catch error 1238 and react on it (maybe by scheduling a retry for later).
The default value is false.
AQL Query caching mode
--query.cache-mode
Toggles the AQL query cache behavior. Possible values are:
off: do not use query cache
on: always use query cache, except for queries that have their cache attribute set to false
demand: use query cache only for queries that have their cache attribute set to true
AQL Query cache size
--query.cache-entries
Maximum number of query results that can be stored per database-specific query cache. If a query is eligible for caching and the number
of items in the database's query cache is equal to this threshold value, another cached query result will be removed from the cache.
This option only has an effect if the query cache mode is set to either on or demand.
Index threads
--database.index-threads
Specifies the number of background threads for index creation. When a collection contains extra indexes other than the primary index,
these other indexes can be built by multiple threads in parallel. The index threads are shared among multiple collections and databases.
Specifying a value of 0 will turn off parallel building, meaning that indexes for each collection are built sequentially by the thread that
opened the collection. If the number of index threads is greater than 1, it will also be used to built the edge index of a collection in
parallel (this also requires the edge index in the collection to be split into multiple buckets).
V8 contexts
--javascript.v8-contexts number
Specifies the number of V8 contexts that are created for executing JavaScript code. More contexts allow execute more JavaScript actions
in parallel, provided that there are also enough threads available. Please note that each V8 context will use a substantial amount of
memory and requires periodic CPU processing time for garbage collection.
Garbage collection frequency (time-based)
--javascript.gc-frequency frequency
Specifies the frequency (in seconds) for the automatic garbage collection of JavaScript objects. This setting is useful to have the garbage
collection still work in periods with no or little numbers of requests.
Garbage collection interval (request-based)
--javascript.gc-interval interval
Specifies the interval (approximately in number of requests) that the garbage collection for JavaScript objects will be run in each thread.
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General Options
V8 options
--javascript.v8-options options
Optional arguments to pass to the V8 Javascript engine. The V8 engine will run with default settings unless explicit options are specified
using this option. The options passed will be forwarded to the V8 engine which will parse them on its own. Passing invalid options may
result in an error being printed on stderr and the option being ignored.
Options need to be passed in one string, with V8 option names being prefixed with double dashes. Multiple options need to be separated
by whitespace. To get a list of all available V8 options, you can use the value "--help" as follows:
--javascript.v8-options="--help"
Another example of specific V8 options being set at startup:
--javascript.v8-options="--log"
Names and features or usable options depend on the version of V8 being used, and might change in the future if a different version of V8
is being used in ArangoDB. Not all options offered by V8 might be sensible to use in the context of ArangoDB. Use the specific options
only if you are sure that they are not harmful for the regular database operation.
351
Write-Ahead Log Options
Write-ahead log options
Since ArangoDB 2.2, the server will write all data-modification operations into its write-ahead log.
The write-ahead log is a sequence of logfiles that are written in an append-only fashion. Full logfiles will eventually be garbagecollected, and the relevant data might be transferred into collection journals and datafiles. Unneeded and already garbage-collected
logfiles will either be deleted or kept for the purpose of keeping a replication backlog.
Directory
The WAL logfiles directory:
--wal.directory
Specifies the directory in which the write-ahead logfiles should be stored. If this option is not specified, it defaults to the subdirectory
journals in the server's global database directory. If the directory is not present, it will be created.
Logfile size
the size of each WAL logfile
--wal.logfile-size
Specifies the filesize (in bytes) for each write-ahead logfile. The logfile size should
be chosen so that each logfile can store a considerable amount of documents. The bigger the logfile size is chosen, the longer it will take
to fill up a single logfile, which also influences the delay until the data in a logfile will be garbage-collected and written to collection
journals and datafiles. It also affects how long logfile recovery will take at server start.
Allow oversize entries
whether or not oversize entries are allowed
--wal.allow-oversize-entries
Whether or not it is allowed to store individual documents
that are bigger than would fit into a single logfile. Setting the option to false will make such operations fail with an error. Setting the
option to true will make such operations succeed, but with a high potential performance impact. The reason is that for each oversize
operation, an individual oversize logfile needs to be created which may also block other operations. The option should be set to false if it
is certain that documents will always have a size smaller than a single logfile.
Number of reserve logfiles
maximum number of reserve logfiles
--wal.reserve-logfiles
The maximum number of reserve logfiles that ArangoDB will create in
a background process. Reserve logfiles are useful in the situation when an operation needs to be written to a logfile but the reserve space
in the logfile is too low for storing the operation. In this case, a new logfile needs to be created to store the operation. Creating new
logfiles is normally slow, so ArangoDB will try to pre-create logfiles in a background process so there are always reserve logfiles when
the active logfile gets full. The number of reserve logfiles that ArangoDB keeps in the background is configurable with this option.
Number of historic logfiles
maximum number of historic logfiles
--wal.historic-logfiles
The maximum number of historic logfiles that ArangoDB will keep
after they have been garbage-collected. If no replication is used, there is no need to keep historic logfiles except for having a local
changelog. In a replication setup, the number of historic logfiles affects the amount of data a slave can fetch from the master's logs. The
more historic logfiles, the more historic data is available for a slave, which is useful if the connection between master and slave is
unstable or slow. Not having enough historic logfiles available might lead to logfile data being deleted on the master already before a
slave has fetched it.
Sync interval
interval for automatic, non-requested disk syncs
--wal.sync-interval
The interval (in milliseconds) that ArangoDB will use to
automatically synchronize data in its write-ahead logs to disk. Automatic syncs will only be performed for not-yet synchronized data,
and only for operations that have been executed without the waitForSync attribute.
Flush timeout
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Write-Ahead Log Options
WAL flush timeout `--wal.flush-timeout The timeout (in milliseconds) that ArangoDB will at most wait when flushing a full WAL logfile
to disk. When the timeout is reached and the flush is not completed, the operation that requested the flush will fail with a lock timeout
error.
Throttling
Throttle writes to WAL when at least such many operations are waiting for garbage collection:
--wal.throttle-when-pending
The maximum value for the number of write-ahead log garbage-collection queue elements. If set to 0, the queue size is unbounded, and
no write-throttling will occur. If set to a non-zero value, write-throttling will automatically kick in when the garbage-collection queue
contains at least as many elements as specified by this option. While write-throttling is active, data-modification operations will
intentionally be delayed by a configurable amount of time. This is to ensure the write-ahead log garbage collector can catch up with the
operations executed. Write-throttling will stay active until the garbage-collection queue size goes down below the specified value. Writethrottling is turned off by default.
--wal.throttle-wait
This option determines the maximum wait time (in milliseconds) for operations that are write-throttled. If write-throttling is active and a
new write operation is to be executed, it will wait for at most the specified amount of time for the write-ahead log garbage-collection
queue size to fall below the throttling threshold. If the queue size decreases before the maximum wait time is over, the operation will be
executed normally. If the queue size does not decrease before the wait time is over, the operation will be aborted with an error. This
option only has an effect if
--wal.throttle-when-pending
has a non-zero value, which is not the default.
Number of slots
Maximum number of slots to be used in parallel:
--wal.slots
Configures the amount of write slots the write-ahead log can give to write operations in parallel. Any write operation will lease a slot and
return it to the write-ahead log when it is finished writing the data. A slot will remain blocked until the data in it was synchronized to
disk. After that, a slot becomes reusable by following operations. The required number of slots is thus determined by the parallelity of
write operations and the disk synchronization speed. Slow disks probably need higher values, and fast disks may only require a value
lower than the default.
Ignore logfile errors
Ignore logfile errors when opening logfiles:
--wal.ignore-logfile-errors
Ignores any recovery errors caused by corrupted logfiles on startup. When set to false, the recovery procedure on startup will fail with an
error whenever it encounters a corrupted (that includes only half-written) logfile. This is a security precaution to prevent data loss in case
of disk errors etc. When the recovery procedure aborts because of corruption, any corrupted files can be inspected and fixed (or removed)
manually and the server can be restarted afterwards.
Setting the option to true will make the server continue with the recovery procedure even in case it detects corrupt logfile entries. In this
case it will stop at the first corrupted logfile entry and ignore all others, which might cause data loss.
Ignore recovery errors
Ignore recovery errors:
--wal.ignore-recovery-errors
Ignores any recovery errors not caused by corrupted logfiles but by logical errors. Logical errors can occur if logfiles or any other server
datafiles have been manually edited or the server is somehow misconfigured.
Ignore (non-WAL) datafile errors
Ignore datafile errors when loading collections:
If set to
false
--database.ignore-datafile-errors boolean
, CRC mismatch and other errors in collection datafiles will lead to a collection not being loaded at all. The collection in
this case becomes unavailable. If such collection needs to be loaded during WAL recovery, the WAL recovery will also abort (if not
forced with option
--wal.ignore-recovery-errors true
).
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Write-Ahead Log Options
Setting this flag to
false
protects users from unintentionally using a collection with corrupted datafiles, from which only a subset of
the original data can be recovered. Working with such collection could lead to data loss and follow up errors. In order to access such
collection, it is required to inspect and repair the collection datafile with the datafile debugger (arango-dfdb).
If set to
true
, CRC mismatch and other errors during the loading of a collection will lead to the datafile being partially loaded, up to
the position of the first error. All data up to until the invalid position will be loaded. This will enable users to continue with collection
datafiles even if they are corrupted, but this will result in only a partial load of the original data and potential follow up errors. The WAL
recovery will still abort when encountering a collection with a corrupted datafile, at least if
true
--wal.ignore-recovery-errors
is not set to
.
The default value is false, so collections with corrupted datafiles will not be loaded at all, preventing partial loads and follow up errors.
However, if such collection is required at server startup, during WAL recovery, the server will abort the recovery and refuse to start.
354
Cluster Options
Clusters Options
Node ID
This server's id:
--cluster.my-local-info info
Some local information about the server in the cluster, this can for example be an IP address with a process ID or any string unique to the
server. Specifying info is mandatory on startup if the server id (see below) is not specified. Each server of the cluster must have a unique
local info. This is ignored if my-id below is specified.
Agency endpoint
List of agency endpoints:
--cluster.agency-endpoint endpoint
An agency endpoint the server can connect to. The option can be specified multiple times, so the server can use a cluster of agency
servers. Endpoints have the following pattern:
tcp://ipv4-address:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv4
tcp://[ipv6-address]:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv6
ssl://ipv4-address:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv4, SSL encryption
ssl://[ipv6-address]:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv6, SSL encryption
At least one endpoint must be specified or ArangoDB will refuse to start. It is recommended to specify at least two endpoints so
ArangoDB has an alternative endpoint if one of them becomes unavailable.
Examples
--cluster.agency-endpoint tcp://192.168.1.1:4001 --cluster.agency-endpoint
tcp://192.168.1.2:4002
Agency prefix
Global agency prefix:
--cluster.agency-prefix prefix
The global key prefix used in all requests to the agency. The specified prefix will become part of each agency key. Specifying the key
prefix allows managing multiple ArangoDB clusters with the same agency server(s).
prefix must consist of the letters a-z, A-Z and the digits 0-9 only. Specifying a prefix is mandatory.
Examples
--cluster.prefix mycluster
MyId
This server's id:
--cluster.my-id id
The local server's id in the cluster. Specifying id is mandatory on startup. Each server of the cluster must have a unique id.
Specifying the id is very important because the server id is used for determining the server's role and tasks in the cluster.
id must be a string consisting of the letters a-z, A-Z or the digits 0-9 only.
MyAddress
This server's address / endpoint:
--cluster.my-address endpoint
The server's endpoint for cluster-internal communication. If specified, it must have the following pattern:
tcp://ipv4-address:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv4
tcp://[ipv6-address]:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv6
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Cluster Options
ssl://ipv4-address:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv4, SSL encryption
ssl://[ipv6-address]:port - TCP/IP endpoint, using IPv6, SSL encryption
If no endpoint is specified, the server will look up its internal endpoint address in the agency. If no endpoint can be found in the agency
for the server's id, ArangoDB will refuse to start.
Examples
--cluster.my-address tcp://192.168.1.1:8530
356
Asynchronous Tasks
Asynchronous Tasks
maximal queue size
Maximum size of the queue for requests:
--server.maximal-queue-size size
Specifies the maximum size of the queue for asynchronous task execution. If the queue already contains size tasks, new tasks will be
rejected until other tasks are popped from the queue. Setting this value may help preventing from running out of memory if the queue is
filled up faster than the server can process requests.
357
Durability
Durability Configuration
Global Configuration
There are global configuration values for durability, which can be adjusted by specifying the following configuration options:
default wait for sync behavior
--database.wait-for-sync boolean
Default wait-for-sync value. Can be overwritten when creating a
new collection. The default is false.
force syncing of collection properties to disk
--database.force-sync-properties boolean
Force syncing of collection properties to
disk after creating a collection or updating its properties. If turned off, no fsync will happen for the collection and database properties
stored in
parameter.json
files in the file system. Turning off this option will speed up workloads that create and drop a lot of
collections (e.g. test suites). The default is true.
interval for automatic, non-requested disk syncs
--wal.sync-interval
The interval (in milliseconds) that ArangoDB will use to
automatically synchronize data in its write-ahead logs to disk. Automatic syncs will only be performed for not-yet synchronized data,
and only for operations that have been executed without the waitForSync attribute.
Per-collection configuration
You can also configure the durability behavior on a per-collection basis. Use the ArangoDB shell to change these properties.
gets or sets the properties of a collection
collection.properties()
Returns an object containing all collection properties.
waitForSync: If true creating a document will only return after the data was synced to disk.
journalSize : The size of the journal in bytes.
isVolatile: If true then the collection data will be kept in memory only and ArangoDB will not write or sync the data to disk.
keyOptions (optional) additional options for key generation. This is a JSON array containing the following attributes (note: some of
the attributes are optional):
type: the type of the key generator used for the collection.
allowUserKeys: if set to true, then it is allowed to supply own key values in the _key attribute of a document. If set to false,
then the key generator will solely be responsible for generating keys and supplying own key values in the _key attribute of
documents is considered an error.
increment: increment value for autoincrement key generator. Not used for other key generator types.
offset: initial offset value for autoincrement key generator. Not used for other key generator types.
indexBuckets: number of buckets into which indexes using a hash table are split. The default is 16 and this number has to be a
power of 2 and less than or equal to 1024. For very large collections one should increase this to avoid long pauses when the hash
table has to be initially built or resized, since buckets are resized individually and can be initially built in parallel. For example, 64
might be a sensible value for a collection with 100 000 000 documents. Currently, only the edge index respects this value, but other
index types might follow in future ArangoDB versions. Changes (see below) are applied when the collection is loaded the next time.
In a cluster setup, the result will also contain the following attributes:
numberOfShards: the number of shards of the collection.
shardKeys: contains the names of document attributes that are used to determine the target shard for documents.
collection.properties(properties)
Changes the collection properties. properties must be a object with one or more of the
following attribute(s):
waitForSync: If true creating a document will only return after the data was synced to disk.
journalSize : The size of the journal in bytes.
indexBuckets : See above, changes are only applied when the collection is loaded the next time. Note: it is not possible to change the
journal size after the journal or datafile has been created. Changing this parameter will only effect newly created journals. Also note
that you cannot lower the journal size to less then size of the largest document already stored in the collection. Note: some other
collection properties, such as type, isVolatile, or keyOptions cannot be changed once the collection is created.
Examples
Read all properties
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Durability
arangosh> db.example.properties();
show execution results
Change a property
arangosh> db.example.properties({ waitForSync : true });
show execution results
Per-operation configuration
Many data-modification operations and also ArangoDB's transactions allow to specify a waitForSync attribute, which when set ensures
the operation data has been synchronized to disk when the operation returns.
Disk-Usage Configuration
The amount of disk space used by ArangoDB is determined by a few configuration options.
Global Configuration
The total amount of disk storage required by ArangoDB is determined by the size of the write-ahead logfiles plus the sizes of the
collection journals and datafiles.
There are the following options for configuring the number and sizes of the write-ahead logfiles:
maximum number of reserve logfiles
--wal.reserve-logfiles
The maximum number of reserve logfiles that ArangoDB will create in
a background process. Reserve logfiles are useful in the situation when an operation needs to be written to a logfile but the reserve space
in the logfile is too low for storing the operation. In this case, a new logfile needs to be created to store the operation. Creating new
logfiles is normally slow, so ArangoDB will try to pre-create logfiles in a background process so there are always reserve logfiles when
the active logfile gets full. The number of reserve logfiles that ArangoDB keeps in the background is configurable with this option.
maximum number of historic logfiles
--wal.historic-logfiles
The maximum number of historic logfiles that ArangoDB will keep
after they have been garbage-collected. If no replication is used, there is no need to keep historic logfiles except for having a local
changelog. In a replication setup, the number of historic logfiles affects the amount of data a slave can fetch from the master's logs. The
more historic logfiles, the more historic data is available for a slave, which is useful if the connection between master and slave is
unstable or slow. Not having enough historic logfiles available might lead to logfile data being deleted on the master already before a
slave has fetched it.
the size of each WAL logfile
--wal.logfile-size
Specifies the filesize (in bytes) for each write-ahead logfile. The logfile size should
be chosen so that each logfile can store a considerable amount of documents. The bigger the logfile size is chosen, the longer it will take
to fill up a single logfile, which also influences the delay until the data in a logfile will be garbage-collected and written to collection
journals and datafiles. It also affects how long logfile recovery will take at server start.
whether or not oversize entries are allowed
--wal.allow-oversize-entries
Whether or not it is allowed to store individual documents
that are bigger than would fit into a single logfile. Setting the option to false will make such operations fail with an error. Setting the
option to true will make such operations succeed, but with a high potential performance impact. The reason is that for each oversize
operation, an individual oversize logfile needs to be created which may also block other operations. The option should be set to false if it
is certain that documents will always have a size smaller than a single logfile. When data gets copied from the write-ahead logfiles into
the journals or datafiles of collections, files will be created on the collection level. How big these files are is determined by the following
global configuration value:
--database.maximal-journal-size size
Maximal size of journal in bytes. Can be overwritten when creating a new collection. Note
that this also limits the maximal size of a single document. The default is 32MB.
Per-collection configuration
359
Durability
The journal size can also be adjusted on a per-collection level using the collection's properties method.
360
Replication
Introduction to Replication
Replication allows you to replicate data onto another machine. It forms the base of all disaster recovery and failover features ArangoDB
offers.
ArangoDB offers asynchronous and synchronous replication which both have their pros and cons. Both modes may and should be
combined in a real world scenario and be applied in the usecase where they excel most.
We will describe pros and cons of each of them in the following sections.
Synchronous replication
Synchronous replication only works in in a cluster and is typically used for mission critical data which must be accessible at all times.
Synchronous replication generally stores a copy of the data on another host and keeps it in sync. Essentially when storing data after
enabling synchronous replication the cluster will wait for all replicas to write all the data before greenlighting the write operation to the
client. This will naturally increase the latency a bit, since one more network hop is needed for each write. However it will enable the
cluster to immediately fail over to a replica whenever an outage has been detected, without losing any committed data, and mostly
without even signaling an error condition to the client.
Synchronous replication is organized in a way that every shard has a leader and r-1 followers. The number of followers can be controlled
using the
replicationFactor
whenever you create a collection, the
replicationFactor
is the total number of copies being kept, that
is, it is one plus the number of followers.
Satellite collections
Satellite collections are synchronously replicated collections having a dynamic replicationFactor. They will replicate all data to all
database servers allowing the database servers to join data locally instead of doing heavy network operations.
Satellite collections are an enterprise only feature.
Asynchronous replication
In ArangoDB any write operation will be logged to the write-ahead log. When using Asynchronous replication slaves will connect to a
master and apply all the events from the log in the same order locally. After that, they will have the same state of data as the master
database.
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Asynchronous replication
Asynchronous replication works by logging every data modification on a master and replaying these events on a number of slaves.
Transactions are honored in replication, i.e. transactional write operations will become visible on slaves atomically.
As all write operations will be logged to a master database's write-ahead log, the replication in ArangoDB currently cannot be used for
write-scaling. The main purposes of the replication in current ArangoDB are to provide read-scalability and "hot backups" of specific
databases.
It is possible to connect multiple slave databases to the same master database. Slave databases should be used as read-only instances, and
no user-initiated write operations should be carried out on them. Otherwise data conflicts may occur that cannot be solved automatically,
and that will make the replication stop.
In an asynchronous replication scenario slaves will pull changes from the master database. Slaves need to know to which master database
they should connect to, but a master database is not aware of the slaves that replicate from it. When the network connection between the
master database and a slave goes down, write operations on the master can continue normally. When the network is up again, slaves can
reconnect to the master database and transfer the remaining changes. This will happen automatically provided slaves are configured
appropriately.
Replication lag
In this setup, write operations are applied first in the master database, and applied in the slave database(s) afterwards.
For example, let's assume a write operation is executed in the master database at point in time t0. To make a slave database apply the
same operation, it must first fetch the write operation's data from master database's write-ahead log, then parse it and apply it locally.
This will happen at some point in time after t0, let's say t1.
The difference between t1 and t0 is called the replication lag, and it is unavoidable in asynchronous replication. The amount of
replication lag depends on many factors, a few of which are:
the network capacity between the slaves and the master
the load of the master and the slaves
the frequency in which slaves poll the master for updates
Between t0 and t1, the state of data on the master is newer than the state of data on the slave(s). At point in time t1, the state of data on
the master and slave(s) is consistent again (provided no new data modifications happened on the master in between). Thus, the
replication will lead to an eventually consistent state of data.
Replication configuration
The replication is turned off by default. In order to create a master-slave setup, the so-called replication applier needs to be enabled on
the slave databases.
Replication is configured on a per-database level. If multiple database are to be replicated, the replication must be set up individually per
database.
The replication applier on the slave can be used to perform a one-time synchronization with the master (and then stop), or to perform an
ongoing replication of changes. To resume replication on slave restart, the autoStart attribute of the replication applier must be set to
true.
Replication overhead
As the master servers are logging any write operation in the write-ahead-log anyway replication doesn't cause any extra overhead on the
master. However it will of course cause some overhead for the master to serve incoming read requests of the slaves. Returning the
requested data is however a trivial task for the master and should not result in a notable performance degration in production.
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Components
Replication Logger
Purpose
The replication logger will write all data-modification operations into the write-ahead log. This log may then be read by clients to replay
any data modification on a different server.
Checking the state
To query the current state of the logger, use the state command:
require("@arangodb/replication").logger.state();
The result might look like this:
{
"state" : {
"running" : true,
"lastLogTick" : "133322013",
"totalEvents" : 16,
"time" : "2014-07-06T12:58:11Z"
},
"server" : {
"version" : "2.2.0-devel",
"serverId" : "40897075811372"
},
"clients" : {
}
}
The running attribute will always be true. In earlier versions of ArangoDB the replication was optional and this could have been false.
The totalEvents attribute indicates how many log events have been logged since the start of the ArangoDB server. Finally, the
lastLogTick value indicates the id of the last operation that was written to the server's write-ahead log. It can be used to determine
whether new operations were logged, and is also used by the replication applier for incremental fetching of data.
Note: The replication logger state can also be queried via the HTTP API.
To query which data ranges are still available for replication clients to fetch, the logger provides the firstTick and tickRanges functions:
require("@arangodb/replication").logger.firstTick();
This will return the minimum tick value that the server can provide to replication clients via its replication APIs. The tickRanges function
returns the minimum and maximum tick values per logfile:
require("@arangodb/replication").logger.tickRanges();
Replication Applier
Purpose
The purpose of the replication applier is to read data from a master database's event log, and apply them locally. The applier will check
the master database for new operations periodically. It will perform an incremental synchronization, i.e. only asking the master for
operations that occurred after the last synchronization.
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The replication applier does not get notified by the master database when there are "new" operations available, but instead uses the pull
principle. It might thus take some time (the so-called replication lag) before an operation from the master database gets shipped to and
applied in a slave database.
The replication applier of a database is run in a separate thread. It may encounter problems when an operation from the master cannot be
applied safely, or when the connection to the master database goes down (network outage, master database is down or unavailable etc.).
In this case, the database's replication applier thread might terminate itself. It is then up to the administrator to fix the problem and restart
the database's replication applier.
If the replication applier cannot connect to the master database, or the communication fails at some point during the synchronization, the
replication applier will try to reconnect to the master database. It will give up reconnecting only after a configurable amount of
connection attempts.
The replication applier state is queryable at any time by using the state command of the applier. This will return the state of the applier of
the current database:
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.state();
The result might look like this:
{
"state" : {
"running" : true,
"lastAppliedContinuousTick" : "152786205",
"lastProcessedContinuousTick" : "152786205",
"lastAvailableContinuousTick" : "152786205",
"progress" : {
"time" : "2014-07-06T13:04:57Z",
"message" : "fetching master log from offset 152786205",
"failedConnects" : 0
},
"totalRequests" : 38,
"totalFailedConnects" : 0,
"totalEvents" : 1,
"lastError" : {
"errorNum" : 0
},
"time" : "2014-07-06T13:04:57Z"
},
"server" : {
"version" : "2.2.0-devel",
"serverId" : "210189384542896"
},
"endpoint" : "tcp://master.example.org:8529",
"database" : "_system"
}
The running attribute indicates whether the replication applier of the current database is currently running and polling the server at
endpoint for new events.
The progress.failedConnects attribute shows how many failed connection attempts the replication applier currently has encountered in a
row. In contrast, the totalFailedConnects attribute indicates how many failed connection attempts the applier has made in total. The
totalRequests attribute shows how many requests the applier has sent to the master database in total. The totalEvents attribute shows how
many log events the applier has read from the master.
The progress.message sub-attribute provides a brief hint of what the applier currently does (if it is running). The lastError attribute also
has an optional errorMessage sub-attribute, showing the latest error message. The errorNum sub-attribute of the lastError attribute can
be used by clients to programmatically check for errors. It should be 0 if there is no error, and it should be non-zero if the applier
terminated itself due to a problem.
Here is an example of the state after the replication applier terminated itself due to (repeated) connection problems:
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{
"state" : {
"running" : false,
"progress" : {
"time" : "2014-07-06T13:14:37Z",
"message" : "applier stopped",
"failedConnects" : 6
},
"totalRequests" : 79,
"totalFailedConnects" : 11,
"totalEvents" : 0,
"lastError" : {
"time" : "2014-07-06T13:09:41Z",
"errorMessage" : "could not connect to master at tcp://master.example.org:8529: Could not connect to 'tcp:/..."
,
"errorNum" : 1400
},
...
}
}
Note: the state of a database's replication applier is queryable via the HTTP API, too. Please refer to HTTP Interface for Replication for
more details.
All-in-one setup
To copy the initial data from the slave to the master and start the continuous replication, there is an all-in-one command
setupReplication:
require("@arangodb/replication").setupReplication(configuration);
The following example demonstrates how to use the command for setting up replication for the _system database. Note that it should be
run on the slave and not the master:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").setupReplication({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
verbose: false,
includeSystem: false,
incremental: true,
autoResync: true
});
The command will return when the initial synchronization is finished and the continuous replication is started, or in case the initial
synchronization has failed.
If the initial synchronization is successful, the command will store the given configuration on the slave. It also configures the continuous
replication to start automatically if the slave is restarted, i.e. autoStart is set to true.
If the command is run while the slave's replication applier is already running, it will first stop the running applier, drop its configuration
and do a resynchronization of data with the master. It will then use the provided configration, overwriting any previously existing
replication configuration on the slave.
Starting and Stopping
To manually start and stop the applier in the current database, the start and stop commands can be used like this:
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.start();
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.stop();
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Note: Starting a replication applier without setting up an initial configuration will fail. The replication applier will look for its
configuration in a file named REPLICATION-APPLIER-CONFIG in the current database's directory. If the file is not present, ArangoDB
will use some default configuration, but it cannot guess the endpoint (the address of the master database) the applier should connect to.
Thus starting the applier without configuration will fail.
Note that at the first time you start the applier, you should pass the value returned in the lastLogTick attribute of the initial sync operation.
Note: Starting a database's replication applier via the start command will not necessarily start the applier on the next and following
ArangoDB server restarts. Additionally, stopping a database's replication applier manually will not necessarily prevent the applier from
being started again on the next server start. All of this is configurable separately (hang on reading).
Note: when stopping and restarting the replication applier of database, it will resume where it last stopped. This is sensible because
replication log events should be applied incrementally. If the replication applier of a database has never been started before, it needs
some tick value from the master's log from which to start fetching events.
There is one caveat to consider when stopping a replication on the slave: if there are still ongoing replicated transactions that are neither
committed or aborted, stopping the replication applier will cause these operations to be lost for the slave. If these transactions commit on
the master later and the replication is resumed, the slave will not be able to commit these transactions, too. Thus stopping the replication
applier on the slave manually should only be done if there is certainty that there are no ongoing transactions on the master.
Configuration
To configure the replication applier of a specific database, use the properties command. Using it without any arguments will return the
applier's current configuration:
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.properties();
The result might look like this:
{
"requestTimeout" : 600,
"connectTimeout" : 10,
"ignoreErrors" : 0,
"maxConnectRetries" : 10,
"chunkSize" : 0,
"autoStart" : false,
"adaptivePolling" : true,
"includeSystem" : true,
"requireFromPresent" : false,
"autoResync" : false,
"autoResyncRetries" : 2,
"verbose" : false
}
Note: There is no endpoint attribute configured yet. The endpoint attribute is required for the replication applier to be startable. You may
also want to configure a username and password for the connection via the username and password attributes.
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.properties({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username:
"root",
password: "secret",
verbose: false
});
This will re-configure the replication applier for the current database. The configuration will be used from the next start of the replication
applier. The replication applier cannot be re-configured while it is running. It must be stopped first to be re-configured.
To make the replication applier of the current database start automatically when the ArangoDB server starts, use the autoStart attribute.
Setting the adaptivePolling attribute to true will make the replication applier poll the master database for changes with a variable
frequency. The replication applier will then lower the frequency when the master is idle, and increase it when the master can provide new
events). Otherwise the replication applier will poll the master database for changes with a constant frequency.
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The idleMinWaitTime attribute controls the minimum wait time (in seconds) that the replication applier will intentionally idle before
fetching more log data from the master in case the master has already sent all its log data. This wait time can be used to control the
frequency with which the replication applier sends HTTP log fetch requests to the master in case there is no write activity on the master.
The idleMaxWaitTime attribute controls the maximum wait time (in seconds) that the replication applier will intentionally idle before
fetching more log data from the master in case the master has already sent all its log data and there have been previous log fetch attempts
that resulted in no more log data. This wait time can be used to control the maximum frequency with which the replication applier sends
HTTP log fetch requests to the master in case there is no write activity on the master for longer periods. Note that this configuration
value will only be used if the option adaptivePolling is set to true.
To set a timeout for connection and following request attempts, use the connectTimeout and requestTimeout values. The
maxConnectRetries attribute configures after how many failed connection attempts in a row the replication applier will give up and turn
itself off. You may want to set this to a high value so that temporary network outages do not lead to the replication applier stopping itself.
The connectRetryWaitTime attribute configures how long the replication applier will wait before retrying the connection to the master in
case of connection problems.
The chunkSize attribute can be used to control the approximate maximum size of a master's response (in bytes). Setting it to a low value
may make the master respond faster (less data is assembled before the master sends the response), but may require more request-response
roundtrips. Set it to 0 to use ArangoDB's built-in default value.
The includeSystem attribute controls whether changes to system collections (such as _graphs or _users) should be applied. If set to true,
changes in these collections will be replicated, otherwise, they will not be replicated. It is often not necessary to replicate data from
system collections, especially because it may lead to confusion on the slave because the slave needs to have its own system collections in
order to start and keep operational.
The requireFromPresent attribute controls whether the applier will start synchronizing in case it detects that the master cannot provide
data for the initial tick value provided by the slave. This may be the case if the master does not have a big enough backlog of historic
WAL logfiles, and when the replication is re-started after a longer pause. When requireFromPresent is set to true, then the replication
applier will check at start whether the start tick from which it starts or resumes replication is still present on the master. If not, then there
would be data loss. If requireFromPresent is true, the replication applier will abort with an appropriate error message. If set to false, then
the replication applier will still start, and ignore the data loss.
The autoResync option can be used in conjunction with the requireFromPresent option as follows: when both requireFromPresent and
autoResync are set to true and the master cannot provide the log data the slave requests, the replication applier will stop as usual. But due
to the fact that autoResync is set to true, the slave will automatically trigger a full resync of all data with the master. After that, the
replication applier will go into continuous replication mode again. Additionally, setting autoResync to true will trigger a full resynchronization of data when the continuous replication is started and detects that there is no start tick value.
Automatic re-synchronization may transfer a lot of data from the master to the slave and can be expensive. It is therefore turned off by
default. When turned off, the slave will never perform an automatic re-synchronization with the master.
The autoResyncRetries option can be used to control the number of resynchronization retries that will be performed in a row when
automatic resynchronization is enabled and kicks in. Setting this to 0 will effectively disable autoResync. Setting it to some other value
will limit the number of retries that are performed. This helps preventing endless retries in case resynchronizations always fail.
The verbose attribute controls the verbosity of the replication logger. Setting it to
true
will make the replication applier write a line to
the log for every operation it performs. This should only be used for diagnosing replication problems.
The following example will set most of the discussed properties for the current database's applier:
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.properties({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "root",
password: "secret",
adaptivePolling: true,
connectTimeout: 15,
maxConnectRetries: 100,
chunkSize: 262144,
autoStart: true,
includeSystem: true,
autoResync: true,
autoResyncRetries: 2,
});
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After the applier is now fully configured, it could theoretically be started. However, we may first need an initial synchronization of all
collections and their data from the master before we start the replication applier.
The only safe method for doing a full synchronization (or re-synchronization) is thus to
stop the replication applier on the slave (if currently running)
perform an initial full sync with the master database
note the master database's lastLogTick value and
start the continuous replication applier on the slave using this tick value.
The initial synchronization for the current database is executed with the sync command:
require("@arangodb/replication").sync({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "root",
password: "secret,
includeSystem: true
});
The includeSystem option controls whether data from system collections (such as _graphs and _users) shall be synchronized.
The initial synchronization can optionally be configured to include or exclude specific collections using the restrictType and
restrictCollection parameters.
The following command only synchronizes collection foo and bar:
require("@arangodb/replication").sync({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "root",
password: "secret,
restrictType: "include",
restrictCollections: [ "foo", "bar" ]
});
Using a restrictType of exclude, all collections but the specified will be synchronized.
Warning: sync will do a full synchronization of the collections in the current database with collections present in the master database.
Any local instances of the collections and all their data are removed! Only execute this command if you are sure you want to remove the
local data!
As sync does a full synchronization, it might take a while to execute. When sync completes successfully, it returns an array of collections
it has synchronized in its collections attribute. It will also return the master database's last log tick value at the time the sync was started
on the master. The tick value is contained in the lastLogTick attribute of the sync command:
{
"lastLogTick" : "231848833079705",
"collections" : [ ... ]
}
Now you can start the continuous synchronization for the current database on the slave with the command
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.start("231848833079705");
Note: The tick values should be treated as strings. Using numeric data types for tick values is unsafe because they might exceed the 32
bit value and the IEEE754 double accuracy ranges.
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Example Setup
Setting up a working master-slave replication requires two ArangoDB instances:
master: this is the instance that all data-modification operations should be directed to
slave: on this instance, we'll start a replication applier, and this will fetch data from the master database's write-ahead log and apply
its operations locally
For the following example setup, we'll use the instance tcp://master.domain.org:8529 as the master, and the instance
tcp://slave.domain.org:8530 as a slave.
The goal is to have all data from the database _system on master tcp://master.domain.org:8529 be replicated to the database _system on
the slave tcp://slave.domain.org:8530.
On the master, nothing special needs to be done, as all write operations will automatically be logged in the master's write-ahead log
(WAL).
All-in-one setup
To make the replication copy the initial data from the master to the slave and start the continuous replication on the slave, there is an allin-one command:
require("@arangodb/replication").setupReplication(configuration);
The following example demonstrates how to use the command for setting up replication for the _system database. Note that it should be
run on the slave and not the master:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").setupReplication({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
verbose: false,
includeSystem: false,
incremental: true,
autoResync: true
});
The command will return when the initial synchronization is finished and the continuous replication has been started, or in case the initial
synchronization has failed.
If the initial synchronization is successful, the command will store the given configuration on the slave. It also configures the continuous
replication to start automatically if the slave is restarted, i.e. autoStart is set to true.
If the command is run while the slave's replication applier is already running, it will first stop the running applier, drop its configuration
and do a resynchronization of data with the master. It will then use the provided configration, overwriting any previously existing
replication configuration on the slave.
Initial synchronization
The initial synchronization and continuous replication applier can also be started separately. To start replication on the slave, make sure
there currently is no replication applier running.
The following commands stop a running applier in the slave's _system database:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.stop();
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The stop operation will terminate any replication activity in the _system database on the slave.
After that, the initial synchronization can be run. It will copy the collections from the master to the slave, overwriting existing data. To
run the initial synchronization, execute the following commands on the slave:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").sync({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
verbose: false
});
Username and password only need to be specified when the master requires authentication. To check what the synchronization is
currently doing, supply set the verbose option to true. If set, the synchronization will create log messages with the current
synchronization status.
Warning: The sync command will replace data in the slave database with data from the master database! Only execute these commands
if you have verified you are on the correct server, in the correct database!
The sync operation will return an attribute named lastLogTick which we'll need to note. The last log tick will be used as the starting point
for subsequent replication activity. Let's assume we got the following last log tick:
{
"lastLogTick" : "40694126",
...
}
Initial synchronization from the ArangoShell
The initial synchronization via the sync command may take a long time to complete. The shell will block until the slave has completed
the initial synchronization or until an error occurs. By default, the sync command in the ArangoShell will poll the slave for a status
update every 10 seconds.
Optionally the sync command can be made non-blocking by setting its async option to true. In this case, the sync command will return
instantly with an id string, and the initial synchronization will run detached on the master. To fetch the current status of the sync progress
from the ArangoShell, the getSyncResult function can be used as follows:
db._useDatabase("_system");
var replication = require("@arangodb/replication");
/* run command in async mode */
var id = replication.sync({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
async: true
});
/* now query the status of our operation */
print(replication.getSyncResult(id));
getSyncResult will return false as long as the synchronization is not complete, and return the synchronization result otherwise.
Continuous synchronization
When the initial synchronization is finished, the continuous replication applier can be started using the last log tick provided by the sync
command. Before starting it, there is at least one configuration option to consider: replication on the slave will be running until the slave
gets shut down. When the slave server gets restarted, replication will be turned off again. To change this, we first need to configure the
slave's replication applier and set its autoStart attribute.
Here's the command to configure the replication applier with several options, including the autoStart attribute:
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db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.properties({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
autoStart: true,
autoResync: true,
autoResyncRetries: 2,
adaptivePolling: true,
includeSystem: false,
requireFromPresent: false,
idleMinWaitTime: 0.5,
idleMaxWaitTime: 1.5,
verbose: false
});
An important consideration for replication is whether data from system collections (such as _graphs or _users) should be applied. The
includeSystem option controls that. If set to true, changes in system collections will be replicated. Otherwise, they will not be replicated.
It is often not necessary to replicate data from system collections, especially because it may lead to confusion on the slave because the
slave needs to have its own system collections in order to start and keep operational.
The requireFromPresent attribute controls whether the applier will start synchronizing in case it detects that the master cannot provide
data for the initial tick value provided by the slave. This may be the case if the master does not have a big enough backlog of historic
WAL logfiles, and when the replication is re-started after a longer pause. When requireFromPresent is set to true, then the replication
applier will check at start whether the start tick from which it starts or resumes replication is still present on the master. If not, then there
would be data loss. If requireFromPresent is true, the replication applier will abort with an appropriate error message. If set to false, then
the replication applier will still start, and ignore the data loss.
The autoResync option can be used in conjunction with the requireFromPresent option as follows: when both requireFromPresent and
autoResync are set to true and the master cannot provide the log data the slave had requested, the replication applier will stop as usual.
But due to the fact that autoResync is set to true, the slave will automatically trigger a full resync of all data with the master. After that,
the replication applier will go into continuous replication mode again. Additionally, setting autoResync to true will trigger a full resynchronization of data when the continuous replication is started and detects that there is no start tick value.
Note that automatic re-synchronization (autoResync option set to true) may transfer a lot of data from the master to the slave and can
therefore be expensive. Still it's turned on here so there's less need for manual intervention.
The autoResyncRetries option can be used to control the number of resynchronization retries that will be performed in a row when
automatic resynchronization is enabled and kicks in. Setting this to 0 will effectively disable autoResync. Setting it to some other value
will limit the number of retries that are performed. This helps preventing endless retries in case resynchronizations always fail.
Now it's time to start the replication applier on the slave using the last log tick we got before:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.start("40694126");
This will replicate all operations happening in the master's system database and apply them on the slave, too.
After that, you should be able to monitor the state and progress of the replication applier by executing the state command on the slave
server:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").applier.state();
Please note that stopping the replication applier on the slave using the stop command should be avoided. The reason is that currently
ongoing transactions (that have partly been replicated to the slave) will be need to be restarted after a restart of the replication applier.
Stopping and restarting the replication applier on the slave should thus only be performed if there is certainty that the master is currently
fully idle and all transactions have been replicated fully.
Note that while a slave has only partly executed a transaction from the master, it might keep a write lock on the collections involved in
the transaction.
You may also want to check the master and slave states via the HTTP APIs (see HTTP Interface for Replication).
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Syncing Collections
In order to synchronize data for a single collection from a master to a slave instance, there is the syncCollection function:
It will fetch all documents of the specified collection from the master database and store them in the local instance. After the
synchronization, the collection data on the slave will be identical to the data on the master, provided no further data changes happen on
the master. Any data changes that are performed on the master after the synchronization was started will not be captured by
syncCollection, but need to be replicated using the regular replication applier mechanism.
For the following example setup, we'll use the instance tcp://master.domain.org:8529 as the master, and the instance
tcp://slave.domain.org:8530 as a slave.
The goal is to have all data from the collection test in database _system on master tcp://master.domain.org:8529 be replicated to the
collection test in database _system on the slave tcp://slave.domain.org:8530.
On the master, the collection test needs to be present in the _system database, with any data in it.
To transfer this collection to the slave, issue the following commands there:
db._useDatabase("_system");
require("@arangodb/replication").syncCollection("test", {
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd"
});
Warning: The syncCollection command will replace the collection's data in the slave database with data from the master database! Only
execute these commands if you have verified you are on the correct server, in the correct database!
Setting the optional incremental attribute in the call to syncCollection will start an incremental transfer of data. This may be useful in
case when the slave already has parts or almost all of the data in the collection and only the differences need to be synchronized. Note
that to compute the differences the incremental transfer will build a sorted list of all document keys in the collection on both the slave
and the master, which may still be expensive for huge collections in terms of memory usage and runtime. During building the list of keys
the collection will be read-locked on the master.
The initialSyncMaxWaitTime attribute in the call to syncCollection controls how long the slave will wait for a master's response. This
wait time can be used to control after what time the synchronization will give up and fail.
The syncCollection command may take a long time to complete if the collection is big. The shell will block until the slave has
synchronized the entire collection from the master or until an error occurs. By default, the syncCollection command in the ArangoShell
will poll for a status update every 10 seconds.
When syncCollection is called from the ArangoShell, the optional async attribute can be used to start the synchronization as a
background process on the slave. If async is set to true, the call to syncCollection will return almost instantly with an id string. Using this
id string, the status of the sync job on the slave can be queried using the getSyncResult function as follows:
db._useDatabase("_system");
var replication = require("@arangodb/replication");
/* run command in async mode */
var id = replication.syncCollection("test", {
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
async: true
});
/* now query the status of our operation */
print(replication.getSyncResult(id));
getSyncResult will return false as long as the synchronization is not complete, and return the synchronization result otherwise.
373
Asynchronous Replication
374
Asynchronous Replication
Replication Limitations
The replication in ArangoDB has a few limitations. Some of these limitations may be removed in later versions of ArangoDB:
there is no feedback from the slaves to the master. If a slave cannot apply an event it got from the master, the master will have a
different state of data. In this case, the replication applier on the slave will stop and report an error. Administrators can then either
"fix" the problem or re-sync the data from the master to the slave and start the applier again.
at the moment it is assumed that only the replication applier executes write operations on a slave. ArangoDB currently does not
prevent users from carrying out their own write operations on slaves, though this might lead to undefined behavior and the
replication applier stopping.
when a replication slave asks a master for log events, the replication master will return all write operations for user-defined
collections, but it will exclude write operations for certain system collections. The following collections are excluded intentionally
from replication: _apps, _trx, _replication, _configuration, _jobs, _queues, _sessions, _foxxlog and all statistics collections. Write
operations for the following system collections can be queried from a master: _aqlfunctions, _graphs, _users.
Foxx applications consist of database entries and application scripts in the file system. The file system parts of Foxx applications are
not tracked anywhere and thus not replicated in current versions of ArangoDB. To replicate a Foxx application, it is required to copy
the application to the remote server and install it there using the foxx-manager utility.
master servers do not know which slaves are or will be connected to them. All servers in a replication setup are currently only
loosely coupled. There currently is no way for a client to query which servers are present in a replication.
when not using our mesos integration failover must be handled by clients or client APIs.
there currently is one replication applier per ArangoDB database. It is thus not possible to have a slave apply operations from
multiple masters into the same target database.
replication is set up on a per-database level. When using ArangoDB with multiple databases, replication must be configured
individually for each database.
the replication applier is single-threaded, but write operations on the master may be executed in parallel if they affect different
collections. Thus the replication applier might not be able to catch up with a very powerful and loaded master.
replication is only supported between the two ArangoDB servers running the same ArangoDB version. It is currently not possible to
replicate between different ArangoDB versions.
a replication applier cannot apply data from itself.
375
Synchronous Replication
Synchronous Replication
At its core synchronous replication will replicate write operations to multiple hosts. This feature is only available when operating
ArangoDB in a cluster. Whenever a coordinator executes a sychronously replicated write operation it will only be reported to be
successful if it was carried out on all replicas. In contrast to multi master replication setups known from other systems ArangoDB's
synchronous operation guarantees a consistent state across the cluster.
376
Synchronous Replication
Implementation
Architecture inside the cluster
Synchronous replication can be configured per collection via the property replicationFactor. Synchronous replication requires a cluster
to operate.
Whenever you specify a replicationFactor greater than 1 when creating a collection, synchronous replication will be activated for this
collection. The cluster will determine suitable leaders and followers for every requested shard (numberOfShards) within the cluster.
When requesting data of a shard only the current leader will be asked whereas followers will only keep their copy in sync. This is due to
the current implementation of transactions.
Using synchronous replication alone will guarantee consistency and high availabilty at the cost of reduced performance: Write requests
will have a higher latency (due to every write-request having to be executed on the followers) and read requests won't scale out as only
the leader is being asked.
In a cluster synchronous replication will be managed by the coordinators for the client. The data will always be stored on primaries.
The following example will give you an idea of how synchronous operation has been implemented in ArangoDB.
1. Connect to a coordinator via arangosh
2. Create a collection
127.0.0.1:8530@_system> db._create("test", {"replicationFactor": 2})
3. the coordinator will figure out a leader and 1 follower and create 1 shard (as this is the default)
4. Insert data
127.0.0.1:8530@_system> db.test.insert({"replication": "
"})
5. The coordinator will write the data to the leader, which in turn will replicate it to the follower.
6. Only when both were successful the result is reported to be successful
{
"_id" : "test/7987",
"_key" : "7987",
"_rev" : "7987"
}
When a follower fails, the leader will give up on it after 3 seconds and proceed with the operation. As soon as the follower (or the
network connection to the leader) is back up, the two will resynchronize and synchronous replication is resumed. This happens all
transparently to the client.
The current implementation of ArangoDB does not allow changing the replicationFactor later. This is subject to change. In the meantime
the only way is to dump and restore the collection. A cookbook recipe for this can be found here:
https://docs.arangodb.com/cookbook/Administration/Migrate2.8to3.0.html#controling-the-number-of-shards-and-the-replication-factor
Automatic failover
Whenever the leader of a shard is failing and there is a query trying to access data of that shard the coordinator will continue trying to
contact the leader until it timeouts. The internal cluster supervision running on the agency will check cluster health every few seconds
and will take action if there is no heartbeat from a server for 15 seconds. If the leader doesn't come back in time the supervision will
reorganize the cluster by promoting for each shard a follower that is in sync with its leader to be the new leader. From then on the
coordinators will contact the new leader.
The process is best outlined using an example:
1. The leader of a shard (lets name it DBServer001) is going down.
2. A coordinator is asked to return a document:
377
Synchronous Replication
127.0.0.1:8530@_system> db.test.document("100069")
3. The coordinator determines which server is responsible for this document and finds DBServer001
4. The coordinator tries to contact DBServer001 and timeouts because it is not reachable.
5. After a short while the supervision (running in parallel on the agency) will see that heartbeats from DBServer001 are not coming in
6. The supervision promotes one of the followers (say DBServer002) that is in sync to be leader and makes DBServer001 a follower.
7. As the coordinator continues trying to fetch the document it will see that the leader changed to DBServer002
8. The coordinator tries to contact the new leader (DBServer002) and returns the result:
{
"_key" : "100069",
"_id" : "test/100069",
"_rev" : "513",
"replication" : "
"
}
9. After a while the supervision declares DBServer001 to be completely dead.
10. A new follower is determined from the pool of DBservers.
11. The new follower syncs its data from the leader and order is restored.
Please note that there may still be timeouts. Depending on when exactly the request has been done (in regard to the supervision) and
depending on the time needed to reconfigure the cluster the coordinator might fail with a timeout error!
378
Synchronous Replication
Configuration
Requirements
Synchronous replication requires an operational ArangoDB cluster.
Enabling synchronous replication
Synchronous replication can be enabled per collection. When creating you can specify the number of replicas using replicationFactor.
The default is
1
which effectively disables synchronous replication.
Example:
127.0.0.1:8530@_system> db._create("test", {"replicationFactor": 3})
Any write operation will require 2 replicas to report success from now on.
379
Sharding
Sharding
ArangoDB is organizing its collection data in shards. Sharding allows to use multiple machines to run a cluster of ArangoDB instances
that together constitute a single database. This enables you to store much more data, since ArangoDB distributes the data automatically
to the different servers. In many situations one can also reap a benefit in data throughput, again because the load can be distributed to
multiple machines.
Shards are configured per collection so multiple shards of data form the collection as a whole. To determine in which shard the data is to
be stored ArangoDB performs a hash across the values. By default this hash is being created from _key.
To configure the number of shards:
127.0.0.1:8529@_system> db._create("sharded_collection", {"numberOfShards": 4});
To configure the hashing for another attribute:
127.0.0.1:8529@_system> db._create("sharded_collection", {"numberOfShards": 4, "shardKeys": ["country"]});
This would be useful to keep data of every country in one shard which would result in better performance for queries working on a per
country base. You can also specify multiple
shardKeys
. Note however that if you change the shard keys from their default
["_key"]
,
then finding a document in the collection by its primary key involves a request to every single shard. Furthermore, in this case one can no
longer prescribe the primary key value of a new document but must use the automatically generated one. This latter restriction comes
from the fact that ensuring uniqueness of the primary key would be very inefficient if the user could specify the primary key.
On which node in a cluster a particular shard is kept is undefined. There is no option to configure an affinity based on certain shard keys.
