elasticsearch/docs/java-rest/low-level/sniffer.asciidoc

[[sniffer]]
== Sniffer

Minimal library that allows to automatically discover nodes from a running
Elasticsearch cluster and set them to an existing `RestClient` instance.
It retrieves by default the nodes that belong to the cluster using the
Nodes Info api and uses jackson to parse the obtained json response.

Compatible with Elasticsearch 2.x and onwards.

=== Maven Repository

The low-level REST client is subject to the same release cycle as
elasticsearch. Replace the version with the desired sniffer version, first
released with `5.0.0-alpha4`. There is no relation between the sniffer version
and the elasticsearch version that the client can communicate with. Sniffer
supports fetching the nodes list from elasticsearch 2.x and onwards.


==== Maven configuration

Here is how you can configure the dependency using maven as a dependency manager.
Add the following to your `pom.xml` file:

["source","xml",subs="attributes"]
--------------------------------------------------
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.elasticsearch.client</groupId>
    <artifactId>sniffer</artifactId>
    <version>{version}</version>
</dependency>
--------------------------------------------------

==== Gradle configuration

Here is how you can configure the dependency using gradle as a dependency manager.
Add the following to your `build.gradle` file:

["source","groovy",subs="attributes"]
--------------------------------------------------
dependencies {
    compile 'org.elasticsearch.client:sniffer:{version}'
}
--------------------------------------------------

=== Usage

Once a `RestClient` instance has been created as shown in <<java-rest-low-usage-initialization>>,
a `Sniffer` can be associated to it. The `Sniffer` will make use of the provided `RestClient`
to periodically (every 5 minutes by default) fetch the list of current nodes from the cluster
and update them by calling `RestClient#setHosts`.

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[sniffer-init]
--------------------------------------------------

It is important to close the `Sniffer` so that its background thread gets
properly shutdown and all of its resources are released. The `Sniffer`
object should have the same lifecycle as the `RestClient` and get closed
right before the client:

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[sniffer-close]
--------------------------------------------------

The `Sniffer` updates the nodes by default every 5 minutes. This interval can
be customized by providing it (in milliseconds) as follows:

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[sniffer-interval]
--------------------------------------------------

It is also possible to enable sniffing on failure, meaning that after each
failure the nodes list gets updated straightaway rather than at the following
ordinary sniffing round. In this case a `SniffOnFailureListener` needs to
be created at first and provided at `RestClient` creation. Also once the
`Sniffer` is later created, it needs to be associated with that same
`SniffOnFailureListener` instance, which will be notified at each failure
and use the `Sniffer` to perform the additional sniffing round as described.

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[sniff-on-failure]
--------------------------------------------------
<1> Set the failure listener to the `RestClient` instance
<2> When sniffing on failure, not only do the nodes get updated after each
failure, but an additional sniffing round is also scheduled sooner than usual,
by default one minute after the failure, assuming that things will go back to
normal and we want to detect that as soon as possible. Said interval can be
customized  at `Sniffer` creation time through the `setSniffAfterFailureDelayMillis`
method. Note that this last configuration parameter has no effect in case sniffing
on failure is not enabled like explained above.
<3> Set the `Sniffer` instance to the failure listener

The Elasticsearch Nodes Info api doesn't return the protocol to use when
connecting to the nodes but only their `host:port` key-pair, hence `http`
is used by default. In case `https` should be used instead, the
`ElasticsearchHostsSniffer` instance has to be manually created and provided
as follows:

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[sniffer-https]
--------------------------------------------------

In the same way it is also possible to customize the `sniffRequestTimeout`,
which defaults to one second. That is the `timeout` parameter provided as a
querystring parameter when calling the Nodes Info api, so that when the
timeout expires on the server side, a valid response is still returned
although it may contain only a subset of the nodes that are part of the
cluster, the ones that have responded until then.

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[sniff-request-timeout]
--------------------------------------------------

Also, a custom `HostsSniffer` implementation can be provided for advanced
use-cases that may require fetching the hosts from external sources rather
than from Elasticsearch:

["source","java",subs="attributes,callouts,macros"]
--------------------------------------------------
include-tagged::{doc-tests}/SnifferDocumentation.java[custom-hosts-sniffer]
--------------------------------------------------
<1> Fetch the hosts from the external source