Task is started despite skipped pre-start hooks

[xkmwangi]

Nomad version

Tip

Operating system and Environment details

Linux

Issue

There is a race between allocation termination and task startup that can cause the task to start without the pre-start hooks having been executed. This may cause the driver to fail during startup because the task directory is not initialized. We suspect other failure modes are possible here (eg. the task directory may exist while re-discovering allocations during agent restart but other hooks don’t run), but the driver failure has arisen several times.

Details

The issue arose with the driver failing with the following sequence of events:

1. Client has an allocation scheduled.
2. Leader task starts successfully (note the Building Task Directory line).
3. Client soon after receives a kill for the leader.
4. Task runner skips pre-start hooks for sidecar because the allocation is terminal.
5. However, the task runner still starts the sidecar.
6. The sidecar because the task directory has not been created.

While this involved a leader and sidecar task, the error can occur with a single task.

Verify that skipping the pre-start hooks causes the observed driver failure

Patch nomad to unconditionally skip pre-start hooks.

diff --git a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner_hooks.go b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner_hooks.go
index 6d71ba7..890134c 100644
--- a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner_hooks.go
+++ b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner_hooks.go
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ func (tr *TaskRunner) emitHookError(err error, hookName string) {
 func (tr *TaskRunner) prestart() error {
        // Determine if the allocation is terminal and we should avoid running
        // prestart hooks.
-       if tr.shouldShutdown() {
+       if true {
                tr.logger.Trace("skipping prestart hooks since allocation is terminal")
                return nil
        }

When attempting to start a simple task,job the allocation fails with:

rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed to create executor: error creating rpc client for executor plugin: Unrecognized remote plugin message: This usually means the plugin was not compiled for this architecture, the plugin is missing dynamic-link libraries necessary to run, the plugin is not executable by this process due to file permissions, or the plugin failed to negotiate the initial go-plugin protocol handshake

Finding the root cause of the raciness

The prestart hooks are only skipped when tr.sholdShutdown() is true.

nomad/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner_hooks.go

Lines 195 to 201 in 73e372a

	// Determine if the allocation is terminal and we should avoid running
	// prestart hooks.
	if tr.shouldShutdown() {
	tr.logger.Trace("skipping prestart hooks since allocation is terminal")
	return nil
	}

Hence, for the prestart hooks to be skipped and yet the task still run, it must be the case that:

nomad/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go

Lines 570 to 614 in 73e372a

	MAIN:
	for !tr.shouldShutdown() {
	if dead {
	break
	}
	select {
	case <-tr.killCtx.Done():
	break MAIN
	case <-tr.shutdownCtx.Done():
	// TaskRunner was told to exit immediately
	return
	case <-tr.startConditionMetCh:
	tr.logger.Debug("lifecycle start condition has been met, proceeding")
	// yay proceed
	}
	// Run the prestart hooks
	if err := tr.prestart(); err != nil {
	tr.logger.Error("prestart failed", "error", err)
	tr.restartTracker.SetStartError(err)
	goto RESTART
	}
	select {
	case <-tr.killCtx.Done():
	break MAIN
	case <-tr.shutdownCtx.Done():
	// TaskRunner was told to exit immediately
	return
	default:
	}
	// Run the task
	if err := tr.runDriver(); err != nil {
	tr.logger.Error("running driver failed", "error", err)
	tr.restartTracker.SetStartError(err)
	goto RESTART
	}
	// Run the poststart hooks
	if err := tr.poststart(); err != nil {
	tr.logger.Error("poststart failed", "error", err)
	}

• tr.shouldShutdown() is false as the start in order for the loop to begin, but then becomes true by the point tr.prestart() is reached.
• We fall through the select, meaning killCtx and shutdownCtx must both not be Done.

For tr.shouldShutdown() to become true, tr.Alloc must have transitioned from non-terminal status to terminal status before

nomad/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go

Lines 734 to 746 in 73e372a

	func (tr *TaskRunner) shouldShutdown() bool {
	alloc := tr.Alloc()
	if alloc.ClientTerminalStatus() {
	return true
	}
	if !tr.IsPoststopTask() && alloc.ServerTerminalStatus() {
	return true
	}
	return false
	}

The state of tr.Alloc is updated in

nomad/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go

Lines 1410 to 1411 in 73e372a

	// Update tr.alloc
	tr.setAlloc(update, task)

called from

nomad/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go

Lines 956 to 995 in 73e372a

	func (ar *allocRunner) handleAllocUpdates() {
	for {
	select {
	case update := <-ar.allocUpdatedCh:
	ar.handleAllocUpdate(update)
	case <-ar.waitCh:
	return
	}
	}
	}
	// This method sends the updated alloc to Run for serially processing updates.
	// If there is already a pending update it will be discarded and replaced by
	// the latest update.
	func (ar *allocRunner) handleAllocUpdate(update *structs.Allocation) {
	// Detect Stop updates
	stopping := !ar.Alloc().TerminalStatus() && update.TerminalStatus()
	// Update ar.alloc
	ar.setAlloc(update)
	// Run update hooks if not stopping or dead
	if !update.TerminalStatus() {
	if err := ar.update(update); err != nil {
	ar.logger.Error("error running update hooks", "error", err)
	}
	}
	// Update task runners
	for _, tr := range ar.tasks {
	tr.Update(update)
	}
	// If alloc is being terminated, kill all tasks, leader first
	if stopping {
	ar.killTasks()
	}
	}

which is called as a goroutine

nomad/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go

Lines 321 to 330 in 3d63bc6

	func (ar *allocRunner) Run() {
	// Close the wait channel on return
	defer close(ar.waitCh)
	// Start the task state update handler
	go ar.handleTaskStateUpdates()
	// Start the alloc update handler
	go ar.handleAllocUpdates()