Unique indexes (hash, skiplist, persistent) on sharded collections are only allowed if the fields used to determine the shard key are also
included in the list of attribute paths for the index:
shardKeys
indexKeys
a
a
ok
a
b
not ok
a
a, b
ok
a, b
a
not ok
a, b
b
not ok
a, b
a, b
ok
a, b
a, b, c
ok
a, b, c
a, b
not ok
a, b, c
a, b, c
ok
380
Upgrading
General Upgrade Information
Recommended major upgrade procedure
To upgrade an existing ArangoDB 2.x to 3.0 please use the procedure described here.
Recommended minor upgrade procedure
To upgrade an existing ArangoDB database to a newer version of ArangoDB (e.g. 3.0 to 3.1, or 3.3 to 3.4), the following method is
recommended:
Check the CHANGELOG and the list of incompatible changes for API or other changes in the new version of ArangoDB and make
sure your applications can deal with them
Stop the "old" arangod service or binary
Copy the entire "old" data directory to a safe place (that is, a backup)
Install the new version of ArangoDB and start the server with the --database.auto-upgrade option once. This might write to the
logfile of ArangoDB, so you may want to check the logs for any issues before going on.
Start the "new" arangod service or binary regularly and check the logs for any issues. When you're confident everything went well,
you may want to check the database directory for any files with the ending .old. These files are created by ArangoDB during
upgrades and can be safely removed manually later.
If anything goes wrong during or shortly after the upgrade:
Stop the "new" arangod service or binary
Revert to the "old" arangod binary and restore the "old" data directory
Start the "old" version again
It is not supported to use datafiles created or modified by a newer version of ArangoDB with an older ArangoDB version. For example,
it is unsupported and is likely to cause problems when using 2.3 datafiles with an ArangoDB 2.2 instance.
381
Upgrading to 3.1
Upgrading to ArangoDB 3.1
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 3.1. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 3.1 before upgrading.
382
Upgrading to 3.0
Upgrading to ArangoDB 3.0
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 3.0. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 3.0 before upgrading.
Migrating databases and collections from ArangoDB 2.8 to 3.0
ArangoDB 3.0 does not provide an automatic update mechanism for database directories created with the 2.x branches of ArangoDB.
In order to migrate data from ArangoDB 2.8 (or an older 2.x version) into ArangoDB 3.0, it is necessary to export the data from 2.8
using
arangodump
, and then import the dump into a fresh ArangoDB 3.0 with
To do this, first run the 2.8 version of
arangodump
arangorestore
to export the database data into a directory.
.
arangodump
will dump the
_system
database by default. In order to make it dump multiple databases, it needs to be invoked once per source database, e.g.
# in 2.8
arangodump --server.database _system --output-directory dump-system
arangodump --server.database mydb --output-directory dump-mydb
...
That will produce a dump directory for each database that
arangodump
necessary to provide the required credentials when invoking
is called for. If the server has authentication turned on, it may be
arangodump
, e.g.
arangodump --server.database _system --server.username myuser --server.password mypasswd --output-directory dump-syst
em
The dumps produced by
arangodump
can now be imported into ArangoDB 3.0 using the 3.0 version of
arangodump
:
# in 3.0
arangorestore --server.database _system --input-directory dump-system
arangorestore --server.database mydb --input-directory dump-mydb
...
arangorestore will by default fail if the target database does not exist. It can be told to create it automatically using the option
database true
--create-
:
arangorestore --server.database mydb --create-database true --input-directory dump-mydb
And again it may be required to provide access credentials when invoking
arangorestore
:
arangorestore --server.database mydb --create-database true --server.username myuser --server.password mypasswd --inp
ut-directory dump-system
Please note that the version of dump/restore should match the server version, i.e. it is required to dump the original data with the 2.8
version of
arangodump
and restore it with the 3.0 version of
arangorestore
.
After that the 3.0 instance of ArangoDB will contain the databases and collections that were present in the 2.8 instance.
Adjusting authentication info
Authentication information was stored per database in ArangoDB 2.8, meaning there could be different users and access credentials per
database. In 3.0, the users are stored in a central location in the
_system
database. To use the same user setup as in 2.8, it may be
required to create extra users and/or adjust their permissions.
In order to do that, please connect to the 3.0 instance with an ArangoShell (this will connect to the
_system
database by default):
383
Upgrading to 3.0
arangosh --server.username myuser --server.password mypasswd
Use the following commands to create a new user with some password and grant them access to a specific database
require("@arangodb/users").save(username, password, true);
require("@arangodb/users").grantDatabase(username, databaseName, "rw");
For example, to create a user
myuser
with password
mypasswd
and give them access to databases
mydb1
and
mydb2
, the commands
would look as follows:
require("@arangodb/users").save("myuser", "mypasswd", true);
require("@arangodb/users").grantDatabase("myuser", "mydb1", "rw");
require("@arangodb/users").grantDatabase("myuser", "mydb2", "rw");
Existing users can also be updated, removed or listed using the following commands:
/* update user myuser with password mypasswd */
require("@arangodb/users").update("myuser", "mypasswd", true);
/* remove user myuser */
require("@arangodb/users").remove("myuser");
/* list all users */
require("@arangodb/users").all();
Foxx applications
The dump/restore procedure described above will not export and re-import Foxx applications. In order to move these from 2.8 to 3.0,
Foxx applications should be exported as zip files via the 2.8 web interface.
The zip files can then be uploaded in the "Services" section in the ArangoDB 3.0 web interface. Applications may need to be adjusted
manually to run in 3.0. Please consult the migration guide for Foxx apps.
An alternative way of moving Foxx apps into 3.0 is to copy the source directory of a 2.8 Foxx application manually into the 3.0 Foxx
apps directory for the target database (which is normally
/var/lib/arangodb3-apps/_db//
but the exact location is platform-
specific).
384
Upgrading to 2.8
Upgrading to ArangoDB 2.8
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 2.8. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 2.8 before upgrading.
Please note first that a database directory used with ArangoDB 2.8 cannot be used with earlier versions (e.g. ArangoDB 2.7) any more.
Upgrading a database directory cannot be reverted. Therefore please make sure to create a full backup of your existing ArangoDB
installation before performing an upgrade.
Database Directory Version Check and Upgrade
ArangoDB will perform a database version check at startup. When ArangoDB 2.8 encounters a database created with earlier versions of
ArangoDB, it will refuse to start. This is intentional.
The output will then look like this:
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': Database directory version (20702) is lower than current ve
rsion (20800).
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary.
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': If this is what you wanted to do, please restart with the
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system':
--upgrade
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': Normally you can use the control script to upgrade your dat
abase
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb stop
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb upgrade
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb start
2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2015-12-04T17:11:17Z [31432] FATAL Database '_system' needs upgrade. Please start the server with the --upgrade optio
n
To make ArangoDB 2.8 start with a database directory created with an earlier ArangoDB version, you may need to invoke the upgrade
procedure once. This can be done by running ArangoDB from the command line and supplying the
--upgrade
option.
Note: here the same database should be specified that is also specified when arangod is started regularly. Please do not run the
upgrade
command on each individual database subfolder (named
database-
--
).
For example, if you regularly start your ArangoDB server with
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder
then running
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder --upgrade
will perform the upgrade for the whole ArangoDB instance, including all of its databases.
Starting with
--upgrade
will run a database version check and perform any necessary migrations. As usual, you should create a backup
of your database directory before performing the upgrade.
The last line of the output should look like this:
2015-12-04T17:12:15Z [31558] INFO database upgrade passed
Please check the full output the
--upgrade
run. Upgrading may produce errors, which need to be fixed before ArangoDB can be used
properly. If no errors are present or they have been resolved manually, you can start ArangoDB 2.8 regularly.
385
Upgrading to 2.8
Upgrading a cluster planned in the web interface
A cluster of ArangoDB instances has to be upgraded as well. This involves upgrading all ArangoDB instances in the cluster, as well as
running the version check on the whole running cluster in the end.
We have tried to make this procedure as painless and convenient for you. We assume that you planned, launched and administrated a
cluster using the graphical front end in your browser. The upgrade procedure is then as follows:
1. First shut down your cluster using the graphical front end as usual.
2. Then upgrade all dispatcher instances on all machines in your cluster using the version check as described above and restart them.
3. Now open the cluster dash board in your browser by pointing it to the same dispatcher that you used to plan and launch the cluster
in the graphical front end. In addition to the usual buttons "Relaunch", "Edit cluster plan" and "Delete cluster plan" you will see
another button marked "Upgrade and relaunch cluster".
4. Hit this button, your cluster will be upgraded and launched and all is done for you behind the scenes. If all goes well, you will see
the usual cluster dash board after a few seconds. If there is an error, you have to inspect the log files of your cluster ArangoDB
instances. Please let us know if you run into problems.
There is an alternative way using the
ArangoDB
shell. Instead of steps 3. and 4. above you can launch
dispatcher that you have used to plan and launch the cluster using the option
arangosh
, point it to the
, and execute
--server.endpoint
arangosh> require("org/arangodb/cluster").Upgrade("root","");
This upgrades the cluster and launches it, exactly as with the button above in the graphical front end. You have to replace
user name and
""
"root"
with a
with a password that is valid for authentication with the cluster.
Upgrading Foxx apps generated by ArangoDB 2.7 and earlier
The implementation of the
require
function used to import modules in ArangoDB and Foxx has changed in order to improve
compatibility with Node.js modules.
Given an app/service with the following layout:
manifest.json
controllers/
todos.js
models/
todo.js
repositories/
todos.js
node_modules/
models/
todo.js
The file
controllers/todos.js
would previously contain the following
require
calls:
var _ = require('underscore');
var joi = require('joi');
var Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
var ArangoError = require('org/arangodb').ArangoError;
var Todos = require('repositories/todos'); // <-- !
var Todo = require('models/todo'); // <-- !
The require paths
repositories/todos
and
models/todo
were previously resolved locally as relative to the app root.
Starting with 2.8 these paths would instead be resolved as relative to the
node_modules
folder or the global ArangoDB module paths
before being resolved locally as a fallback.
In the given example layout the app would break in 2.8 because the module name
node_modules/models/todo.js
models/todo
would always resolve to
(which previously would have been ignored) instead of the local
models/todo.js
.
386
Upgrading to 2.8
In order to make sure the app still works in 2.8, the require calls in
controllers/todos.js
would need to be adjusted to look like this:
var _ = require('underscore');
var joi = require('joi');
var Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
var ArangoError = require('org/arangodb').ArangoError;
var Todos = require('../repositories/todos'); // <-- !
var Todo = require('../models/todo'); // <-- !
Note that the old "global" style require calls may still work in 2.8 but may break unexpectedly if modules with matching names are
installed globally.
387
Upgrading to 2.6
Upgrading to ArangoDB 2.6
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 2.6. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 2.6 before upgrading.
Please note first that a database directory used with ArangoDB 2.6 cannot be used with earlier versions (e.g. ArangoDB 2.5) any more.
Upgrading a database directory cannot be reverted. Therefore please make sure to create a full backup of your existing ArangoDB
installation before performing an upgrade.
Database Directory Version Check and Upgrade
ArangoDB will perform a database version check at startup. When ArangoDB 2.6 encounters a database created with earlier versions of
ArangoDB, it will refuse to start. This is intentional.
The output will then look like this:
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': Database directory version (20501) is lower than current ver
sion (20600).
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary.
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': If this is what you wanted to do, please restart with the
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
--upgrade
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': Normally you can use the control script to upgrade your data
base
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb stop
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb upgrade
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb start
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] FATAL Database '_system' needs upgrade. Please start the server with the --upgrade option
To make ArangoDB 2.6 start with a database directory created with an earlier ArangoDB version, you may need to invoke the upgrade
procedure once. This can be done by running ArangoDB from the command line and supplying the
--upgrade
option.
Note: here the same database should be specified that is also specified when arangod is started regularly. Please do not run the
upgrade
command on each individual database subfolder (named
database-
--
).
For example, if you regularly start your ArangoDB server with
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder
then running
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder --upgrade
will perform the upgrade for the whole ArangoDB instance, including all of its databases.
Starting with
--upgrade
will run a database version check and perform any necessary migrations. As usual, you should create a backup
of your database directory before performing the upgrade.
The last line of the output should look like this:
2014-12-22T12:03:31Z [12026] INFO database upgrade passed
Please check the full output the
--upgrade
run. Upgrading may produce errors, which need to be fixed before ArangoDB can be used
properly. If no errors are present or they have been resolved manually, you can start ArangoDB 2.6 regularly.
388
Upgrading to 2.6
Upgrading a cluster planned in the web interface
A cluster of ArangoDB instances has to be upgraded as well. This involves upgrading all ArangoDB instances in the cluster, as well as
running the version check on the whole running cluster in the end.
We have tried to make this procedure as painless and convenient for you. We assume that you planned, launched and administrated a
cluster using the graphical front end in your browser. The upgrade procedure is then as follows:
1. First shut down your cluster using the graphical front end as usual.
2. Then upgrade all dispatcher instances on all machines in your cluster using the version check as described above and restart them.
3. Now open the cluster dash board in your browser by pointing it to the same dispatcher that you used to plan and launch the cluster
in the graphical front end. In addition to the usual buttons "Relaunch", "Edit cluster plan" and "Delete cluster plan" you will see
another button marked "Upgrade and relaunch cluster".
4. Hit this button, your cluster will be upgraded and launched and all is done for you behind the scenes. If all goes well, you will see
the usual cluster dash board after a few seconds. If there is an error, you have to inspect the log files of your cluster ArangoDB
instances. Please let us know if you run into problems.
There is an alternative way using the
ArangoDB
shell. Instead of steps 3. and 4. above you can launch
dispatcher that you have used to plan and launch the cluster using the option
--server.endpoint
arangosh
, point it to the
, and execute
arangosh> require("org/arangodb/cluster").Upgrade("root","");
This upgrades the cluster and launches it, exactly as with the button above in the graphical front end. You have to replace
user name and
""
"root"
with a
with a password that is valid for authentication with the cluster.
389
Upgrading to 2.5
Upgrading to ArangoDB 2.5
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 2.5. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 2.5 before upgrading.
Please note first that a database directory used with ArangoDB 2.5 cannot be used with earlier versions (e.g. ArangoDB 2.4) any more.
Upgrading a database directory cannot be reverted. Therefore please make sure to create a full backup of your existing ArangoDB
installation before performing an upgrade.
In 2.5 we have also changed the paths for Foxx applications. Please also make sure that you have a backup of all Foxx apps in your
javascript.app-path
and
javascript.dev-app-path
. It is sufficient to have the source files for Foxx somewhere else so you can
reinstall them on error. To check that everything has worked during upgrade you could use the web-interface Applications tab or
unix> foxx-manager list
for all your databases. The listed apps should be identical before and after the upgrade.
Database Directory Version Check and Upgrade
ArangoDB will perform a database version check at startup. When ArangoDB 2.5 encounters a database created with earlier versions of
ArangoDB, it will refuse to start. This is intentional.
The output will then look like this:
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': Database directory version (20401) is lower than current ver
sion (20500).
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary.
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': If this is what you wanted to do, please restart with the
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
--upgrade
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': Normally you can use the control script to upgrade your data
base
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb stop
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb upgrade
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb start
2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2015-02-17T09:43:11Z [8302] FATAL Database '_system' needs upgrade. Please start the server with the --upgrade option
To make ArangoDB 2.5 start with a database directory created with an earlier ArangoDB version, you may need to invoke the upgrade
procedure once. This can be done by running ArangoDB from the command line and supplying the
--upgrade
option. Note: We have
changed Foxx folder structure and implemented an upgrade task to move your applications to the new structure. In order to tell this
upgrade task to also move your development Foxx apps please make sure you give the dev-app-path as well. If you have not used
development mode for Foxx apps you can drop the
--javascript.dev-app-path
. It is only possible to upgrade one dev-app-path
together with one data folder.
unix> arangod data --upgrade --javascript.dev-app-path devapps
where
data
is ArangoDB's main data directory and
devapps
is the directory where you develop Foxx apps.
Note: here the same database should be specified that is also specified when arangod is started regularly. Please do not run the
upgrade
command on each individual database subfolder (named
database-
--
).
For example, if you regularly start your ArangoDB server with
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder
390
Upgrading to 2.5
then running
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder --upgrade
will perform the upgrade for the whole ArangoDB instance, including all of its databases.
Starting with
--upgrade
will run a database version check and perform any necessary migrations. As usual, you should create a backup
of your database directory before performing the upgrade.
The last line of the output should look like this:
2014-12-22T12:03:31Z [12026] INFO database upgrade passed
Please check the full output the
--upgrade
run. Upgrading may produce errors, which need to be fixed before ArangoDB can be used
properly. If no errors are present or they have been resolved manually, you can start ArangoDB 2.5 regularly.
Upgrading a cluster planned in the web interface
A cluster of ArangoDB instances has to be upgraded as well. This involves upgrading all ArangoDB instances in the cluster, as well as
running the version check on the whole running cluster in the end.
We have tried to make this procedure as painless and convenient for you. We assume that you planned, launched and administrated a
cluster using the graphical front end in your browser. The upgrade procedure is then as follows:
1. First shut down your cluster using the graphical front end as usual.
2. Then upgrade all dispatcher instances on all machines in your cluster using the version check as described above and restart them.
3. Now open the cluster dash board in your browser by pointing it to the same dispatcher that you used to plan and launch the cluster
in the graphical front end. In addition to the usual buttons "Relaunch", "Edit cluster plan" and "Delete cluster plan" you will see
another button marked "Upgrade and relaunch cluster".
4. Hit this button, your cluster will be upgraded and launched and all is done for you behind the scenes. If all goes well, you will see
the usual cluster dash board after a few seconds. If there is an error, you have to inspect the log files of your cluster ArangoDB
instances. Please let us know if you run into problems.
There is an alternative way using the
ArangoDB
shell. Instead of steps 3. and 4. above you can launch
dispatcher that you have used to plan and launch the cluster using the option
--server.endpoint
arangosh
, point it to the
, and execute
arangosh> require("org/arangodb/cluster").Upgrade("root","");
This upgrades the cluster and launches it, exactly as with the button above in the graphical front end. You have to replace
user name and
""
"root"
with a
with a password that is valid for authentication with the cluster.
391
Upgrading to 2.4
Upgrading to ArangoDB 2.4
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 2.4. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 2.4 before upgrading.
Please note first that a database directory used with ArangoDB 2.4 cannot be used with earlier versions (e.g. ArangoDB 2.3) any more.
Upgrading a database directory cannot be reverted. Therefore please make sure to create a full backup of your existing ArangoDB
installation before performing an upgrade.
Database Directory Version Check and Upgrade
ArangoDB will perform a database version check at startup. When ArangoDB 2.4 encounters a database created with earlier versions of
ArangoDB, it will refuse to start. This is intentional.
The output will then look like this:
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': Database directory version (20302) is lower than current ve
rsion (20400).
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary.
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': If this is what you wanted to do, please restart with the
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system':
--upgrade
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': Normally you can use the control script to upgrade your dat
abase
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb stop
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb upgrade
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb start
2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2014-12-22T12:02:28Z [12001] FATAL Database '_system' needs upgrade. Please start the server with the --upgrade optio
n
To make ArangoDB 2.4 start with a database directory created with an earlier ArangoDB version, you may need to invoke the upgrade
procedure once. This can be done by running ArangoDB from the command line and supplying the
--upgrade
option:
unix> arangod data --upgrade
where
data
is ArangoDB's main data directory.
Note: here the same database should be specified that is also specified when arangod is started regularly. Please do not run the
upgrade
command on each individual database subfolder (named
database-
--
).
For example, if you regularly start your ArangoDB server with
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder
then running
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder --upgrade
will perform the upgrade for the whole ArangoDB instance, including all of its databases.
Starting with
--upgrade
will run a database version check and perform any necessary migrations. As usual, you should create a backup
of your database directory before performing the upgrade.
The last line of the output should look like this:
2014-12-22T12:03:31Z [12026] INFO database upgrade passed
392
Upgrading to 2.4
Please check the full output the
--upgrade
run. Upgrading may produce errors, which need to be fixed before ArangoDB can be used
properly. If no errors are present or they have been resolved manually, you can start ArangoDB 2.4 regularly.
Upgrading a cluster planned in the web interface
A cluster of ArangoDB instances has to be upgraded as well. This involves upgrading all ArangoDB instances in the cluster, as well as
running the version check on the whole running cluster in the end.
We have tried to make this procedure as painless and convenient for you. We assume that you planned, launched and administrated a
cluster using the graphical front end in your browser. The upgrade procedure is then as follows:
1. First shut down your cluster using the graphical front end as usual.
2. Then upgrade all dispatcher instances on all machines in your cluster using the version check as described above and restart them.
3. Now open the cluster dash board in your browser by pointing it to the same dispatcher that you used to plan and launch the cluster
in the graphical front end. In addition to the usual buttons "Relaunch", "Edit cluster plan" and "Delete cluster plan" you will see
another button marked "Upgrade and relaunch cluster".
4. Hit this button, your cluster will be upgraded and launched and all is done for you behind the scenes. If all goes well, you will see
the usual cluster dash board after a few seconds. If there is an error, you have to inspect the log files of your cluster ArangoDB
instances. Please let us know if you run into problems.
There is an alternative way using the
ArangoDB
shell. Instead of steps 3. and 4. above you can launch
dispatcher that you have used to plan and launch the cluster using the option
--server.endpoint
arangosh
, point it to the
, and execute
arangosh> require("org/arangodb/cluster").Upgrade("root","");
This upgrades the cluster and launches it, exactly as with the button above in the graphical front end. You have to replace
user name and
""
"root"
with a
with a password that is valid for authentication with the cluster.
393
Upgrading to 2.3
Upgrading to ArangoDB 2.3
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 2.3. Please be sure that you have checked the list
of changes in 2.3 before upgrading.
Please note first that a database directory used with ArangoDB 2.3 cannot be used with earlier versions (e.g. ArangoDB 2.2) any more.
Upgrading a database directory cannot be reverted. Therefore please make sure to create a full backup of your existing ArangoDB
installation before performing an upgrade.
Database Directory Version Check and Upgrade
ArangoDB will perform a database version check at startup. When ArangoDB 2.3 encounters a database created with earlier versions of
ArangoDB, it will refuse to start. This is intentional.
The output will then look like this:
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': Database directory version (2.2) is lower than current versi
on (20300).
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary.
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': If this is what you wanted to do, please restart with the
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system':
--upgrade
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': Normally you can use the control script to upgrade your data
base
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb stop
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb upgrade
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb start
2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2014-11-03T15:48:06Z [2694] FATAL Database '_system' needs upgrade. Please start the server with the --upgrade option
To make ArangoDB 2.3 start with a database directory created with an earlier ArangoDB version, you may need to invoke the upgrade
procedure once. This can be done by running ArangoDB from the command line and supplying the
--upgrade
option:
unix> arangod data --upgrade
where
data
is ArangoDB's main data directory.
Note: here the same database should be specified that is also specified when arangod is started regularly. Please do not run the
upgrade
command on each individual database subfolder (named
database-
--
).
For example, if you regularly start your ArangoDB server with
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder
then running
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder --upgrade
will perform the upgrade for the whole ArangoDB instance, including all of its databases.
Starting with
--upgrade
will run a database version check and perform any necessary migrations. As usual, you should create a backup
of your database directory before performing the upgrade.
The output should look like this:
394
Upgrading to 2.3
2014-11-03T15:48:47Z [2708] INFO In database '_system': Found 24 defined task(s), 5 task(s) to run
2014-11-03T15:48:47Z [2708] INFO In database '_system': state prod/standalone/upgrade, tasks updateUserModel, createS
tatistics, upgradeClusterPlan, setupQueues, setupJobs
2014-11-03T15:48:48Z [2708] INFO In database '_system': upgrade successfully finished
2014-11-03T15:48:48Z [2708] INFO database upgrade passed
Please check the output the
--upgrade
run. It may produce errors, which need to be fixed before ArangoDB can be used properly. If no
errors are present or they have been resolved, you can start ArangoDB 2.3 regularly.
Upgrading a cluster planned in the web interface
A cluster of ArangoDB instances has to be upgraded as well. This involves upgrading all ArangoDB instances in the cluster, as well as
running the version check on the whole running cluster in the end.
We have tried to make this procedure as painless and convenient for you. We assume that you planned, launched and administrated a
cluster using the graphical front end in your browser. The upgrade procedure is then as follows:
1. First shut down your cluster using the graphical front end as usual.
2. Then upgrade all dispatcher instances on all machines in your cluster using the version check as described above and restart them.
3. Now open the cluster dash board in your browser by pointing it to the same dispatcher that you used to plan and launch the cluster
in the graphical front end. In addition to the usual buttons "Relaunch", "Edit cluster plan" and "Delete cluster plan" you will see
another button marked "Upgrade and relaunch cluster".
4. Hit this button, your cluster will be upgraded and launched and all is done for you behind the scenes. If all goes well, you will see
the usual cluster dash board after a few seconds. If there is an error, you have to inspect the log files of your cluster ArangoDB
instances. Please let us know if you run into problems.
There is an alternative way using the
ArangoDB
shell. Instead of steps 3. and 4. above you can launch
dispatcher that you have used to plan and launch the cluster using the option
--server.endpoint
arangosh
, point it to the
, and execute
arangosh> require("org/arangodb/cluster").Upgrade("root","");
This upgrades the cluster and launches it, exactly as with the button above in the graphical front end. You have to replace
user name and
""
"root"
with a
with a password that is valid for authentication with the cluster.
395
Upgrading to 2.2
Upgrading to ArangoDB 2.2
Please read the following sections if you upgrade from a previous version to ArangoDB 2.2.
Please note first that a database directory used with ArangoDB 2.2 cannot be used with earlier versions (e.g. ArangoDB 2.1) any more.
Upgrading a database directory cannot be reverted. Therefore please make sure to create a full backup of your existing ArangoDB
installation before performing an upgrade.
Database Directory Version Check and Upgrade
ArangoDB will perform a database version check at startup. When ArangoDB 2.2 encounters a database created with earlier versions of
ArangoDB, it will refuse to start. This is intentional.
The output will then look like this:
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': Database directory version (2.1) is lower than server versi
on (2.2).
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': It seems like you have upgraded the ArangoDB binary.
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': If this is what you wanted to do, please restart with the
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system':
--upgrade
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': option to upgrade the data in the database directory.
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': Normally you can use the control script to upgrade your dat
abase
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb stop
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb upgrade
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system':
/etc/init.d/arangodb start
2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] ERROR In database '_system': --------------------------------------------------------------------2014-07-07T22:04:53Z [18675] FATAL Database version check failed for '_system'. Please start the server with the --up
grade option
To make ArangoDB 2.2 start with a database directory created with an earlier ArangoDB version, you may need to invoke the upgrade
procedure once. This can be done by running ArangoDB from the command line and supplying the
--upgrade
option:
unix> arangod data --upgrade
where
data
is ArangoDB's main data directory.
Note: here the same database should be specified that is also specified when arangod is started regularly. Please do not run the
upgrade
command on each individual database subfolder (named
database-
--
).
For example, if you regularly start your ArangoDB server with
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder
then running
unix> arangod mydatabasefolder --upgrade
will perform the upgrade for the whole ArangoDB instance, including all of its databases.
Starting with
--upgrade
will run a database version check and perform any necessary migrations. As usual, you should create a backup
of your database directory before performing the upgrade.
The output should look like this:
396
Upgrading to 2.2
2014-07-07T22:11:30Z [18867] INFO In database '_system': starting upgrade from version 2.1 to 2.2.0
2014-07-07T22:11:30Z [18867] INFO In database '_system': Found 19 defined task(s), 2 task(s) to run
2014-07-07T22:11:30Z [18867] INFO In database '_system': upgrade successfully finished
2014-07-07T22:11:30Z [18867] INFO database upgrade passed
Please check the output the
--upgrade
run. It may produce errors, which need to be fixed before ArangoDB can be used properly. If no
errors are present or they have been resolved, you can start ArangoDB 2.2 regularly.
Upgrading a cluster planned in the web interface
A cluster of ArangoDB instances has to be upgraded as well. This involves upgrading all ArangoDB instances in the cluster, as well as
running the version check on the whole running cluster in the end.
We have tried to make this procedure as painless and convenient for you. We assume that you planned, launched and administrated a
cluster using the graphical front end in your browser. The upgrade procedure is then as follows:
1. First shut down your cluster using the graphical front end as usual.
2. Then upgrade all dispatcher instances on all machines in your cluster using the version check as described above and restart them.
3. Now open the cluster dash board in your browser by pointing it to the same dispatcher that you used to plan and launch the cluster
in the graphical front end. In addition to the usual buttons "Relaunch", "Edit cluster plan" and "Delete cluster plan" you will see
another button marked "Upgrade and relaunch cluster".
4. Hit this button, your cluster will be upgraded and launched and all is done for you behind the scenes. If all goes well, you will see
the usual cluster dash board after a few seconds. If there is an error, you have to inspect the log files of your cluster ArangoDB
instances. Please let us know if you run into problems.
There is an alternative way using the
ArangoDB
shell. Instead of steps 3. and 4. above you can launch
dispatcher that you have used to plan and launch the cluster using the option
--server.endpoint
arangosh
, point it to the
, and execute
arangosh> require("org/arangodb/cluster").Upgrade("root","");
This upgrades the cluster and launches it, exactly as with the button above in the graphical front end. You have to replace
user name and
""
"root"
with a
with a password that is valid for authentication with the cluster.
397
Auditing
Auditing
This feature is available in the Enterprise Edition.
Auditing allows you to monitor access to the database in detail. In general audit logs are of the form
2016-01-01 12:00:00 | server | username | database | client-ip | authentication | text1 | text2 | ...
The time-stamp is in GMT. This allows to easily match log entries from servers in different time zones.
The name of the server. You can specify a custom name on startup. Otherwise the default hostname is used.
The username is the (authenticated or unauthenticated) name supplied by the client. A dash
-
is printed if no name was given by the
client.
The database describes the database that was accessed. Please note that there are no database crossing queries. Each access is restricted
to one database.
The client-ip describes the source of the request.
The authentication details the methods used to authenticate the user.
Details about the requests follow in the additional fields.
398
Configuration
Audit Configuration
This feature is available in the Enterprise Edition.
Output
--audit.output output
Specifies the target of the audit log. Possible values are
file://filename
where filename can be relative or absolute.
syslog://facility
or
syslog://facility/application-name
to log into a syslog server.
The option can be specified multiple times in order to configure the output for multiple targets.
Hostname
--audit.hostname name
The name of the server used in audit log messages. By default the system hostname is used.
399
Events
Audit Events
This feature is available in the Enterprise Edition.
Authentication
Unknown authentication methods
2016-10-03 15:44:23 | server1 | - | database1 | 127.0.0.1:61525 | - | unknown authentication method | /_api/version
Missing credentials
2016-10-03 15:39:49 | server1 | - | database1 | 127.0.0.1:61498 | - | credentials missing | /_api/version
Wrong credentials
2016-10-03 15:47:26 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:61528 | http basic | credentials wrong | /_api/version
Password change required
2016-10-03 16:18:53 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:62257 | - | password change required | /_api/version
JWT login succeeded
2016-10-03 17:21:22 | server1 | - | database1 | 127.0.0.1:64214 | http jwt | user 'root' authenticated | /_open/auth
Please note, that the user given as third part is the user that requested the login. In general, it will be empty.
JWT login failed
2016-10-03 17:21:22 | server1 | - | database1 | 127.0.0.1:64214 | http jwt | user 'root' wrong credentials
| /_open/
auth
Please note, that the user given as third part is the user that requested the login. In general, it will be empty.
Authorization
User not authorized to access database
2016-10-03 16:20:52 | server1 | user1 | database2 | 127.0.0.1:62262 | http basic | not authorized | /_api/version
Databases
Create a database
2016-10-04 15:33:25 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:56920 | http basic | create database 'database1' | ok |
/_api/database
400
Events
Drop a database
2016-10-04 15:33:25 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:56920 | http basic | delete database 'database1' | ok |
/_api/database
Collections
Create a collection
2016-10-05 17:35:57 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:51294 | http basic | create collection 'collection1' |
ok | /_api/collection
Truncate a collection
2016-10-05 17:36:08 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:51294 | http basic | truncate collection 'collection1'
| ok | /_api/collection/collection1/truncate
Drop a collection
2016-10-05 17:36:30 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:51294 | http basic | delete collection 'collection1' |
ok | /_api/collection/collection1
Indexes
Create a index
2016-10-05 18:19:40 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:52467 | http basic | create index in 'collection1' | ok
| {"fields":["a"],"sparse":false,"type":"skiplist","unique":false} | /_api/index?collection=collection1
Drop a index
2016-10-05 18:18:28 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:52464 | http basic | drop index ':44051' | ok | /_api/i
ndex/collection1/44051
Documents
Reading a single document
2016-10-04 12:27:55 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:53699 | http basic | create document ok | /_api/documen
t/collection1
Replacing a single document
2016-10-04 12:28:08 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:53699 | http basic | replace document ok | /_api/docume
nt/collection1/21456?ignoreRevs=false
Modifying a single document
2016-10-04 12:28:15 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:53699 | http basic | modify document ok | /_api/documen
t/collection1/21456?keepNull=true&ignoreRevs=false
401
Events
Deleting a single document
2016-10-04 12:28:23 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:53699 | http basic | delete document ok | /_api/documen
t/collection1/21456?ignoreRevs=false
For example, if someones tries to delete a non-existing document, it will be logged as
2016-10-04 12:28:26 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:53699 | http basic | delete document failed | /_api/doc
ument/collection1/21456?ignoreRevs=false
Queries
2016-10-06 12:12:10 | server1 | user1 | database1 | 127.0.0.1:54232 | http basic | query document | ok | for i in col
lection1 return i | /_api/cursor
402
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
403
arangod
Arangod
If the ArangoDB server does not start or if you cannot connect to it using arangosh or other clients, you can try to find the problem cause
by executing the following steps. If the server starts up without problems you can skip this section.
Check the server log file: If the server has written a log file you should check it because it might contain relevant error context
information.
Check the configuration: The server looks for a configuration file named arangod.conf on startup. The contents of this file will be
used as a base configuration that can optionally be overridden with command-line configuration parameters. You should check the
config file for the most relevant parameters such as:
server.endpoint: What IP address and port to bind to
log parameters: If and where to log
database.directory: Path the database files are stored in
If the configuration reveals that something is not configured right the config file should be adjusted and the server be restarted.
Start the server manually and check its output: Starting the server might fail even before logging is activated so the server will not
produce log output. This can happen if the server is configured to write the logs to a file that the server has no permissions on. In
this case the server cannot log an error to the specified log file but will write a startup error on stderr instead. Starting the server
manually will also allow you to override specific configuration options, e.g. to turn on/off file or screen logging etc.
Check the TCP port: If the server starts up but does not accept any incoming connections this might be due to firewall configuration
between the server and any client(s). The server by default will listen on TCP port 8529. Please make sure this port is actually
accessible by other clients if you plan to use ArangoDB in a network setup.
When using hostnames in the configuration or when connecting, please make sure the hostname is actually resolvable. Resolving
hostnames might invoke DNS, which can be a source of errors on its own.
It is generally good advice to not use DNS when specifying the endpoints and connection addresses. Using IP addresses instead will
rule out DNS as a source of errors. Another alternative is to use a hostname specified in the local /etc/hosts file, which will then
bypass DNS.
Test if curl can connect: Once the server is started, you can quickly verify if it responds to requests at all. This check allows you to
determine whether connection errors are client-specific or not. If at least one client can connect, it is likely that connection problems
of other clients are not due to ArangoDB's configuration but due to client or in-between network configurations.
You can test connectivity using a simple command such as:
curl --dump - -X GET http://127.0.0.1:8529/_api/version && echo
This should return a response with an HTTP 200 status code when the server is running. If it does it also means the server is
generally accepting connections. Alternative tools to check connectivity are lynx or ab.
404
Emergency Console
Emergency Console
The ArangoDB database server has two modes of operation: As a server, where it will answer to client requests and as an emergency
console, in which you can access the database directly. The latter - as the name suggests - should only be used in case of an emergency,
for example, a corrupted collection. Using the emergency console allows you to issue all commands normally available in actions and
transactions. When starting the server in emergency console mode, the server cannot handle any client requests.
You should never start more than one server using the same database directory, independent of the mode of operation. Normally,
ArangoDB will prevent you from doing this by placing a lockfile in the database directory and not allowing a second ArangoDB instance
to use the same database directory if a lockfile is already present.
In Case Of Disaster
The following command starts an emergency console.
Note: Never start the emergency console for a database which also has a server attached to it. In general, the ArangoDB shell is what you
want.
> ./arangod --console --log error /tmp/vocbase
ArangoDB shell [V8 version 5.0.71.39, DB version 3.x.x]
arango> 1 + 2;
3
arango> var db = require("@arangodb").db; db.geo.count();
703
The emergency console provides a JavaScript console directly running in the arangod server process. This allows to debug and examine
collections and documents as with the normal ArangoDB shell, but without client/server communication.
However, it is very likely that you will never need the emergency console unless you are an ArangoDB developer.
405
Datafile Debugger
Datafile Debugger
In Case Of Disaster
AranagoDB uses append-only journals. Data corruption should only occur when the database server is killed. In this case, the corruption
should only occur in the last object(s) that have being written to the journal.
If a corruption occurs within a normal datafile, then this can only happen if a hardware fault occurred.
If a journal or datafile is corrupt, shut down the database server and start the program
unix> arango-dfdb
in order to check the consistency of the datafiles and journals. This brings up
___
/
_
__ _ _
___
\__ _| |_ __ _ / _(_) | ___
/ /\ / _` | __/ _` | |_| | |/ _ \
/ /_// (_| | || (_| |
_| | |
__/
/
___
___
\/ __\
/ _ \
/ /\ /__\// / /_\/
/ /_// \/
\/ /_\\
/___,' \__,_|\__\__,_|_| |_|_|\___| /___,'\_____/\____/
Available collections:
0: _structures
1: _users
2: _routing
3: _modules
4: _graphs
5: products
6: prices
*: all
Collection to check:
You can now select which database and collection you want to check. After you selected one or all of the collections, a consistency check
will be performed.
Checking collection #1: _users
Database
path: /usr/local/var/lib/arangodb
Collection
name: _users
identifier: 82343
Datafiles
# of journals: 1
# of compactors: 1
# of datafiles: 0
Datafile
path: /usr/local/var/lib/arangodb/collection-82343/journal-1065383.db
type: journal
current size: 33554432
maximal size: 33554432
total used: 256
# of entries: 3
status: OK
If there is a problem with one of the datafiles, then the database debugger will print it and prompt for whether to attempt to fix it.
406
Datafile Debugger
WARNING: The journal was not closed properly, the last entries are corrupted.
This might happen ArangoDB was killed and the last entries were not
fully written to disk.
Wipe the last entries (Y/N)?
If you answer Y, the corrupted entry will be removed.
If you see a corruption in a datafile (and not a journal), then something is terribly wrong. These files are immutable and never changed
by ArangoDB. A corruption in such file is an indication of a hard-disk failure.
407
Arangobench
Arangobench
Arangobench is ArangoDB's benchmark and test tool. It can be used to issue test requests to the database for performance and server
function testing. It supports parallel querying and batch requests.
Related blog posts:
Measuring ArangoDB insert performance
Gain factor of 5 using batch requests
Startup options
--async: Send asynchronous requests. The default value is false.
--batch-size: Number of operations to send per batch. Use 0 to disable batching (this is the default).
--collection: Name of collection to use in test (only relevant for tests that invoke collections).
--replication-factor: In case of a cluster, the replication factor of the created collections.
--number-of-shards: In case of a cluster, the number of shards of the created collections.
--wait-for-sync: The value of waitForSync for created collections.
--complexity: Complexity value for test case (default: 1). Meaning depends on test case.
--concurrency: Number of parallel threads that will issue requests (default: 1).
--configuration: Read configuration from file.
--delay: Use a startup delay. This is only necessary when run in series. The default value is false.
--keep-alive: Use HTTP keep-alive (default: true).
--progress: Show progress of benchmark, on every 20th request. Set to false to disable intermediate logging. The default value is
true.
--requests: Total number of requests to perform (default: 1000).
--server.endpoint: Server endpoint to connect to, consisting of protocol, IP address and port. Defaults to tcp://localhost:8529.
--server.database: Database name to use when connecting (default: "_system").
--server.username: Username to use when connecting (default: "root").
--server.password: Password to use when connecting. Don't specify this option to get a password prompt.
--server.authentication: Wether or not to show the password prompt and use authentication when connecting to the server (default:
true).
--test-case: Name of test case to perform (default: "version"). Possible values:
version : requests /_api/version
document : creates documents
collection : creates collections
import-document : creates documents via the import API
hash : Create/Read/Update/Read documents indexed by a hash index
skiplist : Create/Read/Update/Read documents indexed by a skiplist
edge : Create/Read/Update edge documents
shapes : Create & Delete documents with heterogeneous attribute names
shapes-append : Create documents with heterogeneous attribute names
random-shapes : Create/Read/Delete heterogeneous documents with random values
crud : Create/Read/Update/Delete
crud-append : Create/Read/Update/Read again
408
Arangobench
crud-write-read : Create/Read Documents
aqltrx : AQL Transactions with deep nested AQL
FOR
- loops
counttrx : uses JS transactions to count the documents and insert the result again
multitrx : multiple transactions combining reads & writes from js
multi-collection : multiple transactions combining reads & writes from js on multiple collections
aqlinsert : insert documents via AQL
aqlv8 : execute AQL with V8 functions to insert random documents
--verbose: Print out replies if the HTTP header indicates DB errors. (default: false).
Examples
arangobench
Starts Arangobench with the default user and server endpoint.
--test-case version --requests 1000 --concurrency 1
Runs the 'version' test case with 1000 requests, without concurrency.
--test-case document --requests 1000 --concurrency 2
Runs the 'document' test case with 2000 requests, with two concurrent threads.
--test-case document --requests 1000 --concurrency 2 --async true
Runs the 'document' test case with 2000 requests, with concurrency 2, with async requests.
--test-case document --requests 1000 --concurrency 2 --batch-size 10
Runs the 'document' test case with 2000 requests, with concurrency 2, using batch requests.
409
Architecture
Architecture
AppendOnly/MVCC
Instead of overwriting existing documents, ArangoDB will create a new version of modified documents. This is even the case when a
document gets deleted. The two benefits are:
Objects can be stored coherently and compactly in the main memory.
Objects are preserved, isolated writing and reading transactions allow accessing these objects for parallel operations.
The system collects obsolete versions as garbage, recognizing them as forsaken. Garbage collection is asynchronous and runs parallel to
other processes.
Mostly Memory/Durability
Database documents are stored in memory-mapped files. Per default, these memory-mapped files are synced regularly but not instantly.
This is often a good tradeoff between storage performance and durability. If this level of durability is too low for an application, the
server can also sync all modifications to disk instantly. This will give full durability but will come with a performance penalty as each
data modification will trigger a sync I/O operation.
410
Write-ahead log
Write-ahead log
Starting with version 2.2 ArangoDB stores all data-modification operation in its write-ahead log. The write-ahead log is sequence of
append-only files containing all the write operations that were executed on the server.
It is used to run data recovery after a server crash, and can also be used in a replication setup when slaves need to replay the same
sequence of operations as on the master.
By default, each write-ahead logfile is 32 MB big. This size is configurable via the option --wal.logfile-size.
When a write-ahead logfile is full, it is set to read-only, and following operations will be written into the next write-ahead logfile. By
default, ArangoDB will reserve some spare logfiles in the background so switching logfiles should be fast. How many reserve logfiles
ArangoDB will try to keep available in the background can be controlled by the configuration option --wal.reserve-logfiles.
Data contained in full datafiles will eventually be transferred into the journals or datafiles of collections. Only the "surviving" documents
will be copied over. When all remaining operations from a write-ahead logfile have been copied over into the journals or datafiles of the
collections, the write-ahead logfile can safely be removed if it is not used for replication.
Long-running transactions prevent write-ahead logfiles from being fully garbage-collected because it is unclear whether a transaction
will commit or abort. Long-running transactions can thus block the garbage-collection progress and should therefore be avoided at all
costs.
On a system that acts as a replication master, it is useful to keep a few of the already collected write-ahead logfiles so replication slaves
still can fetch data from them if required. How many collected logfiles will be kept before they get deleted is configurable via the option
--wal.historic-logfiles.
For all write-ahead log configuration options, please refer to the page Write-ahead log options.
411
Release notes
Release Notes
Whats New
Whats New in 3.1
Whats New in 3.0
Whats New in 2.8
Whats New in 2.7
Whats New in 2.6
Whats New in 2.5
Whats New in 2.4
Whats New in 2.3
Whats New in 2.2
Whats New in 2.1
Incompatible changes
Also see Upgrading in the Administration chapter.
Incompatible changes in 3.1
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Incompatible changes in 2.8
Incompatible changes in 2.7
Incompatible changes in 2.6
Incompatible changes in 2.5
Incompatible changes in 2.4
Incompatible changes in 2.3
412
Whats New in 3.1
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 3.1. ArangoDB 3.1 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here.
SmartGraphs
ArangoDB 3.1 adds a first major enterprise only feature called SmartGraphs. SmartGraphs form an addition to the already existing graph
features and allow to scale graphs beyond a single machine while keeping almost the same query performance. The SmartGraph feature
is suggested for all graph database use cases that require a cluster of database servers for what ever reason. You can either have a graph
that is too large to be stored on a single machine only. Or you can have a small graph, but at the same time need additional data with has
to be sharded and you want to keep all of them in the same envirenment. Or you simply use the cluster for high-availability. In all the
above cases SmartGraphs will significantly increase the performance of graph operations. For more detailed information read this
manual section.
Data format
The format of the revision values stored in the
_rev
attribute of documents has been changed in 3.1. Up to 3.0 they were strings
containing largish decimal numbers. With 3.1, revision values are still strings, but are actually encoded time stamps of the creation date
of the revision of the document. The time stamps are acquired using a hybrid logical clock (HLC) on the DBserver that holds the revision
(for the concept of a hybrid logical clock see this paper). See this manual section for details.
ArangoDB >= 3.1 can ArangoDB 3.0 database directories and will simply continue to use the old
_rev
attribute values. New revisions
will be written with the new time stamps.
It is highly recommended to backup all your data before loading a database directory that was written by ArangoDB <= 3.0 into an
ArangoDB >= 3.1.
Communication Layer
ArangoDB up to 3.0 used libev for the communication layer. ArangoDB starting from 3.1 uses Boost ASIO.
Starting with ArangoDB 3.1 we begin to provide the VelocyStream Protocol (vst) as a addition to the established http protocol.
A few options have changed concerning communication, please checkout Incompatible changes in 3.1.
Cluster
For its internal cluster communication a (bundled version) of curl is now being used. This enables asynchronous operation throughout the
cluster and should improve general performance slightly.
Authentication is now supported within the cluster.
Document revisions cache
The ArangoDB server now provides an in-memory cache for frequently accessed document revisions. Documents that are accessed
during read/write operations are loaded into the revisions cache automatically, and subsequently served from there.
The cache has a total target size, which can be controlled with the startup option
--database.revision-cache-target-size
. Once the
cache reaches the target size, older entries may be evicted from the cache to free memory. Note that the target size currently is a high
water mark that will trigger cache memory garbage collection if exceeded. However, if all cache chunks are still in use when the high
water mark is reached, the cache may still grow and allocate more chunks until cache entries become unused and are allowed to be
garbage-collected.
413
Whats New in 3.1
The cache is maintained on a per-collection basis, that is, memory for the cache is allocated on a per-collection basis in chunks. The size
for the cache memory chunks can be controlled via the startup option
--database.revision-cache-chunk-size
. The default value is 4
MB per chunk. Bigger chunk sizes allow saving more documents per chunk, which can lead to more efficient chunk allocation and
lookups, but will also lead to memory waste if many chunks are allocated and not fully used. The latter will be the case if there exist
many small collections which all allocate their own chunks but not fully utilize them because of the low number of documents.
AQL
Functions added
The following AQL functions have been added in 3.1:
OUTERSECTION(array1, array2, ..., arrayn): returns the values that occur only once across all arrays specified.
DISTANCE(lat1, lon1, lat2, lon2): returns the distance between the two coordinates specified by (lat1, lon1) and (lat2, lon2). The
distance is calculated using the haversine formula.
JSON_STRINGIFY(value): returns a JSON string representation of the value.
JSON_PARSE(value): converts a JSON-encoded string into a regular object
Index usage in traversals
3.1 allows AQL traversals to use other indexes than just the edge index. Traversals with filters on edges can now make use of more
specific indexes. For example, the query
FOR v, e, p IN 2 OUTBOUND @start @@edge
FILTER p.edges[0].foo == "bar"
RETURN [v, e, p]
may use a hash index on
["_from", "foo"]
instead of the edge index on just
["_from"]
.
Optimizer improvements
Make the AQL query optimizer inject filter condition expressions referred to by variables during filter condition aggregation. For
example, in the following query
FOR doc IN collection
LET cond1 = (doc.value == 1)
LET cond2 = (doc.value == 2)
FILTER cond1 || cond2
RETURN { doc, cond1, cond2 }
the optimizer will now inject the conditions for
(doc.value == 1) || (doc.value == 2)
cond1
and
cond2
into the filter condition
cond1 || cond2
, expanding it to
and making these conditions available for index searching.
Note that the optimizer previously already injected some conditions into other conditions, but only if the variable that defined the
condition was not used elsewhere. For example, the filter condition in the query
FOR doc IN collection
LET cond = (doc.value == 1)
FILTER cond
RETURN { doc }
already got optimized before because
cond
was only used once in the query and the optimizer decided to inject it into the place where it
was used.
This only worked for variables that were referred to once in the query. When a variable was used multiple times, the condition was not
injected as in the following query
414
Whats New in 3.1
FOR doc IN collection
LET cond = (doc.value == 1)
FILTER cond
RETURN { doc, cond }
3.1 allows using this condition so that the query can use an index on
doc.value
(if such index exists).
Miscellaneous improvements
The performance of the
[*]
operator was improved for cases in which this operator did not use any filters, projections and/or
offset/limits.
The AQL query executor can now report the time required for loading and locking the collections used in an AQL query. When profiling
is enabled, it will report the total loading and locking time for the query in the
extra.profile
loading collections
sub-attribute of the
value of the result. The loading and locking time can also be view in the AQL query editor in the web interface.
Audit Log
Audit logging has been added, see Auditing.
Client tools
Added option
--skip-lines
for arangoimp This allows skipping the first few lines from the import file in case the CSV or TSV import
are used and some initial lines should be skipped from the input.
Web Admin Interface
The usability of the AQL editor significantly improved. In addition to the standard JSON output, the AQL Editor is now able to render
query results as a graph preview or a table. Furthermore the AQL editor displays query profiling information.
Added a new Graph Viewer in order to exchange the technically obsolete version. The new Graph Viewer is based on Canvas but does
also include a first WebGL implementation (limited functionality - will change in the future). The new Graph Viewer offers a smooth
way to discover and visualize your graphs.
The shard view in cluster mode now displays a progress indicator while moving shards.
Authentication
Up to ArangoDB 3.0 authentication of client requests was only possible with HTTP basic authentication.
Starting with 3.1 it is now possible to also use a JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authenticating incoming requests.
For details check the HTTP authentication chapter. Both authentication methods are valid and will be supported in the near future. Use
whatever suits you best.
Foxx
GraphQL
It is now easy to get started with providing GraphQL APIs in Foxx, see Foxx GraphQL.
OAuth2
Foxx now officially provides a module for implementing OAuth2 clients, see Foxx OAuth2.
Per-route middleware
415
Whats New in 3.1
It's now possible to specify middleware functions for a route when defining a route handler. These middleware functions only apply to
the single route and share the route's parameter definitions. Check out the Foxx Router documentation for more information.
416
Incompatible changes in 3.1
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 3.1
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 3.1, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
Communication Layer
The internal commication layer is now based on Boost ASIO. A few options regarding threads and communication have been changed.
There are no longer two different threads pools (
--scheduler.threads
and
has been removed. The number of threads is now controlled by the option
). The option
--scheduler.threads
only. By default
--server.threads
--server.threads
--server.threads
is
set to the number of hyper-cores.
As a consequence of the change, the following (hidden) startup options have been removed:
--server.extra-threads
--server.aql-threads
--server.backend
--server.show-backends
--server.thread-affinity
AQL
The behavior of the AQL array comparison operators has changed for empty arrays:
ALL
and
ANY
now always return
when the left-hand operand is an empty array. The behavior for non-empty arrays does
false
not change:
[] ALL == 1
will return
will return
[1] ALL == 1
true
[1, 2] ALL == 1
will return
false
[2, 2] ALL == 1
will return
false
[] ANY == 1
will return
[1] ANY == 1
NONE
false
false
will return
true
[1, 2] ANY == 1
will return
true
[2, 2] ANY == 1
will return
false
now always returns
true
when the left-hand operand is an empty array. The behavior for non-empty arrays does not
change:
[] NONE == 1
will return
[1] NONE == 1
will return
true
false
[1, 2] NONE == 1
will return
false
[2, 2] NONE == 1
will return
true
Data format changes
The attribute
maximalSize
maximalSize
has been renamed to
journalSize
in collection meta-data files ("parameter.json"). Files containing the
attribute will still be picked up correctly for not-yet adjusted collections.
The format of the revision values stored in the
_rev
attribute of documents has been changed in 3.1. Up to 3.0 they were strings
containing largish decimal numbers. With 3.1, revision values are still strings, but are actually encoded time stamps of the creation date
of the revision of the document. The time stamps are acquired using a hybrid logical clock (HLC) on the DBserver that holds the revision
(for the concept of a hybrid logical clock see this paper). See this manual section for details.
ArangoDB >= 3.1 can ArangoDB 3.0 database directories and will simply continue to use the old
_rev
attribute values. New revisions
will be written with the new time stamps.
417
Incompatible changes in 3.1
It is highly recommended to backup all your data before loading a database directory that was written by ArangoDB <= 3.0 into an
ArangoDB >= 3.1.
To change all your old
3.0), and use
attributes into new style time stamps you have to use
_rev
arangorestore
arangodump
to dump all data out (using ArangoDB
into the new ArangoDB 3.1, which is the safest way to upgrade.
The change also affects the return format of
_rev
values and other revision values in HTTP APIs (see below).
HTTP API changes
APIs added
The following HTTP REST APIs have been added for online loglevel adjustment of the server:
GET
/_admin/log/level
returns the current loglevel settings
PUT
/_admin/log/level
modifies the current loglevel settings
APIs changed
the following REST APIs that return revision ids now make use of the new revision id format introduced in 3.1. All revision ids
returned will be strings as in 3.0, but have a different internal format.
The following APIs are affected:
GET /_api/collection/{collection}/checksum:
GET /_api/collection/{collection}/revision:
attribute
revision
revision
attribute
all other APIs that return documents, which may include the documents'
_rev
attribute
Client applications should not try to interpret the internals of revision values, but only use revision values for checking whether two
revision strings are identical.
the replication REST APIs will now use the attribute name
journalSize
instead of
maximalSize
when returning information
about collections.
the default value for
keepNull
has been changed from
false
to
true
for the following partial update operations for vertices
and edges in /_api/gharial:
PATCH /_api/gharial/{graph}/vertex/{collection}/{key}
PATCH /_api/gharial/{graph}/edge/{collection}/{key}
The value for
keepNull
can still be set explicitly to
false
by setting the URL parameter
keepNull
to a value of
the REST API for dropping collections (DELETE /_api/collection) now accepts an optional query string parameter
which can set to
true
false
.
isSystem
,
in order to drop system collections. If the parameter is not set or not set to true, the REST API will refuse to
drop system collections. In previous versions of ArangoDB, the
isSystem
parameter did not exist, and there was no distinction
between system and non-system collections when dropping collections.
the REST API for retrieving AQL query results (POST /_api/cursor) will now return an additional sub-attribute
collections
loading
that will contain the total time required for loading and locking collections during the AQL query when profiling is
enabled. The attribute can be found in the
result attribute in sub-attribute
extra
loading collections
. The attribute will only be
set if profiling was enabled for the query.
Foxx Testing
The QUnit interface to Mocha has been removed. This affects the behaviour of the
afterEach
after
,
functions in Foxx test suites. The
beforeEach
and
afterEach
suite
and
test
suite
,
test
,
before
,
after
,
beforeEach
functions are now provided by the TDD interface. The
before
and
,
functions are now provided by the BDD interface.
This should not cause any problems with existing tests but may result in failures in test cases that previously passed for the wrong
reasons. Specifically the execution order of the
before
,
after
, etc functions now follows the intended order and is no longer
arbitrary.
For details on the expected behaviour of these functions see the testing chapter in the Foxx documentation.
418
Incompatible changes in 3.1
419
Whats New in 3.0
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 3.0. ArangoDB 3.0 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here.
Internal data format changes
ArangoDB now uses VelocyPack for storing documents, query results and temporarily computed values. Using a single data format
removed the need for some data conversions in the core that slowed operations down previously.
The VelocyPack format is also quite compact, and reduces storage space requirements for "small" values such as boolean, integers, short
strings. This can speed up several operations inside AQL queries.
VelocyPack document entries stored on disk are also self-contained, in the sense that each stored document will contain all of its data
type and attribute name descriptions. While this may require a bit more space for storing the documents, it removes the overhead of
fetching attribute names and document layout from shared structures as in previous versions of ArangoDB. It also simplifies the code
paths for storing and reading documents.
AQL improvements
Syntax improvements
LIKE
string-comparison operator
AQL now provides a
LIKE
operator and can be used to compare strings like this, for example inside filter conditions:
value LIKE search
This change makes
LIKE
an AQL keyword. Using
LIKE
as an attribute or collection name in AQL thus requires quoting the name
from now on.
The
LIKE
operator is currently implemented by calling the already existing AQL function
3.0. Use the
LIKE
LIKE
, which also remains operational in
function in case you want to search case-insensitive (optional parameter), as the
LIKE
operator always compares
case-sensitive.
AQL array comparison operators
All AQL comparison operators now also exist in an array variant. In the array variant, the operator is preceded with one of the keywords
ALL, ANY or NONE. Using one of these keywords changes the operator behavior to execute the comparison operation for all, any, or
none of its left hand argument values. It is therefore expected that the left hand argument of an array operator is an array.
Examples:
420
Whats New in 3.0
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ALL IN [ 2, 3, 4 ]
// false
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ALL IN [ 1, 2, 3 ]
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] NONE IN [ 3 ]
// false
[ 1, 2, 3 ] NONE IN [ 23, 42 ]
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ANY IN [ 4, 5, 6 ]
// false
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ANY IN [ 1, 42 ]
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ANY == 2
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ANY == 4
// false
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ANY > 0
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ANY <= 1
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] NONE < 99
// false
[ 1, 2, 3 ] NONE > 10
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ALL > 2
// false
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ALL > 0
// true
[ 1, 2, 3 ] ALL >= 3
// false
["foo", "bar"] ALL != "moo"
// true
["foo", "bar"] NONE == "bar"
// false
["foo", "bar"] ANY == "foo"
// true
Regular expression string-comparison operators
AQL now supports the operators =~ and !~ for testing strings against regular expressions. =~ tests if a string value matches a regular
expression, and !~ tests if a string value does not match a regular expression.
The two operators expect their left-hand operands to be strings, and their right-hand operands to be strings containing valid regular
expressions as specified below.
The regular expressions may consist of literal characters and the following characters and sequences:
.
– the dot matches any single character except line terminators. To include line terminators, use
[\s\S]
instead to simulate
.
with DOTALL flag.
\d
– matches a single digit, equivalent to
\s
– matches a single whitespace character
\S
– matches a single non-whitespace character
\t
– matches a tab character
\r
– matches a carriage return
\n
– matches a line-feed character
[0-9]
– set of characters. matches any of the enclosed characters (i.e. x, y or z in this case
[xyz]
[^xyz]
– negated set of characters. matches any other character than the enclosed ones (i.e. anything but x, y or z in this case)
– range of characters. Matches any of the characters in the specified range, e.g.
[x-z]
[0-9A-F]
to match any character in
0123456789ABCDEF
[^x-z]
– negated range of characters. Matches any other character than the ones specified in the range
(xyz)
– defines and matches a pattern group
(x|y)
– matches either x or y
^
– matches the beginning of the string (e.g.
$
– matches the end of the string (e.g.
Note that the characters
.
,
*
,
?
,
[
need to be escaped using a backslash (
,
\\
]
xyz$
,
(
,
^xyz
)
)
)
,
{
,
}
,
^
, and
$
have a special meaning in regular expressions and may
). A literal backslash should also be escaped using another backslash, i.e.
\\\\
.
Characters and sequences may optionally be repeated using the following quantifiers:
x*
– matches zero or more occurrences of x
x+
– matches one or more occurrences of x
x?
– matches one or zero occurrences of x
x{y}
– matches exactly y occurrences of x
x{y,z}
x{y,}
– matches between y and z occurrences of x
– matches at least y occurences of x
Enclosing identifiers in forward ticks
AQL identifiers can now optionally be enclosed in forward ticks in addition to using backward ticks. This allows convenient writing of
AQL queries in JavaScript template strings (which are delimited with backticks themselves), e.g.
421
Whats New in 3.0
var q = `FOR doc IN ´collection´ RETURN doc.´name´`;
Functions added
The following AQL functions have been added in 3.0:
REGEX_TEST(value, regex): tests whether the string value matches the regular expression specified in regex. Returns true if it
matches, and false otherwise.
The syntax for regular expressions is the same as for the regular expression operators =~ and !~.
HASH(value): Calculates a hash value for value. value is not required to be a string, but can have any data type. The calculated hash
value will take the data type of value into account, so for example the number 1 and the string "1" will have different hash values.
For arrays the hash values will be creared if the arrays contain exactly the same values (including value types) in the same order. For
objects the same hash values will be created if the objects have exactly the same attribute names and values (including value types).
The order in which attributes appear inside objects is not important for hashing. The hash value returned by this function is a
number. The hash algorithm is not guaranteed to remain the same in future versions of ArangoDB. The hash values should therefore
be used only for temporary calculations, e.g. to compare if two documents are the same, or for grouping values in queries.
TYPENAME(value): Returns the data type name of value. The data type name can be either null, bool, number, string, array or
object.
LOG(value): Returns the natural logarithm of value. The base is Euler's constant (2.71828...).
LOG2(value): Returns the base 2 logarithm of value.
LOG10(value): Returns the base 10 logarithm of value.
EXP(value): Returns Euler's constant (2.71828...) raised to the power of value.
EXP2(value): Returns 2 raised to the power of value.
SIN(value): Returns the sine of value.
COS(value): Returns the cosine of value.
TAN(value): Returns the tangent of value.
ASIN(value): Returns the arcsine of value.
ACOS(value): Returns the arccosine of value.
ATAN(value): Returns the arctangent of value.
ATAN2(y, x): Returns the arctangent of the quotient of y and x.
RADIANS(value): Returns the angle converted from degrees to radians.
DEGREES(value): Returns the angle converted from radians to degrees.
Optimizer improvements
"inline-subqueries" rule
The AQL optimizer rule "inline-subqueries" has been added. This rule can pull out certain subqueries that are used as an operand to a
loop one level higher, eliminating the subquery completely. This reduces complexity of the query's execution plan and will likely
FOR
enable further optimizations. For example, the query
FOR i IN (
FOR j IN [1,2,3]
RETURN j
)
RETURN i
will be transformed by the rule to:
422
Whats New in 3.0
FOR i IN [1,2,3]
RETURN i
The query
FOR name IN (
FOR doc IN _users
FILTER doc.status == 1
RETURN doc.name
)
LIMIT 2
RETURN name
will be transformed into
FOR tmp IN _users
FILTER tmp.status == 1
LIMIT 2
RETURN tmp.name
The rule will only fire when the subquery is used as an operand to a
INTO
FOR
loop, and if the subquery does not contain a
COLLECT
with an
variable.
"remove-unnecessary-calculations" rule
The AQL optimizer rule "remove-unnecessary-calculations" now fires in more cases than in previous versions. This rule removes
calculations from execution plans, and by having less calculations done, a query may execute faster or requires less memory.
The rule will now remove calculations that are used exactly once in other expressions (e.g.
calculations, or calculations that are just references to other variables (e.g.
LET a = b
LET a = doc RETURN a.value
) and
).
"optimize-traversals" rule
The AQL optimizer rule "merge-traversal-filter" was renamed to "optimize-traversals". The rule will remove unused edge and path result
variables from the traversal in case they are specified in the
FOR
section of the traversal, but not referenced later in the query. This saves
constructing edges and paths results that are not used later.
AQL now uses VelocyPack internally for storing intermediate values. For many value types it can now get away without extra memory
allocations and less internal conversions. Values can be passed into internal AQL functions without copying them. This can lead to
reduced query execution times for queries that use C++-based AQL functions.
"replace-or-with-in" and "use-index-for-sort" rules
These rules now fire in some additional cases, which allows simplifying index lookup conditions and removing SortNodes from
execution plans.
Cluster state management
The cluster's internal state information is now also managed by ArangoDB instances. Earlier versions relied on third party software being
installed for the storing the cluster state. The state is managed by dedicated ArangoDB instances, which can be started in a special
agency mode. These instances can operate in a distributed fashion. They will automatically elect one of them to become their leader,
being responsibile for storing the state changes sent from servers in the cluster. The other instances will automatically follow the leader
and will transparently stand in should it become unavailable. The agency instances are also self-organizing: they will continuously probe
each other and re-elect leaders. The communication between the agency instances use the consensus-based RAFT protocol.
The operations for storing and retrieving cluster state information are now much less expensive from an ArangoDB cluster node
perspective, which in turn allows for faster cluster operations that need to fetch or update the overall cluster state.
423
Whats New in 3.0
and
_from
_to
attributes of edges are updatable and usable in
indexes
In ArangoDB prior to 3.0 the attributes
_from
and
_to
of edges were treated specially when loading or storing edges. That special
handling led to these attributes being not as flexible as regular document attributes. For example, the
_from
and
_to
attribute values
of an existing edge could not be updated once the edge was created. Now this is possible via the single-document APIs and via AQL.
Additionally, the
and
_from
and
unique. Finally, as
_to
_to
_from
attributes could not be indexed in user-defined indexes, e.g. to make each combination of
and
_to
_from
referenced the linked collections by collection id and not by collection name, their
meaning became unclear once a referenced collection was dropped. The collection id stored in edges then became unusable, and when
accessing such edge the collection name part of it was always translated to
In ArangoDB 3.0, the
_from
and
_to
_from
and
_to
.
values of edges are saved as regular strings. This allows using
defined indexes. Additionally, this allows to update the
by
_undefined
_from
and
_to
values may be dropped and re-created later. Any
_from
and
_to
in user-
values of existing edges. Furthermore, collections referenced
_from
and
_to
values of edges pointing to such dropped
collection are unaffected by the drop operation now.
Unified APIs for CRUD operations
The CRUD APIs for documents and edge have been unified. Edges can now be inserted and modified via the same APIs as documents.
_from
and
_to
attribute values can be passed as regular document attributes now:
db.myedges.insert({ _from: "myvertices/some", _to: "myvertices/other", ... });
Passing
_from
and
_to
separately as it was required in earlier versions is not necessary anymore but will still work:
db.myedges.insert("myvertices/some", "myvertices/other", { ... });
The CRUD operations now also support batch variants that works on arrays of documents/edges, e.g.
db.myedges.insert([
{ _from: "myvertices/some", _to: "myvertices/other", ... },
{ _from: "myvertices/who", _to: "myvertices/friend", ... },
{ _from: "myvertices/one", _to: "myvertices/two", ... },
]);
The batch variants are also available in ArangoDB's HTTP API. They can be used to more efficiently carry out operations with multiple
documents than their single-document equivalents, which required one HTTP request per operation. With the batch operations, the HTTP
request/response overhead can be amortized across multiple operations.
Persistent indexes
ArangoDB 3.0 provides an experimental persistent index feature. Persistent indexes store the index values on disk instead of in-memory
only. This means the indexes do not need to be rebuilt in-memory when a collection is loaded or reloaded, which should improve
collection loading times.
The persistent indexes in ArangoDB are based on the RocksDB engine. To create a persistent index for a collection, create an index of
type "rocksdb" as follows:
db.mycollection.ensureIndex({ type: "rocksdb", fields: [ "fieldname" ]});
The persistent indexes are sorted, so they allow equality lookups and range queries. Note that the feature is still highly experimental and
has some known deficiencies. It will be finalized until the release of the 3.0 stable version.
Upgraded V8 version
424
Whats New in 3.0
The V8 engine that is used inside ArangoDB to execute JavaScript code has been upgraded from version 4.3.61 to 5.0.71.39. The new
version makes several more ES6 features available by default, including
arrow functions
computed property names
rest parameters
array destructuring
numeric and object literals
Web Admin Interface
The ArangoDB 3.0 web interface is significantly improved. It now comes with a more responsive design, making it easier to use on
different devices. Navigation and menus have been simplified, and related items have been regrouped to stay closer together and allow
tighter workflows.
The AQL query editor is now much easier to use. Multiple queries can be started and tracked in parallel, while results of earlier queries
are still preserved. Queries still running can be canceled directly from the editor. The AQL query editor now allows the usage of bind
parameters too, and provides a helper for finding collection names, AQL function names and keywords quickly.
The web interface now keeps track of whether the server is offline and of which server-side operations have been started and are still
running. It now remains usable while such longer-running operations are ongoing. It also keeps more state about user's choices (e.g.
windows sizes, whether the tree or the code view was last used in the document editor).
Cluster statistics are now integrated into the web interface as well. Additionally, a menu item "Help us" has been added to easily provide
the ArangoDB team feedback about the product.
The frontend may now be mounted behind a reverse proxy on a different path. For this to work the proxy should send a X-Script-Name
header containing the path.
A backend configuration for haproxy might look like this:
reqadd X-Script-Name:\ /arangodb
The frontend will recognize the subpath and produce appropriate links. ArangoDB will only accept paths from trusted frontend proxies.
Trusted proxies may be added on startup:
--frontend.proxy-request-check true --frontend.trusted-proxy 192.168.1.117
--frontend.trusted-proxy may be any address or netmask.
To disable the check and blindly accept any x-script-name set --frontend.proxy-request-check to false.
Foxx improvements
The Foxx framework has been completely rewritten for 3.0 with a new, simpler and more familiar API. The most notable changes are:
Legacy mode for 2.8 services
Stuck with old code? You can continue using your 2.8-compatible Foxx services with 3.0 by adding
"^2.8.0"}
"engines": {"arangodb":
(or similar version ranges that exclude 3.0 and up) to the service manifest.
No more global variables and magical comments
The
applicationContext
is now
module.context
. Instead of magical comments just use the
summary
and
description
methods to document your routes.
Repository and Model have been removed
Instead of repositories just use ArangoDB collections directly. For validation simply use the joi schemas (but wrapped in
joi.object()
) that previously lived inside the model. Collections and queries return plain JavaScript objects.
425
Whats New in 3.0
Controllers have been replaced with nestable routers
Create routers with
require('@arangodb/foxx/router')()
, attach them to your service with
module.context.use(router)
.
Because routers are no longer mounted automagically, you can export and import them like any other object. Use
router.use('/path', subRouter)
to nest routers as deeply as you want.
Routes can be named and reversed
No more memorizing URLs: add a name to your route like
redirect to the full URL with
router.get('/hello/:name', function () {...}, 'hello')
res.redirect(req.resolve('hello', {name: 'world'}))
and
.
Simpler express-like middleware
If you already know express, this should be familiar. Here's a request logger in three lines of code:
router.use(function (req, res, next) {
var start = Date.now();
try {next();}
finally {console.log(`${req.method} ${req.url} ${res.statusCode} ${Date.now() - start}ms`);}
});
Sessions and auth without dependencies
To make it easier to get started, the functionality previously provided by the
simple-auth
services have been moved into Foxx as the
,
sessions-jwt
@arangodb/foxx/sessions
@arangodb/foxx/auth
,
oauth2
,
sessions-local
@arangodb/foxx/oauth2
and
and
modules.
Logging
ArangoDB's logging is now grouped into topics. The log verbosity and output files can be adjusted per log topic. For example
--log.level startup=trace --log.level queries=trace --log.level info
will log messages concerning startup at trace level, AQL queries at trace level and everything else at info level.
--log.level
can be
specified multiple times at startup, for as many topics as needed.
Some relevant log topics available in 3.0 are:
collector: information about the WAL collector's state
compactor: information about the collection datafile compactor
datafiles: datafile-related operations
mmap: information about memory-mapping operations (including msync)
queries: executed AQL queries, slow queries
replication: replication-related info
requests: HTTP requests
startup: information about server startup and shutdown
threads: information about threads
This also allows directing log output to different files based on topics. For example, to log all AQL queries to a file "queries.log" one can
use the options:
--log.level queries=trace --log.output queries=file:///path/to/queries.log
To additionally log HTTP request to a file named "requests.log" add the options:
--log.level requests=info --log.output requests=file:///path/to/requests.log
Build system
426
Whats New in 3.0
ArangoDB now uses the cross-platform build system CMake for all its builds. Previous versions used two different build systems,
making development and contributions harder than necessary. Now the build system is unified, and all targets (Linux, Windows, MacOS)
are built from the same set of build instructions.
Documentation
The documentation has been enhanced and re-organized to be more intuitive.
A new introduction for beginners should bring you up to speed with ArangoDB in less than an hour. Additional topics have been
introduced and will be extended with upcoming releases.
The topics AQL and HTTP API are now separated from the manual for better searchability and less confusion. A version switcher makes
it easier to jump to the version of the docs you are interested in.
427
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 3.0
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 3.0, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
Build system
Building ArangoDB 3.0 from source now requires CMake.
The pre-3.0 build system used a configure-based approach. The steps to build ArangoDB 2.8 from source code were:
make setup
./configure
make
These steps will not work anymore, as ArangoDB 3.0 does not come with a configure script.
To build 3.0 on Linux, create a separate build directory first:
mkdir -p build
and then create the initial build scripts once using CMake:
(cd build && cmake ..)
The above command will configure the build and check for the required dependencies. If everything works well the actual build can be
started with
(cd build && make)
The binaries for the ArangoDB server and all client tools will then be created inside the
from the
build
build
directory. To start ArangoDB locally
directory, use
build/bin/arangod
Datafiles and datafile names
ArangoDB 3.0 uses a new VelocyPack-based format for storing data in WAL logfiles and collection datafiles. The file format is not
compatible with the files used in prior versions of ArangoDB. That means datafiles written by ArangoDB 3.0 cannot be used in earlier
versions and vice versa.
The pattern for collection directory names was changed in 3.0 to include a random id component at the end. The new pattern is
collection--
used a pattern
, where
collection-
is the collection id and
is a random number. Previous versions of ArangoDB
without the random number.
User Management
Unlike ArangoDB 2.x, ArangoDB 3.0 users are now separated from databases, and you can grant one or more database permissions to a
user.
If you want to mimic the behavior of ArangoDB, you should name your users like
username@dbname
.
Users that can access the _system database are allowed to manage users and permissions for all databases.
428
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Edges and edges attributes
In ArangoDB prior to 3.0 the attributes
and
_from
_to
of edges were treated specially when loading or storing edges. That special
handling led to these attributes being not as flexible as regular document attributes. For example, the
of an existing edge could not be updated once the edge was created. Additionally, the
in user-defined indexes, e.g. to make each combination of
_from
and
_from
and
unique. Finally, as
_to
_from
_to
_from
and
attribute values
_to
attributes could not be indexed
and
_to
referenced the linked
collections by collection id and not by collection name, their meaning became unclear once a referenced collection was dropped. The
collection id stored in edges then became unusable, and when accessing such edge the collection name part of it was always translated to
_undefined
.
In ArangoDB 3.0, the
_from
and
_to
values of edges are saved as regular strings. This allows using
defined indexes. Additionally this allows updating the
by
_from
and
_from
and
values may be dropped and re-created later. Any
_to
_from
and
_to
in user-
values of existing edges. Furthermore, collections referenced
_to
_from
and
_to
values of edges pointing to such dropped
collection are unaffected by the drop operation now. Also note that renaming the collection referenced in
_from
and
_to
in
ArangoDB 2.8 also relinked the edges. In 3.0 the edges are NOT automatically relinked to the new collection anymore.
Documents
Documents (in contrast to edges) cannot contain the attributes
_from
be automatically removed when saving documents (i.e. non-edges).
The
_from
and
_to
or
_to
_from
on the main level in ArangoDB 3.0. These attributes will
and
_to
can be still used in sub-objects inside documents.
attributes will of course be preserved and are still required when saving edges.
AQL
Edges handling
When updating or replacing edges via AQL, any modifications to the
_from
versions of ArangoDB, without signaling any errors. This was due to the
and
_from
_to
and
attributes of edges were ignored by previous
_to
attributes being immutable in earlier versions
of ArangoDB.
From 3.0 on, the
_from
and
_to
attributes of edges are mutable, so any AQL queries that modify the
_from
or
_to
attribute values
of edges will attempt to actually change these attributes. Clients should be aware of this change and should review their queries that
modify edges to rule out unintended side-effects.
Additionally, when completely replacing the data of existing edges via the AQL
for the
_from
and
_to
attributes, as
from the replacement document, an
REPLACE
REPLACE
REPLACE
operation, it is now required to specify values
requires the entire new document to be specified. If either
_from
or
_to
are missing
operation will fail.
Graph functions
In version 3.0 all former graph related functions have been removed from AQL to be replaced by native AQL constructs. These
constructs allow for more fine-grained filtering on several graph levels. Also this allows the AQL optimizer to automatically improve
these queries by enhancing them with appropriate indexes. We have created recipes to upgrade from 2.8 to 3.0 when using these
functions.
The functions:
GRAPH_COMMON_NEIGHBORS
GRAPH_COMMON_PROPERTIES
GRAPH_DISTANCE_TO
GRAPH_EDGES
GRAPH_NEIGHBORS
GRAPH_TRAVERSAL
GRAPH_TRAVERSAL_TREE
GRAPH_SHORTEST_PATH
GRAPH_PATHS
GRAPH_VERTICES
429
Incompatible changes in 3.0
are covered in Migrating GRAPH_* Functions from 2.8 or earlier to 3.0
GRAPH_ABSOLUTE_BETWEENNESS
GRAPH_ABSOLUTE_CLOSENESS
GRAPH_ABSOLUTE_ECCENTRICITY
GRAPH_BETWEENNESS
GRAPH_CLOSENESS
GRAPH_DIAMETER
GRAPH_ECCENTRICITY
GRAPH_RADIUS
are covered in Migrating GRAPH_* Measurements from 2.8 or earlier to 3.0
EDGES
NEIGHBORS
PATHS
TRAVERSAL
TRAVERSAL_TREE
are covered in Migrating anonymous graph functions from 2.8 or earlier to 3.0
Typecasting functions
The type casting applied by the
TO_NUMBER()
AQL function has changed as follows:
string values that do not contain a valid numeric value are now converted to the number
such string values were converted to the value
null
array values with more than 1 member are now converted to the number
converted to the value
null
null
Additionally, the
0
. In previous versions of ArangoDB such arrays were
0
. In previous versions of ArangoDB objects / documents were converted to
.
TO_STRING()
which is more in line with
The output of
. In previous versions of ArangoDB
.
objects / documents are now converted to the number
the value
0
.
AQL function now converts
LENGTH(null)
TO_STRING()
returning
0
null
and not
4
values into an empty string (
""
) instead of the string
"null"
,
since v2.6.
has also changed for arrays and objects as follows:
arrays are now converted into their JSON-stringify equivalents, e.g.
[ ]
is now converted to
[ 1, 2, 3 ]
[]
is now converted to
[1,2,3]
[ "test", 1, 2 ] is now converted to
["test",1,2]`
Previous versions of ArangoDB converted arrays with no members into the empty string, and non-empty arrays into a commaseparated list of member values, without the surrounding angular brackets. Additionally, string array members were not enclosed in
quotes in the result string:
[ ]
was converted to ``
[ 1, 2, 3 ]
was converted to
1,2,3
[ "test", 1, 2 ] was converted to
test,1,2`
objects are now converted to their JSON-stringify equivalents, e.g.
{ }
is converted to
{ a: 1, b: 2 }
{}
is converted to
{ "test" : "foobar" }
{"a":1,"b":2}
is converted to
{"test":"foobar"}
Previous versions of ArangoDB always converted objects into the string
This change also affects other parts in AQL that used
functions
CONCAT()
and
CONCAT_SEPARATOR()
TO_STRING()
[1,2,3,[4,5,6]]
[4, 5, 6]], 1))
to implicitly cast operands to strings. It also affects the AQL
which treated array values differently. Previous versions of ArangoDB automatically
flattened array values in the first level of the array, e.g.
produce
[object Object]
CONCAT([1, 2, 3, [ 4, 5, 6 ]])
produced
1,2,3,4,5,6
. To flatten array members on the top level, you can now use the more explicit
. Now this will
CONCAT(FLATTEN([1, 2, 3,
.
430
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Arithmetic operators
As the arithmetic operations in AQL implicitly convert their operands to numeric values using
TO_NUMBER()
, their casting behavior has
also changed as described above.
Some examples of the changed behavior:
"foo" + 1
produces
[ 1, 2 ] + 1
now. In previous versions this produced
1
produces
1
1 + "foo" + 1´ produces
. In previous versions this produced
2
null
null
.
.
now. In previous version this produced
1`.
Attribute names and parameters
Previous versions of ArangoDB had some trouble with attribute names that contained the dot symbol (
used the dot symbol to split an attribute name into sub-components, so an attribute named
an attribute
a
with a sub-attribute
b
a.b
.
). Some code parts in AQL
was not completely distinguishable from
. This inconsistent behavior sometimes allowed "hacks" to work such as passing sub-attributes in
a bind parameter as follows:
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.@name == 1
RETURN doc
If the bind parameter
access (i.e.
doc.a.b
@name
contained the dot symbol (e.g.
@bind
=
a.b
, it was unclear whether this should trigger sub-attribute
) or a access to an attribute with exactly the specified name (i.e.
doc["a.b"]
).
ArangoDB 3.0 now handles attribute names containing the dot symbol properly, and sending a bind parameter
always trigger an access to the attribute
doc["a.b"]
, not the sub-attribute
b
of
a
in
doc
@name
=
a.b
will now
.
For users that used the "hack" of passing bind parameters containing dot symbol to access sub-attributes, ArangoDB 3.0 allows
specifying the attribute name parts as an array of strings, e.g.
access
doc.a.b
@name
=
[ "a", "b" ]
, which will be resolved to the sub-attribute
when the query is executed.
Keywords
LIKE
is now a keyword in AQL. Using
SHORTEST_PATH
LIKE
in either case as an attribute or collection name in AQL queries now requires quoting.
is now a keyword in AQL. Using
SHORTEST_PATH
in either case as an attribute or collection name in AQL queries now
requires quoting.
Subqueries
Queries that contain subqueries that contain data-modification operations such as
INSERT
,
UPDATE
,
REPLACE
,
UPSERT
or
REMOVE
will now refuse to execute if the collection affected by the subquery's data-modification operation is read-accessed in an outer scope of
the query.
For example, the following query will refuse to execute as the collection
myCollection
is modified in the subquery but also read-
accessed in the outer scope:
FOR doc IN myCollection
LET changes = (
FOR what IN myCollection
FILTER what.value == 1
REMOVE what IN myCollection
)
RETURN doc
It is still possible to write to collections from which data is read in the same query, e.g.
FOR doc IN myCollection
FILTER doc.value == 1
REMOVE doc IN myCollection
431
Incompatible changes in 3.0
and to modify data in different collection via subqueries.
Other changes
The AQL optimizer rule "merge-traversal-filter" that already existed in 3.0 was renamed to "optimize-traversals". This should be of no
relevance to client applications except if they programatically look for applied optimizer rules in the explain out of AQL queries.
The order of results created by the AQL functions
VALUES()
and
ATTRIBUTES()
was never guaranteed and it only had the "correct"
ordering by accident when iterating over objects that were not loaded from the database. As some of the function internals have changed,
the "correct" ordering will not appear anymore, and still no result order is guaranteed by these functions unless the
specified (for the
ATTRIBUTES()
sort
parameter is
function).
Upgraded V8 version
The V8 engine that is used inside ArangoDB to execute JavaScript code has been upgraded from version 4.3.61 to 5.0.71.39. The new
version should be mostly compatible to the old version, but there may be subtle differences, including changes of error message texts
thrown by the engine. Furthermore, some V8 startup parameters have changed their meaning or have been removed in the new version.
This is only relevant when ArangoDB or ArangoShell are started with a custom value for the
--javascript.v8-options
startup option.
Among others, the following V8 options change in the new version of ArangoDB:
--es_staging
: in 2.8 it had the meaning
enable all completed harmony features
, in 3.0 the option means
enable test-
worthy harmony features (for internal use only)
--strong_this
: this option wasn't present in 2.8. In 3.0 it means
don't allow 'this' to escape from constructors
and
defaults to true.
: this options means
enable "harmony regular expression extensions"
--harmony_proxies
: this options means
enable "harmony proxies"
--harmony_reflect
: this options means
enable "harmony Reflect API"
--harmony_regexps
and changes its default value from
false to true
--harmony_sloppy
: this options means
and changes its default value from false to true
and changes its default value from false to true
enable "harmony features in sloppy mode"
and changes its default value from false to
true
--harmony_tostring
: this options means
--harmony_unicode_regexps
enable "harmony toString"
: this options means
and changes its default value from false to true
enable "harmony unicode regexps"
and changes its default value from false to
true
--harmony_arrays
,
--harmony_array_includes
harmony_rest_parameters
harmony_unicode
,
--harmony_classes
,
,
--harmony_computed_property_names
--harmony_object_literals
,
--harmony_arrow_functions
,
,
--
--
: these option have been removed in V8 5.
As a consequence of the upgrade to V8 version 5, the implementation of the JavaScript
Buffer
,
--harmony_numeric_literals
Buffer
object had to be changed. JavaScript
objects in ArangoDB now always store their data on the heap. There is no shared pool for small Buffer values, and no pointing
into existing Buffer data when extracting slices. This change may increase the cost of creating Buffers with short contents or when
peeking into existing Buffers, but was required for safer memory management and to prevent leaks.
JavaScript API changes
The following incompatible changes have been made to the JavaScript API in ArangoDB 3.0:
Foxx
The Foxx framework has been completely rewritten for 3.0 with a new, simpler and more familiar API. To make Foxx services
developed for 2.8 or earlier ArangoDB versions run in 3.0, the service's manifest file needs to be edited.
To enable the legacy mode for a Foxx service, add
"engines": {"arangodb": "^2.8.0"}
(or similar version ranges that exclude 3.0 and
up) to the service manifest file (named "manifest.json", located in the service's base directory).
432
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Require
Modules shipped with ArangoDB can now be required using the pattern
@arangodb/
instead of
org/arangodb/
, e.g.
ArangoDB prior to version 3.0 allowed a transparent use of CoffeeScript source files with the
require()
function. Files with a file
var cluster = require("@arangodb/cluster");
The old format can still be used for compatibility:
var cluster = require("org/arangodb/cluster");
name extension of
were automatically sent through a CoffeeScript parser and transpiled into JavaScript on-the-fly. This support
coffee
is gone with ArangoDB 3.0. To run any CoffeeScript source files, they must be converted to JavaScript by the client application.
Response object
The
response object now stores the parsed JSON response body in a property
@arangodb/request
request was made using the
json
option. The
body
json
instead of
body
when the
instead contains the response body as a string.
Edges API
When completely replacing an edge via a collection's
_to
replace()
function the replacing edge data now needs to contain the
attributes for the new edge. Previous versions of ArangoDB did not require the edge data to contain
when replacing an edge, since
_from
and
_to
_from
and
_to
_from
and
attributes
values were immutable for existing edges.
For example, the following call worked in ArangoDB 2.8 but will fail in 3.0:
db.edgeCollection.replace("myKey", { value: "test" });
To make this work in ArangoDB 3.0,
_from
and
_to
need to be added to the replacement data:
db.edgeCollection.replace("myKey", { _from: "myVertexCollection/1", _to: "myVertexCollection/2", value: "test" });
Note that this only affects the
function but not
replace()
update()
, which will only update the specified attributes of the edge and
leave all others intact.
Additionally, the functions
edges()
,
outEdges()
and
inEdges()
with an array of edge ids will now make the edge ids unique before
returning the connected edges. This is probably desired anyway, as results will be returned only once per distinct input edge id. However,
it may break client applications that rely on the old behavior.
Databases API
The
_listDatabases()
_collections()
function of the
function. Also the
db
object has been renamed to
_listEndpoints()
_databases()
function has been renamed to
, making it consistent with the
_endpoints()
.
Collection API
Example matching
The collection function
collection's
byExampleHash()
byExample()
The collection function
and
byExampleSkiplist()
have been removed in 3.0. Their functionality is provided by
function, which will automatically use a suitable index if present.
byConditionSkiplist()
has been removed in 3.0. The same functionality can be achieved by issuing an AQL
query with the target condition, which will automatically use a suitable index if present.
Revision id handling
433
Incompatible changes in 3.0
The
exists()
method of a collection now throws an exception when the specified document exists but its revision id does not match
the revision id specified. Previous versions of ArangoDB simply returned
if either no document existed with the specified key or
false
when the revision id did not match. It was therefore impossible to distinguish these two cases from the return value alone. 3.0 corrects
this. Additionally,
exists()
in previous versions always returned a boolean if only the document key was given. 3.0 now returns the
document's meta-data, which includes the document's current revision id.
Given there is a document with key
test
in collection
myCollection
, then the behavior of 3.0 is as follows:
/* test if document exists. this returned true in 2.8 */
db.myCollection.exists("test");
{
"_key" : "test",
"_id" : "myCollection/test",
"_rev" : "9758059"
}
/* test if document exists. this returned true in 2.8 */
db.myCollection.exists({ _key: "test" });
{
"_key" : "test",
"_id" : "myCollection/test",
"_rev" : "9758059"
}
/* test if document exists. this also returned false in 2.8 */
db.myCollection.exists("foo");
false
/* test if document with a given revision id exists. this returned true in 2.8 */
db.myCollection.exists({ _key: "test", _rev: "9758059" });
{
"_key" : "test",
"_id" : "myCollection/test",
"_rev" : "9758059"
}
/* test if document with a given revision id exists. this returned false in 2.8 */
db.myCollection.exists({ _key: "test", _rev: "1234" });
JavaScript exception: ArangoError 1200: conflict
Cap constraints
The cap constraints feature has been removed. This change has led to the removal of the collection operations
first()
and
last()
,
which were internally based on data from cap constraints.
As cap constraints have been removed in ArangoDB 3.0 it is not possible to create an index of type "cap" with a collection's
ensureIndex()
function. The dedicated function
ensureCapConstraint()
has also been removed from the collection API.
Graph Blueprints JS Module
The deprecated module
graph-blueprints
has been deleted. All it's features are covered by the
general-graph
module.
General Graph Fluent AQL interface
The fluent interface has been removed from ArangoDB. It's features were completely overlapping with "aqb" which comes pre installed
as well. Please switch to AQB instead.
Undocumented APIs
The undocumented functions
CPP_SHORTEST_PATH
BY_EXAMPLE_HASH()
and
BY_EXAMPLE_SKIPLIST()
,
BY_CONDITION_SKIPLIST
,
CPP_NEIGHBORS
and
have been removed. These functions were always hidden and not intended to be part of the public JavaScript API
for collections.
HTTP API changes
434
Incompatible changes in 3.0
CRUD operations
The following incompatible changes have been made to the HTTP API in ArangoDB 3.0:
General
The HTTP insert operations for single documents and edges (POST
/_api/document
) do not support the URL parameter
"createCollection" anymore. In previous versions of ArangoDB this parameter could be used to automatically create a collection upon
insertion of the first document. It is now required that the target collection already exists when using this API, otherwise it will return an
HTTP 404 error. The same is true for the import API at POST
/_api/import
Collections can still be created easily via a separate call to POST
.
/_api/collection
as before.
The "location" HTTP header returned by ArangoDB when inserting a new document or edge now always contains the database name.
This was also the default behavior in previous versions of ArangoDB, but it could be overridden by clients sending the HTTP header
arango-version: 1.4
x-
in the request. Clients can continue to send this header to ArangoDB 3.0, but the header will not influence the
location response headers produced by ArangoDB 3.0 anymore.
Additionally the CRUD operations APIs do not return an attribute "error" in the response body with an attribute value of "false" in case
an operation succeeded.
Revision id handling
The operations for updating, replacing and removing documents can optionally check the revision number of the document to be
updated, replaced or removed so the caller can ensure the operation works on a specific version of the document and there are no lost
updates.
Previous versions of ArangoDB allowed passing the revision id of the previous document either in the HTTP header
URL parameter
rev
If-Match
or in the
. For example, removing a document with a specific revision id could be achieved as follows:
curl -X DELETE \
"http://127.0.0.1:8529/_api/document/myCollection/myKey?rev=123"
ArangoDB 3.0 does not support passing the revision id via the "rev" URL parameter anymore. Instead the previous revision id must be
passed in the HTTP header
If-Match
, e.g.
curl -X DELETE \
--header "If-Match: '123'" \
"http://127.0.0.1:8529/_api/document/myCollection/myKey"
The URL parameter "policy" was also usable in previous versions of ArangoDB to control revision handling. Using it was redundant to
specifying the expected revision id via the "rev" parameter or "If-Match" HTTP header and therefore support for the "policy" parameter
was removed in 3.0.
In order to check for a previous revision id when updating, replacing or removing documents please use the
If-Match
HTTP header as
described above. When no revision check if required the HTTP header can be omitted, and the operations will work on the current
revision of the document, regardless of its revision id.
All documents API
The HTTP API for retrieving the ids, keys or URLs of all documents from a collection was previously located at GET
collection=...
. This API was moved to PUT
/_api/simple/all-keys
/_api/document?
and is now executed as an AQL query. The name of the
collection must now be passed in the HTTP request body instead of in the request URL. The same is true for the "type" parameter, which
controls the type of the result to be created.
Calls to the previous API can be translated as follows:
old: GET
/_api/document?collection=&type=
3.0: PUT
/_api/simple/all-keys
with HTTP request body
without HTTP request body
{"collection":"","type":"id"}
435
Incompatible changes in 3.0
The result format of this API has also changed slightly. In previous versions calls to the API returned a JSON object with a
attribute. As the functionality is based on AQL internally in 3.0, the API now returns a JSON object with a
result
documents
attribute.
Edges API
CRUD operations
The API for documents and edges have been unified in ArangoDB 3.0. The CRUD operations for documents and edges are now handled
by the same endpoint at
/_api/document
. For CRUD operations there is no distinction anymore between documents and edges API-
wise.
That means CRUD operations concerning edges need to be sent to the HTTP endpoint
Sending requests to
/_api/edge
/_api/document
instead of
will result in an HTTP 404 error in 3.0. The following methods are available at
/_api/edge
.
/_api/document
for
documents and edge:
HTTP POST: insert new document or edge
HTTP GET: fetch an existing document or edge
HTTP PUT: replace an existing document or edge
HTTP PATCH: partially update an existing document or edge
HTTP DELETE: remove an existing document or edge
When completely replacing an edge via HTTP PUT please note that the replacing edge data now needs to contain the
attributes for the edge. Previous versions of ArangoDB did not require sending
_to
The
_from
and
_to
and
_from
when replacing edges, as
_from
_to
and
values were immutable for existing edges.
_from
and
_to
attributes of edges now also need to be present inside the edges objects sent to the server:
curl -X POST \
--data '{"value":1,"_from":"myVertexCollection/1","_to":"myVertexCollection/2"}' \
"http://127.0.0.1:8529/_api/document?collection=myEdgeCollection"
Previous versions of ArangoDB required the
_from
and
_to
attributes of edges be sent separately in URL parameter
from
and
to
:
curl -X POST \
--data '{"value":1}' \
"http://127.0.0.1:8529/_api/edge?collection=e&from=myVertexCollection/1&to=myVertexCollection/2"
Querying connected edges
The REST API for querying connected edges at GET
/_api/edges/
will now make the edge ids unique before returning
the connected edges. This is probably desired anyway as results will now be returned only once per distinct input edge id. However, it
may break client applications that rely on the old behavior.
Graph API
Some data-modification operations in the named graphs API at
/_api/gharial
now return either HTTP 202 (Accepted) or HTTP 201
(Created) if the operation succeeds. Which status code is returned depends on the
previous versions some of these operations return HTTP 200 regardless of the
The deprecated graph API
/_api/graph
waitForSync
waitForSync
attribute of the affected collection. In
value.
has been removed. All it's features can be replaced using
/_api/gharial
and AQL instead.
Simple queries API
The REST routes PUT
/_api/simple/first
and
/_api/simple/last
have been removed entirely. These APIs were responsible for
returning the first-inserted and last-inserted documents in a collection. This feature was built on cap constraints internally, which have
been removed in 3.0.
Calling one of these endpoints in 3.0 will result in an HTTP 404 error.
Indexes API
436
Incompatible changes in 3.0
It is not supported in 3.0 to create an index with type
the index creation endpoint HTTP API POST
cap
(cap constraint) in 3.0 as the cap constraints feature has bee removed. Calling
/_api/index?collection=...
with an index type
cap
will therefore result in an HTTP
400 error.
Log entries API
The REST route HTTP GET
/_admin/log
was accessible from within the
_system
is now accessible from within all databases. In previous versions of ArangoDB, this route
database only, and an HTTP 403 (Forbidden) was thrown by the server for any access from
within another database.
Figures API
The REST route HTTP GET
/_api/collection//figures
will not return the following result attributes as they became
meaningless in 3.0:
shapefiles.count
shapes.fileSize
shapes.count
shapes.size
attributes.count
attributes.size
Databases and Collections APIs
When creating a database via the API POST
/_api/database
, ArangoDB will now always return the HTTP status code 202 (created) if
the operation succeeds. Previous versions of ArangoDB returned HTTP 202 as well, but this behavior was changable by sending an
HTTP header
x-arango-version: 1.4
. When sending this header, previous versions of ArangoDB returned an HTTP status code 200
(ok). Clients can still send this header to ArangoDB 3.0 but this will not influence the HTTP status code produced by ArangoDB.
The "location" header produced by ArangoDB 3.0 will now always contain the database name. This was also the default in previous
versions of ArangoDB, but the behavior could be overridden by sending the HTTP header
x-arango-version: 1.4
. Clients can still
send the header, but this will not make the database name in the "location" response header disappear.
The result format for querying all collections via the API GET
/_api/collection
Previous versions of ArangoDB returned an object with an attribute named
contained all available collections, but
collections
has been changed.
collections
and an attribute named
contained the collections as an array, and
names
names
. Both
contained the collections again,
contained in an object in which the attribute names were the collection names, e.g.
{
"collections": [
{"id":"5874437","name":"test","isSystem":false,"status":3,"type":2},
{"id":"17343237","name":"something","isSystem":false,"status":3,"type":2},
...
],
"names": {
"test": {"id":"5874437","name":"test","isSystem":false,"status":3,"type":2},
"something": {"id":"17343237","name":"something","isSystem":false,"status":3,"type":2},
...
}
}
This result structure was redundant, and therefore has been simplified to just
{
"result": [
{"id":"5874437","name":"test","isSystem":false,"status":3,"type":2},
{"id":"17343237","name":"something","isSystem":false,"status":3,"type":2},
...
]
}
in ArangoDB 3.0.
437
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Replication APIs
The URL parameter "failOnUnknown" was removed from the REST API GET
/_api/replication/dump
whether dumping or replicating edges should fail if one of the vertex collections linked in the edge's
present anymore. In this case the
_from
and
_to
. This parameter controlled
_from
or
_to
attributes was not
values could not be translated into meaningful ids anymore.
There were two ways for handling this:
setting
failOnUnknown
to
true
setting
failOnUnknown
to
false
_to
value to
_unknown
caused the HTTP request to fail, leaving error handling to the user
caused the HTTP request to continue, translating the collection name part in the
_from
or
.
In ArangoDB 3.0 this parameter is obsolete, as
_from
and
_to
are stored as self-contained string values all the time, so they cannot
get invalid when referenced collections are dropped.
The result format of the API GET
has changed slightly in the following aspects:
/_api/replication/logger-follow
documents and edges are reported in the same way. The type for document insertions/updates and edge insertions/updates is now
always
2300
. Previous versions of ArangoDB returned a
type
value of
2300
for documents and
records about insertions, updates or removals of documents and edges do not have the
anymore. Instead,
key
and
rev
can be accessed by peeking into the
_key
and
key
_rev
and
rev
2301
for edges.
attributes on the top-level
attributes of the
data
sub-attributes of
the change record.
The same is true for the collection-specific changes API GET
/_api/replication/dump
.
User management APIs
The REST API endpoint POST
named
user
/_api/user
for adding new users now requires the request to contain a JSON object with an attribute
, containing the name of the user to be created. Previous versions of ArangoDB also checked this attribute, but additionally
looked for an attribute
username
if the
user
attribute did not exist.
Undocumented APIs
The following undocumented HTTP REST endpoints have been removed from ArangoDB's REST API:
and
/_open/cerberus
PUT
/_system/cerberus
/_api/simple/by-example-hash
skiplist
: these endpoints were intended for some ArangoDB-internal applications only
, PUT
/_api/simple/by-example-skiplist
and PUT
/_api/simple/by-condition-
: these methods were documented in early versions of ArangoDB but have been marked as not intended to be called by
end users since ArangoDB version 2.3. These methods should not have been part of any ArangoDB manual since version 2.4.
/_api/structure
: an older unfinished and unpromoted API for data format and type checks, superseded by Foxx applications.
Administration APIs
/_admin/shutdown
now needs to be called with the HTTP DELETE method
Handling of CORS requests
It can now be controlled in detail for which origin hosts CORS (Cross-origin resource sharing) requests with credentials will be allowed.
ArangoDB 3.0 provides the startup option
--http.trusted-origin
that can be used to specify one or many origins from which CORS
requests are treated as "trustworthy".
The option can be specified multiple times, once per trusted origin, e.g.
--http.trusted-origin http://127.0.0.1:8529 --http.trusted-origin https://127.0.0.1:8599
This will make the ArangoDB server respond to CORS requests from these origins with an
header with a value of
true
Access-Control-Allow-Credentials
HTTP
. Web browsers can inspect this header and can allow passing ArangoDB web interface credentials (if
stored in the browser) to the requesting site. ArangoDB will not forward or provide any credentials.
438
Incompatible changes in 3.0
Setting this option is only required if applications on other hosts need to access the ArangoDB web interface or other HTTP REST APIs
from a web browser with the same credentials that the user has entered when logging into the web interface. When a web browser finds
the
HTTP response header, it may forward the credentials entered into the browser for the
Access-Control-Allow-Credentials
ArangoDB web interface login to the other site.
This is a potential security issue, so there are no trusted origins by default. It may be required to set some trusted origins if you're
planning to issue AJAX requests to ArangoDB from other sites from the browser, with the credentials entered during the ArangoDB
interface login (i.e. single sign-on). If such functionality is not used, the option should not be set.