In handleAllocUpdate, the state of the task runner is first updated and then tasks are killed (closing KillCtx). However, because handleAllocUpdate runs on a different goroutine as TaskRunner::Run, the following ordering of events is possible and would result in the observed behavior:

1. The allocation is still non-terminal. A task runner is started and enters into the MAIN loop since tr.shouldShutdown returns false.
2. An update is received from the server to terminate the allocation. In a separate goroutine, handleAllocUpdate handles this update by calling tr.Update.
3. In the task runner, we skip the prestart hooks because the allocation is now terminal and tr.shouldShutdown returns true.
4. tr.Run continues to the select and, since both killCtx and shutdownCtx, are not yet done, we fall through and proceed to run the driver.
5. ar.killTasks is called

Reproduction steps

Without any other patches applied, add sleep statements to widen the window for the race to trigger.

diff --git a/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go b/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go
index 80224b0..dd9cf8b 100644
--- a/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go
+++ b/client/allocrunner/alloc_runner.go
@@ -972,6 +972,8 @@ func (ar *allocRunner) handleAllocUpdate(update *structs.Allocation) {
                tr.Update(update)
        }
  
+       time.Sleep(1 * time.Minute)
+
        // If alloc is being terminated, kill all tasks, leader first
        if stopping {
                ar.killTasks()
diff --git a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go
index aae6a31..4b365a5 100644
--- a/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go
+++ b/client/allocrunner/taskrunner/task_runner.go
@@ -590,6 +590,10 @@ MAIN:
                        // yay proceed
                }
  
+               tr.logger.Info("waiting for allocation to become terminal")
+               time.Sleep(30 * time.Second)
+               tr.logger.Info("waking up", tr.shouldShutdown())
+
                // Run the prestart hooks
                if err := tr.prestart(); err != nil {
                        tr.logger.Error("prestart failed", "error", err)

Then,

1. Submit a job
2. Wait for client to receive the job and for the task runner sleep waiting for the allocation to become terminal
3. Stop the job
4. Wait for the task runner to wake up
5. Check the job allocation status to and find:

Recent Events: 
11:46:44-04:00 
Not Restarting 
Error was unrecoverable 

11:46:44-04:00 
Driver Failure
failed to create executor: error creating rpc client for executor plugin: Unrecognized remote plugin message: This usually means the plugin was not compiled for this architecture, the plugin is missing dynamic-link libraries necessary to run, the plugin is not executable by this process due to file permissions, or the plugin failed to negotiate the initial go-plugin protocol handshake

Expected Result

When the allocation is known to be terminal and pre-start hooks are skipped, we don’t proceed to start the task.

Actual Result

Job file (if appropriate)

The task is started without a properly prepared runtime environment, causing the driver to fail.

Nomad Server logs (if appropriate)

Nomad Client logs (if appropriate)

[0]

18:46:15.760+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: plugin started: driver=custom pid=22454 task_name=workload @module=custom.executor alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c path=/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/plugins/custom-driver timestamp="18:46:15.760+0800" 
18:46:15.760+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: waiting for RPC address: driver=custom @module=custom.executor alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c path=/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/plugins/custom-driver task_name=workload timestamp="18:46:15.760+0800" 
18:46:15.769+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: using plugin: driver=custom @module=custom.executor alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c task_name=workload version=2 timestamp="18:46:15.769+0800"
18:46:17.418+0800 [INFO] client.alloc_runner.task_runner: Task event: alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c task=workload type=Killing msg="Sent interrupt. Waiting 5s before force killing" failed=false 
18:46:19.068+0800 [INFO] client.alloc_runner.task_runner: Task event: alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c task=workload type=Started msg="Task started by client" failed=false 
18:46:19.074+0800 [DEBUG] client.alloc_runner.task_runner: lifecycle start condition has been met, proceeding: alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c task=sidecar
18:46:19.077+0800 [INFO] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: starting task: driver=custom @module=custom driver_cfg="{Command:/usr/sbin/server Args:[start -fg -mode prod -rundir /tmp] RunAs:nomad-user}" timestamp="18:46:19.075+0800" 
18:46:19.077+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: starting plugin: driver=custom task_name=sidecar @module=custom.executor alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c args=[/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/plugins/custom-driver, executor, {"LogFile":"/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/alloc/64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c/sidecar/executor.out","LogLevel":"debug","FSIsolation":true}] path=/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/plugins/custom-driver timestamp="18:46:19.075+0800" 
18:46:19.077+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: plugin started: driver=custom alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c path=/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/plugins/custom-driver pid=22495 task_name=sidecar @module=custom.executor timestamp="18:46:19.075+0800" 
18:46:19.077+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: waiting for RPC address: driver=custom @module=custom.executor alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c path=/usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/plugins/custom-driver task_name=sidecar timestamp="18:46:19.075+0800" 
18:46:19.083+0800 [DEBUG] client.driver_mgr.custom-driver: 18:46:19.083+0800 [ERROR] open /usr/local/home/nomad-user/nomad/data/alloc/64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c/sidecar/executor.out: no such file or directory: driver=custom alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c task_name=sidecar @module=custom.executor.custom-driver timestamp="18:46:19.083+0800" 
18:46:19.085+0800 [INFO] client.alloc_runner.task_runner: Task event: alloc_id=64036223-190b-2bd8-bbe7-3a1349770b1c task=sidecar type="Driver Failure"  

[lgfa29]

Thanks for the detailed report @xkmwangi.

I've opened #18662 to address this problem 🙂

[stswidwinski]

Thank you for such a fast turn-around :)

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