To specify a trusted origin, specify the option once per trusted origin as shown above. Note that the trusted origin values specified in this
option will be compared bytewise with the
There is also the wildcard
all
Origin
HTTP header value sent by clients, and only exact matches will pass.
for enabling CORS access from all origins in a test or development setup:
--http.trusted-origin all
Setting this option will lead to the ArangoDB server responding with an
Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: true
HTTP header to all
incoming CORS requests.
Command-line options
Quite a few startup options in ArangoDB 2 were double negations (like
these are now expressed as positives (e. g.
--server.authentication
--server.disable-authentication false
). In ArangoDB 3
). Also the options between the ArangoDB server and its client
tools have being unified. For example, the logger options are now the same for the server and the client tools. Additionally many options
have been moved into more appropriate topic sections.
Renamed options
The following options have been available before 3.0 and have changed their name in 3.0:
--server.disable-authentication
server.authentication
was renamed to
is the opposite of the previous
--server.authentication-unix-sockets
authentication-unix-sockets
. Note that the meaning of the option
--server.disable-authentication
was renamed to
--server.disable-authentication-unix-sockets
meaning of the option
--server.authentication
--
.
--server.authentication-unix-sockets
is the opposite of the previous
. Note that the
--server.disable-
.
was renamed to
--server.authenticate-system-only
--server.authentication-system-only
. The meaning of the option in
unchanged.
was renamed to
--server.disable-statistics
server.statistics
--server.cafile
--server.keyfile
--server.statistics
is the opposite of the previous
was renamed to
was renamed to
--server.ssl-cache
--ssl.cafile
--server.ssl-cipher-list
--server.ssl-options
--server.disable-statistics
was renamed to
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--ssl.cipher-list
--ssl.options
was renamed to
--ssl.protocol
--server.backlog-size
was renamed to
--tcp.backlog-size
was renamed to
--server.disable-replication-applier
--server.allow-method-override
--server.hide-product-header
--server.keep-alive-timeout
--server.foxx-queues
--no-server
was renamed to
was renamed to
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--database.replication-applier
--http.hide-product-header
--http.keep-alive-timeout
--foxx.queues
was renamed to
. The meaning of the option
--server.disable-replication-applier
--http.allow-method-override
--server.rest-server
--no-server
--database.query-cache-mode
was renamed to
was renamed to
was renamed to
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--tcp.reuse-address
was renamed to
--server.foxx-queues-poll-interval
opposite of the previous
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
is the opposite of the previous
database.replication-applier
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--server.ssl-protocol
--server.reuse-address
.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--ssl.session-cache
was renamed to
--
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--ssl.keyfile
was renamed to
. Note that the meaning of the option
--
.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--foxx.queues-poll-interval
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
. Note that the meaning of the option
--server.rest-server
is the
.
was renamed to
--query.cache-mode
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
439
Incompatible changes in 3.0
was renamed to
--database.query-cache-max-results
--database.disable-query-tracking
opposite of the previous
was renamed to
--query.cache-entries
--query.tracking
was renamed to
--upgrade
has been renamed to
--log.foreground-tty
--check-version
--temp-path
--query.tracking
is the
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--database.auto-upgrade
. In contrast to 2.8 this option now requires a boolean parameter. To
actually perform an automatic database upgrade at startup use
database.auto-upgrade false
. The meaning of the option
.
--database.disable-query-tracking
--log.tty
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
--database.auto-upgrade true
. To not perform it, use
--
.
has been renamed to
has been renamed to
--database.check-version
--temp.path
.
.
Log verbosity, topics and output files
Logging now supports log topics. You can control these by specifying a log topic in front of a log level or an output. For example
--log.level startup=trace --log.level info
will log messages concerning startup at trace level, everything else at info level.
--log.level
can be specified multiple times at startup,
for as many topics as needed.
Some relevant log topics available in 3.0 are:
collector: information about the WAL collector's state
compactor: information about the collection datafile compactor
datafiles: datafile-related operations
mmap: information about memory-mapping operations
performance: some performance-related information
queries: executed AQL queries
replication: replication-related info
requests: HTTP requests
startup: information about server startup and shutdown
threads: information about threads
The new log option
--log.output
allows directing the global or per-topic log output to different outputs. The output
definition "" can be one of
"-" for stdin
"+" for stderr
"syslog://"
"syslog:///"
"file://"
The option can be specified multiple times in order to configure the output for different log topics. To set up a per-topic output
configuration, use
--log.output =
, e.g.
queries=file://queries.txt
logs all queries to the file "queries.txt".
The old option
--log.file
is still available in 3.0 for convenience reasons. In 3.0 it is a shortcut for the more general option
log.output file://filename
The old option
--log.requests-file
requests=file://...
The old option
is still available in 3.0. It is now a shortcut for the more general option
--log.output
.
--log.performance
performance=trace
--
.
is still available in 3.0. It is now a shortcut for the more general option
--log.level
.
Removed options for logging
The options
--log.content-filter
and
--log.source-filter
have been removed. They have most been used during ArangoDB's
internal development.
440
Incompatible changes in 3.0
The syslog-related options
-log.output
and
--log.application
--log.facility
have been removed. They are superseded by the more general
-
option which can also handle syslog targets.
Removed other options
The option
--server.default-api-compatibility
was present in earlier version of ArangoDB to control various aspects of the server
behavior, e.g. HTTP return codes or the format of HTTP "location" headers. Client applications could send an HTTP header "x-arangoversion" with a version number to request the server behavior of a certain ArangoDB version.
This option was only honored in a handful of cases (described above) and was removed in 3.0 because the changes in server behavior
controlled by this option were changed even before ArangoDB 2.0. This should have left enough time for client applications to adapt to
the new behavior, making the option superfluous in 3.0.
Thread options
The options
--server.threads
and
--scheduler.threads
now have a default value of
0
. When
--server.threads
is set to
0
on
startup, the suitable number of threads will be determined by ArangoDB by asking the OS for the number of available CPUs and using
that as a baseline. If the number of CPUs is lower than 4, ArangoDB will still start 4 dispatcher threads. When
set to
0
is
--scheduler.threads
, then ArangoDB will automatically determine the number of scheduler threads to start. This will normally create 2 scheduler
threads.
If the exact number of threads needs to be set by the admin, then it is still possible to set
--server.threads
and
--scheduler.threads
to non-zero values. ArangoDB will use these values and start that many threads (note that some threads may be created lazily so they
may not be present directly after startup).
The number of V8 JavaScript contexts to be created (
--javascript.v8-contexts
) now has a default value of
ArangoDB will create as many V8 contexts as there will be dispatcher threads (controlled by the
0
too, meaning that
--server.threads
option). Setting
this option to a non-zero value will create exactly as many V8 contexts as specified.
Setting these options explicitly to non-zero values may be beneficial in environments that have few resources (processing time,
maximum thread count, available memory).
Authentication
The default value for
--server.authentication
is now
true
in the configuration files shipped with ArangoDB. This means the
server will be started with authentication enabled by default, requiring all client connections to provide authentication data when
connecting to ArangoDB APIs. Previous ArangoDB versions used the setting
--server.disable-authentication true
, effectively
disabling authentication by default.
The default value for
--server.authentication-system-only
is now
true
in ArangoDB. That means that Foxx applications running
in ArangoDB will be public accessible (at least they will not use ArangoDB's builtin authentication mechanism). Only requests to
ArangoDB APIs at URL path prefixes
/_api/
and
/_admin
authentication mechanism for Foxx applications too, set
option
--server.authentication
set to
true
will require authentication. To change that, and use the builtin
--server.authentication-system-only
to
false
, and make sure to have the
as well.
Though enabling the authentication is recommended for production setups, it may be overkill in a development environment. To turn off
authentication, the option
--server.authentication
can be set to
false
in ArangoDB's configuration file or on the command-line.
Web Admin Interface
The JavaScript shell has been removed from ArangoDB's web interface. The functionality the shell provided is still fully available in the
ArangoShell (arangosh) binary shipped with ArangoDB.
ArangoShell and client tools
441
Incompatible changes in 3.0
The ArangoShell (arangosh) and the other client tools bundled with ArangoDB can only connect to an ArangoDB server of version 3.0
or higher. They will not connect to an ArangoDB 2.8. This is because the server HTTP APIs have changed between 2.8 and 3.0, and all
client tools uses these APIs.
In order to connect to earlier versions of ArangoDB with the client tools, an older version of the client tools needs to be kept installed.
The preferred name for the template string generator function
Elsewhere, it can be loaded like
aqlQuery
is now
const aql = require('@arangodb').aql
aql
and is automatically available in arangosh.
.
Command-line options added
All client tools in 3.0 provide an option
--server.max-packet-size
for controlling the maximum size of HTTP packets to be handled
by the client tools. The default value is 128 MB, as in previous versions of ArangoDB. In contrast to previous versions in which the
value was hard-coded, the option is now configurable. It can be increased to make the client tools handle very large HTTP result
messages sent by the server.
Command-line options changed
For all client tools, the option
of the option
The option
--server.disable-authentication
--server.authentication
--server.ssl-protocol
The command-line option
--quiet
was renamed to
is the opposite of the previous
was renamed to
--ssl.protocol
--server.authentication
--server.disable-authentication
. Note that the meaning
.
. The meaning of the option is unchanged.
was removed from all client tools except arangosh because it had no effect in them.
Arangobench
In order to make its purpose more apparent the former
arangob
client tool has been renamed to
arangobench
in 3.0.
Miscellaneous changes
The checksum calculation algorithm for the
/_api/collection/
,
>=
,
<
,
<=
) currently do not use array indexes.
Optimizer improvements
The AQL query optimizer can now use indexes if multiple filter conditions on attributes of the same collection are combined with logical
ORs, and if the usage of indexes would completely cover these conditions.
For example, the following queries can now use two independent indexes on
indexes are skiplist indexes due to usage of the
<
and
>
value1
and
value2
(the latter query requires that the
comparison operators):
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value1 == 42 || doc.value2 == 23 RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.value1 < 42 || doc.value2 > 23 RETURN doc
The new optimizer rule "sort-in-values" can now pre-sort the right-hand side operand of
IN
and
NOT IN
operators so the operation can
use a binary search with logarithmic complexity instead of a linear search. The rule will be applied when the right-hand side operand of
an
IN
or
NOT IN
operator in a filter condition is a variable that is defined in a different loop/scope than the operator itself.
Additionally, the filter condition must consist of solely the
IN
or
NOT IN
operation in order to avoid any side-effects.
The rule will kick in for a queries such as the following:
LET values = /* some runtime expression here */
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.value IN values
RETURN doc
It will not be applied for the followig queries, because the right-hand side operand of the
IN
is either not a variable, or because the
FILTER condition may have side effects:
444
Whats New in 2.8
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.value IN /* some runtime expression here */
RETURN doc
LET values = /* some runtime expression here */
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER FUNCTION(doc.values) == 23 && doc.value IN values
RETURN doc
AQL functions added
The following AQL functions have been added in 2.8:
POW(base, exponent)
: returns the base to the exponent exp
UNSET_RECURSIVE(document, attributename, ...)
: recursively removes the attributes attributename (can be one or many) from
document and its sub-documents. All other attributes will be preserved. Multiple attribute names can be specified by either passing
multiple individual string argument names, or by passing an array of attribute names:
UNSET_RECURSIVE(doc, '_id', '_key', 'foo', 'bar')
UNSET_RECURSIVE(doc, [ '_id', '_key', 'foo', 'bar' ])
IS_DATESTRING(value)
: returns true if value is a string that can be used in a date function. This includes partial dates such as 2015
or 2015-10 and strings containing invalid dates such as 2015-02-31. The function will return false for all non-string values, even if
some of them may be usable in date functions.
Miscellaneous improvements
the ArangoShell now provides the convenience function
queries. This function is a shorthand for
db._explain(query)
for retrieving a human-readable explanation of AQL
require("org/arangodb/aql/explainer").explain(query)
the AQL query optimizer now automatically converts
LENGTH(collection-name)
.
to an optimized expression that returns the
number of documents in a collection. Previous versions of ArangoDB returned a warning when using this expression and also
enumerated all documents in the collection, which was inefficient.
improved performance of skipping over many documents in an AQL query when no indexes and no filters are used, e.g.
FOR doc IN collection
LIMIT 1000000, 10
RETURN doc
added cluster execution site info in execution plan explain output for AQL queries
for 30+ AQL functions there is now an additional implementation in C++ that removes the need for internal data conversion when
the function is called
the AQL editor in the web interface now supports using bind parameters
Deadlock detection
ArangoDB 2.8 now has an automatic deadlock detection for transactions.
A deadlock is a situation in which two or more concurrent operations (user transactions or AQL queries) try to access the same resources
(collections, documents) and need to wait for the others to finish, but none of them can make any progress.
In case of such a deadlock, there would be no progress for any of the involved transactions, and none of the involved transactions could
ever complete. This is completely undesirable, so the new automatic deadlock detection mechanism in ArangoDB will automatically
kick in and abort one of the transactions involved in such a deadlock. Aborting means that all changes done by the transaction will be
rolled back and error 29 (
deadlock detected
) will be thrown.
445
Whats New in 2.8
Client code (AQL queries, user transactions) that accesses more than one collection should be aware of the potential of deadlocks and
should handle the error 29 (
deadlock detected
) properly, either by passing the exception to the caller or retrying the operation.
Replication
The following improvements for replication have been made in 2.8 (note: most of them have been backported to ArangoDB 2.7 as well):
added
autoResync
When set to
true
configuration parameter for continuous replication.
, a replication slave will automatically trigger a full data re-synchronization with the master when the master
cannot provide the log data the slave had asked for. Note that
is also set to
true
autoResync
will only work when the option
requireFromPresent
for the continuous replication, or when the continuous syncer is started and detects that no start tick is present.
Automatic re-synchronization may transfer a lot of data from the master to the slave and may be expensive. It is therefore turned off
by default. When turned off, the slave will never perform an automatic re-synchronization with the master.
added
idleMinWaitTime
and
idleMaxWaitTime
configuration parameters for continuous replication.
These parameters can be used to control the minimum and maximum wait time the slave will (intentionally) idle and not poll for
master log changes in case the master had sent the full logs already. The
adapativePolling
is set to
true
. When
adaptivePolling
idleMaxWaitTime
is disabled, only
value will only be used when
idleMinWaitTime
will be used as a constant time
span in which the slave will not poll the master for further changes. The default values are 0.5 seconds for
2.5 seconds for
added
idleMaxWaitTime
idleMinWaitTime
and
, which correspond to the hard-coded values used in previous versions of ArangoDB.
configuration parameter for initial and continuous replication
initialSyncMaxWaitTime
This option controls the maximum wait time (in seconds) that the initial synchronization will wait for a response from the master
when fetching initial collection data. If no response is received within this time period, the initial synchronization will give up and
fail. This option is also relevant for continuous replication in case autoResync is set to true, as then the continuous replication may
trigger a full data re-synchronization in case the master cannot the log data the slave had asked for.
HTTP requests sent from the slave to the master during initial synchronization will now be retried if they fail with connection
problems.
the initial synchronization now logs its progress so it can be queried using the regular replication status check APIs.
added
async
attribute for
and
sync
syncCollection
operations called from the ArangoShell. Setthing this attribute to
true
will make the synchronization job on the server go into the background, so that the shell does not block. The status of the started
asynchronous synchronization job can be queried from the ArangoShell like this:
/* starts initial synchronization */
var replication = require("org/arangodb/replication");
var id = replication.sync({
endpoint: "tcp://master.domain.org:8529",
username: "myuser",
password: "mypasswd",
async: true
});
/* now query the id of the returned async job and print the status */
print(replication.getSyncResult(id));
The result of
getSyncResult()
will be
false
while the server-side job has not completed, and different to
completed. When it has completed, all job result details will be returned by the call to
getSyncResult()
false
if it has
.
the web admin interface dashboard now shows a server's replication status at the bottom of the page
Web Admin Interface
The following improvements have been made for the web admin interface:
the AQL editor now has support for bind parameters. The bind parameter values can be edited in the web interface and saved with a
query for future use.
446
Whats New in 2.8
the AQL editor now allows canceling running queries. This can be used to cancel long-running queries without switching to the
query management section.
the dashboard now provides information about the server's replication status at the bottom of the page. This can be used to track
either the status of a one-time synchronization or the continuous replication.
the compaction status and some status internals about collections are now displayed in the detail view for a collection in the web
interface. These data can be used for debugging compaction issues.
unloading a collection via the web interface will now trigger garbage collection in all v8 contexts and force a WAL flush. This
increases the chances of perfoming the unload faster.
the status terminology for collections for which an unload request has been issued via the web interface was changed from
process of being unloaded
to
will be unloaded
in the
. This is more accurate as the actual unload may be postponed until later if there
are still references pointing to data in the collection.
Foxx improvements
the module resolution used by
the
org/arangodb/request
require
now behaves more like in node.js
module now returns response bodies for error responses by default. The old behavior of not returning
bodies for error responses can be re-enabled by explicitly setting the option
returnBodyOnError
to
false
Miscellaneous changes
The startup option
ArangoDB"
--server.hide-product-header
can be used to make the server not send the HTTP response header
"Server:
in its HTTP responses. This can be used to conceal the server make from HTTP clients. By default, the option is turned off so
the header is still sent as usual.
arangodump and arangorestore now have better error reporting. Additionally, arangodump will now fail by default when trying to dump
edges that refer to already dropped collections. This can be circumvented by specifying the option
--force true
when invoking
arangodump.
arangoimp now provides an option
collection
is set to
true
--create-collection-type
. Previously
--create-collection
to specify the type of the collection to be created when
--create-
always created document collections and the creation of edge collections
was not possible.
447
Incompatible changes in 2.8
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 2.8
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 2.8, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
AQL
Keywords added
The following AQL keywords were added in ArangoDB 2.8:
GRAPH
OUTBOUND
INBOUND
ANY
ALL
NONE
AGGREGATE
Usage of these keywords for collection names, variable names or attribute names in AQL queries will not be possible without quoting.
For example, the following AQL query will still work as it uses a quoted collection name and a quoted attribute name:
FOR doc IN `OUTBOUND`
RETURN doc.`any`
Changed behavior
The AQL functions
NEAR
and
WITHIN
now have stricter validations for their input parameters
limit
,
radius
and
distance
. They
may now throw exceptions when invalid parameters are passed that may have not led to exceptions in previous versions.
Additionally, the expansion (
[*]
) operator in AQL has changed its behavior when handling non-array values:
In ArangoDB 2.8, calling the expansion operator on a non-array value will always return an empty array. Previous versions of ArangoDB
expanded non-array values by calling the
TO_ARRAY()
function for the value, which for example returned an array with a single value
for boolean, numeric and string input values, and an array with the object's values for an object input value. This behavior was
inconsistent with how the expansion operator works for the array indexes in 2.8, so the behavior is now unified:
if the left-hand side operand of
[*]
is an array, the array will be returned as is when calling
if the left-hand side operand of
[*]
is not an array, an empty array will be returned by
AQL queries that rely on the old behavior can be changed by either calling
TO_ARRAY
[*]
on it
[*]
explicitly or by using the
[*]
at the correct
position.
The following example query will change its result in 2.8 compared to 2.7:
LET values = "foo" RETURN values[*]
In 2.7 the query has returned the array
]
again, an explicit
TO_ARRAY
[ "foo" ]
, but in 2.8 it will return an empty array
[ ]
. To make it return the array
function call is needed in 2.8 (which in this case allows the removal of the
[*]
[ "foo"
operator altogether).
This also works in 2.7:
LET values = "foo" RETURN TO_ARRAY(values)
Another example:
LET values = [ { name: "foo" }, { name: "bar" } ]
RETURN values[*].name[*]
448
Incompatible changes in 2.8
The above returned
[ [ "foo" ], [ "bar" ] ] in 2.7. In 2.8 it will return
[ [ ], [ ] ]
, because the value of
name` is not an
array. To change the results to the 2.7 style, the query can be changed to
LET values = [ { name: "foo" }, { name: "bar" } ]
RETURN values[* RETURN TO_ARRAY(CURRENT.name)]
The above also works in 2.7. The following types of queries won't change:
LET values = [ 1, 2, 3 ] RETURN values[*]
LET values = [ { name: "foo" }, { name: "bar" } ] RETURN values[*].name
LET values = [ { names: [ "foo", "bar" ] }, { names: [ "baz" ] } ] RETURN values[*].names[*]
LET values = [ { names: [ "foo", "bar" ] }, { names: [ "baz" ] } ] RETURN values[*].names[**]
Deadlock handling
Client applications should be prepared to handle error 29 (
deadlock detected
) that ArangoDB may now throw when it detects a
deadlock across multiple transactions. When a client application receives error 29, it should retry the operation that failed.
The error can only occur for AQL queries or user transactions that involve more than a single collection.
Optimizer
The AQL execution node type
was replaced with a new more capable execution node type
IndexRangeNode
execution plan explain output there will be no more
retrieved via
IndexRangeNode
s but only
require("org/arangodb/aql/explainer").explain(query)
,
IndexNode
db._explain(query)
The optimizer rule that makes AQL queries actually use indexes was also renamed from
affects explain output that can be retrieved via
IndexNode
. That means in
. This affects explain output that can be
, and the HTTP query explain API.
to
use-index-range
require("org/arangodb/aql/explainer").explain(query)
,
use-indexes
. Again this
db._explain(query)
, and
the HTTP query explain API.
The query optimizer rule
retrieved via
remove-collect-into
was renamed to
remove-collect-variables
require("org/arangodb/aql/explainer").explain(query)
,
. This affects explain output that can be
db._explain(query)
, and the HTTP query explain API.
HTTP API
When a server-side operation got canceled due to an explicit client cancel request via HTTP
DELETE /_api/job
, previous versions of
ArangoDB returned an HTTP status code of 408 (request timeout) for the response of the canceled operation.
The HTTP return code 408 has caused problems with some client applications. Some browsers (e.g. Chrome) handled a 408 response by
resending the original request, which is the opposite of what is desired when a job should be canceled.
Therefore ArangoDB will return HTTP status code 410 (gone) for canceled operations from version 2.8 on.
Foxx
Model and Repository
Due to compatibility issues the Model and Repository types are no longer implemented as ES2015 classes.
The pre-2.7 "extend" style subclassing is supported again and will not emit any deprecation warnings.
var Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
var MyModel = Foxx.Model.extend({
// ...
schema: {/* ... */}
});
Module resolution
449
Incompatible changes in 2.8
The behavior of the JavaScript module resolution used by the
require
function has been modified to improve compatibility with
modules written for Node.js.
Specifically
absolute paths (e.g.
global names (e.g.
/some/absolute/path
global/name
) are now always interpreted as absolute file system paths, relative to the file system root
) are now first intepreted as references to modules residing in a relevant
built-in module or a matching document in the internal
_modules
node_modules
folder, a
collection, and only resolved to local file paths if no other match
is found
Previously the two formats were treated interchangeably and would be resolved to local file paths first, leading to problems when local
files used the same names as other modules (e.g. a local file
installed in
node_modules
chai.js
would cause problems when trying to load the
chai
module
).
For more information see the blog announcement of this change and the upgrade guide.
Module org/arangodb/request
The module now always returns response bodies, even for error responses. In versions prior to 2.8 the module would silently drop
response bodies if the response header indicated an error.
The old behavior of not returning bodies for error responses can be restored by explicitly setting the option
false
returnBodyOnError
to
:
let response = request({
//...
returnBodyOnError: false
});
Garbage collection
The V8 garbage collection strategy was slightly adjusted so that it eventually happens in all V8 contexts that hold V8 external objects
(references to ArangoDB documents and collections). This enables a better cleanup of these resources and prevents other processes such
as compaction being stalled while waiting for these resources to be released.
In this context the default value for the JavaScript garbage collection frequency (
--javascript.gc-frequency
) was also increased from
10 seconds to 15 seconds, as less internal operations in ArangoDB are carried out in JavaScript.
Client tools
arangodump will now fail by default when trying to dump edges that refer to already dropped collections. This can be circumvented by
specifying the option
--force true
when invoking arangodump
450
Whats New in 2.7
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.7. ArangoDB 2.7 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here. For a list of bugfixes, please consult the CHANGELOG.
Performance improvements
Index buckets
The primary indexes and hash indexes of collections can now be split into multiple index buckets. This option was available for edge
indexes only in ArangoDB 2.6.
A bucket can be considered a container for a specific range of index values. For primary, hash and edge indexes, determining the
responsible bucket for an index value is done by hashing the actual index value and applying a simple arithmetic operation on the hash.
Because an index value will be present in at most one bucket and buckets are independent, using multiple buckets provides the following
benefits:
initially building the in-memory index data can be parallelized even for a single index, with one thread per bucket (or with threads
being responsible for more than one bucket at a time). This can help reducing the loading time for collections.
resizing an index when it is about to run out of reserve space is performed per bucket. As each bucket only contains a fraction of the
entire index, resizing and rehashing a bucket is much faster and less intrusive than resizing and rehashing the entire index.
When creating new collections, the default number of index buckets is
was
1
8
since ArangoDB 2.7. In previous versions, the default value
. The number of buckets can also be adjusted for existing collections so they can benefit from the optimizations. The number of
index buckets can be set for a collection at any time by using a collection's
properties
function:
db.collection.properties({ indexBuckets: 16 });
The number of index buckets must be a power of 2.
Please note that for building the index data for multiple buckets in parallel it is required that a collection contains a significant amount of
documents because for a low number of documents the overhead of parallelization will outweigh its benefits. The current threshold value
is 256k documents, but this value may change in future versions of ArangoDB. Additionally, the configuration option
database.index-threads
--
will determine how many parallel threads may be used for building the index data.
Faster update and remove operations in non-unique hash indexes
The unique hash indexes in ArangoDB provided an amortized O(1) lookup, insert, update and remove performance. Non-unique hash
indexes provided amortized O(1) insert performance, but had worse performance for update and remove operations for non-unique
values. For documents with the same index value, they maintained a list of collisions. When a document was updated or removed, that
exact document had to be found in the collisions list for the index value. While getting to the start of the collisions list was O(1),
scanning the list had O(n) performance in the worst case (with n being the number of documents with the same index value). Overall,
this made update and remove operations in non-unique hash indexes slow if the index contained many duplicate values.
This has been changed in ArangoDB 2.7 so that non-unique hash indexes now also provide update and remove operations with an
amortized complexity of O(1), even if there are many duplicates.
Resizing non-unique hash indexes now also doesn't require looking into the document data (which may involve a disk access) because
the index maintains some internal cache value per document. When resizing and rehashing the index (or an index bucket), the index will
first compare only the cache values before peeking into the actual documents. This change can also lead to reduced index resizing times.
Throughput enhancements
The ArangoDB-internal implementations for dispatching requests, keeping statistics and assigning V8 contexts to threads have been
improved in order to use less locks. These changes allow higher concurrency and throughput in these components, which can also make
the server handle more requests in a given period of time.
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Whats New in 2.7
What gains can be expected depends on which operations are executed, but there are real-world cases in which throughput increased by
between 25 % and 70 % when compared to 2.6.
Madvise hints
The Linux variant for ArangoDB provides the OS with madvise hints about index memory and datafile memory. These hints can speed
up things when memory is tight, in particular at collection load time but also for random accesses later. There is no formal guarantee that
the OS actually uses the madvise hints provided by ArangoDB, but actual measurements have shown improvements for loading bigger
collections.
AQL improvements
Additional date functions
ArangoDB 2.7 provides several extra AQL functions for date and time calculation and manipulation. These functions were contributed
by GitHub users @CoDEmanX and @friday. A big thanks for their work!
The following extra date functions are available from 2.7 on:
: Returns the day of year number of date. The return values range from 1 to 365, or 366 in a leap year
DATE_DAYOFYEAR(date)
respectively.
DATE_ISOWEEK(date)
: Returns the ISO week date of date. The return values range from 1 to 53. Monday is considered the first day
of the week. There are no fractional weeks, thus the last days in December may belong to the first week of the next year, and the
first days in January may be part of the previous year's last week.
DATE_LEAPYEAR(date)
DATE_QUARTER(date)
: Returns whether the year of date is a leap year.
: Returns the quarter of the given date (1-based):
1: January, February, March
2: April, May, June
3: July, August, September
4: October, November, December
DATE_DAYS_IN_MONTH(date): Returns the number of days in date's month (28..31).
DATE_ADD(date, amount, unit)
: Adds amount given in unit to date and returns the calculated date.
unit can be either of the following to specify the time unit to add or subtract (case-insensitive):
y, year, years
m, month, months
w, week, weeks
d, day, days
h, hour, hours
i, minute, minutes
s, second, seconds
f, millisecond, milliseconds
amount is the number of units to add (positive value) or subtract (negative value).
DATE_SUBTRACT(date, amount, unit)
It works the same as
DATE_ADD()
that
DATE_SUBTRACT()
like
-P1Y
: Subtracts amount given in unit from date and returns the calculated date.
, except that it subtracts. It is equivalent to calling
DATE_ADD()
with a negative amount, except
can also subtract ISO durations. Note that negative ISO durations are not supported (i.e. starting with
-P
,
).
DATE_DIFF(date1, date2, unit, asFloat)
: Calculate the difference between two dates in given time unit, optionally with decimal
places. Returns a negative value if date1 is greater than date2.
DATE_COMPARE(date1, date2, unitRangeStart, unitRangeEnd)
: Compare two partial dates and return true if they match, false
otherwise. The parts to compare are defined by a range of time units.
452
Whats New in 2.7
The full range is: years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds. Pass the unit to start from as unitRangeStart, and the
unit to end with as unitRangeEnd. All units in between will be compared. Leave out unitRangeEnd to only compare unitRangeStart.
DATE_FORMAT(date, format)
: Format a date according to the given format string. It supports the following placeholders (case-
insensitive):
%t: timestamp, in milliseconds since midnight 1970-01-01
%z: ISO date (0000-00-00T00:00:00.000Z)
%w: day of week (0..6)
%y: year (0..9999)
%yy: year (00..99), abbreviated (last two digits)
%yyyy: year (0000..9999), padded to length of 4
%yyyyyy: year (-009999 .. +009999), with sign prefix and padded to length of 6
%m: month (1..12)
%mm: month (01..12), padded to length of 2
%d: day (1..31)
%dd: day (01..31), padded to length of 2
%h: hour (0..23)
%hh: hour (00..23), padded to length of 2
%i: minute (0..59)
%ii: minute (00..59), padded to length of 2
%s: second (0..59)
%ss: second (00..59), padded to length of 2
%f: millisecond (0..999)
%fff: millisecond (000..999), padded to length of 3
%x: day of year (1..366)
%xxx: day of year (001..366), padded to length of 3
%k: ISO week date (1..53)
%kk: ISO week date (01..53), padded to length of 2
%l: leap year (0 or 1)
%q: quarter (1..4)
%a: days in month (28..31)
%mmm: abbreviated English name of month (Jan..Dec)
%mmmm: English name of month (January..December)
%www: abbreviated English name of weekday (Sun..Sat)
%wwww: English name of weekday (Sunday..Saturday)
%&: special escape sequence for rare occasions
%%: literal %
%: ignored
RETURN DISTINCT
To return unique values from a query, AQL now provides the
as a shorter alternative to the already existing
COLLECT
DISTINCT
keyword. It can be used as a modifier for
RETURN
statements,
statement.
For example, the following query only returns distinct (unique)
status
attribute values from the collection:
FOR doc IN collection
RETURN DISTINCT doc.status
RETURN DISTINCT
is not allowed on the top-level of a query if there is no
FOR
loop in front of it.
RETURN DISTINCT
is allowed in
subqueries.
RETURN DISTINCT
ensures that the values returned are distinct (unique), but does not guarantee any order of results. In order to have
certain result order, an additional
SORT
statement must be added to a query.
Shorthand object notation
453
Whats New in 2.7
AQL now provides a shorthand notation for object literals in the style of ES6 object literals:
LET name = "Peter"
LET age = 42
RETURN { name, age }
This is equivalent to the previously available canonical form, which is still available and supported:
LET name = "Peter"
LET age = 42
RETURN { name : name, age : age }
Array expansion improvements
The already existing [*] operator has been improved with optional filtering and projection and limit capabilities.
For example, consider the following example query that filters values from an array attribute:
FOR u IN users
RETURN {
name: u.name,
friends: (
FOR f IN u.friends
FILTER f.age > u.age
RETURN f.name
)
}
With the [*] operator, this query can be simplified to
FOR u IN users
RETURN { name: u.name, friends: u.friends[* FILTER CURRENT.age > u.age].name }
The pseudo-variable CURRENT can be used to access the current array element. The
FILTER
condition can refer to
CURRENT
or any
variables valid in the outer scope.
To return a projection of the current element, there can now be an inline
RETURN
:
FOR u IN users
RETURN u.friends[* RETURN CONCAT(CURRENT.name, " is a friend of ", u.name)]
which is the simplified variant for:
FOR u IN users
RETURN (
FOR friend IN u.friends
RETURN CONCAT(friend.name, " is a friend of ", u.name)
)
Array contraction
In order to collapse (or flatten) results in nested arrays, AQL now provides the [**] operator. It works similar to the [*] operator, but
additionally collapses nested arrays. How many levels are collapsed is determined by the amount of * characters used.
For example, consider the following query that produces a nested result:
FOR u IN users
RETURN u.friends[*].name
The [**] operator can now be applied to get rid of the nested array and turn it into a flat array. We simply apply the [**] on the previous
query result:
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Whats New in 2.7
RETURN (
FOR u IN users RETURN u.friends[*].name
)[**]
Template query strings
Assembling query strings in JavaScript has been error-prone when using simple string concatenation, especially because plain JavaScript
strings do not have multiline-support, and because of potential parameter injection issues. While multiline query strings can be
assembled with ES6 template strings since ArangoDB 2.5, and query bind parameters are there since ArangoDB 1.0 to prevent parameter
injection, there was no JavaScript-y solution to combine these.
ArangoDB 2.7 now provides an ES6 template string generator function that can be used to easily and safely assemble AQL queries from
JavaScript. JavaScript variables and expressions can be used easily using regular ES6 template string substitutions:
let name = 'test';
let attributeName = '_key';
let query = aqlQuery`FOR u IN users
FILTER u.name == ${name}
RETURN u.${attributeName}`;
db._query(query);
This is more legible than when using a plain JavaScript string and also does not require defining the bind parameter values separately:
let name = 'test';
let attributeName = '_key';
let query = "FOR u IN users " +
"FILTER u.name == @name " +
"RETURN u.@attributeName";
db._query(query, {
name,
attributeName
});
The
aqlQuery
template string generator will also handle collection objects automatically:
db._query(aqlQuery`FOR u IN ${ db.users } RETURN u.name`);
Note that while template strings are available in the JavaScript functions provided to build queries, they aren't a feature of AQL itself.
AQL could always handle multiline query strings and provided bind parameters (
parameter values. The
aqlQuery
@...
) for separating the query string and the
template string generator function will take care of this separation, too, but will do it behind the
scenes.
AQL query result cache
The AQL query result cache can optionally cache the complete results of all or just selected AQL queries. It can be operated in the
following modes:
off
on
: the cache is disabled. No query results will be stored
: the cache will store the results of all AQL queries unless their
demand
cache
: the cache will store the results of AQL queries that have their
The mode can be set at server startup using the
default value is
off
attribute flag is set to
cache
--database.query-cache-mode
attribute set to
false
true
, but will ignore all others
configuration option and later changed at runtime. The
, meaning that the query result cache is disabled. This is because the cache may consume additional memory to
keep query results, and also because it must be invalidated when changes happen in collections for which results have been cached.
The query result cache may therefore have positive or negative effects on query execution times, depending on the workload: it will not
make much sense turning on the cache in write-only or write-mostly scenarios, but the cache may be very beneficial in case workloads
are read-only or read-mostly, and query are complex.
If the query cache is operated in
demand
mode, it can be controlled per query if the cache should be checked for a result.
455
Whats New in 2.7
Miscellaneous changes
Optimizer
The AQL optimizer rule
patch-update-statements
has been added. This rule can optimize certain AQL UPDATE queries that update
documents in the a collection that they also iterate over.
For example, the following query reads documents from a collection in order to update them:
FOR doc IN collection
UPDATE doc WITH { newValue: doc.oldValue + 1 } IN collection
In this case, only a single collection is affected by the query, and there is no index lookup involved to find the to-be-updated documents.
In this case, the UPDATE query does not require taking a full, memory-intensive snapshot of the collection, but it can be performed in
small chunks. This can lead to memory savings when executing such queries.
Function call arguments optimization
This optimization will lead to arguments in function calls inside AQL queries not being copied but being passed by reference. This may
speed up calls to functions with bigger argument values or queries that call AQL functions a lot of times.
Web Admin Interface
The web interface now has a new design.
The "Applications" tab in the web interfaces has been renamed to "Services".
The ArangoDB API documentation has been moved from the "Tools" menu to the "Links" menu. The new documentation is based on
Swagger 2.0 and opens in a separate web page.
Foxx improvements
ES2015 Classes
All Foxx constructors have been replaced with ES2015 classes and can be extended using the class syntax. The
extend
method is still
supported at the moment but will become deprecated in ArangoDB 2.8 and removed in ArangoDB 2.9.
Before:
var Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
var MyModel = Foxx.Model.extend({
// ...
schema: {/* ... */}
});
After:
var Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
class MyModel extends Foxx.Model {
// ...
}
MyModel.prototype.schema = {/* ... */};
Confidential configuration
It is now possible to specify configuration options with the type
password
. The password type is equivalent to the text type but will be
masked in the web frontend to prevent accidental exposure of confidential options like API keys and passwords when configuring your
Foxx application.
456
Whats New in 2.7
Dependencies
The syntax for specifying dependencies in manifests has been extended to allow specifying optional dependencies. Unmet optional
dependencies will not prevent an app from being mounted. The traditional shorthand syntax for specifying non-optional dependencies
will still be supported in the upcoming versions of ArangoDB.
Before:
{
...
"dependencies": {
"notReallyNeeded": "users:^1.0.0",
"totallyNecessary": "sessions:^1.0.0"
}
}
After:
{
"dependencies": {
"notReallyNeeded": {
"name": "users",
"version": "^1.0.0",
"required": false
},
"totallyNecessary": {
"name": "sessions",
"version": "^1.0.0"
}
}
}
Replication
The existing replication HTTP API has been extended with methods that replication clients can use to determine whether a given date,
identified by a tick value, is still present on a master for replication. By calling these APIs, clients can make an informed decision about
whether the master can still provide all missing data starting from the point up to which the client had already synchronized. This can be
helpful in case a replication client is re-started after a pause.
Master servers now also track up the point up to which they have sent changes to clients for replication. This information can be used to
determine the point of data that replication clients have received from the master, and if and how far approximately they lag behind.
Finally, restarting the replication applier on a slave server has been made more robust in case the applier was stopped while there were
pending transactions on the master server, and re-starting the replication applier needs to restore the state of these transactions.
Client tools
The filenames in dumps created by arangodump now contain not only the name of the dumped collection, but also an additional 32-digit
hash value. This is done to prevent overwriting dump files in case-insensitive file systems when there exist multiple collections with the
same name (but with different cases).
For example, if a database had two collections test and Test, previous versions of arangodump created the following files:
test.structure.json
and
test.data.json
for collection test
Test.structure.json
and
Test.data.json
for collection Test
This did not work in case-insensitive filesystems, because the files for the second collection would have overwritten the files of the first.
arangodump in 2.7 will create the unique files in this case, by appending the 32-digit hash value to the collection name in all case. These
filenames will be unambiguous even in case-insensitive filesystems.
Miscellaneous changes
457
Whats New in 2.7
Better control-C support in arangosh
When CTRL-C is pressed in arangosh, it will now abort the locally running command (if any). If no command was running, pressing
CTRL-C will print a
^C
first. Pressing CTRL-C again will then quit arangosh.
CTRL-C can also be used to reset the current prompt while entering complex nested objects which span multiple input lines.
CTRL-C support has been added to the ArangoShell versions built with Readline-support (Linux and MacOS only). The Windows
version of ArangoDB uses a different library for handling input, and support for CTRL-C has not been added there yet.
Start / stop
Linux startup scripts and systemd configuration for arangod now try to adjust the NOFILE (number of open files) limits for the process.
The limit value is set to 131072 (128k) when ArangoDB is started via start/stop commands.
This will prevent arangod running out of available file descriptors in case of many parallel HTTP connections or large collections with
many datafiles.
Additionally, when ArangoDB is started/stopped manually via the start/stop commands, the main process will wait for up to 10 seconds
after it forks the supervisor and arangod child processes. If the startup fails within that period, the start/stop script will fail with a nonzero exit code, allowing any invoking scripts to handle this error. Previous versions always returned an exit code of 0, even when
arangod couldn't be started.
If the startup of the supervisor or arangod is still ongoing after 10 seconds, the main program will still return with exit code 0 in order to
not block any scripts. The limit of 10 seconds is arbitrary because the time required for an arangod startup is not known in advance.
Non-sparse logfiles
WAL logfiles and datafiles created by arangod are now non-sparse. This prevents SIGBUS signals being raised when a memory-mapped
region backed by a sparse datafile was accessed and the memory region was not actually backed by disk, for example because the disk
ran out of space.
arangod now always fully allocates the disk space required for a logfile or datafile when it creates one, so the memory region can always
be backed by disk, and memory can be accessed without SIGBUS being raised.
458
Incompatible changes in 2.7
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 2.7
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 2.7, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
AQL changes
DISTINCT
is now a keyword in AQL.
AQL queries that use
(in lower, upper or mixed case) as an identifier (i.e. as a variable, a collection name or a function name)
DISTINCT
will stop working. To make such queries working again, each occurrence of
backticks. This will turn
The AQL function
DISTINCT
DISTINCT
in an AQL query should be enclosed in
from a keyword into an identifier again.
has been removed in ArangoDB 2.7. This function was deprecated in ArangoDB 2.6. It was a left-over
SKIPLIST()
from times when the query optimizer wasn't able to use skiplist indexes together with filters, skip and limit values. Since this issue been
fixed since version 2.3, there is no AQL replacement function for
using the usual combination of
FOR
,
FILTER
and
LIMIT
SKIPLIST
. Queries that use the
SKIPLIST
function can be fixed by
, e.g.
FOR doc IN @@collection
FILTER doc.value >= @value
SORT doc.value DESC
LIMIT 1
RETURN doc
Foxx changes
Bundling and compilation
The
assets
property is no longer supported in Foxx manifests and is scheduled to be removed in a future version of ArangoDB. The
property can still be used to serve static assets but it is recommended to use separate tooling to compile and bundle your assets.
files
Manifest scripts
The properties
setup
and
teardown
have been moved into the
scripts
property map:
Before:
{
...
"setup": "scripts/setup.js",
"teardown": "scripts/teardown.js"
}
After:
{
...
"scripts": {
"setup": "scripts/setup.js",
"teardown": "scripts/teardown.js"
}
}
Foxx Queues
Function-based Foxx Queue job types are no longer supported. To learn about how you can use the new script-based job types follow the
updated recipe in the cookbook.
459
Incompatible changes in 2.7
Foxx Sessions
The
jwt
and
type
options have been removed from the
If you want to replicate the behavior of the
activateSessions
API.
option you can use the JWT functions in the
jwt
crypto
module. A JWT-based session
storage that doesn't write sessions to the database is available as the sessions-jwt app in the Foxx app store.
The session type is now inferred from the presence of the
want to use the default settings for
The
sessionStorageApp
cookie
or
header
cookie
or
header
you can pass the value
option has been removed in favour of the
options (allowing you to enable support for both). If you
true
sessionStorage
instead.
option.
Before:
var Foxx = require('org/arangodb/foxx');
var ctrl = new Foxx.Controller(applicationContext);
ctrl.activateSessions({
sessionStorageApp: 'some-sessions-app',
type: 'cookie'
});
After:
ctrl.activateSessions({
sessionStorage: applicationContext.dependencies.sessions.sessionStorage,
cookie: true
});
Request module
The module
org/arangodb/request
unconditionally set an HTTP header
uses an internal library function for sending HTTP requests. This library functionally
Accept-Encoding: gzip
in all outgoing HTTP requests, without client code having to set this
header explicitly.
This has been fixed in 2.7, so
ArangoDB
Accept-Encoding: gzip
is not set automatically anymore. Additionally the header
User-Agent:
is not set automatically either. If client applications rely on these headers being sent, they are free to add it when constructing
requests using the request module.
The
internal.download()
headers
function is also affected by this change. Again, the header can be added here if required by passing it via a
sub-attribute in the third parameter (
options
) to this function.
arangodump / backups
The filenames in dumps created by arangodump now contain not only the name of the dumped collection, but also an additional 32-digit
hash value. This is done to prevent overwriting dump files in case-insensitive file systems when there exist multiple collections with the
same name (but with different cases).
This change leads to changed filenames in dumps created by arangodump. If any client scripts depend on the filenames in the dump
output directory being equal to the collection name plus one of the suffixes
.structure.json
and
.data.json
, they need to be
adjusted.
Starting with ArangoDB 2.7, the file names will contain an underscore plus the 32-digit MD5 value (represented in hexadecimal
notation) of the collection name.
For example, when arangodump dumps data of two collections test and Test, the filenames in previous versions of ArangoDB were:
test.structure.json
test.data.json
Test.structure.json
Test.data.json
(definitions for collection test)
(data for collection test)
(definitions for collection Test)
(data for collection Test)
In 2.7, the filenames will be:
460
Incompatible changes in 2.7
test_098f6bcd4621d373cade4e832627b4f6.structure.json
test_098f6bcd4621d373cade4e832627b4f6.data.json
(data for collection test)
Test_0cbc6611f5540bd0809a388dc95a615b.structure.json
Test_0cbc6611f5540bd0809a388dc95a615b.data.json
(definitions for collection test)
(definitions for collection Test)
(data for collection Test)
Starting / stopping
When starting arangod, the server will now drop the process privileges to the specified values in options
server.gid
--server.uid
and
--
instantly after parsing the startup options.
That means when either
or
--server.uid
--server.gid
are set, the privilege change will happen earlier. This may prevent binding
the server to an endpoint with a port number lower than 1024 if the arangodb user has no privileges for that. Previous versions of
ArangoDB changed the privileges later, so some startup actions were still carried out under the invoking user (i.e. likely root when
started via init.d or system scripts) and especially binding to low port numbers was still possible there.
The default privileges for user arangodb will not be sufficient for binding to port numbers lower than 1024. To have an ArangoDB 2.7
bind to a port number lower than 1024, it needs to be started with either a different privileged user, or the privileges of the arangodb user
have to raised manually beforehand.
Additionally, Linux startup scripts and systemd configuration for arangod now will adjust the NOFILE (number of open files) limits for
the process. The limit value is set to 131072 (128k) when ArangoDB is started via start/stop commands. The goal of this change is to
prevent arangod from running out of available file descriptors for socket connections and datafiles.
Connection handling
arangod will now actually close lingering client connections when idle for at least the duration specified in the
timeout
--server.keep-alive-
startup option.
In previous versions of ArangoDB, idle connections were not closed by the server when the timeout was reached and the client was still
connected. Now the connection is properly closed by the server in case of timeout. Client applications relying on the old behavior may
now need to reconnect to the server when their idle connections time out and get closed (note: connections being idle for a long time may
be closed by the OS or firewalls anyway - client applications should be aware of that and try to reconnect).
Option changes
Configure options removed
The following options for
configure
have been removed because they were unused or exotic:
--enable-timings
--enable-figures
Startup options added
The following configuration options have been added in 2.7:
--database.query-cache-max-results
--database.query-cache-mode
default value is
: sets the maximum number of results in AQL query result cache per database
: sets the mode for the AQL query results cache. Possible values are
on
,
off
and
demand
. The
off
Miscellaneous changes
Simple queries
Many simple queries provide a
skip()
function that can be used to skip over a certain number of documents in the result. This function
allowed specifying negative offsets in previous versions of ArangoDB. Specifying a negative offset led to the query result being iterated
in reverse order, so skipping was performed from the back of the result. As most simple queries do not provide a guaranteed result order,
461
Incompatible changes in 2.7
skipping from the back of a result with unspecific order seems a rather exotic use case and was removed to increase consistency with
AQL, which also does not provide negative skip values.
Negative skip values were deprecated in ArangoDB 2.6.
Tasks API
The undocumented function
addJob()
has been removed from the
org/arangodb/tasks
module in ArangoDB 2.7.
Runtime endpoints manipulation API
The following HTTP REST API methods for runtime manipulation of server endpoints have been removed in ArangoDB 2.7:
POST
/_api/endpoint
DELETE
: to dynamically add an endpoint while the server was running
/_api/endpoint
: to dynamically remove an endpoint while the server was running
This change also affects the equivalent JavaScript endpoint manipulation methods available in Foxx. The following functions have been
removed in ArangoDB 2.7:
db._configureEndpoint()
db._removeEndpoint()
462
Whats New in 2.6
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.6. ArangoDB 2.6 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here. For a list of bugfixes, please consult the CHANGELOG.
APIs added
Batch document removal and lookup commands
The following commands have been added for
collection
objects:
collection.lookupByKeys(keys)
collection.removeByKeys(keys)
These commands can be used to perform multi-document lookup and removal operations efficiently from the ArangoShell. The argument
to these operations is an array of document keys.
These commands can also be used via the HTTP REST API. Their endpoints are:
PUT /_api/simple/lookup-by-keys
PUT /_api/simple/remove-by-keys
Collection export HTTP REST API
ArangoDB now provides a dedicated collection export API, which can take snapshots of entire collections more efficiently than the
general-purpose cursor API. The export API is useful to transfer the contents of an entire collection to a client application. It provides
optional filtering on specific attributes.
The export API is available at endpoint
already established cursor API (
POST /_api/export?collection=...
POST /_api/cursor
. The API has the same return value structure as the
).
An introduction to the export API is given in this blog post: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/04/04/more-efficient-data-exports/
AQL improvements
EDGES AQL Function
The AQL function EDGES got a new fifth optional parameter, which must be an object if specified. Right now only one option is
available for it:
includeVertices
this is a boolean parameter that allows to modify the result of
EDGES()
includeVertices
is
will modify the result, such that also the
false
, which does not have any effect. Setting it to
true
. The default value for
connected vertices are returned along with the edges:
{ vertex: , edge: }
Subquery optimizations for AQL queries
This optimization avoids copying intermediate results into subqueries that are not required by the subquery.
A brief description can be found here: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/05/04/subquery-optimizations/
Return value optimization for AQL queries
This optimization avoids copying the final query result inside the query's main
ReturnNode
.
A brief description can be found here: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/05/04/return-value-optimization-for-aql/
463
Whats New in 2.6
Speed up AQL queries containing big IN lists for index lookups
IN
lists used for index lookups had performance issues in previous versions of ArangoDB. These issues have been addressed in 2.6 so
using bigger
IN
lists for filtering is much faster.
A brief description can be found here: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/05/07/in-list-improvements/
Added alternative implementation for AQL COLLECT
The alternative method uses a hash table for grouping and does not require its input elements to be sorted. It will be taken into account by
the optimizer for
In case a
COLLECT
COLLECT
statements that do not use an
INTO
clause.
statement can use the hash table variant, the optimizer will create an extra plan for it at the beginning of the planning
phase. In this plan, no extra
node will be added in front of the
SORT
require sorted input. Instead, a
SORT
COLLECT
because the hash table variant of
node will be added after it to sort its output. This
later stages. If the sort order of the result is irrelevant to the user, adding an extra
SORT null
COLLECT
does not
node may be optimized away again in
SORT
after a hash
COLLECT
operation will allow
the optimizer to remove the sorts altogether.
In addition to the hash table variant of
COLLECT
, the optimizer will modify the original plan to use the regular
implementation. As this implementation requires sorted input, the optimizer will insert a
COLLECT
node in front of the
SORT
COLLECT
. This
node may be optimized away in later stages.
SORT
The created plans will then be shipped through the regular optimization pipeline. In the end, the optimizer will pick the plan with the
lowest estimated total cost as usual. The hash table variant does not require an up-front sort of the input, and will thus be preferred over
the regular
if the optimizer estimates many input elements for the
COLLECT
The optimizer can be explicitly told to use the regular sorted variant of
COLLECT
COLLECT
node and cannot use an index to sort them.
by suffixing a
COLLECT
statement with
"method" : "sorted" }
. This will override the optimizer guesswork and only produce the sorted variant of
A blog post on the new
COLLECT
COLLECT
OPTIONS {
.
implementation can be found here: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/04/22/collecting-with-a-hash-
table/
Simplified return value syntax for data-modification AQL queries
ArangoDB 2.4 since version allows to return results from data-modification AQL queries. The syntax for this was quite limited and
verbose:
FOR i IN 1..10
INSERT { value: i } IN test
LET inserted = NEW
RETURN inserted
The
LET inserted = NEW RETURN inserted
was required literally to return the inserted documents. No calculations could be made
using the inserted documents.
This is now more flexible. After a data-modification clause (e.g.
any number of
LET
INSERT
,
UPDATE
calculations. These calculations can refer to the pseudo-values
,
REPLACE
OLD
and
,
REMOVE
NEW
,
UPSERT
) there can follow
that are created by the data-
modification statements.
This allows returning projections of inserted or updated documents, e.g.:
FOR i IN 1..10
INSERT { value: i } IN test
RETURN { _key: NEW._key, value: i }
Still not every construct is allowed after a data-modification clause. For example, no functions can be called that may access documents.
More information can be found here: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/03/27/improvements-for-data-modification-queries/
Added AQL UPSERT statement
464
Whats New in 2.6
This adds an
UPSERT
statement to AQL that is a combination of both
INSERT
and
UPDATE
/
REPLACE
. The
matching document using a user-provided example. If no document matches the example, the insert part of the
UPSERT
UPSERT
will search for a
statement will
be executed. If there is a match, the update / replace part will be carried out:
UPSERT { page: 'index.html' }
/* search example */
INSERT { page: 'index.html', pageViews: 1 } /* insert part */
UPDATE { pageViews: OLD.pageViews + 1 }
/* update part */
IN pageViews
UPSERT
can be used with an
whereas the
OLD
REPLACE
UPDATE
or
REPLACE
clause. The
UPDATE
clause will perform a partial update of the found document,
clause will replace the found document entirely. The
UPDATE
or
REPLACE
parts can refer to the pseudo-value
, which contains all attributes of the found document.
UPSERT
statements can optionally return values. In the following query, the return attribute
before the
UPDATE
was applied. If no document was found,
found
will contain a value of
found
null
will return the found document
. The
updated
result attribute will
contain the inserted / updated document:
UPSERT { page: 'index.html' }
/* search example */
INSERT { page: 'index.html', pageViews: 1 } /* insert part */
UPDATE { pageViews: OLD.pageViews + 1 }
/* update part */
IN pageViews
RETURN { found: OLD, updated: NEW }
A more detailed description of
UPSERT
can be found here: http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/03/27/preview-of-the-upsert-command/
Miscellaneous changes
When errors occur inside AQL user functions, the error message will now contain a stacktrace, indicating the line of code in which the
error occurred. This should make debugging AQL user functions easier.
Web Admin Interface
ArangoDB's built-in web interface now uses sessions. Session information is stored in cookies, so clients using the web interface must
accept cookies in order to use it.
The new startup option
--server.session-timeout
can be used for adjusting the session lifetime.
The AQL editor in the web interface now provides an explain functionality, which can be used for inspecting and performance-tuning
AQL queries. The query execution time is now also displayed in the AQL editor.
Foxx apps that require configuration or are missing dependencies are now indicated in the app overview and details.
Foxx improvements
Configuration and Dependencies
Foxx app manifests can now define configuration options, as well as dependencies on other Foxx apps.
An introduction to Foxx configurations can be found in the blog: https://www.arangodb.com/2015/05/reusable-foxx-apps-withconfigurations/
And the blog post on Foxx dependencies can be found here: https://www.arangodb.com/2015/05/foxx-dependencies-for-morecomposable-foxx-apps/
Mocha Tests
You can now write tests for your Foxx apps using the Mocha testing framework: https://www.arangodb.com/2015/04/testing-foxxmocha/
A recipe for writing tests for your Foxx apps can be found in the cookbook: https://docs.arangodb.com/2.8/cookbook/FoxxTesting.html
465
Whats New in 2.6
API Documentation
The API documentation has been updated to Swagger 2. You can now also mount API documentation in your own Foxx apps.
Also see the blog post introducing this feature: https://www.arangodb.com/2015/05/document-your-foxx-apps-with-swagger-2/
Custom Scripts and Foxx Queue
In addition to the existing setup and teardown scripts you can now define custom scripts in your Foxx manifest and invoke these using
the web admin interface or the Foxx manager CLI. These scripts can now also take positional arguments and export return values.
Job types for the Foxx Queue can now be defined as a script name and app mount path allowing the use of Foxx scripts as job types. The
pre-2.6 job types are known to cause issues when restarting the server and are error-prone; we strongly recommended converting any
existing job types to the new format.
Client tools
The default configuration value for the option
--server.request-timeout
was increased from 300 to 1200 seconds for all client tools
(arangosh, arangoimp, arangodump, arangorestore).
The default configuration value for the option
--server.connect-timeout
was increased from 3 to 5 seconds for client tools (arangosh,
arangoimp, arangodump, arangorestore).
Arangorestore
The option
--create-database
Setting this option to
was added for arangorestore.
will now create the target database if it does not exist. When creating the target database, the username and
true
passwords passed to arangorestore will be used to create an initial user for the new database.
The default value for this option is
false
.
Arangoimp
Arangoimp can now optionally update or replace existing documents, provided the import data contains documents with
_key
attributes.
Previously, the import could be used for inserting new documents only, and re-inserting a document with an existing key would have
failed with a unique key constraint violated error.
The behavior of arangoimp (insert, update, replace on duplicate key) can now be controlled with the option
--on-duplicate
. The
option can have one of the following values:
error
: when a unique key constraint error occurs, do not import or update the document but report an error. This is the default.
update
: when a unique key constraint error occurs, try to (partially) update the existing document with the data specified in the
import. This may still fail if the document would violate secondary unique indexes. Only the attributes present in the import data
will be updated and other attributes already present will be preserved. The number of updated documents will be reported in the
updated
replace
attribute of the HTTP API result.
: when a unique key constraint error occurs, try to fully replace the existing document with the data specified in the
import. This may still fail if the document would violate secondary unique indexes. The number of replaced documents will be
reported in the
ignore
updated
attribute of the HTTP API result.
: when a unique key constraint error occurs, ignore this error. There will be no insert, update or replace for the particular
document. Ignored documents will be reported separately in the
The default value is
error
ignored
attribute of the HTTP API result.
.
A few examples for using arangoimp with the
--on-duplicate
option can be found here:
http://jsteemann.github.io/blog/2015/04/14/updating-documents-with-arangoimp/
466
Whats New in 2.6
Miscellaneous changes
Some Linux-based ArangoDB packages are now using tcmalloc for memory allocator.
Upgraded ICU library to version 54. This increases performance in many places.
Allow to split an edge index into buckets which are resized individually. The default value is
1
, resembling the pre-2.6 behavior.
Using multiple buckets will lead to the index entries being distributed to the individual buckets, with each bucket being responsible
only for a fraction of the total index entries. Using multiple buckets may lead to more frequent but much faster index bucket resizes,
and is recommended for bigger edge collections.
Default configuration value for option
--server.backlog-size
Default configuration value for option
--database.ignore-datafile-errors
Document keys can now contain
@
and
.
was changed from 10 to 64.
was changed from
true
to
false
characters
Fulltext index can now index text values contained in direct sub-objects of the indexed attribute.
Previous versions of ArangoDB only indexed the attribute value if it was a string. Sub-attributes of the index attribute were ignored
when fulltext indexing.
Now, if the index attribute value is an object, the object's values will each be included in the fulltext index if they are strings. If the
index attribute value is an array, the array's values will each be included in the fulltext index if they are strings.
For example, with a fulltext index present on the
translations
attribute, the following text values will now be indexed:
var c = db._create("example");
c.ensureFulltextIndex("translations");
c.insert({ translations: { en: "fox", de: "Fuchs", fr: "renard", ru: "лиса" } });
c.insert({ translations: "Fox is the English translation of the German word Fuchs" });
c.insert({ translations: [ "ArangoDB", "document", "database", "Foxx" ] });
c.fulltext("translations", "лиса").toArray();
// returns only first document
c.fulltext("translations", "Fox").toArray();
// returns first and second documents
c.fulltext("translations", "prefix:Fox").toArray(); // returns all three documents
Added configuration option
--server.foxx-queues-poll-interval
This startup option controls the frequency with which the Foxx queues manager is checking the queue (or queues) for jobs to be
executed.
The default value is
1
second. Lowering this value will result in the queue manager waking up and checking the queues more
frequently, which may increase CPU usage of the server. When not using Foxx queues, this value can be raised to save some CPU
time.
Added configuration option
--server.foxx-queues
This startup option controls whether the Foxx queue manager will check queue and job entries in the
Restricting the Foxx queue manager to the
_system
_system
database only.
database will lead to the queue manager having to check only the queues
collection of a single database, whereas making it check the queues of all databases might result in more work to be done and more
CPU time to be used by the queue manager.
467
Incompatible changes in 2.6
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 2.6
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 2.6, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
Requirements
ArangoDB's built-in web interface now uses cookies for session management. Session information ids are stored in cookies, so clients
using the web interface must accept cookies in order to log in and use it.
Foxx changes
Foxx Queues
Foxx Queue job type definitions were previously based on functions and had to be registered before use. Due to changes in 2.5 this
resulted in problems when restarting the server or defining job types incorrectly.
Function-based job types have been deprecated in 2.6 and will be removed entirely in 2.7.
In order to convert existing function-based job types to the new script-based job types, create custom scripts in your Foxx app and
reference them by their name and the mount point of the app they are defined in. Official job types from the Foxx app store can be
upgraded by upgrading from the 1.x version to the 2.x version of the same app.
In order to upgrade queued jobs to the new job types, you need to update the
type
property of the affected jobs in the database's
system collection. In order to see the collection in the web interface you need to enable the collection type "System" in the
_jobs
collection list options.
Example:
Before:
After:
"type": "mailer.postmark"
"type": {"name": "mailer", "mount": "/my-postmark-mailer"}
Foxx Sessions
The options
jwt
and
type
of the controller method
controller.activateSessions
have been deprecated in 2.6 and will be removed
entirely in 2.7.
If you want to use pure JWT sessions, you can use the
sessions-jwt
Foxx app from the Foxx app store.
If you want to use your own JWT-based sessions, you can use the JWT functions in the
Instead of using the
true
type
option you can just use the
cookie
and
header
crypto
module directly.
options on their own, which both now accept the value
to enable them with their default configurations.
The option
sessionStorageApp
sessionStorageApp
has been renamed to
sessionStorage
and now also accepts session storages directly. The old option
will be removed entirely in 2.7.
Libraries
The bundled version of the
joi
library used in Foxx was upgraded to version 6.0.8. This may affect Foxx applications that depend on
the library.
AQL changes
AQL LENGTH function
468
Incompatible changes in 2.6
The return value of the AQL
LENGTH(null)
LENGTH(false)
LENGTH(true)
LENGTH
now returns
0
now returns
now returns
LENGTH
is applied on
. In previous versions of ArangoDB, this returned
0
1
function was changed if
null
4
or a boolean value:
.
. In previous versions of ArangoDB, the return value was
. In previous versions of ArangoDB, the return value was
5
4
.
.
AQL graph functions
In 2.6 the graph functions did undergo a performance lifting. During this process we had to adopt the result format and the options for
some of them. Many graph functions now have an option
contain fully extracted documents
includeData: true
includeData
or only the
_id
which allows to trigger if the result of this function should
values
includeData: false
. In most use cases the
_id
is
sufficient to continue and the extraction of data is an unnecessary operation. The AQL functions supporting this additional option are:
SHORTEST_PATH
NEIGHBORS
GRAPH_SHORTEST_PATH
GRAPH_NEIGHBORS
GRAPH_EDGES
Furthermore the result
SHORTEST_PATH
has changed. The old format returned a list of all vertices on the path. Optionally it could include
each sub-path for these vertices. All of the documents were fully extracted. Example:
469
Incompatible changes in 2.6
[
{
vertex: {
_id: "vertex/1",
_key: "1",
_rev: "1234"
name: "Alice"
},
path: {
vertices: [
{
_id: "vertex/1",
_key: "1",
_rev: "1234"
name: "Alice"
}
],
edges: []
}
},
{
vertex: {
_id: "vertex/2",
_key: "2",
_rev: "5678"
name: "Bob"
},
path: {
vertices: [
{
_id: "vertex/1",
_key: "1",
_rev: "1234"
name: "Alice"
}, {
_id: "vertex/2",
_key: "2",
_rev: "5678"
name: "Bob"
}
],
edges: [
{
_id: "edge/1",
_key: "1",
_rev: "9876",
type: "loves"
}
]
}
}
]
The new version is more compact. Each
distance
. The
distance
includeData: true
SHORTEST_PATH
will only return one document having the attributes
vertices
,
edges
,
is computed taking into account the given weight. Optionally the documents can be extracted with
Example:
{
vertices: [
"vertex/1",
"vertex/2"
],
edges: [
"edge/1"
],
distance: 1
}
The next function that returns a different format is
NEIGHBORS
. Since 2.5 it returned an object with
edge
and
vertex
for each
connected edge. Example:
470
Incompatible changes in 2.6
[
{
vertex: {
_id: "vertex/2",
_key: "2",
_rev: "5678"
name: "Bob"
},
edge: {
_id: "edge/1",
_key: "1",
_rev: "9876",
type: "loves"
}
}
]
With 2.6 it will only return the vertex directly, again using
using the option
distinct: false
includeData: true
. By default it will return a distinct set of neighbors,
will include the same vertex for each edge pointing to it.
Example:
[
"vertex/2"
]
Function and API changes
Graph measurements functions
All graph measurements functions in JavaScript module
general-graph
that calculated a single figure previously returned an array
containing just the figure. Now these functions will return the figure directly and not put it inside an array.
The affected functions are:
graph._absoluteEccentricity
graph._eccentricity
graph._absoluteCloseness
graph._closeness
graph._absoluteBetweenness
graph._betweenness
graph._radius
graph._diameter
Client programs calling these functions should be adjusted so they process the scalar value returned by the function instead of the
previous array value.
Cursor API
A batchSize value
0
The HTTP REST API
is now disallowed when calling the cursor API via HTTP
POST /_api/cursor
does not accept a
batchSize
POST /_api/cursor
parameter value of
0
.
any longer. A batch size of 0 never
made much sense, but previous versions of ArangoDB did not check for this value. Now creating a cursor using a
batchSize
value 0
will result in an HTTP 400 error response.
Document URLs returned
The REST API method GET
/_api/document?collection=...
(that method will return partial URLs to all documents in the collection)
will now properly prefix document address URLs with the current database name.
471
Incompatible changes in 2.6
Previous versions of ArangoDB returned the URLs starting with
/_api/document/mycollection/mykey
/_api/
but without the current database name, e.g.
. Starting with 2.6, the response URLs will include the database name as well, e.g.
/_db/_system/_api/document/mycollection/mykey
.
Fulltext indexing
Fulltext indexes will now also index text values contained in direct sub-objects of the indexed attribute.
Previous versions of ArangoDB only indexed the attribute value if it was a string. Sub-attributes of the index attribute were ignored when
fulltext indexing.
Now, if the index attribute value is an object, the object's values will each be included in the fulltext index if they are strings. If the index
attribute value is an array, the array's values will each be included in the fulltext index if they are strings.
Deprecated server functionality
Simple queries
The following simple query functions are now deprecated:
collection.near
collection.within
collection.geo
collection.fulltext
collection.range
collection.closedRange
This also lead to the following REST API methods being deprecated from now on:
PUT /_api/simple/near
PUT /_api/simple/within
PUT /_api/simple/fulltext
PUT /_api/simple/range
It is recommended to replace calls to these functions or APIs with equivalent AQL queries, which are more flexible because they can be
combined with other operations:
FOR doc IN NEAR(@@collection, @latitude, @longitude, @limit)
RETURN doc
FOR doc IN WITHIN(@@collection, @latitude, @longitude, @radius, @distanceAttributeName)
RETURN doc
FOR doc IN FULLTEXT(@@collection, @attributeName, @queryString, @limit)
RETURN doc
FOR doc IN @@collection
FILTER doc.value >= @left && doc.value < @right
LIMIT @skip, @limit
RETURN doc`
The above simple query functions and REST API methods may be removed in future versions of ArangoDB.
Using negative values for
SimpleQuery.skip()
is also deprecated. This functionality will be removed in future versions of ArangoDB.
AQL functions
The AQL
SKIPLIST
function has been deprecated because it is obsolete.
The function was introduced in older versions of ArangoDB with a less powerful query optimizer to retrieve data from a skiplist index
using a
LIMIT
clause.
Since 2.3 the same goal can be achieved by using regular AQL constructs, e.g.
472
Incompatible changes in 2.6
FOR doc IN @@collection
FILTER doc.value >= @value
SORT doc.value
LIMIT 1
RETURN doc
Startup option changes
Options added
The following configuration options have been added in 2.6:
: allows controlling the timeout of user sessions in the web interface. The value is specified in seconds.
--server.session-timeout
--server.foxx-queues
: controls whether the Foxx queue manager will check queue and job entries. Disabling this option can
reduce server load but will prevent jobs added to Foxx queues from being processed at all.
The default value is
true
, enabling the Foxx queues feature.
--server.foxx-queues-poll-interval
: allows adjusting the frequency with which the Foxx queues manager is checking the
queue (or queues) for jobs to be executed.
The default value is
1
second. Lowering this value will result in the queue manager waking up and checking the queues more
frequently, which may increase CPU usage of the server.
Note: this option only has an effect when
--server.foxx-queues
is not set to
false
.
Options removed
The following configuration options have been removed in 2.6.:
--log.severity
development
: the docs for
--log.severity
) but only a few severities (e.g.
mentioned lots of severities (e.g.
all
,
human
,
exception
) were actually used, with
human
technical
,
functional
being the default and
all
,
enabling
the additional logging of incoming requests.
The option pretended to control a lot of things which it actually didn't. Additionally, the option
--log.requests-file
was around
for a long time already, also controlling request logging.
Because the
--log.severity
option effectively did not control that much, it was removed. A side effect of removing the option is
that 2.5 installations started with option
setting the
--log.requests-file
--log.severity all
will not log requests after the upgrade to 2.6. This can be adjusted by
option instead.
Default values changed
The default values for the following options have changed in 2.6:
--database.ignore-datafile-errors
If the new default value of
false
: the default value for this option was changed from
true
to
false
.
is used, then arangod will refuse loading collections that contain datafiles with CRC mismatches
or other errors. A collection with datafile errors will then become unavailable. This prevents follow up errors from happening.
The only way to access such collection is to use the datafile debugger (arango-dfdb) and try to repair or truncate the datafile with it.
--server.request-timeout
: the default value was increased from 300 to 1200 seconds for all client tools (arangosh, arangoimp,
arangodump, arangorestore).
--server.connect-timeout
: the default value was increased from 3 to 5 seconds for all client tools (arangosh, arangoimp,
arangodump, arangorestore).
473
Whats New in 2.5
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.5. ArangoDB 2.5 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here. For a list of bugfixes, please consult the CHANGELOG.
V8 version upgrade
The built-in version of V8 has been upgraded from 3.29.54 to 3.31.74.1. This allows activating additional ES6 (also dubbed Harmony or
ES.next) features in ArangoDB, both in the ArangoShell and the ArangoDB server. They can be used for scripting and in server-side
actions such as Foxx routes, traversals etc.
The following additional ES6 features become available in ArangoDB 2.5 by default:
iterators and generators
template strings
enhanced object literals
enhanced numeric literals
block scoping with
let
and constant variables using
additional string methods (such as
startsWith
,
const
repeat
(note: constant variables require using strict mode, too)
etc.)
Index improvements
Sparse hash and skiplist indexes
Hash and skiplist indexes can optionally be made sparse. Sparse indexes exclude documents in which at least one of the index attributes
is either not set or has a value of
null
.
As such documents are excluded from sparse indexes, they may contain fewer documents than their non-sparse counterparts. This
enables faster indexing and can lead to reduced memory usage in case the indexed attribute does occur only in some, but not all
documents of the collection. Sparse indexes will also reduce the number of collisions in non-unique hash indexes in case non-existing or
optional attributes are indexed.
In order to create a sparse index, an object with the attribute
sparse
can be added to the index creation commands:
db.collection.ensureHashIndex(attributeName, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureHashIndex(attributeName1, attributeName2, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureUniqueConstraint(attributeName, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureUniqueConstraint(attributeName1, attributeName2, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureSkiplist(attributeName, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureSkiplist(attributeName1, attributeName2, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureUniqueSkiplist(attributeName, { sparse: true });
db.collection.ensureUniqueSkiplist(attributeName1, attributeName2, { sparse: true });
Note that in place of the above specialized index creation commands, it is recommended to use the more general index creation
command
ensureIndex
:
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "hash", sparse: true, unique: true, fields: [ attributeName ] });
db.collection.ensureIndex({ type: "skiplist", sparse: false, unique: false, fields: [ "a", "b" ] });
When not explicitly set, the
sparse
attribute defaults to
false
for new hash or skiplist indexes.
This causes a change in behavior when creating a unique hash index without specifying the sparse flag: in 2.4, unique hash indexes were
implicitly sparse, always excluding
null
values. There was no option to control this behavior, and sparsity was neither supported for
non-unique hash indexes nor skiplists in 2.4. This implicit sparsity of unique hash indexes was considered an inconsistency, and therefore
the behavior was cleaned up in 2.5. As of 2.5, indexes will only be created sparse if sparsity is explicitly requested. Existing unique hash
indexes from 2.4 or before will automatically be migrated so they are still sparse after the upgrade to 2.5.
474
Whats New in 2.5
Geo indexes are implicitly sparse, meaning documents without the indexed location attribute or containing invalid location coordinate
values will be excluded from the index automatically. This is also a change when compared to pre-2.5 behavior, when documents with
missing or invalid coordinate values may have caused errors on insertion when the geo index'
flag was not. This was confusing and has been rectified in 2.5. The method
ensureGeoIndex()
. Furthermore, the attributes
constraint
,
unique
,
unique
ensureGeoConstraint()
ignoreNull
and
sparse
flag was set and its
ignoreNull
now does the same as
flags are now completely ignored
when creating geo indexes.
The same is true for fulltext indexes. There is no need to specify non-uniqueness or sparsity for geo or fulltext indexes.
As sparse indexes may exclude some documents, they cannot be used for every type of query. Sparse hash indexes cannot be used to find
documents for which at least one of the indexed attributes has a value of
sparse index, even if one was created on attribute
attr
null
. For example, the following AQL query cannot use a
:
FOR doc In collection
FILTER doc.attr == null
RETURN doc
If the lookup value is non-constant, a sparse index may or may not be used, depending on the other types of conditions in the query. If
the optimizer can safely determine that the lookup value cannot be
null
, a sparse index may be used. When uncertain, the optimizer
will not make use of a sparse index in a query in order to produce correct results.
For example, the following queries cannot use a sparse index on
comparison values for
doc.attr
will include
null
attr
because the optimizer will not know beforehand whether the
:
FOR doc In collection
FILTER doc.attr == SOME_FUNCTION(...)
RETURN doc
FOR other IN otherCollection
FOR doc In collection
FILTER doc.attr == other.attr
RETURN doc
Sparse skiplist indexes can be used for sorting if the optimizer can safely detect that the index range does not include
null
for any of
the index attributes.
Selectivity estimates
Indexes of type
primary
,
edge
and
hash
now provide selectivity estimates. These will be used by the AQL query optimizer when
deciding about index usage. Using selectivity estimates can lead to faster query execution when more selective indexes are used.
The selectivity estimates are also returned by the
GET /_api/index
REST API method in a sub-attribute
selectivityEstimate
for
each index that supports it. This attribute will be omitted for indexes that do not provide selectivity estimates. If provided, the selectivity
estimate will be a numeric value between 0 and 1.
Selectivity estimates will also be reported in the result of
estimate can be determined for an index, the attribute
collection.getIndexes()
selectivityEstimate
for all indexes that support this. If no selectivity
will be omitted here, too.
The web interface also shows selectivity estimates for each index that supports this.
Currently the following index types can provide selectivity estimates:
primary index
edge index
hash index (unique and non-unique)
No selectivity estimates will be provided for indexes when running in cluster mode.
AQL Optimizer improvements
Sort removal
475
Whats New in 2.5
The AQL optimizer rule "use-index-for-sort" will now remove sorts also in case a non-sorted index (e.g. a hash index) is used for only
equality lookups and all sort attributes are covered by the equality lookup conditions.
For example, in the following query the extra sort on
doc.value
will be optimized away provided there is an index on
doc.value
):
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.value == 1
SORT doc.value
RETURN doc
The AQL optimizer rule "use-index-for-sort" now also removes sort in case the sort criteria excludes the left-most index attributes, but
the left-most index attributes are used by the index for equality-only lookups.
For example, in the following query with a skiplist index on
value1
,
value2
, the sort can be optimized away:
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.value1 == 1
SORT doc.value2
RETURN doc
Constant attribute propagation
The new AQL optimizer rule
propagate-constant-attributes
will look for attributes that are equality-compared to a constant value,
and will propagate the comparison value into other equality lookups. This rule will only look inside
constant values found in
FILTER
For example, the rule will insert
FILTER
conditions, and insert
s, too.
42
instead of
i.value
in the second
FILTER
of the following query:
FOR i IN c1
FOR j IN c2
FILTER i.value == 42
FILTER j.value == i.value
RETURN 1
Interleaved processing
The optimizer will now inspect AQL data-modification queries and detect if the query's data-modification part can run in lockstep with
the data retrieval part of the query, or if the data retrieval part must be executed and completed first before the data-modification can
start.
Executing both data retrieval and data-modification in lockstep allows using much smaller buffers for intermediate results, reducing the
memory usage of queries. Not all queries are eligible for this optimization, and the optimizer will only apply the optimization when it can
safely detect that the data-modification part of the query will not modify data to be found by the retrieval part.
Query execution statistics
The
filtered
filtered by
attribute was added to AQL query execution statistics. The value of this attribute indicates how many documents were
FilterNode
from the index. The
FilterNode
s in the AQL query. Note that
filtered
IndexRangeNode
s can also filter documents by selecting only the required ranges
value will not include the work done by
IndexRangeNode
s, but only the work performed by
s.
Language improvements
Dynamic attribute names in AQL object literals
This change allows using arbitrary expressions to construct attribute names in object literals specified in AQL queries. To disambiguate
expressions and other unquoted attribute names, dynamic attribute names need to be enclosed in brackets (
[
and
]
).
Example:
476
Whats New in 2.5
FOR i IN 1..100
RETURN { [ CONCAT('value-of-', i) ] : i }
AQL functions
The following AQL functions were added in 2.5:
MD5(value)
: generates an MD5 hash of
SHA1(value)
value
: generates an SHA1 hash of
RANDOM_TOKEN(length)
value
: generates a random string value of the specified length
Simplify Foxx usage
Thanks to our user feedback we learned that Foxx is a powerful, yet rather complicated concept. With 2.5 we made it less complicated
while keeping all its strength. That includes a rewrite of the documentation as well as some code changes as follows:
Moved Foxx applications to a different folder.
Until 2.4 foxx apps were stored in the following folder structure:
/databases//:
. This
caused some trouble as apps where cached based on name and version and updates did not apply. Also the path on filesystem and the
app's access URL had no relation to one another. Now the path on filesystem is identical to the URL (except the appended APP):
/_db///APP
Rewrite of Foxx routing
The routing of Foxx has been exposed to major internal changes we adjusted because of user feedback. This allows us to set the
development mode per mountpoint without having to change paths and hold apps at separate locations.
Foxx Development mode
The development mode used until 2.4 is gone. It has been replaced by a much more mature version. This includes the deprecation of the
javascript.dev-app-path parameter, which is useless since 2.5. Instead of having two separate app directories for production and
development, apps now reside in one place, which is used for production as well as for development. Apps can still be put into
development mode, changing their behavior compared to production mode. Development mode apps are still reread from disk at every
request, and still they ship more debug output.
This change has also made the startup options
--javascript.frontend-development-mode
and
--javascript.dev-app-path
obsolete.
The former option will not have any effect when set, and the latter option is only read and used during the upgrade to 2.5 and does not
have any effects later.
Foxx install process
Installing Foxx apps has been a two step process: import them into ArangoDB and mount them at a specific mountpoint. These
operations have been joined together. You can install an app at one mountpoint, that's it. No fetch, mount, unmount, purge cycle
anymore. The commands have been simplified to just:
install: get your Foxx app up and running
uninstall: shut it down and erase it from disk
Foxx error output
Until 2.4 the errors produced by Foxx were not optimal. Often, the error message was just
unable to parse manifest
and contained
only an internal stack trace. In 2.5 we made major improvements there, including a much more fine grained error output that helps you
debug your Foxx apps. The error message printed is now much closer to its source and should help you track it down.
Also we added the default handlers for unhandled errors in Foxx apps:
You will get a nice internal error page whenever your Foxx app is called but was not installed due to any error
477
Whats New in 2.5
You will get a proper error message when having an uncaught error appears in any app route
In production mode the messages above will NOT contain any information about your Foxx internals and are safe to be exposed to third
party users. In development mode the messages above will contain the stacktrace (if available), making it easier for your in-house devs to
track down errors in the application.
Foxx console
We added a
console
object to Foxx apps. All Foxx apps now have a console object implementing the familiar Console API in their
global scope, which can be used to log diagnostic messages to the database. This console also allows to read the error output of one
specific foxx.
Foxx requests
We added
org/arangodb/request
module, which provides a simple API for making HTTP requests to external services. This is enables
Foxx to be directly part of a micro service architecture.
478
Incompatible changes in 2.5
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 2.5
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 2.5, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
Changed behavior
V8
The V8 version shipped with ArangoDB was upgraded from 3.29.59 to 3.31.74.1. This leads to additional ECMAScript 6 (ES6 or
"harmony") features being enabled by default in ArangoDB's scripting environment.
Apart from that, a change in the interpretation of command-line options by V8 may affect users. ArangoDB passes the value of the
command-line option
option
to V8 and leaves interpretation of the contents to V8. For example, the ArangoDB
--javascript.v8-options
--javascript.v8-options="--harmony"
could be used to tell V8 to enable its harmony features.
In ArangoDB 2.4, the following harmony options were made available by V8:
--harmony_scoping (enable harmony block scoping)
--harmony_modules (enable harmony modules (implies block scoping))
--harmony_proxies (enable harmony proxies)
--harmony_generators (enable harmony generators)
--harmony_numeric_literals (enable harmony numeric literals (0o77, 0b11))
--harmony_strings (enable harmony string)
--harmony_arrays (enable harmony arrays)
--harmony_arrow_functions (enable harmony arrow functions)
--harmony_classes (enable harmony classes)
--harmony_object_literals (enable harmony object literal extensions)
--harmony (enable all harmony features (except proxies))
There was the option
--harmony
, which turned on almost all harmony features.
In ArangoDB 2.5, V8 provides the following harmony-related options:
--harmony (enable all completed harmony features)
--harmony_shipping (enable all shipped harmony features)
--harmony_modules (enable "harmony modules (implies block scoping)" (in progress))
--harmony_arrays (enable "harmony array methods" (in progress))
--harmony_array_includes (enable "harmony Array.prototype.includes" (in progress))
--harmony_regexps (enable "harmony regular expression extensions" (in progress))
--harmony_arrow_functions (enable "harmony arrow functions" (in progress))
--harmony_proxies (enable "harmony proxies" (in progress))
--harmony_sloppy (enable "harmony features in sloppy mode" (in progress))
--harmony_unicode (enable "harmony unicode escapes" (in progress))
--harmony_tostring (enable "harmony toString")
--harmony_numeric_literals (enable "harmony numeric literals")
--harmony_strings (enable "harmony string methods")
--harmony_scoping (enable "harmony block scoping")
--harmony_classes (enable "harmony classes (implies block scoping & object literal extension)")
--harmony_object_literals (enable "harmony object literal extensions")
--harmony_templates (enable "harmony template literals")
Note that there are extra options for better controlling the dedicated features, and especially that the meaning of the
--harmony
option
has changed from enabling all harmony features to all completed harmony features!
Users should adjust the value of
--javascript.v8-options
accordingly.
Please note that incomplete harmony features are subject to change in future V8 releases.
479
Incompatible changes in 2.5
Sparse indexes
Hash indexes and skiplist indexes can now be created in a sparse variant. When not explicitly set, the
false
sparse
attribute defaults to
for new indexes.
This causes a change in behavior when creating a unique hash index without specifying the sparse flag. The unique hash index will be
created in a non-sparse variant in ArangoDB 2.5.
In 2.4 and before, unique hash indexes were implicitly sparse, always excluding
null
values from the index. There was no option to
control this behavior, and sparsity was neither supported for non-unique hash indexes nor skiplists in 2.4. This implicit sparsity of just
unique hash indexes was considered an inconsistency, and therefore the behavior was cleaned up in 2.5.
As of 2.5, hash and skiplist indexes will only be created sparse if sparsity is explicitly requested. This may require a change in indexcreating client code, but only if the client code creates unique hash indexes and if they are still intended to be sparse. In this case, the
client code should explicitly set the
sparse
flag to
true
when creating a unique hash index.
Existing unique hash indexes from 2.4 or before will automatically be migrated so they are still sparse after the upgrade to 2.5. For these
indexes, the
attribute will be populated automatically with a value of
sparse
true
.
Geo indexes are implicitly sparse, meaning documents without the indexed location attribute or containing invalid location coordinate
values will be excluded from the index automatically. This is also a change when compared to pre-2.5 behavior, when documents with
missing or invalid coordinate values may have caused errors on insertion when the geo index'
unique
flag was set and its
ignoreNull
flag was not.
This was confusing and has been rectified in 2.5. The method
Furthermore, the attributes
constraint
,
unique
,
ensureGeoConstraint()
ignoreNull
and
indexes. Client index creation code therefore does not need to set the
sparse
now does the same as
ensureGeoIndex()
.
flags are now completely ignored when creating geo
ignoreNull
or
constraint
attributes when creating a geo index.
The same is true for fulltext indexes. There is no need to specify non-uniqueness or sparsity for geo or fulltext indexes. They will always
be non-unique and sparse.
Moved Foxx applications to a different folder.
Until 2.4 foxx apps were stored in the following folder structure:
/databases//:
. This
caused some trouble as apps where cached based on name and version and updates did not apply. Also the path on filesystem and the
app's access URL had no relation to one another. Now the path on filesystem is identical to the URL (except the appended APP):
/_db///APP
Foxx Development mode
The development mode used until 2.4 is gone. It has been replaced by a much more mature version. This includes the deprecation of the
javascript.dev-app-path parameter, which is useless since 2.5. Instead of having two separate app directories for production and
development, apps now reside in one place, which is used for production as well as for development. Apps can still be put into
development mode, changing their behavior compared to production mode. Development mode apps are still reread from disk at every
request, and still they ship more debug output.
This change has also made the startup options
--javascript.frontend-development-mode
and
--javascript.dev-app-path
obsolete.
The former option will not have any effect when set, and the latter option is only read and used during the upgrade to 2.5 and does not
have any effects later.
Foxx install process
Installing Foxx apps has been a two step process: import them into ArangoDB and mount them at a specific mountpoint. These
operations have been joined together. You can install an app at one mountpoint, that's it. No fetch, mount, unmount, purge cycle
anymore. The commands have been simplified to just:
install: get your Foxx app up and running
uninstall: shut it down and erase it from disk Deprecated features
Foxx: method
Model#toJSONSchema(id)
is deprecated, it will raise a warning if you use it. Please use
Foxx.toJSONSchema(id,
480
Incompatible changes in 2.5
model)
instead.
Removed features
Startup switch
--javascript.frontend-development-mode
: Its major purpose was internal development anyway. Now the web
frontend can be set to development mode similar to any other foxx app.
Startup switch
--javascript.dev-app-path
: Was used for the development mode of Foxx. This is integrated with the normal app-
path now and can be triggered on app level. The second app-path is superfluous.
Foxx:
controller.collection
Foxx:
FoxxRepository.modelPrototype
Foxx:
Model.extend({}, {attributes: {}})
Foxx:
requestContext.bodyParam(paramName, description, Model)
options)
: Please use
appContext.collection
: Please use
FoxxRepository.model
: Please use
instead.
Model.extend({schema: {}})
: Please use
instead.
requestContext.bodyParam(paramName,
instead.
Foxx:
requestContext.queryParam({type: string})
Foxx:
requestContext.pathParam({type: string})
Graph: The modules
graph
instead.
org/arangodb/graph
and
: Please use
: Please use
requestContext.queryParam({type: joi})
requestContext.pathParam({type: joi})
org/arangodb/graph-blueprint
: Please use module
instead.
instead.
org/arangodb/general-
instead. NOTE: This does not mean we do not support blueprints any more. General graph covers everything the graph--
blueprint did, plus many more features.
General-Graph: In the module
org/arangodb/general-graph
no longer available. Both functions have been unified to
the functions
_relation
_undirectedRelation
and
_directedRelation
are
.
481
Whats New in 2.4
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.4. ArangoDB 2.4 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here. For a list of bugfixes, please consult the CHANGELOG.
V8 version upgrade
The built-in version of V8 has been upgraded from 3.16.14 to 3.29.59. This activates several ES6 (also dubbed Harmony or ES.next)
features in ArangoDB, both in the ArangoShell and the ArangoDB server. They can be used for scripting and in server-side actions such
as Foxx routes, traversals etc.
The following ES6 features are available in ArangoDB 2.4 by default:
iterators
the
of
operator
symbols
predefined collections types (Map, Set etc.)
typed arrays
Many other ES6 features are disabled by default, but can be made available by starting arangod or arangosh with the appropriate options:
arrow functions
proxies
generators
String, Array, and Number enhancements
constants
enhanced object and numeric literals
To activate all these ES6 features in arangod or arangosh, start it with the following options:
arangosh --javascript.v8-options="--harmony --harmony_generators"
More details on the available ES6 features can be found in this blog.
FoxxGenerator
ArangoDB 2.4 is shipped with FoxxGenerator, a framework for building standardized Hypermedia APIs easily. The generated APIs can
be consumed with client tools that understand Siren.
Hypermedia is the simple idea that our HTTP APIs should have links between their endpoints in the same way that our web sites have
links between them. FoxxGenerator is based on the idea that you can represent an API as a statechart: Every endpoint is a state and the
links are the transitions between them. Using your description of states and transitions, it can then create an API for you.
The FoxxGenerator can create APIs based on a semantic description of entities and transitions. A blog series on the use cases and how to
use the Foxx generator is here:
part 1
part 2
part 3
A cookbook recipe for getting started with FoxxGenerator is here.
AQL improvements
Optimizer improvements
482
Whats New in 2.4
The AQL optimizer has been enhanced to use of indexes in queries in several additional cases. Filters containing the
IN
operator can
now make use of indexes, and multiple OR- or AND-combined filter conditions can now also use indexes if the filter conditions refer to
the same indexed attribute.
Here are a few examples of queries that can now use indexes but couldn't before:
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.indexedAttribute == 1 || doc.indexedAttribute > 99
RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.indexedAttribute IN [ 3, 42 ] || doc.indexedAttribute > 99
RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER (doc.indexedAttribute > 2 && doc.indexedAttribute < 10) ||
(doc.indexedAttribute > 23 && doc.indexedAttribute < 42)
RETURN doc
Additionally, the optimizer rule
remove-filter-covered-by-index
has been added. This rule removes FilterNodes and
CalculationNodes from an execution plan if the filter condition is already covered by a previous IndexRangeNode. Removing the filter's
CalculationNode and the FilterNode itself will speed up query execution because the query requires less computation.
Furthermore, the new optimizer rule
appropriate
will remove a
remove-sort-rand
EnumerateCollectionNode
statement and move the random iteration into the
SORT RAND()
. This is usually more efficient than individually enumerating and sorting.
Data-modification queries returning documents
INSERT
,
REMOVE
,
UPDATE
or
REPLACE
queries now can optionally return the documents inserted, removed, updated, or replaced.
This is helpful for tracking the auto-generated attributes (e.g.
_key
,
_rev
) created by an
INSERT
and in a lot of other situations.
In order to return documents from a data-modification query, the statement must immediately be immediately followed by a
statement that assigns either the pseudo-value
NEW
statement that returns the variable introduced by
or
LET
OLD
to a variable. This
LET
statement must be followed by a
LET
RETURN
:
FOR i IN 1..100
INSERT { value: i } IN test LET inserted = NEW RETURN inserted
FOR u IN users
FILTER u.status == 'deleted'
REMOVE u IN users LET removed = OLD RETURN removed
FOR u IN users
FILTER u.status == 'not active'
UPDATE u WITH { status: 'inactive' } IN users LET updated = NEW RETURN updated
NEW
refers to the inserted or modified document revision, and
statements can only refer to the
NEW
pseudo-value, and
OLD
REMOVE
refers to the document revision before update or removal.
operations only to
OLD
.
UPDATE
and
REPLACE
INSERT
can refer to either.
In all cases the full documents will be returned with all their attributes, including the potentially auto-generated attributes such as
_key
, or
_rev
_id
,
and the attributes not specified in the update expression of a partial update.
Language improvements
COUNT
An optional
clause
COUNT
clause was added to the
COLLECT
statement. The
COUNT
clause allows for more efficient counting of values.
In previous versions of ArangoDB one had to write the following to count documents:
483
Whats New in 2.4
RETURN LENGTH (
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER ...some condition...
RETURN doc
)
With the
clause, the query can be modified to
COUNT
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER ...some condition...
COLLECT WITH COUNT INTO length
RETURN length
The latter query will be much more efficient because it will not produce any intermediate results with need to be shipped from a
subquery into the
The
COUNT
LENGTH
function.
clause can also be used to count the number of items in each group:
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER ...some condition...
COLLECT group = doc.group WITH COUNT INTO length
return { group: group, length: length }
COLLECT
modifications
In ArangoDB 2.4,
cases,
COLLECT
COLLECT
operations can be made more efficient if only a small fragment of the group values is needed later. For these
provides an optional conversion expression for the
INTO
clause. This expression controls the value that is inserted into
the array of group values. It can be used for projections.
The following query only copies the
dateRegistered
and computation time compared to copying
doc
attribute of each document into the groups, potentially saving a lot of memory
completely:
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER ...some condition...
COLLECT group = doc.group INTO dates = doc.dateRegistered
return { group: group, maxDate: MAX(dates) }
Compare this to the following variant of the query, which was the only way to achieve the same result in previous versions of
ArangoDB:
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER ...some condition...
COLLECT group = doc.group INTO dates
return { group: group, maxDate: MAX(dates[*].doc.dateRegistered) }
The above query will need to copy the full
dateRegistered
attribute of each
doc
doc
attribute into the
lengths
variable, whereas the new variant will only copy the
.
Subquery syntax
In previous versions of ArangoDB, subqueries required extra parentheses around them, and this caused confusion when subqueries were
used as function parameters. For example, the following query did not work:
LET values = LENGTH(
FOR doc IN collection RETURN doc
)
but had to be written as follows:
484
Whats New in 2.4
LET values = LENGTH((
FOR doc IN collection RETURN doc
))
This was unintuitive and is fixed in version 2.4 so that both variants of the query are accepted and produce the same result.
Web interface
The
Applications
tab for Foxx applications in the web interface has got a complete redesign.
It will now only show applications that are currently running in ArangoDB. For a selected application, a new detailed view has been
created. This view provides a better overview of the app, e.g.:
author
license
version
contributors
download links
API documentation
Installing a new Foxx application on the server is made easy using the new
provides all the features already available in the
foxx-manager
Add application
button. The
Add application
dialog
console application plus some more:
install a Foxx application from Github
install a Foxx application from a zip file
install a Foxx application from ArangoDB's application store
create a new Foxx application from scratch: this feature uses a generator to create a Foxx application with pre-defined CRUD
methods for a given list of collections. The generated Foxx app can either be downloaded as a zip file or be installed on the server.
Starting with a new Foxx app has never been easier.
Miscellaneous improvements
Default endpoint is 127.0.0.1
The default endpoint for the ArangoDB server has been changed from
0.0.0.0
to
127.0.0.1
. This will make new ArangoDB
installations unaccessible from clients other than localhost unless the configuration is changed. This is a security precaution measure that
has been requested as a feature a lot of times.
If you are the development option
--enable-relative
, the endpoint will still be
0.0.0.0
.
System collections in replication
By default, system collections are now included in replication and all replication API return values. This will lead to user accounts and
credentials data being replicated from master to slave servers. This may overwrite slave-specific database users.
If this is undesired, the
_users
collection can be excluded from replication easily by setting the
includeSystem
attribute to
false
in
the following commands:
replication.sync({ includeSystem: false });
replication.applier.properties({ includeSystem: false });
This will exclude all system collections (including
_aqlfunctions
,
_graphs
etc.) from the initial synchronization and the continuous
replication.
If this is also undesired, it is also possible to specify a list of collections to exclude from the initial synchronization and the continuous
replication using the
restrictCollections
attribute, e.g.:
485
Whats New in 2.4
require("org/arangodb/replication").applier.properties({
includeSystem: true,
restrictType: "exclude",
restrictCollections: [ "_users", "_graphs", "foo" ]
});
486
Incompatible changes in 2.4
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 2.4
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 2.4, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
Changed behavior
V8 upgrade
The bundled V8 version has been upgraded from 3.16.14 to 3.29.59.
The new version provides better error checking, which can lead to subtle changes in the execution of JavaScript code.
The following code, though nonsense, runs without error in 2.3 and 2.4 when strict mode is not enabled:
(function () {
a = true;
a.foo = 1;
})();
When enabling strict mode, the function will throw an error in 2.4 but not in 2.3:
(function () {
"use strict";
a = true;
a.foo = 1;
})();
TypeError: Cannot assign to read only property 'foo' of true
Though this is a change in behavior it can be considered an improvement. The new version actually uncovers an error that went
undetected in the old version.
Error messages have also changed slightly in the new version. Applications that rely on the exact error messages of the JavaScript engine
may need to be adjusted so they look for the updated error messages.
Default endpoint
The default endpoint for arangod is now
127.0.0.1
.
This change will modify the IP address ArangoDB listens on to 127.0.0.1 by default. This will make new ArangoDB installations
unaccessible from clients other than localhost unless the configuration is changed. This is a security feature.
To make ArangoDB accessible from any client, change the server's configuration (
--server.endpoint
) to either
tcp://0.0.0.0:8529
or the server's publicly visible IP address.
Replication
System collections are now included in the replication and all replication API return values by default.
This will lead to user accounts and credentials data being replicated from master to slave servers. This may overwrite slave-specific
database users.
This may be considered a feature or an anti-feature, so it is configurable.
If replication of system collections is undesired, they can be excluded from replication by setting the
false
includeSystem
attribute to
in the following commands:
initial synchronization:
replication.sync({ includeSystem: false })
continuous replication:
replication.applier.properties({ includeSystem: false })
487
Incompatible changes in 2.4
This will exclude all system collections (including
_aqlfunctions
,
_graphs
etc.) from the initial synchronization and the continuous
replication.
If this is also undesired, it is also possible to specify a list of collections to exclude from the initial synchronization and the continuous
replication using the
attribute, e.g.:
restrictCollections
require("org/arangodb/replication").applier.properties({
includeSystem: true,
restrictType: "exclude",
restrictCollections: [ "_users", "_graphs", "foo" ]
});
The above example will in general include system collections, but will exclude the specified three collections from continuous
replication.
The HTTP REST API methods for fetching the replication inventory and for dumping collections also support the
includeSystem
control flag via a URL parameter of the same name.
Build process changes
Several options for the
configure
command have been removed in 2.4. The options
--enable-all-in-one-v8
--enable-all-in-one-icu
--enable-all-in-one-libev
--with-libev=DIR
--with-libev-lib=DIR
--with-v8=DIR
--with-v8-lib=DIR
--with-icu-config=FILE
are not available anymore because the build process will always use the bundled versions of the libraries.
When building ArangoDB from source in a directory that already contained a pre-2.4 version, it will be necessary to run a
superclean
make
command once and a full rebuild afterwards:
git pull
make superclean
make setup
./configure
make
Miscellaneous changes
As a consequence of global renaming in the codebase, the option
mergeArrays
has been renamed to
mergeObjects
. This option
controls whether JSON objects will be merged on an update operation or overwritten. The default has been, and still is, to merge. Not
specifying the parameter will lead to a merge, as it has been the behavior in ArangoDB ever since.
This affects the HTTP REST API method PATCH
option has been renamed to
The AQL
UPDATE
mergeObjects
/_api/document/collection/key
. Its optional URL parameter
mergeArrays
for the
.
statement is also affected, as its option
mergeArrays
has also been renamed to
mergeObjects
. The 2.3 query
UPDATE doc IN collection WITH { ... } IN collection OPTIONS { mergeArrays: false }
should thus be rewritten to the following in 2.4:
UPDATE doc IN collection WITH { ... } IN collection OPTIONS { mergeObjects: false }
488
Incompatible changes in 2.4
Deprecated features
For
objects, the method
FoxxController
method will issue a warning. Please use
For
FoxxController
/
FoxxController
/
RequestContext
FoxxController
/
, calling method
RequestContext
calling method
RequestContext
FoxxModel
In module
, calling
bodyParam()
with three arguments is deprecated. Please use
pathParam({type: string})
, the functions
is deprecated. Please use
_undirectedRelation()
be removed in a future version of ArangoDB. Both functions have been unified to
The modules
graph
org/arangodb/graph
and
is deprecated. Please use
instead.
Model.extend({}, {attributes: {}})
org/arangodb/general-graph
is deprecated. Please use
queryParam({type: string})
instead.
calling method
requestContext.pathParam({type: joi})
For
is now deprecated. Using it will issue a warning. Please use
instead.
requestContext.queryParam({type: joi})
In
modelPrototype
instead.
instead.
.bodyParam(paramName, options)
In
is deprecated and will be removed in future version of ArangoDB. Using this
applicationContext.collection()
objects, the property
FoxxRepository
FoxxRepository.model
In
collection()
org/arangodb/graph-blueprint
and
Model.extend({schema: {}})
_directedRelation()
_relation()
instead.
are deprecated and will
.
are deprecated. Please use module
org/arangodb/general-
instead.
The HTTP REST API
_api/graph
and all its methods are deprecated. Please use the general graph API
_api/gharial
instead.
Removed features
The following replication-related JavaScript methods became obsolete in ArangoDB 2.2 and have been removed in ArangoDB 2.4:
require("org/arangodb/replication").logger.start()
require("org/arangodb/replication").logger.stop()
require("org/arangodb/replication").logger.properties()
The REST API methods for these functions have also been removed in ArangoDB 2.4:
HTTP PUT
/_api/replication/logger-start
HTTP PUT
/_api/replication/logger-stop
HTTP GET
/_api/replication/logger-config
HTTP PUT
/_api/replication/logger-config
Client applications that call one of these methods should be adjusted by removing the calls to these methods. This shouldn't be
problematic as these methods have been no-ops since ArangoDB 2.2 anyway.
489
Whats New in 2.3
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.3. ArangoDB 2.3 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here.
AQL improvements
Framework improvements
AQL queries are now sent through a query optimizer framework before execution. The query optimizer framework will first convert the
internal representation of the query, the abstract syntax tree, into an initial execution plan.
The execution plan is then send through optimizer rules that may directly modify the plan in place or create a new variant of the plan.
New plans might again be optimized, allowing the optimizer to carry out several optimizations.
After creating plans, the optimizer will estimate the costs for each plan and pick the plan with the lowest cost (termed the optimal plan)
for the actual query execution.
With the
explain()
method of
ArangoStatement
users can check which execution plan the optimizer pick or retrieve a list of other
plans that optimizer did not choose. The plan will reveal many details about which indexes are used etc.
explain()
will also return the
of optimizer rules applied so users can validate whether or not a query allows using a specific optimization.
Execution of AQL queries has been rewritten in C++, allowing many queries to avoid the conversion of documents between ArangoDB's
internal low-level data structure and the V8 object representation format.
The framework for optimizer rules is now also generally cluster-aware, allowing specific optimizations for queries that run in a cluster.
Additionally, the optimizer was designed to be extensible in order to add more optimizations in the future.
Language improvements
Alternative operator syntax
ArangoDB 2.3 allows to use the following alternative forms for the logical operators:
AND
OR
: logical and
: logical or
NOT
: negation
This new syntax is just an alternative to the old syntax, allowing easier migration from SQL. The old syntax is still fully supported and
will be:
&&
: logical and
||
: logical or
!
: negation
NOT IN
operator
AQL now has a dedicated
Previously, a
NOT IN
NOT IN
operator.
was only achievable by writing a negated
IN
condition:
FOR i IN ... FILTER ! (i IN [ 23, 42 ]) ...
In ArangoDB 2.3, the same result can now alternatively be achieved by writing the more intuitive variant:
FOR i IN ... FILTER i NOT IN [ 23, 42 ] ...
Improvements of built-in functions
490
Whats New in 2.3
The following AQL string functions have been added:
LTRIM(value, characters)
: left-trims a string value
RTRIM(value, characters)
: right-trims a string value
: finds the first occurrence of a search string
FIND_FIRST(value, search, start, end)
FIND_LAST(value, search, start, end)
SPLIT(value, separator, limit)
: finds the last occurrence of a search string
: splits a string into an array, using a separator
: replaces characters or strings inside another
SUBSTITUTE(value, search, replace, limit)
The following other AQL functions have been added:
VALUES(document)
: returns the values of an object as a array (this is the counterpart to the already existing
PERCENTILE(values, n, method)
The already existing functions
ATTRIBUTES
function)
: returns an object constructed from attributes and values passed in separate parameters
ZIP(attributes, values)
CONCAT
: returns the nths percentile of the values provided, using rank or interpolation method
and
CONCAT_SEPARATOR
now support array arguments, e.g.:
/* "foobarbaz" */
CONCAT([ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz'])
/* "foo,bar,baz" */
CONCAT_SEPARATOR(", ", [ 'foo', 'bar', 'baz'])
AQL queries throw less exceptions
In previous versions of ArangoDB, AQL queries aborted with an exception in many situations and threw a runtime exception. For
example, exceptions were thrown when trying to find a value using the
boolean values with the logical operands
&&
or
or
||
!
IN
operator in a non-array element, when trying to use non-
, when using non-numeric values in arithmetic operations, when passing
wrong parameters into functions etc.
The fact that many AQL operators could throw exceptions led to a lot of questions from users, and a lot of more-verbose-than-necessary
queries. For example, the following query failed when there were documents that did not have a
topics
attribute at all:
FOR doc IN mycollection
FILTER doc.topics IN [ "something", "whatever" ]
RETURN doc
This forced users to rewrite the query as follows:
FOR doc IN mycollection
FILTER IS_LIST(doc.topics) && doc.topics IN [ "something", "whatever" ]
RETURN doc
In ArangoDB 2.3 this has been changed to make AQL easier to use. The change provides an extra benefit, and that is that non-throwing
operators allow the query optimizer to perform much more transformations in the query without changing its overall result.
Here is a summary of changes:
when a non-array value is used on the right-hand side of the
IN
operator, the result will be
false
in ArangoDB 2.3, and no
exception will be thrown.
the boolean operators
&&
and
do not throw in ArangoDB 2.3 if any of the operands is not a boolean value. Instead, they will
||
perform an implicit cast of the values to booleans. Their result will be as follows:
lhs && rhs
be
true
false
! value
lhs
if it is
will return
lhs
if it is
when converted to a boolean,
+
,
-
,
*
,
/
,
%
false
when converted into a boolean. If
lhs
is
true
or would
will be returned.
rhs
or would be
true
will return the negated value of
the arithmetic operators (
or would be
false
when converted to a boolean,
lhs || rhs
be
will return
rhs
true
when converted into a boolean. If
lhs
is
false
or would
will be returned.
value
converted into a boolean
) can be applied to any value and will not throw exceptions when applied to non-
numeric values. Instead, any value used in these operators will be casted to a numeric value implicitly. If no numeric result can be
produced by an arithmetic operator, it will return
null
in ArangoDB 2.3. This is also true for division by zero.
passing arguments of invalid types into AQL functions does not throw a runtime exception in most cases, but may produce runtime
491
Whats New in 2.3
warnings. Built-in AQL functions that receive invalid arguments will then return
null
.
Performance improvements
Non-unique hash indexes
The performance of insertion into non-unique hash indexes has been improved significantly. This fixes performance problems in case
attributes were indexes that contained only very few distinct values, or when most of the documents did not even contain the indexed
attribute. This also fixes problems when loading collections with such indexes.
The insertion time now scales linearly with the number of documents regardless of the cardinality of the indexed attribute.
Reverse iteration over skiplist indexes
AQL queries can now use a sorted skiplist index for reverse iteration. This allows several queries to run faster than in previous versions
of ArangoDB.
For example, the following AQL query can now use the index on
doc.value
:
FOR doc IN mycollection
FILTER doc.value > 23
SORT doc.values DESC
RETURN doc
Previous versions of ArangoDB did not use the index because of the descending (
DESC
) sort.
Additionally, the new AQL optimizer can use an index for sorting now even if the AQL query does not contain a
FILTER
statement.
This optimization was not available in previous versions of ArangoDB.
Added basic support for handling binary data in Foxx
Buffer objects can now be used when setting the response body of any Foxx action. This allows Foxx actions to return binary data.
Requests with binary payload can be processed in Foxx applications by using the new method
res.rawBodyBuffer()
. This will return
the unparsed request body as a Buffer object.
There is now also the method
req.requestParts()
available in Foxx to retrieve the individual components of a multipart HTTP
request. That can be used for example to process file uploads.
Additionally, the
res.send()
method has been added as a convenience method for returning strings, JSON objects or Buffers from a
Foxx action. It provides some auto-detection based on its parameter value:
res.send("some HTML
");
// returns an HTML string
res.send({ success: true });
// returns a JSON object
res.send(new Buffer("some binary data"));
The convenience method
res.sendFile()
// returns binary data
can now be used to return the contents of a file from a Foxx action. They file may contain
binary data:
res.sendFile(applicationContext.foxxFilename("image.png"));
The filesystem methods
fs.write()
fs.write()
and
fs.readBuffer()
can be used to work with binary data, too:
will perform an auto-detection of its second parameter's value so it works with Buffer objects:
fs.write(filename, "some data");
// saves a string value in file
fs.write(filename, new Buffer("some binary data"));
fs.readBuffer()
// saves (binary) contents of a buffer
has been added as a method to read the contents of an arbitrary file into a Buffer object.
492
Whats New in 2.3
Web interface
Batch document removal and move functionality has been added to the web interface, making it easier to work with multiple documents
at once. Additionally, basic JSON import and export tools have been added.
Command-line options added
The command-line option
--javascript.v8-contexts
was added to arangod to provide better control over the number of V8 contexts
created in arangod.
Previously, the number of V8 contexts arangod created at startup was equal to the number of server threads (as specified by option
server.threads
--
).
In some situations it may be more sensible to create different amounts of threads and V8 contexts. This is because each V8 contexts
created will consume memory and requires CPU resources for periodic garbage collection. Contrary, server threads do not have such
high memory or CPU footprint.
If the option
--javascript.v8-contexts
is not specified, the number of V8 contexts created at startup will remain equal to the number
of server threads. Thus no change in configuration is required to keep the same behavior as in previous ArangoDB versions.
The command-line option
--log.use-local-time
was added to print dates and times in ArangoDB's log in the server-local timezone
instead of UTC. If it is not set, the timezone will default to UTC.
The option
--backslash-escape
has been added to arangoimp. Specifying this option will use the backslash as the escape character for
literal quotes when parsing CSV files. The escape character for literal quotes is still the double quote character.
Miscellaneous improvements
ArangoDB's built-in HTTP server now supports HTTP pipelining.
The ArangoShell tutorial from the arangodb.com website is now integrated into the ArangoDB shell.
Powerful Foxx Enhancements
With the new job queue feature you can run async jobs to communicate with external services, Foxx queries make writing complex
AQL queries much easier and Foxx sessions will handle the authentication and session hassle for you.
Foxx Queries
Writing long AQL queries in JavaScript can quickly become unwieldy. As of 2.3 ArangoDB bundles the ArangoDB Query Builder
module that provides a JavaScript API for writing complex AQL queries without string concatenation. All built-in functions that accept
AQL strings now support query builder instances directly. Additionally Foxx provides a method
Foxx.createQuery
for creating
parametrized queries that can return Foxx models or apply arbitrary transformations to the query results.
Foxx Sessions
The session functionality in Foxx has been completely rewritten. The old
deprecated in the future. The new
activateSessions
activateAuthentication
API is still supported but may be
API supports cookies or configurable headers, provides optional JSON Web
Token and cryptographic signing support and uses the new sessions Foxx app.
ArangoDB 2.3 provides Foxx apps for user management and salted hash-based authentication which can be replaced with or
supplemented by alternative implementations. For an example app using both the built-in authentication and OAuth2 see the Foxx
Sessions Example app.
Foxx Queues
Foxx now provides async workers via the Foxx Queues API. Jobs enqueued in a job queue will be executed asynchronously outside of
the request/response cycle of Foxx controllers and can be used to communicate with external services or perform tasks that take a long
time to complete or may require multiple attempts.
493
Whats New in 2.3
Jobs can be scheduled in advance or set to be executed immediately, the number of retry attempts, the retry delay as well as success and
failure handlers can be defined for each job individually. Job types that integrate various external services for transactional e-mails,
logging and user tracking can be found in the Foxx app registry.
Misc
The request and response objects in Foxx controllers now provide methods for reading and writing raw cookies and signed cookies.
Mounted Foxx apps will now be loaded when arangod starts rather than at the first database request. This may result in slightly slower
start up times (but a faster response for the first request).
494
Incompatible changes in 2.3
Incompatible changes in ArangoDB 2.3
It is recommended to check the following list of incompatible changes before upgrading to ArangoDB 2.3, and adjust any client
programs if necessary.
Configuration file changes
Threads and contexts
The number of server threads specified is now the minimum of threads started. There are situation in which threads are waiting for
results of distributed database servers. In this case the number of threads is dynamically increased.
With ArangoDB 2.3, the number of server threads can be configured independently of the number of V8 contexts. The configuration
option
--javascript.v8-contexts
was added to arangod to provide better control over the number of V8 contexts created in arangod.
Previously, the number of V8 contexts arangod created at startup was equal to the number of server threads (as specified by option
server.threads
--
).
In some situations it may be more sensible to create different amounts of threads and V8 contexts. This is because each V8 contexts
created will consume memory and requires CPU resources for periodic garbage collection. Contrary, server threads do not have such
high memory or CPU footprint.
If the option
--javascript.v8-contexts
is not specified, the number of V8 contexts created at startup will remain equal to the number
of server threads. Thus no change in configuration is required to keep the same behavior as in previous ArangoDB versions.
If you are using the default config files or merge them with your local config files, please review if the default number of server threads
is okay in your environment. Additionally you should verify that the number of V8 contexts created (as specified in option
javascript.v8-contexts
--
) is okay.
Syslog
The command-line option
--log.syslog
was used in previous versions of ArangoDB to turn logging to syslog on or off: when setting
to a non-empty string, syslog logging was turned on, otherwise turned off. When syslog logging was turned on, logging was done with
the application name specified in
log.hostname
--log.application
, which defaulted to
triagens
. There was also a command-line option
--
which could be set but did not have any effect.
This behavior turned out to be unintuitive and was changed in 2.3 as follows:
the command-line option
--log.syslog
is deprecated and does not have any effect when starting ArangoDB.
to turn on syslog logging in 2.3, the option
--log.facility
dependent (possible values can be found in
/usr/include/syslog.h
the default value for
--log.application
the command-line option
--log.hostname
has to be set to a non-empty string. The value for
has been changed from
or the like -
triagens
to
user
facility
is OS-
should be available on many systems).
arangod
.
is deprecated and does not have any effect when starting ArangoDB. Instead, the host
name will be set by syslog automatically.
when logging to syslog, ArangoDB now omits the datetime prefix and the process id, because they'll be added by syslog
automatically.
AQL
AQL queries throw less exceptions
ArangoDB 2.3 contains a completely rewritten AQL query optimizer and execution engine. This means that AQL queries will be
executed with a different engine than in ArangoDB 2.2 and earlier. Parts of AQL queries might be executed in different order than before
because the AQL optimizer has more freedom to move things around in a query.
495
Incompatible changes in 2.3
In previous versions of ArangoDB, AQL queries aborted with an exception in many situations and threw a runtime exception. Exceptions
were thrown when trying to find a value using the
logical operands
&&
or
||
or
!
operator in a non-array element, when trying to use non-boolean values with the
IN
, when using non-numeric values in arithmetic operations, when passing wrong parameters into
functions etc.
In ArangoDB 2.3 this has been changed in many cases to make AQL more user-friendly and to allow the optimization to perform much
more query optimizations.
Here is a summary of changes:
when a non-array value is used on the right-hand side of the
IN
operator, the result will be
false
in ArangoDB 2.3, and no
exception will be thrown.
the boolean operators
&&
and
do not throw in ArangoDB 2.3 if any of the operands is not a boolean value. Instead, they will
||
perform an implicit cast of the values to booleans. Their result will be as follows:
lhs && rhs
be
true
false
! value
lhs
if it is
will return
lhs
if it is
when converted to a boolean,
+
,
-
,
*
,
/
,
%
false
when converted into a boolean. If
lhs
is
true
or would
will be returned.
rhs
or would be
true
rhs
will return the negated value of
the arithmetic operators (
or would be
false
when converted to a boolean,
lhs || rhs
be
will return
true
when converted into a boolean. If
lhs
is
false
or would
will be returned.
value
converted into a boolean
) can be applied to any value and will not throw exceptions when applied to non-
numeric values. Instead, any value used in these operators will be casted to a numeric value implicitly. If no numeric result can be
produced by an arithmetic operator, it will return
null
in ArangoDB 2.3. This is also true for division by zero.
passing arguments of invalid types into AQL functions does not throw a runtime exception in most cases, but may produce runtime
warnings. Built-in AQL functions that receive invalid arguments will then return
null
.
Nested FOR loop execution order
The query optimizer in 2.3 may permute the order of nested
FOR
loops in AQL queries, provided that exchanging the loops will not
alter a query result. However, a change in the order of returned values is allowed because no sort order is guaranteed by AQL (and was
never) unless an explicit
SORT
statement is used in a query.
Changed return values of ArangoQueryCursor.getExtra()
The return value of
ArangoQueryCursor.getExtra()
has been changed in ArangoDB 2.3. It now contains a
statistics about the query previously executed. It also contains a
warnings
stats
attribute with
attribute with warnings that happened during query
execution. The return value structure has been unified in 2.3 for both read-only and data-modification queries.
The return value looks like this for a read-only query:
arangosh> stmt = db._createStatement("FOR i IN mycollection RETURN i"); stmt.execute().getExtra()
{
"stats" : {
"writesExecuted" : 0,
"writesIgnored" : 0,
"scannedFull" : 2600,
"scannedIndex" : 0
},
"warnings" : [ ]
}
For data-modification queries, ArangoDB 2.3 returns a result with the same structure:
arangosh> stmt = db._createStatement("FOR i IN xx REMOVE i IN xx"); stmt.execute().getExtra()
{
"stats" : {
"writesExecuted" : 2600,
"writesIgnored" : 0,
"scannedFull" : 2600,
"scannedIndex" : 0
},
"warnings" : [ ]
}
496
Incompatible changes in 2.3
In ArangoDB 2.2, the return value of
operations
ArangoQueryCursor.getExtra()
was empty for read-only queries and contained an attribute
with two sub-attributes for data-modification queries:
arangosh> stmt = db._createStatement("FOR i IN mycollection RETURN i"); stmt.execute().getExtra()
{
}
arangosh> stmt = db._createStatement("FOR i IN mycollection REMOVE i IN mycollection"); stmt.execute().getExtra()
{
"operations" : {
"executed" : 2600,
"ignored" : 0
}
}
Changed return values in HTTP method POST /_api/cursor
The previously mentioned change also leads to the statistics being returned in the HTTP REST API method
Previously, the return value contained an optional
POST /_api/cursor
.
attribute that was filled only for data-modification queries and in some other
extra
cases as follows:
{
"result" : [ ],
"hasMore" : false,
"extra" : {
"operations" : {
"executed" : 2600,
"ignored" : 0
}
}
}
With the changed result structure in ArangoDB 2.3, the
extra
attribute in the result will look like this:
{
"result" : [],
"hasMore" : false,
"extra" : {
"stats" : {
"writesExecuted" : 2600,
"writesIgnored" : 0,
"scannedFull" : 0,
"scannedIndex" : 0
},
"warnings" : [ ]
}
}
If the query option
fullCount
is requested, the
fullCount
attribute, and not directly as an attribute inside the
extra
.
stats
extra
result value will also be returned inside the
attribute as in 2.2. Note that a
fullCount
stats
attribute of the
extra
will only be present in
if it was requested as an option for the query.
The result in ArangoDB 2.3 will also contain a
warnings
attribute with the array of warnings that happened during query execution.
Changed return values in ArangoStatement.explain()
The return value of
ArangoStatement.explain()
has changed significantly in ArangoDB 2.3. The new return value structure is not
compatible with the structure returned by 2.2.
In ArangoDB 2.3, the full execution plan for an AQL query is returned alongside all applied optimizer rules, optimization warnings etc.
It is also possible to have the optimizer return all execution plans. This required a new data structure.
Client programs that use
ArangoStatement.explain()
or the HTTP REST API method
POST /_api/explain
may need to be adjusted
to use the new return format.
497
Incompatible changes in 2.3
The return value of
ArangoStatement.parse()
2.3 will also return an
ast
has been extended in ArangoDB 2.3. In addition to the existing attributes, ArangoDB
attribute containing the abstract syntax tree of the statement. This extra attribute can safely be ignored by
client programs.
Variables not updatable in queries
Previous versions of ArangoDB allowed the modification of variables inside AQL queries, e.g.
LET counter = 0
FOR i IN 1..10
LET counter = counter + 1
RETURN counter
While this is admittedly a convenient feature, the new query optimizer design did not allow to keep it. Additionally, updating variables
inside a query would prevent a lot of optimizations to queries that we would like the optimizer to make. Additionally, updating variables
in queries that run on different nodes in a cluster would like cause non-deterministic behavior because queries are not executed linearly.
Changed return value of TO_BOOL
The AQL function
TO_BOOL
now always returns true if its argument is a array or an object. In previous versions of ArangoDB, the
function returned false for empty arrays or for objects without attributes.
Changed return value of TO_NUMBER
The AQL function
TO_NUMBER
now returns null if its argument is an object or an array with more than one member. In previous version
of ArangoDB, the return value in these cases was 0.
TO_NUMBER
will return 0 for empty array, and the numeric equivalent of the array
member's value for arrays with a single member.
New AQL keywords
The following keywords have been added to AQL in ArangoDB 2.3:
NOT
AND
OR
Unquoted usage of these keywords for attribute names in AQL queries will likely fail in ArangoDB 2.3. If any such attribute name needs
to be used in a query, it should be enclosed in backticks to indicate the usage of a literal attribute name.
Removed features
Bitarray indexes
Bitarray indexes were only half-way documented and integrated in previous versions of ArangoDB so their benefit was limited. The
support for bitarray indexes has thus been removed in ArangoDB 2.3. It is not possible to create indexes of type "bitarray" with
ArangoDB 2.3.
When a collection is opened that contains a bitarray index definition created with a previous version of ArangoDB, ArangoDB will
ignore it and log the following warning:
index type 'bitarray' is not supported in this version of ArangoDB and is ignored
Future versions of ArangoDB may automatically remove such index definitions so the warnings will eventually disappear.
Other removed features
The HTTP REST API method at
POST /_admin/modules/flush
has been removed.
498
Incompatible changes in 2.3
Known issues
In ArangoDB 2.3.0, AQL queries containing filter conditions with an IN expression will not yet use an index:
FOR doc IN collection FILTER doc.indexedAttribute IN [ ... ] RETURN doc
FOR doc IN collection
FILTER doc.indexedAttribute IN [ ... ]
RETURN doc
We’re currently working on getting the IN optimizations done, and will ship them in a 2.3 maintenance release soon (e.g. 2.3.1 or 2.3.2).
499
Whats New in 2.2
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.2. ArangoDB 2.2 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here.
AQL improvements
Data modification AQL queries
Up to including version 2.1, AQL supported data retrieval operations only. Starting with ArangoDB version 2.2, AQL also supports the
following data modification operations:
INSERT: insert new documents into a collection
UPDATE: partially update existing documents in a collection
REPLACE: completely replace existing documents in a collection
REMOVE: remove existing documents from a collection
Data-modification operations are normally combined with other AQL statements such as FOR loops and FILTER conditions to determine
the set of documents to operate on. For example, the following query will find all documents in collection users that match a specific
condition and set their status variable to inactive:
FOR u IN users
FILTER u.status == 'not active'
UPDATE u WITH { status: 'inactive' } IN users
The following query copies all documents from collection users into collection backup:
FOR u IN users
INSERT u IN backup
And this query removes documents from collection backup:
FOR doc IN backup
FILTER doc.lastModified < DATE_NOW() - 3600
REMOVE doc IN backup
For more information on data-modification queries, please refer to Data modification queries.
Updatable variables
Previously, the value of a variable assigned in an AQL query with the
LET
keyword was not updatable in an AQL query. This prevented
statements like the following from being executable:
LET sum = 0
FOR v IN values
SORT v.year
LET sum = sum + v.value
RETURN { year: v.year, value: v.value, sum: sum }
Other AQL improvements
added AQL TRANSLATE function
This function can be used to perform lookups from static objects, e.g.
500
Whats New in 2.2
LET countryNames = { US: "United States", UK: "United Kingdom", FR: "France" }
RETURN TRANSLATE("FR", countryNames)
LET lookup = { foo: "foo-replacement", bar: "bar-replacement", baz: "baz-replacement" }
RETURN TRANSLATE("foobar", lookup, "not contained!")
Write-ahead log
All write operations in an ArangoDB server will now be automatically logged in the server's write-ahead log. The write-ahead log is a set
of append-only logfiles, and it is used in case of a crash recovery and for replication.
Data from the write-ahead log will eventually be moved into the journals or datafiles of collections, allowing the server to remove older
write-ahead logfiles.
Cross-collection transactions in ArangoDB should benefit considerably by this change, as less writes than in previous versions are
required to ensure the data of multiple collections are atomically and durably committed. All data-modifying operations inside
transactions (insert, update, remove) will write their operations into the write-ahead log directly now. In previous versions, such
operations were buffered until the commit or rollback occurred. Transactions with multiple operations should therefore require less
physical memory than in previous versions of ArangoDB.
The data in the write-ahead log can also be used in the replication context. In previous versions of ArangoDB, replicating from a master
required turning on a special replication logger on the master. The replication logger caused an extra write operation into the _replication
system collection for each actual write operation. This extra write is now superfluous. Instead, slaves can read directly from the master's
write-ahead log to get informed about most recent data changes. This removes the need to store data-modification operations in the
_replication collection altogether.
For the configuration of the write-ahead log, please refer to Write-ahead log options.
The introduction of the write-ahead log also removes the need to configure and start the replication logger on a master. Though the
replication logger object is still available in ArangoDB 2.2 to ensure API compatibility, starting, stopping, or configuring it will have no
effect.
Performance improvements
Removed sorting of attribute names when in collection shaper
In previous versions of ArangoDB, adding a document with previously not-used attribute names caused a full sort of all attribute
names used in the collection. The sorting was done to ensure fast comparisons of attribute names in some rare edge cases, but it
considerably slowed down inserts into collections with many different or even unique attribute names.
Specialized primary index implementation to allow faster hash table rebuilding and reduce lookups in datafiles for the actual value
of
_key
. This also reduces the amount of random memory accesses for primary index inserts.
Reclamation of index memory when deleting last document in collection
Deleting documents from a collection did not lead to index sizes being reduced. Instead, the index memory was kept allocated and
re-used later when a collection was refilled with new documents. Now, index memory of primary indexes and hash indexes is
reclaimed instantly when the last document in a collection is removed.
Prevent buffering of long print results in arangosh's and arangod's print command
This change will emit buffered intermediate print results and discard the output buffer to quickly deliver print results to the user, and
to prevent constructing very large buffers for large results.
Miscellaneous improvements
Added
insert
method as an alias for
save
. Documents can now be inserted into a collection using either method:
db.test.save({ foo: "bar" });
db.test.insert({ foo: "bar" });
501
Whats New in 2.2
Cleanup of options for data-modification operations
Many of the data-modification operations had signatures with many optional bool parameters, e.g.:
db.test.update("foo", { bar: "baz" }, true, true, true)
db.test.replace("foo", { bar: "baz" }, true, true)
db.test.remove("foo", true, true)
db.test.save({ bar: "baz" }, true)
Such long parameter lists were unintuitive and hard to use when only one of the optional parameters should have been set.
To make the APIs more usable, the operations now understand the following alternative signature:
collection.update(key, update-document, options)
collection.replace(key, replacement-document, options)
collection.remove(key, options)
collection.save(document, options)
Examples:
db.test.update("foo", { bar: "baz" }, { overwrite: true, keepNull: true, waitForSync: true })
db.test.replace("foo", { bar: "baz" }, { overwrite: true, waitForSync: true })
db.test.remove("foo", { overwrite: true, waitForSync: true })
db.test.save({ bar: "baz" }, { waitForSync: true })
Added
--overwrite
option to arangoimp
This allows removing all documents in a collection before importing into it using arangoimp.
Honor startup option
--server.disable-statistics
when deciding whether or not to start periodic statistics collection jobs
Previously, the statistics collection jobs were started even if the server was started with the
being set to
true
. Now if the option is set to
true
--server.disable-statistics
flag
, no statistics will be collected on the server.
Disallow storing of JavaScript objects that contain JavaScript native objects of type
Date
,
Function
,
RegExp
or
External
,
e.g.
db.test.save({ foo: /bar/ });
db.test.save({ foo: new Date() });
This will now print
Error: cannot be converted into JSON shape: could not shape document
Previously, objects of these types were silently converted into an empty object (i.e.
{ }
) and no warning was issued.
To store such objects in a collection, explicitly convert them into strings like this:
db.test.save({ foo: String(/bar/) });
db.test.save({ foo: String(new Date()) });
Removed features
MRuby integration for arangod
ArangoDB had an experimental MRuby integration in some of the publish builds. This wasn't continuously developed, and so it has been
removed in ArangoDB 2.2.
This change has led to the following startup options being superfluous:
--ruby.gc-interval
--ruby.action-directory
502
Whats New in 2.2
--ruby.modules-path
--ruby.startup-directory
Specifying these startup options will do nothing in ArangoDB 2.2, so using these options should be avoided from now on as they might
be removed in a future version of ArangoDB.
Removed startup options
The following startup options have been removed in ArangoDB 2.2. Specifying them in the server's configuration file will not produce
an error to make migration easier. Still, usage of these options should be avoided as they will not have any effect and might fully be
removed in a future version of ArangoDB:
--database.remove-on-drop
--database.force-sync-properties
--random.no-seed
--ruby.gc-interval
--ruby.action-directory
--ruby.modules-path
--ruby.startup-directory
--server.disable-replication-logger
Multi Collection Graphs
ArangoDB is a multi model database with native graph support. In version 2.2 the features for graphs have been improved by integration
of a new graph module. All graphs created with the old module are automatically migrated into the new module but can still be used by
the old module.
New graph module
Up to including version 2.1, ArangoDB offered a module for graphs and graph operations. This module allowed you to use exactly one
edge collection together with one vertex collection in a graph. With ArangoDB version 2.2 this graph module is deprecated and a new
graph module is offered. This new module allows to combine an arbitrary number of vertex collections and edge collections in the same
graph. For each edge collection a list of collections containing source vertices and a list of collections containing target vertices can be
defined. If an edge is stored ArangoDB checks if this edge is valid in this collection. Furthermore if a vertex is removed from one of the
collections all connected edges will be removed as well, giving the guarantee of no loose ends in the graphs. The layout of the graph can
be modified at runtime by adding or removing collections and changing the definitions for edge collections. All operations on the graph
level are transactional by default.
Graphs in AQL
Multi collection graphs have been added to AQL as well. Basic functionality (getting vertices, edges, neighbors) can be executed using
the entire graph. Also more advanced features like shortest path calculations, characteristic factors of the graph or traversals have been
integrated into AQL. For these functions all graphs created with the graph module can be used.
503
Whats New in 2.1
Features and Improvements
The following list shows in detail which features have been added or improved in ArangoDB 2.1. ArangoDB 2.1 also contains several
bugfixes that are not listed here.
New Edges Index
The edges index (used to store connections between nodes in a graph) internally uses a new data structure. This data structure improves
the performance when populating the edge index (i.e. when loading an edge collection). For large graphs loading can be 20 times faster
than with ArangoDB 2.0.
Additionally, the new index fixes performance problems that occurred when many duplicate
_from
or
_to
values were contained in
the index. Furthermore, the new index supports faster removal of edges.
Finally, when loading an existing collection and building the edges index for the collection, less memory re-allocations will be
performed.
Overall, this should considerably speed up loading edge collections.
The new index type replaces the old edges index type automatically, without any changes being required by the end user.
The API of the new index is compatible with the API of the old index. Still it is possible that the new index returns edges in a different
order than the old index. This is still considered to be compatible because the old index had never guaranteed any result order either.
AQL Improvements
AQL offers functionality to work with dates. Dates are no data types of their own in AQL (neither they are in JSON, which is often used
as a format to ship data into and out of ArangoDB). Instead, dates in AQL are internally represented by either numbers (timestamps) or
strings. The date functions in AQL provide mechanisms to convert from a numeric timestamp to a string representation and vice versa.
There are two date functions in AQL to create dates for further use:
DATE_TIMESTAMP(date)
Creates a UTC timestamp value from
date
DATE_TIMESTAMP(year, month, day, hour, minute, second, millisecond)
date components separately. All parameters after
DATE_ISO8601(date)
by the
Z
day
: Same as before, but allows specifying the individual
are optional.
: Returns an ISO8601 datetime string from
date
. The datetime string will always use UTC time, indicated
at its end.
DATE_ISO8601(year, month, day, hour, minute, second, millisecond)
date components separately. All parameters after
day
: same as before, but allows specifying the individual
are optional.
These two above date functions accept the following input values:
numeric timestamps, indicating the number of milliseconds elapsed since the UNIX epoch (i.e. January 1st 1970 00:00:00 UTC).
An example timestamp value is
datetime strings in formats
1399472349522
, which translates to
YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.MMM
,
2014-05-07T14:19:09.522Z
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.MMM
, or
.
YYYY-MM-DD
. Milliseconds are always
optional.
A timezone difference may optionally be added at the end of the string, with the hours and minutes that need to be added or
subtracted to the datetime value. For example,
05-07T14:19:09+07:30
offset, a
Z
2014-05-07T14:19:09+01:00
can be used to specify a one hour offset, and
2014-
can be specified for seven and half hours offset. Negative offsets are also possible. Alternatively to an
can be used to indicate UTC / Zulu time.
An example value is
2014-05-07T14:19:09.522Z
meaning May 7th 2014, 14:19:09 and 522 milliseconds, UTC / Zulu time.
Another example value without time component is
2014-05-07Z
.
Please note that if no timezone offset is specified in a datestring, ArangoDB will assume UTC time automatically. This is done to
ensure portability of queries across servers with different timezone settings, and because timestamps will always be UTC-based.
504
Whats New in 2.1
individual date components as separate function arguments, in the following order:
year
month
day
hour
minute
second
millisecond
All components following
day
are optional and can be omitted. Note that no timezone offsets can be specified when using
separate date components, and UTC / Zulu time will be used.
The following calls to
DATE_TIMESTAMP
are equivalent and will all return
1399472349522
:
DATE_TIMESTAMP("2014-05-07T14:19:09.522")
DATE_TIMESTAMP("2014-05-07T14:19:09.522Z")
DATE_TIMESTAMP("2014-05-07 14:19:09.522")
DATE_TIMESTAMP("2014-05-07 14:19:09.522Z")
DATE_TIMESTAMP(2014, 5, 7, 14, 19, 9, 522)
DATE_TIMESTAMP(1399472349522)
The same is true for calls to
DATE_ISO8601
that also accepts variable input formats:
DATE_ISO8601("2014-05-07T14:19:09.522Z")
DATE_ISO8601("2014-05-07 14:19:09.522Z")
DATE_ISO8601(2014, 5, 7, 14, 19, 9, 522)
DATE_ISO8601(1399472349522)
The above functions are all equivalent and will return
"2014-05-07T14:19:09.522Z"
The following date functions can be used with dates created by
DATE_DAYOFWEEK(date)
: Returns the weekday number of
DATE_TIMESTAMP
date
.
and
DATE_ISO8601
:
. The return values have the following meanings:
0: Sunday
1: Monday
2: Tuesday
3: Wednesday
4: Thursday
5: Friday
6: Saturday
DATE_YEAR(date)
: Returns the year part of
DATE_MONTH(date)
DATE_DAY(date)
: Returns the month part of
: Returns the day part of
DATE_HOUR(date)
date
date
date
: Returns the hour part of
as a number.
as a number.
date
DATE_MINUTE(date)
: Returns the minute part of
DATE_SECOND(date)
: Returns the seconds part of
DATE_MILLISECOND(date)
as a number.
as a number.
date
date
as a number.
as a number.
: Returns the milliseconds part of
date
as a number.
The following other date functions are also available:
DATE_NOW()
: Returns the current time as a timestamp.
Note that this function is evaluated on every invocation and may return different values when invoked multiple times in the same
query.
The following other AQL functions have been added in ArangoDB 2.1:
FLATTEN
: this function can turn an array of sub-arrays into a single flat array. All array elements in the original array will be
expanded recursively up to a configurable depth. The expanded values will be added to the single result array.
505
Whats New in 2.1
Example:
FLATTEN([ 1, 2, [ 3, 4 ], 5, [ 6, 7 ], [ 8, [ 9, 10 ] ])
will expand the sub-arrays on the first level and produce:
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [ 9, 10 ] ]
To fully flatten the array, the maximum depth can be specified (e.g. with a value of
2
):
FLATTEN([ 1, 2, [ 3, 4 ], 5, [ 6, 7 ], [ 8, [ 9, 10 ] ], 2)
This will fully expand the sub-arrays and produce:
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]
CURRENT_DATABASE
CURRENT_USER
: this function will return the name of the database the current query is executed in.
: this function returns the name of the current user that is executing the query. If authorization is turned off or the
query is executed outside of a request context, no user is present and the function will return
null
.
Cluster Dump and Restore
The dump and restore tools, arangodump and arangorestore, can now be used to dump and restore collections in a cluster. Additionally,
a collection dump from a standalone ArangoDB server can be imported into a cluster, and vice versa.
Web Interface Improvements
The web interface in version 2.1 has a more compact dashboard. It provides charts with time-series for incoming requests, HTTP transfer
volume and some server resource usage figures.
Additionally it provides trend indicators (e.g. 15 min averages) and distribution charts (aka histogram) for some figures.
Foxx Improvements
To easily access a file inside the directory of a Foxx application from within Foxx, Foxx's
foxxFilename()
applicationContext
now provides the
function. It can be used to assemble the full filename of a file inside the application's directory. The
applicationContext
can be accessed as global variable from any module within a Foxx application.
The filename can be used inside Foxx actions or setup / teardown scripts, e.g. to populate a Foxx application's collection with data.
The
require
function now also prefers local modules when used from inside a Foxx application. This allows putting modules inside
the Foxx application directory and requiring them easily. It also allows using application-specific versions of libraries that are bundled
with ArangoDB (such as underscore.js).
Windows Installer
The Windows installer shipped with ArangoDB now supports installation of ArangoDB for the current user or all users, with the required
privileges. It also supports the installation of ArangoDB as a service.
Fixes for 32 bit systems
Several issues have been fixed that occurred only when using ArangoDB on a 32 bits operating system, specifically:
a crash in a third party component used to manage cluster data
506
Whats New in 2.1
a third party library that failed to initialize on 32 bit Windows, making arangod and arangosh crash immediately.
overflows of values used for nanosecond-precision timeouts: these overflows have led to invalid values being passed to socket
operations, making them fail and re-try too often
Updated drivers
Several drivers for ArangoDB have been checked for compatibility with 2.1. The current list of drivers with compatibility notes can be
found online here.
C++11 usage
We have moved several files from C to C++, allowing more code reuse and reducing the need for shipping data between the two. We
have also decided to require C++11 support for ArangoDB, which allows us to use some of the simplifications, features and guarantees
that this standard has in stock.
That also means a compiler with C++11 support is required to build ArangoDB from source. For instance GNU CC of at least version
4.8.
Miscellaneous Improvements
Cancelable asynchronous jobs: several potentially long-running jobs can now be canceled via an explicit cancel operation. This
allows stopping long-running queries, traversals or scripts without shutting down the complete ArangoDB process. Job cancelation
is provided for asynchronously executed jobs as is described in @ref HttpJobCancel.
Server-side periodic task management: an ArangoDB server now provides functionality to register and unregister periodic tasks.
Tasks are user-defined JavaScript actions that can be run periodically and automatically, independent of any HTTP requests.
The following task management functions are provided:
require("org/arangodb/tasks").register(): registers a periodic task
require("org/arangodb/tasks").unregister(): unregisters and removes a periodic task
require("org/arangodb/tasks").get(): retrieves a specific tasks or all existing tasks
An example task (to be executed every 15 seconds) can be registered like this:
var tasks = require("org/arangodb/tasks");
tasks.register({
name: "this is an example task with parameters",
period: 15,
command: function (params) {
var greeting = params.greeting;
var data = JSON.stringify(params.data);
require('console').log('%s from parameter task: %s', greeting, data);
},
params: { greeting: "hi", data: "how are you?" }
});
Please refer to the section @ref Tasks for more details.
The
figures
indexes.size
method of a collection now returns data about the collection's index memory consumption. The returned value
will contain the total amount of memory acquired by all indexes of the collection. This figure can be used to assess
the memory impact of indexes.
Capitalized HTTP response headers: from version 2.1, ArangoDB will return capitalized HTTP headers by default, e.g.
Length
instead of
content-length
Content-
. Though the HTTP specification states that headers field name are case-insensitive, several
older client tools rely on a specific case in HTTP response headers. This changes make ArangoDB a bit more compatible with those.
Simplified usage of
db._createStatement()
: to easily run an AQL query, the method
the AQL query as a string. Previously it required the user to pass an object with a
db._createStatement
query
now allows passing
attribute (which then contained the query
string).
507
Whats New in 2.1
ArangoDB now supports both versions:
db._createStatement(queryString);
db._createStatement({ query: queryString });
508
Appendix
Appendix
References: Brief overviews over interfaces and objects
db: the
db
object
collection: the
collection
object
JavaScript Modules: List of built-in and supported JS modules
Deprecated: Features that are considered obsolete and may get removed eventually
Error codes and meanings: List of all possible errors that can be encountered
Glossary: Disambiguation page
509
References
References
510
db
The "db" Object
The
db
object is available in arangosh by default, and can also be imported and used in Foxx services.
db.name returns a collection object for the collection name.
The following methods exists on the _db object:
Database
db._createDatabase(name, options, users)
db._databases()
db._dropDatabase(name, options, users)
db._useDatabase(name)
Indexes
db._index(index)
db._dropIndex(index)
Properties
db._id()
db._isSystem()
db._name()
db._path()
db._version()
Collection
db._collection(name)
db._create(name)
db._drop(name)
db._truncate(name)
AQL
db._createStatement(query)
db._query(query)
db._explain(query)
Document
db._document(object)
db._exists(object)
db._remove(selector)
db._replace(selector,data)
db._update(selector,data)
511
collection
The "collection" Object
The following methods exist on the collection object (returned by db.name):
Collection
collection.checksum()
collection.count()
collection.drop()
collection.figures()
collection.load()
collection.properties()
collection.revision()
collection.rotate()
collection.toArray()
collection.truncate()
collection.type()
collection.unload()
Indexes
collection.dropIndex(index)
collection.ensureIndex(description)
collection.getIndexes(name)
collection.index(index)
Document
collection.all()
collection.any()
collection.closedRange(attribute, left, right)
collection.document(object)
collection.documents(keys)
collection.edges(vertex-id)
collection.exists(object)
collection.firstExample(example)
collection.inEdges(vertex-id)
collection.insert(data)
collection.edges(vertices)
collection.iterate(iterator,options)
collection.outEdges(vertex-id)
collection.queryByExample(example)
collection.range(attribute, left, right)
collection.remove(selector)
collection.removeByKeys(keys)
collection.rename()
collection.replace(selector, data)
collection.replaceByExample(example, data)
collection.save(data)
collection.update(selector, data)
collection.updateByExample(example, data)
512
JavaScript Modules
JavaScript Modules
ArangoDB uses a Node.js compatible module system. You can use the function require in order to load a module or library. It returns the
exported variables and functions of the module.
The global variables
global
,
process
,
console
,
Buffer
,
__filename
and
__dirname
are available throughout ArangoDB and
Foxx.
Node compatibility modules
ArangoDB supports a number of modules for compatibility with Node.js, including:
assert implements basic assertion and testing functions.
buffer implements a binary data type for JavaScript.
console is a well known logging facility to all the JavaScript developers. ArangoDB implements most of the Console API, with the
exceptions of profile and count.
events implements an event emitter.
fs provides a file system API for the manipulation of paths, directories, files, links, and the construction of file streams. ArangoDB
implements most Filesystem/A functions.
module provides direct access to the module system.
path implements functions dealing with filenames and paths.
punycode implements conversion functions for punycode encoding.
querystring provides utilities for dealing with query strings.
stream provides a streaming interface.
string_decoder implements logic for decoding buffers into strings.
url provides utilities for URL resolution and parsing.
util provides general utility functions like
format
and
.
inspect
Additionally ArangoDB provides partial implementations for the following modules:
net
: only
process
timers
tty
vm
,
isIP
: only
env
: stubs for
: only
: only
isatty
and
isIPv4
and
cwd
isIPv6
; stubs for
setImmediate
,
(always returns
runInThisContext
.
argv
,
stdout.isTTY
setTimeout
,
setInterval
false
dgram
,
dns
,
domain
,
,
,
stdout.write
clearImmediate
.
nextTick
,
clearTimeout
,
clearInterval
and
ref
.
).
.
The following Node.js modules are not available at all:
below),
,
http
(but see
child_process
@arangodb/request
,
cluster
below),
,
https
constants
,
os
,
,
sys
crypto
(but see
,
v8
tls
,
,
@arangodb/crypto
zlib
.
ArangoDB Specific Modules
There are a large number of ArangoDB-specific modules using the
@arangodb
namespace, mostly for internal use by ArangoDB itself.
The following however are noteworthy:
@arangodb provides direct access to the database and its collections.
@arangodb/crypto provides various cryptography functions including hashing algorithms.
513
JavaScript Modules
@arangodb/request provides the functionality for making synchronous HTTP/HTTPS requests.
@arangodb/foxx is the namespace providing the various building blocks of the Foxx microservice framework.
Bundled NPM Modules
The following NPM modules are preinstalled:
aqb is the ArangoDB Query Builder and can be used to construct AQL queries with a chaining JavaScript API.
chai is a full-featured assertion library for writing JavaScript tests.
dedent is a simple utility function for formatting multi-line strings.
error-stack-parser parses stacktraces into a more useful format.
graphql-sync is an ArangoDB-compatible GraphQL server/schema implementation.
highlight.js is an HTML syntax highlighter.
i (inflect) is a utility library for inflecting (e.g. pluralizing) words.
iconv-lite is a utility library for converting between character encodings
joi is a validation library that is supported throughout the Foxx framework.
js-yaml is a JavaScript implementation of the YAML data format (a partial superset of JSON).
lodash is a utility belt for JavaScript providing various useful helper functions.
minimatch is a glob matcher for matching wildcards in file paths.
qs provides utilities for dealing with query strings using a different format than the querystring module.
semver is a utility library for handling semver version numbers.
sinon is a mocking library for writing test stubs, mocks and spies.
timezone is a library for converting date time values between formats and timezones.
514
@arangodb
ArangoDB Module
const arangodb = require('@arangodb')
Note: This module should not be confused with the
arangojs
JavaScript driver which can be used to access ArangoDB from outside
the database. Although the APIs share similarities and the functionality overlaps, the two are not compatible with each other and can not
be used interchangeably.
The
db
object
arangodb.db
The
db
object represents the current database and lets you access collections and run queries. For more information see the db object
reference.
Examples
const db = require('@arangodb').db;
const thirteen = db._query('RETURN 5 + 8').next();
The
aql
template string handler
arangodb.aql
The
aql
function is a JavaScript template string handler. It can be used to write complex AQL queries as multi-line strings without
having to worry about bindVars and the distinction between collections and regular parameters.
To use it just prefix a JavaScript template string (the ones with backticks instead of quotes) with its import name (e.g.
aql
variables like you would with a regular template string. The string will automatically be converted into an object with
query
bindVars
attributes which you can pass directly to
db._query
) and pass in
and
to execute. If you pass in a collection it will be automatically
recognized as a collection reference and handled accordingly.
To find out more about AQL see the AQL documentation.
Examples
const aql = require('@arangodb').aql;
const filterValue = 23;
const mydata = db._collection('mydata');
const result = db._query(aql`
FOR d IN ${mydata}
FILTER d.num > ${filterValue}
RETURN d
`).toArray();
The
errors
object
arangodb.errors
This object provides useful objects for each error code ArangoDB might use in
ArangoError
errors. This is helpful when trying to catch
specific errors raised by ArangoDB, e.g. when trying to access a document that does not exist. Each object has a
corresponding to the
errorNum
found on
ArangoError
code
property
errors.
For a complete list of the error names and codes you may encounter see the appendix on error codes.
Examples
515
@arangodb
const errors = require('@arangodb').errors;
try {
someCollection.document('does-not-exist');
} catch (e) {
if (e.isArangoError && e.errorNum === errors.ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_NOT_FOUND.code) {
throw new Error('Document does not exist');
}
throw new Error('Something went wrong');
}
516
console
Console Module
global.console === require('console')
Note: You don't need to load this module directly. The
console
object is globally defined throughout ArangoDB and provides access to
all functions in this module.
console.assert
console.assert(expression, format, argument1, ...)
Tests that an expression is true. If not, logs a message and throws an exception.
Examples
console.assert(value === "abc", "expected: value === abc, actual:", value);
console.debug
console.debug(format, argument1, ...)
Formats the arguments according to format and logs the result as debug message. Note that debug messages will only be logged if the
server is started with log levels debug or trace.
String substitution patterns, which can be used in format.
%%s string
%%d, %%i integer
%%f floating point number
%%o object hyperlink
Examples
console.debug("%s", "this is a test");
console.dir
console.dir(object)
Logs a listing of all properties of the object.
Example usage:
console.dir(myObject);
console.error
console.error(format, argument1, ...)
Formats the arguments according to @FA{format} and logs the result as error message.
String substitution patterns, which can be used in format.
%%s string
%%d, %%i integer
%%f floating point number
%%o object hyperlink
Example usage:
console.error("error '%s': %s", type, message);
517
console
console.getline
console.getline()
Reads in a line from the console and returns it as string.
console.group
console.group(format, argument1, ...)
Formats the arguments according to format and logs the result as log message. Opens a nested block to indent all future messages sent.
Call groupEnd to close the block. Representation of block is up to the platform, it can be an interactive block or just a set of indented sub
messages.
Example usage:
console.group("user attributes");
console.log("name", user.name);
console.log("id", user.id);
console.groupEnd();
console.groupCollapsed
console.groupCollapsed(format, argument1, ...)
Same as console.group.
console.groupEnd
console.groupEnd()
Closes the most recently opened block created by a call to group.
console.info
console.info(format, argument1, ...)
Formats the arguments according to format and logs the result as info message.
String substitution patterns, which can be used in format.
%%s string
%%d, %%i integer
%%f floating point number
%%o object hyperlink
Example usage:
console.info("The %s jumped over %d fences", animal, count);
console.log
console.log(format, argument1, ...)
Formats the arguments according to format and logs the result as log message. This is an alias for console.info.
console.time
console.time(name)
Creates a new timer under the given name. Call timeEnd with the same name to stop the timer and log the time elapsed.
Example usage:
518
console
console.time("mytimer");
...
console.timeEnd("mytimer"); // this will print the elapsed time
console.timeEnd
console.timeEnd(name)
Stops a timer created by a call to time and logs the time elapsed.
console.timeEnd
console.trace()
Logs a stack trace of JavaScript execution at the point where it is called.
console.warn
console.warn(format, argument1, ...)
Formats the arguments according to format and logs the result as warn message.
String substitution patterns, which can be used in format.
%%s string
%%d, %%i integer
%%f floating point number
%%o object hyperlink
519
crypto
Crypto Module
const crypto = require('@arangodb/crypto')
The crypto module provides implementations of various hashing algorithms as well as cryptography related functions.
Nonces
These functions deal with cryptographic nonces.
createNonce
crypto.createNonce(): string
Creates a cryptographic nonce.
Returns the created nonce.
checkAndMarkNonce
crypto.checkAndMarkNonce(nonce): void
Checks and marks a nonce.
Arguments
nonce:
string
The nonce to check and mark.
Returns nothing.
Random values
The following functions deal with generating random values.
rand
crypto.rand(): number
Generates a random integer that may be positive, negative or even zero.
Returns the generated number.
genRandomAlphaNumbers
crypto.genRandomAlphaNumbers(length): string
Generates a string of random alpabetical characters and digits.
Arguments
length:
number
The length of the string to generate.
Returns the generated string.
genRandomNumbers
crypto.genRandomNumbers(length): string
Generates a string of random digits.
520
crypto
Arguments
length:
number
The length of the string to generate.
Returns the generated string.
genRandomSalt
crypto.genRandomSalt(length): string
Generates a string of random (printable) ASCII characters.
Arguments
length:
number
The length of the string to generate.
Returns the generated string.
JSON Web Tokens (JWT)
These methods implement the JSON Web Token standard.
jwtEncode
crypto.jwtEncode(key, message, algorithm): string
Generates a JSON Web Token for the given message.
Arguments
key:
string | null
The secret cryptographic key to be used to sign the message using the given algorithm. Note that this function will raise an error if
the key is omitted but the algorithm expects a key, and also if the algorithm does not expect a key but a key is provided (e.g. when
using
"none"
message:
).
string
Message to be encoded as JWT. Note that the message will only be base64-encoded and signed, not encrypted. Do not store
sensitive information in tokens unless they will only be handled by trusted parties.
algorithm:
string
Name of the algorithm to use for signing the message, e.g.
"HS512"
.
Returns the JSON Web Token.
jwtDecode
crypto.jwtDecode(key, token, noVerify): string | null
Arguments
key:
string | null
The secret cryptographic key that was used to sign the message using the algorithm indicated by the token. Note that this function
will raise an error if the key is omitted but the algorithm expects a key.
If the algorithm does not expect a key but a key is provided, the token will fail to verify.
token:
string
The token to decode.
521
crypto
Note that the function will raise an error if the token is malformed (e.g. does not have exactly three segments).
noVerify:
boolean
(Default:
false
)
Whether verification should be skipped. If this is set to
true
the signature of the token will not be verified. Otherwise the function
will raise an error if the signature can not be verified using the given key.
Returns the decoded JSON message or
if no token is provided.
null
jwtAlgorithms
A helper object containing the supported JWT algorithms. Each attribute name corresponds to a JWT
with
sign
and
verify
alg
and the value is an object
methods.
jwtCanonicalAlgorithmName
crypto.jwtCanonicalAlgorithmName(name): string
A helper function that translates a JWT
alg
value found in a JWT header into the canonical name of the algorithm in
jwtAlgorithms
.
Raises an error if no algorithm with a matching name is found.
Arguments
name:
string
Algorithm name to look up.
Returns the canonical name for the algorithm.
Hashing algorithms
md5
crypto.md5(message): string
Hashes the given message using the MD5 algorithm.
Arguments
message:
string
The message to hash.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
sha1
crypto.sha1(message): string
Hashes the given message using the SHA-1 algorithm.
Arguments
message:
string
The message to hash.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
sha224
crypto.sha224(message): string
Hashes the given message using the SHA-224 algorithm.
Arguments
522
crypto
message:
string
The message to hash.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
sha256
crypto.sha256(message): string
Hashes the given message using the SHA-256 algorithm.
Arguments
message:
string
The message to hash.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
sha384
crypto.sha384(message): string
Hashes the given message using the SHA-384 algorithm.
Arguments
message:
string
The message to hash.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
sha512
crypto.sha512(message): string
Hashes the given message using the SHA-512 algorithm.
Arguments
message:
string
The message to hash.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
Miscellaneous
constantEquals
crypto.constantEquals(str1, str2): boolean
Compares two strings. This function iterates over the entire length of both strings and can help making certain timing attacks harder.
Arguments
str1:
string
The first string to compare.
str2:
string
The second string to compare.
Returns
true
if the strings are equal,
false
otherwise.
pbkdf2
523
crypto
crypto.pbkdf2(salt, password, iterations, keyLength): string
Generates a PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA1 hash of the given password.
Arguments
salt:
string
The cryptographic salt to hash the password with.
password:
string
The message or password to hash.
iterations:
number
The number of iterations. This should be a very high number. OWASP recommended 64000 iterations in 2012 and recommends
doubling that number every two years.
When using PBKDF2 for password hashes it is also recommended to add a random value (typically between 0 and 32000) to that
number that is different for each user.
keyLength:
number
The key length.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
hmac
crypto.hmac(key, message, algorithm): string
Generates an HMAC hash of the given message.
Arguments
key:
string
The cryptographic key to use to hash the message.
message:
string
The message to hash.
algorithm:
string
The name of the algorithm to use.
Returns the cryptographic hash.
524
fs
Filesystem Module
const fs = require('fs')
The implementation tries to follow the CommonJS Filesystem/A/0 specification where possible.
Single File Directory Manipulation
exists
checks if a file of any type or directory exists
fs.exists(path)
Returns true if a file (of any type) or a directory exists at a given path. If the file is a broken symbolic link, returns false.
isFile
tests if path is a file
fs.isFile(path)
Returns true if the path points to a file.
isDirectory
tests if path is a directory
fs.isDirectory(path)
Returns true if the path points to a directory.
size
gets the size of a file
fs.size(path)
Returns the size of the file specified by path.
mtime
gets the last modification time of a file
fs.mtime(filename)
Returns the last modification date of the specified file. The date is returned as a Unix timestamp (number of seconds elapsed since
January 1 1970).
pathSeparator
fs.pathSeparator
If you want to combine two paths you can use fs.pathSeparator instead of / or \.
join
fs.join(path, filename)
The function returns the combination of the path and filename, e.g. fs.join(Hello/World, foo.bar) would return Hello/World/foo.bar.
getTempFile
returns the name for a (new) temporary file
fs.getTempFile(directory, createFile)
Returns the name for a new temporary file in directory directory. If createFile is true, an empty file will be created so no other process
can create a file of the same name.
Note: The directory directory must exist.
525
fs
getTempPath
returns the temporary directory
fs.getTempPath()
Returns the absolute path of the temporary directory
makeAbsolute
makes a given path absolute
fs.makeAbsolute(path)
Returns the given string if it is an absolute path, otherwise an absolute path to the same location is returned.
chmod
sets file permissions of specified files (non windows only)
fs.exists(path)
Returns true on success.
list
returns the directory listing
fs.list(path)
The functions returns the names of all the files in a directory, in lexically sorted order. Throws an exception if the directory cannot be
traversed (or path is not a directory).
Note: this means that list("x") of a directory containing "a" and "b" would return ["a", "b"], not ["x/a", "x/b"].
listTree
returns the directory tree
fs.listTree(path)
The function returns an array that starts with the given path, and all of the paths relative to the given path, discovered by a depth first
traversal of every directory in any visited directory, reporting but not traversing symbolic links to directories. The first path is always "",
the path relative to itself.
makeDirectory
creates a directory
fs.makeDirectory(path)
Creates the directory specified by path.
makeDirectoryRecursive
creates a directory
fs.makeDirectoryRecursive(path)
Creates the directory hierarchy specified by path.
remove
removes a file
fs.remove(filename)
Removes the file filename at the given path. Throws an exception if the path corresponds to anything that is not a file or a symbolic link.
If "path" refers to a symbolic link, removes the symbolic link.
removeDirectory
removes an empty directory
fs.removeDirectory(path)
Removes a directory if it is empty. Throws an exception if the path is not an empty directory.
removeDirectoryRecursive
removes a directory
fs.removeDirectoryRecursive(path)
526
fs
Removes a directory with all subelements. Throws an exception if the path is not a directory.
File IO
read
reads in a file
fs.read(filename)
Reads in a file and returns the content as string. Please note that the file content must be encoded in UTF-8.
read64
reads in a file as base64
fs.read64(filename)
Reads in a file and returns the content as string. The file content is Base64 encoded.
readBuffer
reads in a file
fs.readBuffer(filename)
Reads in a file and returns its content in a Buffer object.
readFileSync
fs.readFileSync(filename, encoding)
Reads the contents of the file specified in
filename
. If
encoding
is specified, the file contents will be returned as a string. Supported
encodings are:
utf8
or
utf-8
ascii
base64
ucs2
or
utf16le
ucs-2
or
utf16be
hex
If no
encoding
is specified, the file contents will be returned in a Buffer object.
write
fs.write(filename, content)
Writes the content into a file. Content can be a string or a Buffer object. If the file already exists, it is truncated.
writeFileSync
fs.writeFileSync(filename, content)
This is an alias for
fs.write(filename, content)
.
append
fs.append(filename, content)
Writes the content into a file. Content can be a string or a Buffer object. If the file already exists, the content is appended at the end.
Recursive Manipulation
copyRecursive
copies a directory structure
fs.copyRecursive(source, destination)
527
fs
Copies source to destination. Exceptions will be thrown on:
Failure to copy the file
specifying a directory for destination when source is a file
specifying a directory as source and destination
CopyFile
copies a file into a target file
fs.copyFile(source, destination)
Copies source to destination. If Destination is a directory, a file of the same name will be created in that directory, else the copy will get
the specified filename.
move
renames a file
fs.move(source, destination)
Moves source to destination. Failure to move the file, or specifying a directory for destination when source is a file will throw an
exception. Likewise, specifying a directory as source and destination will fail.
ZIP
unzipFile
unzips a file
fs.unzipFile(filename, outpath, skipPaths, overwrite, password)
Unzips the zip file specified by filename into the path specified by outpath. Overwrites any existing target files if overwrite is set to true.
Returns true if the file was unzipped successfully.
zipFile
zips a file
fs.zipFile(filename, chdir, files, password)
Stores the files specified by files in the zip file filename. If the file filename already exists, an error is thrown. The list of input files files
must be given as a list of absolute filenames. If chdir is not empty, the chdir prefix will be stripped from the filename in the zip file, so
when it is unzipped filenames will be relative. Specifying a password is optional.
Returns true if the file was zipped successfully.
528
request
Request Module
const request = require('@arangodb/request')
The request module provides the functionality for making HTTP requests.
Making HTTP requests
HTTP method helpers
In addition to the request function convenience shorthands are available for each HTTP method in the form of, i.e.:
request.head(url, options)
request.get(url, options)
request.post(url, options)
request.put(url, options)
request.delete(url, options)
request.patch(url, options)
These are equivalent to using the request function directly, i.e.:
request[method](url, options)
// is equivalent to
request({method, url, ...options});
For example:
const request = require('@arangodb/request');
request.get('http://localhost', {headers: {'x-session-id': 'keyboardcat'}});
// is equivalent to
request({
method: 'get',
url: 'http://localhost',
headers: {'x-session-id': 'keyboardcat'}
});
The request function
The request function can be used to make HTTP requests.
request(options)
Performs an HTTP request and returns a Response object.
Parameter
The request function takes the following options:
url or uri: the fully-qualified URL or a parsed URL from
url.parse
.
qs (optional): object containing querystring values to be appended to the URL.
useQuerystring: if
true
, use
querystring
module to handle querystrings, otherwise use
method (optional): HTTP method (case-insensitive). Default:
headers (optional): HTTP headers (case-insensitive). Default:
body (optional): request body. Must be a string or
json: if
true
Buffer
"GET"
{}
qs
module. Default:
false
.
.
.
, or a JSON serializable value if json is
, body will be serialized to a JSON string and the Content-Type header will be set to
Additionally the response body will also be parsed as JSON (unless encoding is set to
null
true
.
"application/json"
). Default:
false
.
.
form (optional): when set to a string or object and no body has been set, body will be set to a querystring representation of that value
and the Content-Type header will be set to
"application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
. Also see useQuerystring.
auth (optional): an object with the properties username and password for HTTP Basic authentication or the property bearer for
529
request
HTTP Bearer token authentication.
sslProtocol (optional): which tls version should be used to connect to the url. The default is
4
which is TLS 1.0. See ssl protocol
for more opitions.
followRedirect: whether HTTP 3xx redirects should be followed. Default:
maxRedirects: the maximum number of redirects to follow. Default:
encoding: encoding to be used for the response body. If set to
"utf-8"
null
10
true
.
.
, the response body will be returned as a
Buffer
. Default:
.
timeout: number of milliseconds to wait for a response before aborting the request.
returnBodyOnError: whether the response body should be returned even when the server response indicates an error. Default:
true
.
The function returns a Response object with the following properties:
rawBody: the raw response body as a
Buffer
.
body: the parsed response body. If encoding was not set to
null
, this is a string. If additionally json was set to
true
and the
response body is well-formed JSON, this is the parsed JSON data.
headers: an object containing the response headers. Otherwise this is identical to rawBody.
statusCode and status: the HTTP status code of the response, e.g.
message: the HTTP status message of the response, e.g.
404
Not Found
.
.
Forms
The request module supports
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
(URL encoded) form uploads:
const request = require('@arangodb/request');
var res = request.post('http://service.example/upload', {form: {key: 'value'}});
// or
var res = request.post({url: 'http://service.example/upload', form: {key: 'value'}});
// or
var res = request({
method: 'post',
url: 'http://service.example/upload',
form: {key: 'value'}
});
Form data will be encoded using the qs module by default.
If you want to use the querystring module instead, simply use the useQuerystring option.
JSON
If you want to submit JSON-serializable values as request bodies, just set the json option:
const request = require('@arangodb/request');
var res = request.post('http://service.example/notify', {body: {key: 'value'}, json: true});
// or
var res = request.post({url: 'http://service.example/notify', body: {key: 'value'}, json: true});
// or
var res = request({
method: 'post',
url: 'http://service.example/notify',
body: {key: 'value'},
json: true
});
HTTP authentication
The request module supports both HTTP Basic authentication. Just pass the credentials via the auth option:
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request
const request = require('@arangodb/request');
var res = request.get(
'http://service.example/secret',
{auth: {username: 'jcd', password: 'bionicman'}}
);
// or
var res = request.get({
url: 'http://service.example/secret',
auth: {username: 'jcd', password: 'bionicman'}
});
// or
var res = request({
method: 'get',
url: 'http://service.example/secret',
auth: {username: 'jcd', password: 'bionicman'}
});
Alternatively you can supply the credentials via the URL:
const request = require('@arangodb/request');
var username = 'jcd';
var password = 'bionicman';
var res = request.get(
'http://' +
encodeURIComponent(username) +
':' +
encodeURIComponent(password) +
'@service.example/secret'
);
You can also use Bearer token authentication:
const request = require('@arangodb/request');
var res = request.get(
'http://service.example/secret',
{auth: {bearer: 'keyboardcat'}}
);
// or
var res = request.get({
url: 'http://service.example/secret',
auth: {bearer: 'keyboardcat'}
});
// or
var res = request({
method: 'get',
url: 'http://service.example/secret',
auth: {bearer: 'keyboardcat'}
});
531
actions
Module "actions"
const actions = require('@arangodb/actions')
The action module provides the infrastructure for defining low-level HTTP actions.
If you want to define HTTP endpoints in ArangoDB you should probably use the Foxx microservice framework instead.
Basics
Error message
actions.getErrorMessage(code)
Returns the error message for an error code.
Standard HTTP Result Generators
actions.defineHttp(options)
Defines a new action. The options are as follows:
options.url
The URL, which can be used to access the action. This path might contain slashes. Note that this action will also be called, if a url is
given such that options.url is a prefix of the given url and no longer definition matches.
options.prefix
If false, then only use the action for exact matches. The default is true.
options.callback(request, response)
The request argument contains a description of the request. A request parameter foo is accessible as request.parametrs.foo. A request
header bar is accessible as request.headers.bar. Assume that the action is defined for the url /foo/bar and the request url is
/foo/bar/hugo/egon. Then the suffix parts [ "hugo", "egon" ] are availible in request.suffix.
The callback must define fill the response.
response.responseCode: the response code
response.contentType: the content type of the response
response.body: the body of the response
You can use the functions ResultOk and ResultError to easily generate a response.
Result ok
actions.resultOk(req, res, code, result, headers)
The function defines a response. code is the status code to return. result is the result object, which will be returned as JSON object in the
body. headers is an array of headers to returned. The function adds the attribute error with value false and code with value code to the
result.
Result bad
actions.resultBad(req, res, error-code, msg, headers)
The function generates an error response.
Result not found
actions.resultNotFound(req, res, code, msg, headers)
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actions
The function generates an error response.
Result unsupported
actions.resultUnsupported(req, res, headers)
The function generates an error response.
Result error
actions.resultError(req, res, code, errorNum, errorMessage, headers, keyvals)*
The function generates an error response. The response body is an array with an attribute errorMessage containing the error message
errorMessage, error containing true, code containing code, errorNum containing errorNum, and errorMessage containing the error
message errorMessage. keyvals are mixed into the result.
Result not Implemented
actions.resultNotImplemented(req, res, msg, headers)
The function generates an error response.
Result permanent redirect
actions.resultPermanentRedirect(req, res, options, headers)
The function generates a redirect response.
Result temporary redirect
actions.resultTemporaryRedirect(req, res, options, headers)
The function generates a redirect response.
ArangoDB Result Generators
Collection not found
actions.collectionNotFound(req, res, collection, headers)
The function generates an error response.
Index not found
actions.indexNotFound(req, res, collection, index, headers)
The function generates an error response.
Result exception
actions.resultException(req, res, err, headers, verbose)
The function generates an error response. If @FA{verbose} is set to true or not specified (the default), then the error stack trace will be
included in the error message if available. If @FA{verbose} is a string it will be prepended before the error message and the stacktrace
will also be included.
533
queries
Queries Module
const queries = require('@arangodb/aql/queries')
The query module provides the infrastructure for working with currently running AQL queries via arangosh.
Properties
queries.properties()
Returns the servers current query tracking configuration; we change the slow query threshold to get better
results:
arangosh> var queries = require("@arangodb/aql/queries");
arangosh> queries.properties();
arangosh> queries.properties({slowQueryThreshold: 1});
show execution results
Currently running queries
We create a task that spawns queries, so we have nice output. Since this task uses resources, you may want to increase
period
(and not
forget to remove it... afterwards):
arangosh> var theQuery = 'FOR sleepLoooong IN 1..5 LET sleepLoooonger = SLEEP(1000)
RETURN sleepLoooong';
arangosh> var tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
arangosh> tasks.register({
........>
id: "mytask-1",
........>
name: "this is a sample task to spawn a slow aql query",
........>
command: "require('@arangodb').db._query('" + theQuery + "');"
........> });
arangosh> queries.current();
show execution results
The function returns the currently running AQL queries as an array.
Slow queries
The function returns the last AQL queries that exceeded the slow query threshold as an array:
arangosh> queries.slow();
[ ]
Clear slow queries
Clear the list of slow AQL queries:
534
queries
arangosh> queries.clearSlow();
{
"code" : 200
}
arangosh> queries.slow();
[ ]
Kill
Kill a running AQL query:
arangosh> var runningQueries = queries.current().filter(function(query) {
........>
return query.query === theQuery;
........> });
arangosh> queries.kill(runningQueries[0].id);
{
"code" : 200
}
535
Write-ahead log
Write-ahead log
const wal = require('internal').wal
This module provides functionality for administering the write-ahead logs.
Configuration
retrieves the configuration of the write-ahead log
internal.wal.properties()
Retrieves the configuration of the write-ahead log. The result is a JSON array with the following attributes:
allowOversizeEntries: whether or not operations that are bigger than a single logfile can be executed and stored
logfileSize: the size of each write-ahead logfile
historicLogfiles: the maximum number of historic logfiles to keep
reserveLogfiles: the maximum number of reserve logfiles that ArangoDB allocates in the background
syncInterval: the interval for automatic synchronization of not-yet synchronized write-ahead log data (in milliseconds)
throttleWait: the maximum wait time that operations will wait before they get aborted if case of write-throttling (in milliseconds)
throttleWhenPending: the number of unprocessed garbage-collection operations that, when reached, will activate write-throttling. A
value of 0 means that write-throttling will not be triggered.
Examples
arangosh> require("internal").wal.properties();
show execution results
configures the write-ahead log
internal.wal.properties(properties)
Configures the behavior of the write-ahead log. properties must be a JSON JSON object with the following attributes:
allowOversizeEntries: whether or not operations that are bigger than a single logfile can be executed and stored
logfileSize: the size of each write-ahead logfile
historicLogfiles: the maximum number of historic logfiles to keep
reserveLogfiles: the maximum number of reserve logfiles that ArangoDB allocates in the background
throttleWait: the maximum wait time that operations will wait before they get aborted if case of write-throttling (in milliseconds)
throttleWhenPending: the number of unprocessed garbage-collection operations that, when reached, will activate write-throttling. A
value of 0 means that write-throttling will not be triggered.
Specifying any of the above attributes is optional. Not specified attributes will be ignored and the configuration for them will not be
modified.
Examples
arangosh> require("internal").wal.properties({
........>
allowOverSizeEntries: true,
........> logfileSize: 32 * 1024 * 1024 });
show execution results
Flushing
flushes the currently open WAL logfile
internal.wal.flush(waitForSync, waitForCollector)
Flushes the write-ahead log. By flushing the currently active write-ahead logfile, the data in it can be transferred to collection journals
and datafiles. This is useful to ensure that all data for a collection is present in the collection journals and datafiles, for example, when
dumping the data of a collection.
The waitForSync option determines whether or not the operation should block until the not-yet synchronized data in the write-ahead log
was synchronized to disk.
536
Write-ahead log
The waitForCollector operation can be used to specify that the operation should block until the data in the flushed log has been collected
by the write-ahead log garbage collector. Note that setting this option to true might block for a long time if there are long-running
transactions and the write-ahead log garbage collector cannot finish garbage collection.
Examples
arangosh> require("internal").wal.flush();
537
Task Management
Task Management
const tasks = require('@arangodb/tasks')
Note: If you are trying to schedule tasks in Foxx you should consider using the Foxx queues module instead, which provides a more
high-level API that also persists tasks across reboots.
Introduction to Task Management in ArangoDB
ArangoDB can execute user-defined JavaScript functions as one-shot or periodic tasks. This functionality can be used to implement
timed or recurring jobs in the database.
Tasks in ArangoDB consist of a JavaScript snippet or function that is executed when the task is scheduled. A task can be a one-shot task
(meaning it is run once and not repeated) or a periodic task (meaning that it is re-scheduled after each execution). Tasks can have
optional parameters, which are defined at task setup time. The parameters specified at task setup time will be passed as arguments to the
task whenever it gets executed. Periodic Tasks have an execution frequency that needs to be specified when the task is set up. One-shot
tasks have a configurable delay after which they'll get executed.
Tasks will be executed on the server they have been set up on. Tasks will not be shipped around in a cluster. A task will be executed in
the context of the database it was created in. However, when dropping a database, any tasks that were created in the context of this
database will remain active. It is therefore sensible to first unregister all active tasks for a database before dropping the database.
Tasks registered in ArangoDB will be executed until the server gets shut down or restarted. After a restart of the server, any user-defined
one-shot or periodic tasks will be lost.
Commands for Working with Tasks
ArangoDB provides the following commands for working with tasks. All commands can be accessed via the tasks module, which can be
loaded like this:
require("@arangodb/tasks")
Please note that the tasks module is available inside the ArangoDB server only. It cannot be used from the ArangoShell or ArangoDB's
web interface.
Register a task
To register a task, the JavaScript snippet or function needs to be specified in addition to the execution frequency. Optionally, a task can
have an id and a name. If no id is specified, it will be auto-assigned for a new task. The task id is also the means to access or unregister a
task later. Task names are informational only. They can be used to make a task distinguishable from other tasks also running on the
server.
The following server-side commands register a task. The command to be executed is a JavaScript string snippet which prints a message
to the server's logfile:
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.register({
id: "mytask-1",
name: "this is a snippet task",
period: 15,
command: "require('console').log('hello from snippet task');"
});
The above has register a task with id mytask-1, which will be executed every 15 seconds on the server. The task will write a log message
whenever it is invoked.
Tasks can also be set up using a JavaScript callback function like this:
538
Task Management
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.register({
id: "mytask-2",
name: "this is a function task",
period: 15,
command: function () {
require('console').log('hello from function task');
}
});
It is important to note that the callback function is late bound and will be executed in a different context than in the creation context. The
callback function must therefore not access any variables defined outside of its own scope. The callback function can still define and use
its own variables.
To pass parameters to a task, the params attribute can be set when registering a task. Note that the parameters are limited to data types
usable in JSON (meaning no callback functions can be passed as parameters into a task):
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.register({
id: "mytask-3",
name: "this is a parameter task",
period: 15,
command: function (params) {
var greeting = params.greeting;
var data = JSON.stringify(params.data);
require('console').log('%s from parameter task: %s', greeting, data);
},
params: { greeting: "hi", data: "how are you?" }
});
Registering a one-shot task works the same way, except that the period attribute must be omitted. If period is omitted, then the task will
be executed just once. The task invocation delay can optionally be specified with the offset attribute:
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.register({
id: "mytask-once",
name: "this is a one-shot task",
offset: 10,
command: function (params) {
require('console').log('you will see me just once!');
}
});
Note: When specifying an offset value of 0, ArangoDB will internally add a very small value to the offset so will be slightly greater than
zero.
Unregister a task
After a task has been registered, it can be unregistered using its id:
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.unregister("mytask-1");
Note that unregistering a non-existing task will throw an exception.
List all tasks
To get an overview of which tasks are registered, there is the get method. If the get method is called without any arguments, it will return
an array of all tasks:
539
Task Management
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.get();
If get is called with a task id argument, it will return information about this particular task:
const tasks = require("@arangodb/tasks");
tasks.get("mytask-3");
The created attribute of a task reveals when a task was created. It is returned as a Unix timestamp.
540
Deprecated
Deprecated
Features listed in this section should no longer be used, because they are considered obsolete and may get removed in a future release.
They are currently kept for backward compatibility. There are usually better alternatives to replace the old features with:
Simple Queries: Ideomatic interface in arangosh to perform trivial queries. They are superseded by AQL queries, which can also be
run in arangosh. AQL is a language on its own and way more powerful than Simple Queries could ever be. In fact, the (still
supported) Simple Queries are translated internally to AQL, then the AQL query is optimized and run against the database in recent
versions, because of better performance and reduced maintenance complexity.
Actions: Snippets of JavaScript code on the server-side for minimal custom endpoints. Since the Foxx revamp in 3.0, it became
really easy to write Foxx Microservices, which allow you to define custom endpoints even with complex business logic.
541
Simple Queries
Simple Queries
It is recommended to use AQL instead.
Simple queries can be used if the query condition is straight forward, i.e., a document reference, all documents, a query-by-example, or a
simple geo query. In a simple query you can specify exactly one collection and one query criteria. In the following sections we describe
the JavaScript shell interface for simple queries, which you can use within the ArangoDB shell and within actions and transactions. For
other languages see the corresponding language API documentation.
You can find a list of queries at Collection Methods.
542
Simple Queries
Sequential Access and Cursors
If a query returns a cursor, then you can use hasNext and next to iterate over the result set or toArray to convert it to an array.
If the number of query results is expected to be big, it is possible to limit the amount of documents transferred between the server and the
client to a specific value. This value is called batchSize. The batchSize can optionally be set before or when a simple query is executed. If
the server has more documents than should be returned in a single batch, the server will set the hasMore attribute in the result. It will also
return the id of the server-side cursor in the id attribute in the result. This id can be used with the cursor API to fetch any outstanding
results from the server and dispose the server-side cursor afterwards.
The initial batchSize value can be set using the setBatchSize method that is available for each type of simple query, or when the simple
query is executed using its execute method. If no batchSize value is specified, the server will pick a reasonable default value.
Has Next
checks if the cursor is exhausted
cursor.hasNext()
The hasNext operator returns true, then the cursor still has documents. In this case the next document can be accessed using the next
operator, which will advance the cursor.
Examples
arangosh> var a = db.five.all();
arangosh> while (a.hasNext()) print(a.next());
show execution results
Next
returns the next result document
cursor.next()
If the hasNext operator returns true, then the underlying cursor of the simple query still has documents. In this case the next document
can be accessed using the next operator, which will advance the underlying cursor. If you use next on an exhausted cursor, then undefined
is returned.
Examples
arangosh> db.five.all().next();
show execution results
Set Batch size
sets the batch size for any following requests
cursor.setBatchSize(number)
Sets the batch size for queries. The batch size determines how many results are at most transferred from the server to the client in one
chunk.
Get Batch size
returns the batch size
cursor.getBatchSize()
Returns the batch size for queries. If the returned value is undefined, the server will determine a sensible batch size for any following
requests.
Execute Query
executes a query
query.execute(batchSize)
543
Simple Queries
Executes a simple query. If the optional batchSize value is specified, the server will return at most batchSize values in one roundtrip. The
batchSize cannot be adjusted after the query is first executed.
Note: There is no need to explicitly call the execute method if another means of fetching the query results is chosen. The following two
approaches lead to the same result:
arangosh> result = db.users.all().toArray();
arangosh> q = db.users.all(); q.execute(); result = [ ]; while (q.hasNext()) {
result.push(q.next()); }
show execution results
The following two alternatives both use a batchSize and return the same result:
arangosh> q = db.users.all(); q.setBatchSize(20); q.execute(); while (q.hasNext()) {
print(q.next()); }
arangosh> q = db.users.all(); q.execute(20); while (q.hasNext()) { print(q.next()); }
show execution results
Dispose
disposes the result
cursor.dispose()
If you are no longer interested in any further results, you should call dispose in order to free any resources associated with the cursor.
After calling dispose you can no longer access the cursor.
Count
counts the number of documents
cursor.count()
The count operator counts the number of document in the result set and returns that number. The count operator ignores any limits and
returns the total number of documents found.
Note: Not all simple queries support counting. In this case null is returned.
cursor.count(true)
If the result set was limited by the limit operator or documents were skiped using the skip operator, the count operator with argument true
will use the number of elements in the final result set - after applying limit and skip.
Note: Not all simple queries support counting. In this case null is returned.
Examples
Ignore any limit:
arangosh> db.five.all().limit(2).count();
null
Counting any limit or skip:
arangosh> db.five.all().limit(2).count(true);
2
544
Simple Queries
Pagination
It is recommended to use AQL instead, see the LIMIT operation.
If, for example, you display the result of a user search, then you are in general not interested in the completed result set, but only the first
10 or so documents. Or maybe the next 10 documents for the second page. In this case, you can the skip and limit operators. These
operators work like LIMIT in MySQL.
skip used together with limit can be used to implement pagination. The skip operator skips over the first n documents. So, in order to
create result pages with 10 result documents per page, you can use skip(n * 10).limit(10) to access the 10 documents on the nth page.
This result should be sorted, so that the pagination works in a predicable way.
Limit
limit
query.limit(number)
Limits a result to the first number documents. Specifying a limit of 0 will return no documents at all. If you do not need a limit, just do
not add the limit operator. The limit must be non-negative.
In general the input to limit should be sorted. Otherwise it will be unclear which documents will be included in the result set.
Examples
arangosh> db.five.all().toArray();
arangosh> db.five.all().limit(2).toArray();
show execution results
Skip
skip
query.skip(number)
Skips the first number documents. If number is positive, then this number of documents are skipped before returning the query results.
In general the input to skip should be sorted. Otherwise it will be unclear which documents will be included in the result set.
Note: using negative skip values is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6 and will not be supported in future versions of ArangoDB.
Examples
arangosh> db.five.all().toArray();
arangosh> db.five.all().skip(3).toArray();
show execution results
545
Simple Queries
Modification Queries
It is recommended to use AQL instead, see Data Modification Queries.
ArangoDB also allows removing, replacing, and updating documents based on an example document. Every document in the collection
will be compared against the specified example document and be deleted/replaced/ updated if all attributes match.
These method should be used with caution as they are intended to remove or modify lots of documents in a collection.
All methods can optionally be restricted to a specific number of operations. However, if a limit is specific but is less than the number of
matches, it will be undefined which of the matching documents will get removed/modified. Remove by Example, Replace by Example
and Update by Example are described with examples in the subchapter Collection Methods.
546
Simple Queries
Geo Queries
It is recommended to use AQL instead, see Geo functions.
The ArangoDB allows to select documents based on geographic coordinates. In order for this to work, a geo-spatial index must be
defined. This index will use a very elaborate algorithm to lookup neighbors that is a magnitude faster than a simple R* index.
In general a geo coordinate is a pair of latitude and longitude, which must both be specified as numbers. A geo index can be created on
coordinates that are stored in a single list attribute with two elements like [-10, +30] (latitude first, followed by longitude) or on
coordinates stored in two separate attributes.
For example, to index the following documents, an index can be created on the position attribute of the documents:
db.test.save({ position: [ -10, 30 ] });
db.test.save({ position: [ 10, 45.5 ] });
db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "position" ] });
If coordinates are stored in two distinct attributes, the index must be created on the two attributes:
db.test.save({ latitude: -10, longitude: 30 });
db.test.save({ latitude: 10, longitude: 45.5 });
db.test.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "latitude", "longitude" ] });
In order to find all documents within a given radius around a coordinate use the within operator. In order to find all documents near a
given document use the near operator.
It is possible to define more than one geo-spatial index per collection. In this case you must give a hint using the geo operator which of
indexes should be used in a query.
Near
constructs a near query for a collection
collection.near(latitude, longitude)
The returned list is sorted according to the distance,
with the nearest document to the coordinate (latitude, longitude) coming first. If there are near documents of equal distance, documents
are chosen randomly from this set until the limit is reached. It is possible to change the limit using the limit operator. In order to use the
near operator, a geo index must be defined for the collection. This index also defines which attribute holds the coordinates for the
document. If you have more then one geo-spatial index, you can use the geo operator to select a particular index. Note:
support negative skips. // However, you can still use
limit
followed to skip.
Limits the result to limit documents instead of the default 100. Note: Unlike with multiple explicit limits,
default limit imposed by
within
.
collection.near(latitude, longitude).distance()
limit
does not
will raise the implicit
This will add an attribute
documents returned, which contains the distance between the given point and the document in meters.
longitude).distance(name)
near
collection.near(latitude, longitude).limit(limit)
distance
to all
collection.near(latitude,
This will add an attribute name to all documents returned, which contains the distance between the given
point and the document in meters. Note: the near simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be
removed in future versions of ArangoDB. The preferred way for retrieving documents from a collection using the near operator is to use
the AQL NEAR function in an AQL query as follows:
FOR doc IN NEAR(@@collection, @latitude, @longitude, @limit)
RETURN doc
Examples
To get the nearest two locations:
547
Simple Queries
arangosh> db.geo.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "loc" ] });
arangosh> for (var i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (var j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........>
db.geo.save({
........>
name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
loc: [ i, j ] });
........> } }
arangosh> db.geo.near(0, 0).limit(2).toArray();
show execution results
If you need the distance as well, then you can use the
distance
operator:
arangosh> db.geo.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "loc" ] });
arangosh> for (var i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (var j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........>
db.geo.save({
........>
name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
loc: [ i, j ] });
........> } }
arangosh> db.geo.near(0, 0).distance().limit(2).toArray();
show execution results
Within
constructs a within query for a collection
collection.within(latitude, longitude, radius)
This will find all documents within a
given radius around the coordinate (latitude, longitude). The returned array is sorted by distance, beginning with the nearest document.
In order to use the within operator, a geo index must be defined for the collection. This index also defines which attribute holds the
coordinates for the document. If you have more then one geo-spatial index, you can use the
collection.within(latitude, longitude, radius).distance()
This will add an attribute
which contains the distance between the given point and the document in meters.
radius).distance(name)
geo
operator to select a particular index.
_distance
to all documents returned,
collection.within(latitude, longitude,
This will add an attribute name to all documents returned, which contains the distance between the given point
and the document in meters. Note: the within simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in
future versions of ArangoDB. The preferred way for retrieving documents from a collection using the within operator is to use the AQL
WITHIN function in an AQL query as follows:
FOR doc IN WITHIN(@@collection, @latitude, @longitude, @radius, @distanceAttributeName)
RETURN doc
Examples
To find all documents within a radius of 2000 km use:
arangosh> for (var i = -90;
........>
i <= 90;
i += 10) {
for (var j = -180; j <= 180; j += 10) {
........> db.geo.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j, loc: [ i, j ] }); } }
arangosh> db.geo.within(0, 0, 2000 * 1000).distance().toArray();
show execution results
Geo
constructs a geo index selection
collection.geo(location-attribute)
Returns a geo index object if an index was found. The
near
or
within
Looks up a geo index defined on attribute location_attribute.
operators can then be used to execute a geo-spatial query on
this particular index. This is useful for collections with multiple defined geo indexes.
collection.geo(location_attribute, true)
548
Simple Queries
Looks up a geo index on a compound attribute location_attribute. Returns a geo index object if an index was found. The
within
operators can then be used to execute a geo-spatial query on this particular index.
longitude_attribute)
near
or
collection.geo(latitude_attribute,
Looks up a geo index defined on the two attributes latitude_attribute and longitude-attribute. Returns a geo
index object if an index was found. The
near
or
within
operators can then be used to execute a geo-spatial query on this particular
index. Note: the geo simple query helper function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in future versions of
ArangoDB. The preferred way for running geo queries is to use their AQL equivalents.
Examples
Assume you have a location stored as list in the attribute home and a destination stored in the attribute work. Then you can use the
operator to select which geo-spatial attributes (and thus which index) to use in a
arangosh> for (i = -90;
........>
for (j = -180;
........>
geo
query.
i += 10) {
j <= 180;
j += 10) {
db.complex.save({ name : "Name/" + i + "/" + j,
........>
home : [ i, j ],
........>
........>
i <= 90;
near
work : [ -i, -j ] });
}
........> }
........>
arangosh> db.complex.near(0, 170).limit(5);
arangosh> db.complex.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "home" ] });
arangosh> db.complex.near(0, 170).limit(5).toArray();
arangosh> db.complex.geo("work").near(0, 170).limit(5);
arangosh> db.complex.ensureIndex({ type: "geo", fields: [ "work" ] });
arangosh> db.complex.geo("work").near(0, 170).limit(5).toArray();
show execution results
Related topics
Other ArangoDB geographic features are described in:
AQL Geo functions
Geo indexes
549
Simple Queries
Fulltext queries
It is recommended to use AQL instead, see Fulltext functions.
ArangoDB allows to run queries on text contained in document attributes. To use this, a fulltext index must be defined for the attribute of
the collection that contains the text. Creating the index will parse the text in the specified attribute for all documents of the collection.
Only documents will be indexed that contain a textual value in the indexed attribute. For such documents, the text value will be parsed,
and the individual words will be inserted into the fulltext index.
When a fulltext index exists, it can be queried using a fulltext query.
Fulltext
queries the fulltext index
collection.fulltext(attribute, query)
The fulltext simple query functions performs a fulltext search on the specified attribute and the specified query.
Details about the fulltext query syntax can be found below.
Note: the fulltext simple query function is deprecated as of ArangoDB 2.6. The function may be removed in future versions of
ArangoDB. The preferred way for executing fulltext queries is to use an AQL query using the FULLTEXT AQL function as follows:
FOR doc IN FULLTEXT(@@collection, @attributeName, @queryString, @limit)
RETURN doc
Examples
arangosh> db.emails.ensureFulltextIndex("content");
arangosh> db.emails.save({ content:
........> "Hello Alice, how are you doing? Regards, Bob"});
arangosh> db.emails.save({ content:
........> "Hello Charlie, do Alice and Bob know about it?"});
arangosh> db.emails.save({ content: "I think they don't know. Regards, Eve" });
arangosh> db.emails.fulltext("content", "charlie,|eve").toArray();
show execution results
Fulltext Syntax:
In the simplest form, a fulltext query contains just the sought word. If multiple search words are given in a query, they should be
separated by commas. All search words will be combined with a logical AND by default, and only such documents will be returned that
contain all search words. This default behavior can be changed by providing the extra control characters in the fulltext query, which are:
+: logical AND (intersection)
|: logical OR (union)
-: negation (exclusion)
Examples:
"banana": searches for documents containing "banana"
"banana,apple": searches for documents containing both "banana" AND "apple"
"banana,|orange": searches for documents containing either "banana" OR "orange" OR both
"banana,-apple": searches for documents that contains "banana" but NOT "apple".
Logical operators are evaluated from left to right.
550
Simple Queries
Each search word can optionally be prefixed with complete: or prefix:, with complete: being the default. This allows searching for
complete words or for word prefixes. Suffix searches or any other forms are partial-word matching are currently not supported.
Examples:
"complete:banana": searches for documents containing the exact word "banana"
"prefix:head": searches for documents with words that start with prefix "head"
"prefix:head,banana": searches for documents contain words starting with prefix "head" and that also contain the exact word
"banana".
Complete match and prefix search options can be combined with the logical operators.
Please note that only words with a minimum length will get indexed. This minimum length can be defined when creating the fulltext
index. For words tokenization, the libicu text boundary analysis is used, which takes into account the default as defined at server startup
(--server.default-language startup option). Generally, the word boundary analysis will filter out punctuation but will not do much more.
Especially no word normalization, stemming, or similarity analysis will be performed when indexing or searching. If any of these
features is required, it is suggested that the user does the text normalization on the client side, and provides for each document an extra
attribute containing just a comma-separated list of normalized words. This attribute can then be indexed with a fulltext index, and the
user can send fulltext queries for this index, with the fulltext queries also containing the stemmed or normalized versions of words as
required by the user.
551
Actions
ArangoDB's Actions
It is recommended to use Foxx instead.
Introduction to User Actions
In some ways the communication layer of the ArangoDB server behaves like a Web server. Unlike a Web server, it normally responds to
HTTP requests by delivering JSON objects. Remember, documents in the database are just JSON objects. So, most of the time the HTTP
response will contain a JSON document from the database as body. You can extract the documents stored in the database using HTTP
GET. You can store documents using HTTP POST.
However, there is something more. You can write small snippets - so called actions - to extend the database. The idea of actions is that
sometimes it is better to store parts of the business logic within ArangoDB.
The simplest example is the age of a person. Assume you store information about people in your database. It is an anti-pattern to store
the age, because it changes every now and then. Therefore, you normally store the birthday and let the client decide what to do with it.
However, if you have many different clients, it might be easier to enrich the person document with the age using actions once on the
server side.
Or, for instance, if you want to apply some statistics to large data-sets and you cannot easily express this as query. You can define a
action instead of transferring the whole data to the client and do the computation on the client.
Actions are also useful if you want to restrict and filter data according to some complex permission system.
The ArangoDB server can deliver all kinds of information, JSON being only one possible format. You can also generate HTML or
images. However, a Web server is normally better suited for the task as it also implements various caching strategies, language selection,
compression and so on. Having said that, there are still situations where it might be suitable to use the ArangoDB to deliver HTML pages
- static or dynamic. A simple example is the built-in administration interface. You can access it using any modern browser and there is no
need for a separate Apache or IIS.
In general you will use Foxx to easily extend the database with business logic. Foxx provides an simple to use interface to actions.
The following sections will explain the low-level actions within ArangoDB on which Foxx is built and show how to define them. The
examples start with delivering static HTML pages - even if this is not the primary use-case for actions. The later sections will then show
you how to code some pieces of your business logic and return JSON objects.
The interface is loosely modeled after the JavaScript classes for HTTP request and responses found in node.js and the
middleware/routing aspects of connect.js and express.js.
Note that unlike node.js, ArangoDB is multi-threaded and there is no easy way to share state between queries inside the JavaScript
engine. If such state information is required, you need to use the database itself.
552
Actions
A Hello World Example
The client API or browser sends a HTTP request to the ArangoDB server and the server returns a HTTP response to the client. A HTTP
request consists of a method, normally GET or POST when using a browser, and a request path like /hello/world. For a real Web server
there are a zillion of other thing to consider, we will ignore this for the moment. The HTTP response contains a content type, describing
how to interpret the returned data, and the data itself.
In the following example, we want to define an action in ArangoDB, so that the server returns the HTML document
Hello World
if asked GET /hello/world.
The server needs to know what function to call or what document to deliver if it receives a request. This is called routing. All the routing
information of ArangoDB is stored in a collection _routing. Each entry in this collections describes how to deal with a particular request
path.
For the above example, add the following document to the _routing collection:
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: {
........>
match: "/hello/world"
........>
},
........>
content: {
........>
contentType: "text/html",
........>
........>
body: "Hello World"
}
........> });
show execution results
In order to activate the new routing, you must either restart the server or call the internal reload function.
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
Now use the browser and access http:// localhost:8529/hello/world
You should see the Hello World in our browser:
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hello/world
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/html
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"Hello World"
Matching a URL
There are a lot of options for the url attribute. If you define different routing for the same path, then the following simple rule is applied
in order to determine which match wins: If there are two matches, then the more specific wins. I. e, if there is a wildcard match and an
exact match, the exact match is preferred. If there is a short and a long match, the longer match wins.
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Actions
Exact Match
If the definition is
{
url: {
match: "/hello/world"
}
}
then the match must be exact. Only the request for /hello/world will match, everything else, e. g. /hello/world/my or /hello/world2, will
not match.
The following definition is a short-cut for an exact match.
{
url: "/hello/world"
}
Note: While the two definitions will result in the same URL matching, there is a subtle difference between them:
The former definition (defining url as an object with a match attribute) will result in the URL being accessible via all supported HTTP
methods (e.g. GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, ...), whereas the latter definition (providing a string url attribute) will result in the URL being
accessible via HTTP GET and HTTP HEAD only, with all other HTTP methods being disabled. Calling a URL with an unsupported or
disabled HTTP method will result in an HTTP 501 (not implemented) error.
Prefix Match
If the definition is
{
url: {
match: "/hello/world/*"
}
}
then the match can be a prefix match. The requests for /hello/world, /hello/world/my, and /hello/world/how/are/you will all match.
However /hello/world2 does not match. Prefix matches within a URL part, i. e. /hello/world*, are not allowed. The wildcard must occur
at the end, i. e.
/hello/*/world
is also disallowed.
If you define two routes
{ url: { match: "/hello/world/*" } }
{ url: { match: "/hello/world/emil" } }
then the second route will be used for /hello/world/emil because it is more specific.
Parameterized Match
A parameterized match is similar to a prefix match, but the parameters are also allowed inside the URL path.
If the definition is
{
url: {
match: "/hello/:name/world"
}
}
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Actions
then the URL must have three parts, the first part being hello and the third part world. For example, /hello/emil/world will match, while
/hello/emil/meyer/world will not.
Constraint Match
A constraint match is similar to a parameterized match, but the parameters can carry constraints.
If the definition is
{
url: {
match: "/hello/:name/world",
constraint: {
name: "/[a-z]+/"
}
}
}
then the URL must have three parts, the first part being hello and the third part world. The second part must be all lowercase.
It is possible to use more then one constraint for the same URL part.
{
url: {
match: "/hello/:name|:id/world",
constraint: {
name: "/[a-z]+/", id: "/[0-9]+/"
}
}
}
Optional Match
An optional match is similar to a parameterized match, but the last parameter is optional.
If the definition is
{
url: {
match: "/hello/:name?",
constraint: {
name: "/[a-z]+/"
}
}
}
then the URL /hello and /hello/emil will match.
If the definitions are
{ url: { match: "/hello/world" } }
{ url: { match: "/hello/:name", constraint: { name: "/[a-z]+/" } } }
{ url: { match: "/hello/*" } }
then the URL /hello/world will be matched by the first route, because it is the most specific. The URL /hello/you will be matched by the
second route, because it is more specific than the prefix match.
Method Restriction
You can restrict the match to specific HTTP methods.
If the definition is
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Actions
{
url: {
match: "/hello/world",
methods: [ "post", "put" ]
}
}
then only HTTP POST and PUT requests will match. Calling with a different HTTP method will result in an HTTP 501 error.
Please note that if url is defined as a simple string, then only the HTTP methods GET and HEAD will be allowed, an all other methods
will be disabled:
{
url: "/hello/world"
}
More on Matching
Remember that the more specific match wins.
A match without parameter or wildcard is more specific than a match with parameters or wildcard.
A match with parameter is more specific than a match with a wildcard.
If there is more than one parameter, specificity is applied from left to right.
Consider the following definitions
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: { match: "/hello/world" },
........> content: { contentType: "text/plain", body: "Match No 1"} });
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: { match: "/hello/:name", constraint: { name: "/[a-z]+/" } },
........> content: { contentType: "text/plain", body: "Match No 2"} });
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: { match: "/:something/world" },
........> content: { contentType: "text/plain", body: "Match No 3"} });
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: { match: "/hi/*" },
........> content: { contentType: "text/plain", body: "Match No 4"} });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
Then
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Actions
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hello/world
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"Match No 1"
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hello/emil
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"Match No 2"
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/your/world
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"Match No 3"
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hi/you
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"Match No 4"
You can write the following document into the _routing collection to test the above examples.
{
routes: [
{ url: { match: "/hello/world" }, content: "route 1" },
{ url: { match: "/hello/:name|:id", constraint: { name: "/[a-z]+/", id: "/[0-9]+/" } }, content: "route 2" },
{ url: { match: "/:something/world" }, content: "route 3" },
{ url: { match: "/hello/*" }, content: "route 4" },
]
}
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Actions
A Hello World Example for JSON
If you change the example slightly, then a JSON object will be delivered.
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/hello/json",
........>
content: {
........>
contentType: "application/json",
........>
........>
body: '{"hello" : "world"}'
}
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
Again check with your browser or cURL http://localhost:8529/hello/json
Depending on your browser and installed add-ons you will either see the JSON object or a download dialog. If your browser wants to
open an external application to display the JSON object, you can change the contentType to "text/plain" for the example. This makes it
easier to check the example using a browser. Or use curl to access the server.
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hello/json
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json
x-content-type-options: nosniff
{
"hello" : "world"
}
Delivering Content
There are a lot of different ways on how to deliver content. We have already seen the simplest one, where static content is delivered. The
fun, however, starts when delivering dynamic content.
Static Content
You can specify a body and a content-type.
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/hello/contentType",
........>
content: {
........>
contentType: "text/html",
........>
........>
body: "Hello World"
}
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
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Actions
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hello/contentType
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/html
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"Hello World"
If the content type is text/plain then you can use the short-cut
{
content: "Hello World"
}
A Simple Action
The simplest dynamic action is:
{
action: {
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
}
It is not advisable to store functions directly in the routing table. It is better to call functions defined in modules. In the above example
the function can be accessed from JavaScript as:
require("@arangodb/actions").echoRequest
The function echoRequest is pre-defined. It takes the request objects and echos it in the response.
The signature of such a function must be
function (req, res, options, next)
Examples
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/hello/echo",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
........> });
show execution results
Reload the routing and check http:// 127.0.0.1:8529/hello/echo
You should see something like
arangosh> arango.GET("/hello/echo")
show execution results
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Actions
The request might contain path, prefix, suffix, and urlParameters attributes. path is the complete path as supplied by the user and always
available. If a prefix was matched, then this prefix is stored in the attribute prefix and the remaining URL parts are stored as an array in
suffix. If one or more parameters were matched, then the parameter values are stored in urlParameters.
For example, if the url description is
{
url: {
match: "/hello/:name/:action"
}
}
and you request the path /hello/emil/jump, then the request object will contain the following attribute
urlParameters: {
name: "emil",
action: "jump"
}
Action Controller
As an alternative to the simple action, you can use controllers. A controller is a module, defines the function get, put, post, delete, head,
patch. If a request of the corresponding type is matched, the function will be called.
Examples
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/hello/echo",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
controller: "@arangodb/actions/echoController"
}
........> });
show execution results
Reload the routing and check http:// 127.0.0.1:8529/hello/echo:
arangosh> arango.GET("/hello/echo")
show execution results
Prefix Action Controller
The controller is selected when the definition is read. There is a more flexible, but slower and maybe insecure variant, the prefix
controller.
Assume that the url is a prefix match
{
url: {
match: /hello/*"
}
}
You can use
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Actions
{
action: {
prefixController: "@arangodb/actions"
}
}
to define a prefix controller. If the URL /hello/echoController is given, then the module @arangodb/actions/echoController is used.
If you use a prefix controller, you should make certain that no unwanted actions are available under the prefix.
The definition
{
action: "@arangodb/actions"
}
is a short-cut for a prefix controller definition.
Function Action
You can also store a function directly in the routing table.
Examples
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/hello/echo",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
callback: "function(req,res) {res.statusCode=200; res.body='Hello'}"
}
........> });
show execution results
arangosh> arango.GET("hello/echo")
arangosh> db._query("FOR route IN _routing FILTER route.url == '/hello/echo' REMOVE
route in _routing")
[object ArangoQueryCursor, count: 0, hasMore: false]
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
Requests and Responses
The controller must define handler functions which take a request object and fill the response object.
A very simple example is the function echoRequest defined in the module @arangodb/actions.
function (req, res, options, next) {
var result;
result = { request: req, options: options };
res.responseCode = exports.HTTP_OK;
res.contentType = "application/json";
res.body = JSON.stringify(result);
}
Install it via:
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Actions
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/echo",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
........> })
show execution results
Reload the routing and check http:// 127.0.0.1:8529/hello/echo
You should see something like
arangosh> arango.GET("/hello/echo")
arangosh> db._query("FOR route IN _routing FILTER route.url == '/hello/echo' REMOVE
route in _routing")
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
You may also pass options to the called function:
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/echo",
........>
action: {
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest",
........>
options: {
........>
"Hello": "World"
........>
........>
}
}
........> });
show execution results
You now see the options in the result:
arangosh> arango.GET("/echo")
arangosh> db._query("FOR route IN _routing FILTER route.url == '/echo' REMOVE route in
_routing")
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
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Actions
Modifying Request and Response
As we've seen in the previous examples, actions get called with the request and response objects (named req and res in the examples)
passed as parameters to their handler functions.
The req object contains the incoming HTTP request, which might or might not have been modified by a previous action (if actions were
chained).
A handler can modify the request object in place if desired. This might be useful when writing middleware (see below) that is used to
intercept incoming requests, modify them and pass them to the actual handlers.
While modifying the request object might not be that relevant for non-middleware actions, modifying the response object definitely is.
Modifying the response object is an action's only way to return data to the caller of the action.
We've already seen how to set the HTTP status code, the content type, and the result body. The res object has the following properties for
these:
contentType: MIME type of the body as defined in the HTTP standard (e.g. text/html, text/plain, application/json, ...)
responsecode: the HTTP status code of the response as defined in the HTTP standard. Common values for actions that succeed are
200 or 201. Please refer to the HTTP standard for more information.
body: the actual response data
To set or modify arbitrary headers of the response object, the headers property can be used. For example, to add a user-defined header to
the response, the following code will do:
res.headers = res.headers || { }; // headers might or might not be present
res.headers['X-Test'] = 'someValue'; // set header X-Test to "someValue"
This will set the additional HTTP header X-Test to value someValue. Other headers can be set as well. Note that ArangoDB might change
the case of the header names to lower case when assembling the overall response that is sent to the caller.
It is not necessary to explicitly set a Content-Length header for the response as ArangoDB will calculate the content length automatically
and add this header itself. ArangoDB might also add a Connection header itself to handle HTTP keep-alive.
ArangoDB also supports automatic transformation of the body data to another format. Currently, the only supported transformations are
base64-encoding and base64-decoding. Using the transformations, an action can create a base64 encoded body and still let ArangoDB
send the non-encoded version, for example:
res.body = 'VGhpcyBpcyBhIHRlc3Q=';
res.transformations = res.transformations || [ ]; // initialize
res.transformations.push('base64decode'); // will base64 decode the response body
When ArangoDB processes the response, it will base64-decode what's in res.body and set the HTTP header Content-Encoding: binary.
The opposite can be achieved with the base64encode transformation: ArangoDB will then automatically base64-encode the body and set
a Content-Encoding: base64 HTTP header.
Writing dynamic action handlers
To write your own dynamic action handlers, you must put them into modules.
Modules are a means of organizing action handlers and making them loadable under specific names.
To start, we'll define a simple action handler in a module /ownTest:
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Actions
arangosh> db._modules.save({
........>
path: "/db:/ownTest",
........>
content:
........>
"exports.do = function(req, res, options, next) {"+
........>
"
res.body = 'test';" +
........>
"
res.responseCode = 200;" +
........>
"
res.contentType = 'text/plain';" +
........>
"};"
........> });
show execution results
This does nothing but register a do action handler in a module /ownTest. The action handler is not yet callable, but must be mapped to a
route first. To map the action to the route /ourtest, execute the following command:
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/ourtest",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
controller: "db://ownTest"
}
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
Now use the browser or cURL and access http://localhost:8529/ourtest :
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/ourtest
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"test"
You will see that the module's do function has been executed.
A Word about Caching
Sometimes it might seem that your change do not take effect. In this case the culprit could be the routing caches:
The routing cache stores the routing information computed from the _routing collection. Whenever you change this collection manually,
you need to call
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
in order to rebuild the cache.
Advanced Usages
For detailed information see the reference manual.
Redirects
Use the following for a permanent redirect:
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Actions
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/redirectMe",
........>
action: {
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/redirectRequest",
........>
options: {
........>
permanently: true,
........>
destination: "/somewhere.else/"
........>
........>
}
}
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/redirectMe
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
content-type: text/html
x-content-type-options: nosniff
location: /somewhere.else/
"Moved Moved
This page has moved to /somewhere.else/.
"
Routing Bundles
Instead of adding all routes for package separately, you can specify a bundle:
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
routes: [
........>
{
........>
url: "/url1",
........>
content: "route 1"
........>
},
........>
{
........>
url: "/url2",
........>
content: "route 2"
........>
},
........>
{
........>
url: "/url3",
........>
content: "route 3"
........>
........>
}
]
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
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Actions
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/url2
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"route 2"
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/url3
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"route 3"
The advantage is, that you can put all your routes into one document and use a common prefix.
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
urlPrefix: "/test",
........>
routes: [
........>
{
........>
url: "/url1",
........>
content: "route 1"
........>
},
........>
{
........>
url: "/url2",
........>
content: "route 2"
........>
},
........>
{
........>
url: "/url3",
........>
content: "route 3"
........>
........>
}
]
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
will define the URL /test/url1, /test/url2, and /test/url3:
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Actions
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/test/url1
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"route 1"
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/test/url2
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"route 2"
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/test/url3
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain
x-content-type-options: nosniff
"route 3"
Writing Middleware
Assume, you want to log every request in your namespace to the console. (if ArangoDB is running as a daemon, this will end up in the
logfile). In this case you can easily define an action for the URL /subdirectory. This action simply logs the requests, calls the next in line,
and logs the response:
arangosh> db._modules.save({
........>
path: "/db:/OwnMiddlewareTest",
........>
content:
........>
"exports.logRequest = function (req, res, options, next) {" +
........>
"
console = require('console'); " +
........>
"
console.log('received request: %s', JSON.stringify(req));" +
........>
"
next();" +
........>
"
console.log('produced response: %s', JSON.stringify(res));" +
........>
"};"
........> });
show execution results
This function will now be available as db://OwnMiddlewareTest/logRequest. You need to tell ArangoDB that it is should use a prefix
match and that the shortest match should win in this case:
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Actions
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
middleware: [
........>
{
........>
url: {
........>
match: "/subdirectory/*"
........>
},
........>
action: {
........>
do: "db://OwnMiddlewareTest/logRequest"
........>
}
........>
........>
}
]
........> });
show execution results
When you call next() in that action, the next specific routing will be used for the original URL. Even if you modify the URL in the
request object req, this will not cause the next() to jump to the routing defined for this next URL. If proceeds occurring the origin URL.
However, if you use next(true), the routing will stop and request handling is started with the new URL. You must ensure that next(true) is
never called without modifying the URL in the request object req. Otherwise an endless loop will occur.
Now we add some other simple routings to test all this:
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/subdirectory/ourtest/1",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
........> });
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/subdirectory/ourtest/2",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
........> });
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: "/subdirectory/ourtest/3",
........>
action: {
........>
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
Then we send some curl requests to these sample routes:
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/subdirectory/ourtest/1
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8
x-content-type-options: nosniff
show response body
and the console (and / or the logfile) will show requests and replies. Note that logging doesn't warrant the sequence in which these lines
will appear.
568
Actions
Application Deployment
Using single routes or bundles can be become a bit messy in large applications. Kaerus has written a deployment tool in node.js.
Note that there is also Foxx for building applications with ArangoDB.
Common Pitfalls when using Actions
Caching
If you made any changes to the routing but the changes does not have any effect when calling the modified actions URL, you might have
been hit by some caching issues.
After any modification to the routing or actions, it is thus recommended to make the changes "live" by calling the following functions
from within arangosh:
You might also be affected by client-side caching. Browsers tend to cache content and also redirection URLs. You might need to clear or
disable the browser cache in some cases to see your changes in effect.
Data types
When processing the request data in an action, please be aware that the data type of all query parameters is string. This is because the
whole URL is a string and when the individual parts are extracted, they will also be strings.
For example, when calling the URL http:// localhost:8529/hello/world?value=5
the parameter value will have a value of (string) 5, not (number) 5. This might be troublesome if you use JavaScript's === operator
when checking request parameter values.
The same problem occurs with incoming HTTP headers. When sending the following header from a client to ArangoDB
X-My-Value: 5
then the header X-My-Value will have a value of (string) 5 and not (number) 5.
404 Not Found
If you defined a URL in the routing and the URL is accessible fine via HTTP GET but returns an HTTP 501 (not implemented) for other
HTTP methods such as POST, PUT or DELETE, then you might have been hit by some defaults.
By default, URLs defined like this (simple string url attribute) are accessible via HTTP GET and HEAD only. To make such URLs
accessible via other HTTP methods, extend the URL definition with the methods attribute.
For example, this definition only allows access via GET and HEAD:
{
url: "/hello/world"
}
whereas this definition allows HTTP GET, POST, and PUT:
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Actions
arangosh> db._routing.save({
........>
url: {
........>
match: "/hello/world",
........>
methods: [ "get", "post", "put" ]
........>
},
........>
action: {
........>
........>
do: "@arangodb/actions/echoRequest"
}
........> });
arangosh> require("internal").reloadRouting()
show execution results
shell> curl --dump - http://localhost:8529/hello/world
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8
x-content-type-options: nosniff
show response body
The former definition (defining url as an object with a match attribute) will result in the URL being accessible via all supported HTTP
methods (e.g. GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, ...), whereas the latter definition (providing a string url attribute) will result in the URL being
accessible via HTTP GET and HTTP HEAD only, with all other HTTP methods being disabled. Calling a URL with an unsupported or
disabled HTTP method will result in an HTTP 404 error.
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Error codes and meanings
Error codes and meanings
General errors
0 - ERROR_NO_ERROR
No error has occurred.
1 - ERROR_FAILED
Will be raised when a general error occurred.
2 - ERROR_SYS_ERROR
Will be raised when operating system error occurred.
3 - ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY
Will be raised when there is a memory shortage.
4 - ERROR_INTERNAL
Will be raised when an internal error occurred.
5 - ERROR_ILLEGAL_NUMBER
Will be raised when an illegal representation of a number was given.
6 - ERROR_NUMERIC_OVERFLOW
Will be raised when a numeric overflow occurred.
7 - ERROR_ILLEGAL_OPTION
Will be raised when an unknown option was supplied by the user.
8 - ERROR_DEAD_PID
Will be raised when a PID without a living process was found.
9 - ERROR_NOT_IMPLEMENTED
Will be raised when hitting an unimplemented feature.
10 - ERROR_BAD_PARAMETER
Will be raised when the parameter does not fulfill the requirements.
11 - ERROR_FORBIDDEN
Will be raised when you are missing permission for the operation.
12 - ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY_MMAP
Will be raised when there is a memory shortage.
13 - ERROR_CORRUPTED_CSV
Will be raised when encountering a corrupt csv line.
14 - ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a file is not found.
15 - ERROR_CANNOT_WRITE_FILE
Will be raised when a file cannot be written.
16 - ERROR_CANNOT_OVERWRITE_FILE
Will be raised when an attempt is made to overwrite an existing file.
17 - ERROR_TYPE_ERROR
Will be raised when a type error is unencountered.
18 - ERROR_LOCK_TIMEOUT
Will be raised when there's a timeout waiting for a lock.
19 - ERROR_CANNOT_CREATE_DIRECTORY
Will be raised when an attempt to create a directory fails.
571
Error codes and meanings
20 - ERROR_CANNOT_CREATE_TEMP_FILE
Will be raised when an attempt to create a temporary file fails.
21 - ERROR_REQUEST_CANCELED
Will be raised when a request is canceled by the user.
22 - ERROR_DEBUG
Will be raised intentionally during debugging.
25 - ERROR_IP_ADDRESS_INVALID
Will be raised when the structure of an IP address is invalid.
27 - ERROR_FILE_EXISTS
Will be raised when a file already exists.
28 - ERROR_LOCKED
Will be raised when a resource or an operation is locked.
29 - ERROR_DEADLOCK
Will be raised when a deadlock is detected when accessing collections.
30 - ERROR_SHUTTING_DOWN
Will be raised when a call cannot succeed because a server shutdown is already in progress.
31 - ERROR_ONLY_ENTERPRISE
Will be raised when an enterprise-feature is requested from the community edition.
32 - ERROR_RESOURCE_LIMIT
Will be raised when the resources used by an operation exceed the configured maximum value.
HTTP error status codes
400 - ERROR_HTTP_BAD_PARAMETER
Will be raised when the HTTP request does not fulfill the requirements.
401 - ERROR_HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED
Will be raised when authorization is required but the user is not authorized.
403 - ERROR_HTTP_FORBIDDEN
Will be raised when the operation is forbidden.
404 - ERROR_HTTP_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when an URI is unknown.
405 - ERROR_HTTP_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED
Will be raised when an unsupported HTTP method is used for an operation.
412 - ERROR_HTTP_PRECONDITION_FAILED
Will be raised when a precondition for an HTTP request is not met.
500 - ERROR_HTTP_SERVER_ERROR
Will be raised when an internal server is encountered.
HTTP processing errors
600 - ERROR_HTTP_CORRUPTED_JSON
Will be raised when a string representation of a JSON object is corrupt.
601 - ERROR_HTTP_SUPERFLUOUS_SUFFICES
Will be raised when the URL contains superfluous suffices.
Internal ArangoDB storage errors
572
Error codes and meanings
For errors that occur because of a programming error.
1000 - ERROR_ARANGO_ILLEGAL_STATE
Internal error that will be raised when the datafile is not in the required state.
1002 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATAFILE_SEALED
Internal error that will be raised when trying to write to a datafile.
1004 - ERROR_ARANGO_READ_ONLY
Internal error that will be raised when trying to write to a read-only datafile or collection.
1005 - ERROR_ARANGO_DUPLICATE_IDENTIFIER
Internal error that will be raised when a identifier duplicate is detected.
1006 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATAFILE_UNREADABLE
Internal error that will be raised when a datafile is unreadable.
1007 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATAFILE_EMPTY
Internal error that will be raised when a datafile is empty.
1008 - ERROR_ARANGO_RECOVERY
Will be raised when an error occurred during WAL log file recovery.
1009 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATAFILE_STATISTICS_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a required datafile statistics object was not found.
External ArangoDB storage errors
For errors that occur because of an outside event.
1100 - ERROR_ARANGO_CORRUPTED_DATAFILE
Will be raised when a corruption is detected in a datafile.
1101 - ERROR_ARANGO_ILLEGAL_PARAMETER_FILE
Will be raised if a parameter file is corrupted or cannot be read.
1102 - ERROR_ARANGO_CORRUPTED_COLLECTION
Will be raised when a collection contains one or more corrupted data files.
1103 - ERROR_ARANGO_MMAP_FAILED
Will be raised when the system call mmap failed.
1104 - ERROR_ARANGO_FILESYSTEM_FULL
Will be raised when the filesystem is full.
1105 - ERROR_ARANGO_NO_JOURNAL
Will be raised when a journal cannot be created.
1106 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATAFILE_ALREADY_EXISTS
Will be raised when the datafile cannot be created or renamed because a file of the same name already exists.
1107 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATADIR_LOCKED
Will be raised when the database directory is locked by a different process.
1108 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_DIRECTORY_ALREADY_EXISTS
Will be raised when the collection cannot be created because a directory of the same name already exists.
1109 - ERROR_ARANGO_MSYNC_FAILED
Will be raised when the system call msync failed.
1110 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATADIR_UNLOCKABLE
Will be raised when the server cannot lock the database directory on startup.
1111 - ERROR_ARANGO_SYNC_TIMEOUT
Will be raised when the server waited too long for a datafile to be synced to disk.
573
Error codes and meanings
General ArangoDB storage errors
For errors that occur when fulfilling a user request.
1200 - ERROR_ARANGO_CONFLICT
Will be raised when updating or deleting a document and a conflict has been detected.
1201 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATADIR_INVALID
Will be raised when a non-existing database directory was specified when starting the database.
1202 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a document with a given identifier or handle is unknown.
1203 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a collection with a given identifier or name is unknown.
1204 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_PARAMETER_MISSING
Will be raised when the collection parameter is missing.
1205 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_HANDLE_BAD
Will be raised when a document handle is corrupt.
1206 - ERROR_ARANGO_MAXIMAL_SIZE_TOO_SMALL
Will be raised when the maximal size of the journal is too small.
1207 - ERROR_ARANGO_DUPLICATE_NAME
Will be raised when a name duplicate is detected.
1208 - ERROR_ARANGO_ILLEGAL_NAME
Will be raised when an illegal name is detected.
1209 - ERROR_ARANGO_NO_INDEX
Will be raised when no suitable index for the query is known.
1210 - ERROR_ARANGO_UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_VIOLATED
Will be raised when there is a unique constraint violation.
1212 - ERROR_ARANGO_INDEX_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when an index with a given identifier is unknown.
1213 - ERROR_ARANGO_CROSS_COLLECTION_REQUEST
Will be raised when a cross-collection is requested.
1214 - ERROR_ARANGO_INDEX_HANDLE_BAD
Will be raised when a index handle is corrupt.
1216 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_TOO_LARGE
Will be raised when the document cannot fit into any datafile because of it is too large.
1217 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_NOT_UNLOADED
Will be raised when a collection should be unloaded, but has a different status.
1218 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_TYPE_INVALID
Will be raised when an invalid collection type is used in a request.
1219 - ERROR_ARANGO_VALIDATION_FAILED
Will be raised when the validation of an attribute of a structure failed.
1220 - ERROR_ARANGO_ATTRIBUTE_PARSER_FAILED
Will be raised when parsing an attribute name definition failed.
1221 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_KEY_BAD
Will be raised when a document key is corrupt.
1222 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_KEY_UNEXPECTED
Will be raised when a user-defined document key is supplied for collections with auto key generation.
574
Error codes and meanings
1224 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATADIR_NOT_WRITABLE
Will be raised when the server's database directory is not writable for the current user.
1225 - ERROR_ARANGO_OUT_OF_KEYS
Will be raised when a key generator runs out of keys.
1226 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_KEY_MISSING
Will be raised when a document key is missing.
1227 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_TYPE_INVALID
Will be raised when there is an attempt to create a document with an invalid type.
1228 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATABASE_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a non-existing database is accessed.
1229 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATABASE_NAME_INVALID
Will be raised when an invalid database name is used.
1230 - ERROR_ARANGO_USE_SYSTEM_DATABASE
Will be raised when an operation is requested in a database other than the system database.
1231 - ERROR_ARANGO_ENDPOINT_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when there is an attempt to delete a non-existing endpoint.
1232 - ERROR_ARANGO_INVALID_KEY_GENERATOR
Will be raised when an invalid key generator description is used.
1233 - ERROR_ARANGO_INVALID_EDGE_ATTRIBUTE
will be raised when the _from or _to values of an edge are undefined or contain an invalid value.
1234 - ERROR_ARANGO_INDEX_DOCUMENT_ATTRIBUTE_MISSING
Will be raised when an attempt to insert a document into an index is caused by in the document not having one or more attributes
which the index is built on.
1235 - ERROR_ARANGO_INDEX_CREATION_FAILED
Will be raised when an attempt to create an index has failed.
1236 - ERROR_ARANGO_WRITE_THROTTLE_TIMEOUT
Will be raised when the server is write-throttled and a write operation has waited too long for the server to process queued
operations.
1237 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_TYPE_MISMATCH
Will be raised when a collection has a different type from what has been expected.
1238 - ERROR_ARANGO_COLLECTION_NOT_LOADED
Will be raised when a collection is accessed that is not yet loaded.
1239 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_REV_BAD
Will be raised when a document revision is corrupt or is missing where needed.
Checked ArangoDB storage errors
For errors that occur but are anticipated.
1300 - ERROR_ARANGO_DATAFILE_FULL
Will be raised when the datafile reaches its limit.
1301 - ERROR_ARANGO_EMPTY_DATADIR
Will be raised when encountering an empty server database directory.
ArangoDB replication errors
575
Error codes and meanings
1400 - ERROR_REPLICATION_NO_RESPONSE
Will be raised when the replication applier does not receive any or an incomplete response from the master.
1401 - ERROR_REPLICATION_INVALID_RESPONSE
Will be raised when the replication applier receives an invalid response from the master.
1402 - ERROR_REPLICATION_MASTER_ERROR
Will be raised when the replication applier receives a server error from the master.
1403 - ERROR_REPLICATION_MASTER_INCOMPATIBLE
Will be raised when the replication applier connects to a master that has an incompatible version.
1404 - ERROR_REPLICATION_MASTER_CHANGE
Will be raised when the replication applier connects to a different master than before.
1405 - ERROR_REPLICATION_LOOP
Will be raised when the replication applier is asked to connect to itself for replication.
1406 - ERROR_REPLICATION_UNEXPECTED_MARKER
Will be raised when an unexpected marker is found in the replication log stream.
1407 - ERROR_REPLICATION_INVALID_APPLIER_STATE
Will be raised when an invalid replication applier state file is found.
1408 - ERROR_REPLICATION_UNEXPECTED_TRANSACTION
Will be raised when an unexpected transaction id is found.
1410 - ERROR_REPLICATION_INVALID_APPLIER_CONFIGURATION
Will be raised when the configuration for the replication applier is invalid.
1411 - ERROR_REPLICATION_RUNNING
Will be raised when there is an attempt to perform an operation while the replication applier is running.
1412 - ERROR_REPLICATION_APPLIER_STOPPED
Special error code used to indicate the replication applier was stopped by a user.
1413 - ERROR_REPLICATION_NO_START_TICK
Will be raised when the replication applier is started without a known start tick value.
1414 - ERROR_REPLICATION_START_TICK_NOT_PRESENT
Will be raised when the replication applier fetches data using a start tick, but that start tick is not present on the logger server
anymore.
ArangoDB cluster errors
1450 - ERROR_CLUSTER_NO_AGENCY
Will be raised when none of the agency servers can be connected to.
1451 - ERROR_CLUSTER_NO_COORDINATOR_HEADER
Will be raised when a DB server in a cluster receives a HTTP request without a coordinator header.
1452 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_LOCK_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot lock the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1453 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COLLECTION_ID_EXISTS
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster tries to create a collection and the collection ID already exists.
1454 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_CREATE_COLLECTION_IN_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot create an entry for a new collection in the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1455 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_READ_CURRENT_VERSION
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot read the Version entry in the Current hierarchy in the agency.
576
Error codes and meanings
1456 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_CREATE_COLLECTION
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster notices that some DBServers report problems when creating shards for a new
collection.
1457 - ERROR_CLUSTER_TIMEOUT
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster runs into a timeout for some cluster wide operation.
1458 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_REMOVE_COLLECTION_IN_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot remove an entry for a collection in the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1459 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_REMOVE_COLLECTION_IN_CURRENT
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot remove an entry for a collection in the Current hierarchy in the agency.
1460 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_CREATE_DATABASE_IN_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot create an entry for a new database in the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1461 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_CREATE_DATABASE
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster notices that some DBServers report problems when creating databases for a new
cluster wide database.
1462 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_REMOVE_DATABASE_IN_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot remove an entry for a database in the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1463 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_REMOVE_DATABASE_IN_CURRENT
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot remove an entry for a database in the Current hierarchy in the agency.
1464 - ERROR_CLUSTER_SHARD_GONE
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot determine the shard that is responsible for a given document.
1465 - ERROR_CLUSTER_CONNECTION_LOST
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster loses an HTTP connection to a DBserver in the cluster whilst transferring data.
1466 - ERROR_CLUSTER_MUST_NOT_SPECIFY_KEY
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster finds that the _key attribute was specified in a sharded collection the uses not only
_key as sharding attribute.
1467 - ERROR_CLUSTER_GOT_CONTRADICTING_ANSWERS
Will be raised if a coordinator in a cluster gets conflicting results from different shards, which should never happen.
1468 - ERROR_CLUSTER_NOT_ALL_SHARDING_ATTRIBUTES_GIVEN
Will be raised if a coordinator tries to find out which shard is responsible for a partial document, but cannot do this because not all
sharding attributes are specified.
1469 - ERROR_CLUSTER_MUST_NOT_CHANGE_SHARDING_ATTRIBUTES
Will be raised if there is an attempt to update the value of a shard attribute.
1470 - ERROR_CLUSTER_UNSUPPORTED
Will be raised when there is an attempt to carry out an operation that is not supported in the context of a sharded collection.
1471 - ERROR_CLUSTER_ONLY_ON_COORDINATOR
Will be raised if there is an attempt to run a coordinator-only operation on a different type of node.
1472 - ERROR_CLUSTER_READING_PLAN_AGENCY
Will be raised if a coordinator or DBserver cannot read the Plan in the agency.
1473 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_TRUNCATE_COLLECTION
Will be raised if a coordinator cannot truncate all shards of a cluster collection.
1474 - ERROR_CLUSTER_AQL_COMMUNICATION
Will be raised if the internal communication of the cluster for AQL produces an error.
1475 - ERROR_ARANGO_DOCUMENT_NOT_FOUND_OR_SHARDING_ATTRIBUTES_CHANGED
Will be raised when a document with a given identifier or handle is unknown, or if the sharding attributes have been changed in a
REPLACE operation in the cluster.
577
Error codes and meanings
1476 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_DETERMINE_ID
Will be raised if a cluster server at startup could not determine its own ID from the local info provided.
1477 - ERROR_CLUSTER_ONLY_ON_DBSERVER
Will be raised if there is an attempt to run a DBserver-only operation on a different type of node.
1478 - ERROR_CLUSTER_BACKEND_UNAVAILABLE
Will be raised if a required db server can't be reached.
1479 - ERROR_CLUSTER_UNKNOWN_CALLBACK_ENDPOINT
An endpoint couldn't be found
1480 - ERROR_CLUSTER_AGENCY_STRUCTURE_INVALID
The structure in the agency is invalid
1481 - ERROR_CLUSTER_AQL_COLLECTION_OUT_OF_SYNC
Will be raised if a collection needed during query execution is out of sync. This currently can only happen when using satellite
collections
1482 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_CREATE_INDEX_IN_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot create an entry for a new index in the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1483 - ERROR_CLUSTER_COULD_NOT_DROP_INDEX_IN_PLAN
Will be raised when a coordinator in a cluster cannot remove an index from the Plan hierarchy in the agency.
1484 - ERROR_CLUSTER_CHAIN_OF_DISTRIBUTESHARDSLIKE
Will be raised if one tries to create a collection with a distributeShardsLike attribute which points to another collection that also has
one.
1485 - ERROR_CLUSTER_MUST_NOT_DROP_COLL_OTHER_DISTRIBUTESHARDSLIKE
Will be raised if one tries to drop a collection to which another collection points with its distributeShardsLike attribute.
1486 - ERROR_CLUSTER_UNKNOWN_DISTRIBUTESHARDSLIKE
Will be raised if one tries to create a collection which points to an unknown collection in its distributeShardsLike attribute.
ArangoDB query errors
1500 - ERROR_QUERY_KILLED
Will be raised when a running query is killed by an explicit admin command.
1501 - ERROR_QUERY_PARSE
Will be raised when query is parsed and is found to be syntactically invalid.
1502 - ERROR_QUERY_EMPTY
Will be raised when an empty query is specified.
1503 - ERROR_QUERY_SCRIPT
Will be raised when a runtime error is caused by the query.
1504 - ERROR_QUERY_NUMBER_OUT_OF_RANGE
Will be raised when a number is outside the expected range.
1510 - ERROR_QUERY_VARIABLE_NAME_INVALID
Will be raised when an invalid variable name is used.
1511 - ERROR_QUERY_VARIABLE_REDECLARED
Will be raised when a variable gets re-assigned in a query.
1512 - ERROR_QUERY_VARIABLE_NAME_UNKNOWN
Will be raised when an unknown variable is used or the variable is undefined the context it is used.
1521 - ERROR_QUERY_COLLECTION_LOCK_FAILED
Will be raised when a read lock on the collection cannot be acquired.
578
Error codes and meanings
1522 - ERROR_QUERY_TOO_MANY_COLLECTIONS
Will be raised when the number of collections in a query is beyond the allowed value.
1530 - ERROR_QUERY_DOCUMENT_ATTRIBUTE_REDECLARED
Will be raised when a document attribute is re-assigned.
1540 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_NAME_UNKNOWN
Will be raised when an undefined function is called.
1541 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT_NUMBER_MISMATCH
Will be raised when the number of arguments used in a function call does not match the expected number of arguments for the
function.
1542 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_ARGUMENT_TYPE_MISMATCH
Will be raised when the type of an argument used in a function call does not match the expected argument type.
1543 - ERROR_QUERY_INVALID_REGEX
Will be raised when an invalid regex argument value is used in a call to a function that expects a regex.
1550 - ERROR_QUERY_BIND_PARAMETERS_INVALID
Will be raised when the structure of bind parameters passed has an unexpected format.
1551 - ERROR_QUERY_BIND_PARAMETER_MISSING
Will be raised when a bind parameter was declared in the query but the query is being executed with no value for that parameter.
1552 - ERROR_QUERY_BIND_PARAMETER_UNDECLARED
Will be raised when a value gets specified for an undeclared bind parameter.
1553 - ERROR_QUERY_BIND_PARAMETER_TYPE
Will be raised when a bind parameter has an invalid value or type.
1560 - ERROR_QUERY_INVALID_LOGICAL_VALUE
Will be raised when a non-boolean value is used in a logical operation.
1561 - ERROR_QUERY_INVALID_ARITHMETIC_VALUE
Will be raised when a non-numeric value is used in an arithmetic operation.
1562 - ERROR_QUERY_DIVISION_BY_ZERO
Will be raised when there is an attempt to divide by zero.
1563 - ERROR_QUERY_ARRAY_EXPECTED
Will be raised when a non-array operand is used for an operation that expects an array argument operand.
1569 - ERROR_QUERY_FAIL_CALLED
Will be raised when the function FAIL() is called from inside a query.
1570 - ERROR_QUERY_GEO_INDEX_MISSING
Will be raised when a geo restriction was specified but no suitable geo index is found to resolve it.
1571 - ERROR_QUERY_FULLTEXT_INDEX_MISSING
Will be raised when a fulltext query is performed on a collection without a suitable fulltext index.
1572 - ERROR_QUERY_INVALID_DATE_VALUE
Will be raised when a value cannot be converted to a date.
1573 - ERROR_QUERY_MULTI_MODIFY
Will be raised when an AQL query contains more than one data-modifying operation.
1574 - ERROR_QUERY_INVALID_AGGREGATE_EXPRESSION
Will be raised when an AQL query contains an invalid aggregate expression.
1575 - ERROR_QUERY_COMPILE_TIME_OPTIONS
Will be raised when an AQL data-modification query contains options that cannot be figured out at query compile time.
1576 - ERROR_QUERY_EXCEPTION_OPTIONS
Will be raised when an AQL data-modification query contains an invalid options specification.
579
Error codes and meanings
1577 - ERROR_QUERY_COLLECTION_USED_IN_EXPRESSION
Will be raised when a collection is used as an operand in an AQL expression.
1578 - ERROR_QUERY_DISALLOWED_DYNAMIC_CALL
Will be raised when a dynamic function call is made to a function that cannot be called dynamically.
1579 - ERROR_QUERY_ACCESS_AFTER_MODIFICATION
Will be raised when collection data are accessed after a data-modification operation.
AQL user function errors
1580 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_INVALID_NAME
Will be raised when a user function with an invalid name is registered.
1581 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_INVALID_CODE
Will be raised when a user function is registered with invalid code.
1582 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a user function is accessed but not found.
1583 - ERROR_QUERY_FUNCTION_RUNTIME_ERROR
Will be raised when a user function throws a runtime exception.
AQL query registry errors
1590 - ERROR_QUERY_BAD_JSON_PLAN
Will be raised when an HTTP API for a query got an invalid JSON object.
1591 - ERROR_QUERY_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when an Id of a query is not found by the HTTP API.
1592 - ERROR_QUERY_IN_USE
Will be raised when an Id of a query is found by the HTTP API but the query is in use.
ArangoDB cursor errors
1600 - ERROR_CURSOR_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a cursor is requested via its id but a cursor with that id cannot be found.
1601 - ERROR_CURSOR_BUSY
Will be raised when a cursor is requested via its id but a concurrent request is still using the cursor.
ArangoDB transaction errors
1650 - ERROR_TRANSACTION_INTERNAL
Will be raised when a wrong usage of transactions is detected. this is an internal error and indicates a bug in ArangoDB.
1651 - ERROR_TRANSACTION_NESTED
Will be raised when transactions are nested.
1652 - ERROR_TRANSACTION_UNREGISTERED_COLLECTION
Will be raised when a collection is used in the middle of a transaction but was not registered at transaction start.
1653 - ERROR_TRANSACTION_DISALLOWED_OPERATION
Will be raised when a disallowed operation is carried out in a transaction.
1654 - ERROR_TRANSACTION_ABORTED
Will be raised when a transaction was aborted.
580
Error codes and meanings
User management errors
1700 - ERROR_USER_INVALID_NAME
Will be raised when an invalid user name is used.
1701 - ERROR_USER_INVALID_PASSWORD
Will be raised when an invalid password is used.
1702 - ERROR_USER_DUPLICATE
Will be raised when a user name already exists.
1703 - ERROR_USER_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a user name is updated that does not exist.
1704 - ERROR_USER_CHANGE_PASSWORD
Will be raised when the user must change his password.
Service management errors (legacy)
These have been superceded by the Foxx management errors in public APIs.
1750 - ERROR_SERVICE_INVALID_NAME
Will be raised when an invalid service name is specified.
1751 - ERROR_SERVICE_INVALID_MOUNT
Will be raised when an invalid mount is specified.
1752 - ERROR_SERVICE_DOWNLOAD_FAILED
Will be raised when a service download from the central repository failed.
1753 - ERROR_SERVICE_UPLOAD_FAILED
Will be raised when a service upload from the client to the ArangoDB server failed.
Task errors
1850 - ERROR_TASK_INVALID_ID
Will be raised when a task is created with an invalid id.
1851 - ERROR_TASK_DUPLICATE_ID
Will be raised when a task id is created with a duplicate id.
1852 - ERROR_TASK_NOT_FOUND
Will be raised when a task with the specified id could not be found.
Graph / traversal errors
1901 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_GRAPH
Will be raised when an invalid name is passed to the server.
1902 - ERROR_GRAPH_COULD_NOT_CREATE_GRAPH
Will be raised when an invalid name, vertices or edges is passed to the server.
1903 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_VERTEX
Will be raised when an invalid vertex id is passed to the server.
1904 - ERROR_GRAPH_COULD_NOT_CREATE_VERTEX
Will be raised when the vertex could not be created.
1905 - ERROR_GRAPH_COULD_NOT_CHANGE_VERTEX
Will be raised when the vertex could not be changed.
581
Error codes and meanings
1906 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_EDGE
Will be raised when an invalid edge id is passed to the server.
1907 - ERROR_GRAPH_COULD_NOT_CREATE_EDGE
Will be raised when the edge could not be created.
1908 - ERROR_GRAPH_COULD_NOT_CHANGE_EDGE
Will be raised when the edge could not be changed.
1909 - ERROR_GRAPH_TOO_MANY_ITERATIONS
Will be raised when too many iterations are done in a graph traversal.
1910 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_FILTER_RESULT
Will be raised when an invalid filter result is returned in a graph traversal.
1920 - ERROR_GRAPH_COLLECTION_MULTI_USE
an edge collection may only be used once in one edge definition of a graph.,
1921 - ERROR_GRAPH_COLLECTION_USE_IN_MULTI_GRAPHS
is already used by another graph in a different edge definition.,
1922 - ERROR_GRAPH_CREATE_MISSING_NAME
a graph name is required to create a graph.,
1923 - ERROR_GRAPH_CREATE_MALFORMED_EDGE_DEFINITION
the edge definition is malformed. It has to be an array of objects.,
1924 - ERROR_GRAPH_NOT_FOUND
a graph with this name could not be found.,
1925 - ERROR_GRAPH_DUPLICATE
a graph with this name already exists.,
1926 - ERROR_GRAPH_VERTEX_COL_DOES_NOT_EXIST
the specified vertex collection does not exist or is not part of the graph.,
1927 - ERROR_GRAPH_WRONG_COLLECTION_TYPE_VERTEX
the collection is not a vertex collection.,
1928 - ERROR_GRAPH_NOT_IN_ORPHAN_COLLECTION
Vertex collection not in orphan collection of the graph.,
1929 - ERROR_GRAPH_COLLECTION_USED_IN_EDGE_DEF
The collection is already used in an edge definition of the graph.,
1930 - ERROR_GRAPH_EDGE_COLLECTION_NOT_USED
The edge collection is not used in any edge definition of the graph.,
1931 - ERROR_GRAPH_NOT_AN_ARANGO_COLLECTION
The collection is not an ArangoCollection.,
1932 - ERROR_GRAPH_NO_GRAPH_COLLECTION
collection _graphs does not exist.,
1933 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_EXAMPLE_ARRAY_OBJECT_STRING
Invalid example type. Has to be String, Array or Object.,
1934 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_EXAMPLE_ARRAY_OBJECT
Invalid example type. Has to be Array or Object.,
1935 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_NUMBER_OF_ARGUMENTS
Invalid number of arguments. Expected: ,
1936 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_PARAMETER
Invalid parameter type.,
582
Error codes and meanings
1937 - ERROR_GRAPH_INVALID_ID
Invalid id,
1938 - ERROR_GRAPH_COLLECTION_USED_IN_ORPHANS
The collection is already used in the orphans of the graph.,
1939 - ERROR_GRAPH_EDGE_COL_DOES_NOT_EXIST
the specified edge collection does not exist or is not part of the graph.,
1940 - ERROR_GRAPH_EMPTY
The requested graph has no edge collections.
Session errors
1950 - ERROR_SESSION_UNKNOWN
Will be raised when an invalid/unknown session id is passed to the server.
1951 - ERROR_SESSION_EXPIRED
Will be raised when a session is expired.
Simple Client errors
2000 - SIMPLE_CLIENT_UNKNOWN_ERROR
This error should not happen.
2001 - SIMPLE_CLIENT_COULD_NOT_CONNECT
Will be raised when the client could not connect to the server.
2002 - SIMPLE_CLIENT_COULD_NOT_WRITE
Will be raised when the client could not write data.
2003 - SIMPLE_CLIENT_COULD_NOT_READ
Will be raised when the client could not read data.
Communicator errors
2100 - COMMUNICATOR_REQUEST_ABORTED
Request was aborted.
Foxx management errors
3000 - ERROR_MALFORMED_MANIFEST_FILE
The service manifest file is not well-formed JSON.
3001 - ERROR_INVALID_SERVICE_MANIFEST
The service manifest contains invalid values.
3004 - ERROR_INVALID_FOXX_OPTIONS
The service options contain invalid values.
3007 - ERROR_INVALID_MOUNTPOINT
The service mountpath contains invalid characters.
3009 - ERROR_SERVICE_NOT_FOUND
No service found at the given mountpath.
3010 - ERROR_SERVICE_NEEDS_CONFIGURATION
The service is missing configuration or dependencies.
583
Error codes and meanings
3011 - ERROR_SERVICE_MOUNTPOINT_CONFLICT
A service already exists at the given mountpath.
3012 - ERROR_SERVICE_MANIFEST_NOT_FOUND
The service directory does not contain a manifest file.
3013 - ERROR_SERVICE_OPTIONS_MALFORMED
The service options are not well-formed JSON.
3014 - ERROR_SERVICE_SOURCE_NOT_FOUND
The source path does not match a file or directory.
3015 - ERROR_SERVICE_SOURCE_ERROR
The source path could not be resolved.
3016 - ERROR_SERVICE_UNKNOWN_SCRIPT
The service does not have a script with this name.
JavaScript module loader errors
3100 - ERROR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
The module path could not be resolved.
3103 - ERROR_MODULE_FAILURE
Failed to invoke the module in its context.
Enterprise errors
4000 - ERROR_NO_SMART_COLLECTION
The requested collection needs to be smart, but it ain't
4001 - ERROR_NO_SMART_GRAPH_ATTRIBUTE
The given document does not have the smart graph attribute set.
4002 - ERROR_CANNOT_DROP_SMART_COLLECTION
This smart collection cannot be dropped, it dictates sharding in the graph.
4003 - ERROR_KEY_MUST_BE_PREFIXED_WITH_SMART_GRAPH_ATTRIBUTE
In a smart vertex collection _key must be prefixed with the value of the smart graph attribute.
4004 - ERROR_ILLEGAL_SMART_GRAPH_ATTRIBUTE
The given smartGraph attribute is illegal and connot be used for sharding. All system attributes are forbidden.
Agency errors
20011 - ERROR_AGENCY_INFORM_MUST_BE_OBJECT
The inform message in the agency must be an object.
20012 - ERROR_AGENCY_INFORM_MUST_CONTAIN_TERM
The inform message in the agency must contain a uint parameter 'term'.
20013 - ERROR_AGENCY_INFORM_MUST_CONTAIN_ID
The inform message in the agency must contain a string parameter 'id'.
20014 - ERROR_AGENCY_INFORM_MUST_CONTAIN_ACTIVE
The inform message in the agency must contain an array 'active'.
20015 - ERROR_AGENCY_INFORM_MUST_CONTAIN_POOL
The inform message in the agency must contain an object 'pool'.
584
Error codes and meanings
20020 - ERROR_AGENCY_INQUIRE_CLIENT_ID_MUST_BE_STRING
Inquiry by clientId failed
Supervision errors
20501 - ERROR_SUPERVISION_GENERAL_FAILURE
General supervision failure.
Dispatcher errors
21001 - ERROR_DISPATCHER_IS_STOPPING
Will be returned if a shutdown is in progress.
21002 - ERROR_QUEUE_UNKNOWN
Will be returned if a queue with this name does not exist.
21003 - ERROR_QUEUE_FULL
Will be returned if a queue with this name is full.
585
Glossary
Glossary
Collection
A collection consists of documents. It is uniquely identified by its collection identifier. It also has a unique name that clients should use
to identify and access it. Collections can be renamed. It will change the collection name, but not the collection identifier. Collections
contain documents of a specific type. There are currently two types: document (default) and edge. The type is specified by the user when
the collection is created, and cannot be changed later.
Collection Identifier
A collection identifier identifies a collection in a database. It is a string value and is unique within the database. Up to including
ArangoDB 1.1, the collection identifier has been a client's primary means to access collections. Starting with ArangoDB 1.2, clients
should instead use a collection's unique name to access a collection instead of its identifier.
ArangoDB currently uses 64bit unsigned integer values to maintain collection ids internally. When returning collection ids to clients,
ArangoDB will put them into a string to ensure the collection id is not clipped by clients that do not support big integers. Clients should
treat the collection ids returned by ArangoDB as opaque strings when they store or use it locally.
Collection Name
A collection name identifies a collection in a database. It is a string and is unique within the database. Unlike the collection identifier it is
supplied by the creator of the collection. The collection name must consist of letters, digits, and the _ (underscore) and - (dash) characters
only. Please refer to NamingConventions for more information on valid collection names.
Database
ArangoDB can handle multiple databases in the same server instance. Databases can be used to logically group and separate data. An
ArangoDB database consists of collections and dedicated database-specific worker processes.
A database contains its own collections (which cannot be accessed from other databases), Foxx applications, and replication loggers and
appliers. Each ArangoDB database contains its own system collections (e.g. _users, _replication, ...).
There will always be at least one database in ArangoDB. This is the default database, named _system. This database cannot be dropped,
and provides special operations for creating, dropping, and enumerating databases. Users can create additional databases and give them
unique names to access them later. Database management operations cannot be initiated from out of user-defined databases.
When ArangoDB is accessed via its HTTP REST API, the database name is read from the first part of the request URI path (e.g.
/_db/_system/...). If the request URI does not contain a database name, the database name is automatically derived from the endpoint.
Please refer to DatabaseEndpoint for more information.
Database Name
A single ArangoDB instance can handle multiple databases in parallel. When multiple databases are used, each database must be given a
unique name. This name is used to uniquely identify a database. The default database in ArangoDB is named _system.
The database name is a string consisting of only letters, digits and the _ (underscore) and - (dash) characters. User-defined database
names must always start with a letter. Database names is case-sensitive.
Database Organization
A single ArangoDB instance can handle multiple databases in parallel. By default, there will be at least one database, which is named
_system.
Databases are physically stored in separate sub-directories underneath the database directory, which itself resides in the instance's data
directory.
586
Glossary
Each database has its own sub-directory, named database-. The database directory contains sub-directories for the collections of the
database, and a file named parameter.json. This file contains the database id and name.
In an example ArangoDB instance which has two databases, the filesystem layout could look like this:
data/
# the instance's data directory
databases/
# sub-directory containing all databases' data
database-/
# sub-directory for a single database
parameter.json
# file containing database id and name
collection-/
# directory containing data about a collection
database-/
# sub-directory for another database
parameter.json
# file containing database id and name
collection-/
# directory containing data about a collection
collection-/
# directory containing data about a collection
Foxx applications are also organized in database-specific directories inside the application path. The filesystem layout could look like
this:
apps/
# the instance's application directory
system/
# system applications (can be ignored)
_db/
# sub-directory containing database-specific applications
/
# sub-directory for a single database
/APP
# sub-directory for a single application
/APP
# sub-directory for a single application
/
# sub-directory for another database
/APP
# sub-directory for a single application
Document
Documents in ArangoDB are JSON objects. These objects can be nested (to any depth) and may contain arrays. Each document is
uniquely identified by its document handle.
Document ETag
The document revision (
_rev
value) enclosed in double quotes. The revision is returned by several HTTP API methods in the Etag
HTTP header.
Document Handle
A document handle uniquely identifies a document in the database. It is a string and consists of the collection's name and the document
key (
_key
attribute) separated by /. The document handle is stored in a document's
_id
attribute.
Document Key
A document key is a string that uniquely identifies a document in a given collection. It can and should be used by clients when specific
documents are searched. Document keys are stored in the
_key
attribute of documents. The key values are automatically indexed by
ArangoDB in a collection's primary index. Thus looking up a document by its key is regularly a fast operation. The
_key
value of a
document is immutable once the document has been created.
By default, ArangoDB will auto-generate a document key if no
_key
attribute is specified, and use the user-specified
_key
value
otherwise.
This behavior can be changed on a per-collection level by creating collections with the
Using
keyOptions
keyOptions
attribute.
it is possible to disallow user-specified keys completely, or to force a specific regime for auto-generating the
_key
values.
There are some restrictions for user-defined keys (see NamingConventions for document keys).
Document Revision
587
Glossary
As ArangoDB supports MVCC, documents can exist in more than one revision. The document revision is the MVCC token used to
identify a particular revision of a document. It is a string value currently containing an integer number and is unique within the list of
document revisions for a single document. Document revisions can be used to conditionally update, replace or delete documents in the
database. In order to find a particular revision of a document, you need the document handle and the document revision.
The document revision is stored in the
_rev
attribute of a document, and is set and updated by ArangoDB automatically. The
_rev
value cannot be set from the outside.
ArangoDB currently uses 64bit unsigned integer values to maintain document revisions internally. When returning document revisions to
clients, ArangoDB will put them into a string to ensure the revision id is not clipped by clients that do not support big integers. Clients
should treat the revision id returned by ArangoDB as an opaque string when they store or use it locally. This will allow ArangoDB to
change the format of revision ids later if this should be required. Clients can use revisions ids to perform simple equality/non-equality
comparisons (e.g. to check whether a document has changed or not), but they should not use revision ids to perform greater/less than
comparisons with them to check if a document revision is older than one another, even if this might work for some cases.
Edge
Edges are special documents used for connecting other documents into a graph. An edge describes the connection between two
documents using the internal attributes:
_from
and
_to
. These contain document handles, namely the start-point and the end-point of
the edge.
Edge Collection
Edge collections are collections that store edges.
Edge Definition
Edge definitions are parts of the definition of
named graphs
. They describe which edge collections connect which vertex collections.
General Graph
Module maintaining graph setup in the
_graphs
collection - aka
named graphs
. Configures which edge collections relate to which
vertex collections. Ensures graph consistency in modification queries.
Named Graphs
Named graphs enforce consistency between edge collections and vertex collections, so if you remove a vertex, edges pointing to it will
be removed too.
Index
Indexes are used to allow fast access to documents in a collection. All collections have a primary index, which is the document's _key
attribute. This index cannot be dropped or changed.
Edge collections will also have an automatically created edges index, which cannot be modified. This index provides quick access to
documents via the
_from
and
_to
attributes.
Most user-land indexes can be created by defining the names of the attributes which should be indexed. Some index types allow indexing
just one attribute (e.g. fulltext index) whereas other index types allow indexing multiple attributes.
Indexing the system attribute
_id
in user-defined indexes is not supported by any index type.
Edges Index
An edges index is automatically created for edge collections. It contains connections between vertex documents and is invoked when the
connecting edges of a vertex are queried. There is no way to explicitly create or delete edges indexes.
Fulltext Index
588
Glossary
A fulltext index can be used to find words, or prefixes of words inside documents. A fulltext index can be defined on one attribute only,
and will include all words contained in documents that have a textual value in the index attribute. Since ArangoDB 2.6 the index will
also include words from the index attribute if the index attribute is an array of strings, or an object with string value members.
For example, given a fulltext index on the
translations
attribute and the following documents, then searching for
fulltext index would return only the first document. Searching for the index for the exact string
documents, and searching for
prefix:Fox
Fox
лиса
using the
would return the first two
would return all three documents:
{ translations: { en: "fox", de: "Fuchs", fr: "renard", ru: "лиса" } }
{ translations: "Fox is the English translation of the German word Fuchs" }
{ translations: [ "ArangoDB", "document", "database", "Foxx" ] }
If the index attribute is neither a string, an object or an array, its contents will not be indexed. When indexing the contents of an array
attribute, an array member will only be included in the index if it is a string. When indexing the contents of an object attribute, an object
member value will only be included in the index if it is a string. Other data types are ignored and not indexed.
Only words with a (specifiable) minimum length are indexed. Word tokenization is done using the word boundary analysis provided by
libicu, which is taking into account the selected language provided at server start. Words are indexed in their lower-cased form. The
index supports complete match queries (full words) and prefix queries.
Geo Index
A geo index is used to find places on the surface of the earth fast.
Index Handle
An index handle uniquely identifies an index in the database. It is a string and consists of a collection name and an index identifier
separated by /.
Hash Index
A hash index is used to find documents based on examples. A hash index can be created for one or multiple document attributes.
A hash index will only be used by queries if all indexed attributes are present in the example or search query, and if all attributes are
compared using the equality (== operator). That means the hash index does not support range queries.
A unique hash index has an amortized complexity of O(1) for lookup, insert, update, and remove operations. The non-unique hash index
is similar, but amortized lookup performance is O(n), with n being the number of index entries with the same lookup value.
Skiplist Index
A skiplist is a sorted index type that can be used to find ranges of documents.
Anonymous Graphs
You may use edge collections with vertex collections without the graph management facilities. However, graph consistency is not
enforced by these. If you remove vertices, you have to ensure by yourselves edges pointing to this vertex are removed. Anonymous
graphs may not be browsed using graph viewer in the webinterface. This may be faster in some scenarios.
589
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