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Broker

The ServiceBroker is the main component of Moleculer. It handles services, calls actions, emits events and communicates with remote nodes.
You must create a ServiceBroker instance for every node.

Broker logical diagram

Create broker

Create broker with default settings:

const { ServiceBroker } = require("moleculer");
const broker = new ServiceBroker();

Create broker with custom settings:

const { ServiceBroker } = require("moleculer");
const broker = new ServiceBroker({
logLevel: "info"
});

Create broker with transporter to communicate with remote nodes:

const { ServiceBroker } = require("moleculer");
const broker = new ServiceBroker({
nodeID: "node-1",
transporter: "nats://localhost:4222",
logLevel: "debug",
requestTimeout: 5 * 1000
});

Broker options

List of all available broker options:

Name Type Default Description
namespace String "" Namespace of nodes to segment your nodes on the same network.
nodeID String hostname + PID Unique node identifier. Must be unique in a namespace.
logger Boolean or Object or Function console Logger class. By default, it prints message to the console. External logger can be used, e.g. winston or pino. Read more.
logLevel String info Log level for built-in console logger (trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal).
logFormatter String or Function "default" Log formatter for built-in console logger. Values: default, simple, short. It can be also a Function.
logObjectPrinter Function null Custom object & array printer for built-in console logger.
transporter String or Object or Transporter null Transporter settings. Read more.
requestTimeout Number 0 Number of milliseconds to wait before reject a request with a RequestTimeout error. Disabled: 0
retryPolicy Object Retry policy settings. Read more
maxCallLevel Number 0 Limit of calling level. If it reaches the limit, broker will throw an MaxCallLevelError error. (Infinite loop protection)
heartbeatInterval Number 5 Number of seconds to send heartbeat packet to other nodes.
heartbeatTimeout Number 15 Number of seconds to wait before setting node to unavailable status.
tracking Object Tracking requests and waiting for running requests before shutdowning. Read more
disableBalancer Boolean false Disable built-in request & emit balancer. Transporter must support it, as well.
registry Object Settings of Service Registry
circuitBreaker Object Settings of Circuit Breaker
bulkhead Object Settings of bulkhead
transit.maxQueueSize Number 50000 A protection against inordinate memory usages when there are too many outgoing requests. If there are more than stated outgoing live requests, the new requests will be rejected with QueueIsFullError error.
transit.disableReconnect Boolean false Disables the reconnection logic while starting a broker
transit.disableVersionCheck Boolean false Disable protocol version checking logic in Transit
transit.packetLogFilter Array empty Filters out the packets in debug logs
cacher String or Object or Cacher null Cacher settings. Read more
serializer String or Serializer JSONSerializer Instance of serializer. Read more
skipProcessEventRegistration Boolean false Skip the default graceful shutdown event handlers. In this case you have to register them manually.
validation Boolean true Enable parameters validation.
validator Validator null Custom Validator class for validation.
metrics Boolean false Enable metrics function.
metricsRate Number 1 Rate of metrics calls. 1 means to measure every request.
internalServices Boolean true Register internal services.
internalMiddlewares Boolean true Register internal middlewares.
hotReload Boolean false Watch the loaded services and hot reload if they changed. Read more.
middlewares Array<Function> null Register middlewares. Useful when you use Moleculer Runner.
replCommands Array<Object> null Register custom REPL commands.
created Function null Fired when the broker created. Useful when you use Moleculer Runner.
started Function null Fired when the broker started. Useful when you use Moleculer Runner.
stopped Function null Fired when the broker stopped. Useful when you use Moleculer Runner.
ServiceFactory ServiceClass null Custom Service class. If not null, broker will use it when creating services.
ContextFactory ContextClass null Custom Context class. If not null, broker will use it when creating contexts.

Full options object

{
namespace: "dev",
nodeID: "node-25",

logger: true,
logLevel: "info",
logFormatter: "default",
logObjectPrinter: null,

transporter: "nats://localhost:4222",

requestTimeout: 5000,
retryPolicy: {
enabled: true,
retries: 5,
delay: 100,
maxDelay: 1000,
factor: 2,
check: err => err && !!err.retryable
},

maxCallLevel: 100,
heartbeatInterval: 5,
heartbeatTimeout: 15,

tracking: {
enabled: true,
shutdownTimeout: 5000,
},

disableBalancer: false,

registry: {
strategy: "RoundRobin",
preferLocal: true
},

circuitBreaker: {
enabled: true,
threshold: 0.5,
windowTime: 60,
minRequestCount: 20,
halfOpenTime: 10 * 1000,
check: err => err && err.code >= 500
},

bulkhead: {
enabled: true,
concurrency: 10,
maxQueueSize: 100,
},

transit: {
maxQueueSize: 50 * 1000,
disableReconnect: false,
disableVersionCheck: false,
packetLogFilter: []
},

cacher: "memory",
serializer: null,

skipProcessEventRegistration: false

validation: true,
validator: null,

metrics: true,
metricsRate: 1,

internalServices: true,
internalMiddlewares: true,

hotReload: true,

ServiceFactory: null,
ContextFactory: null,

middlewares: [myMiddleware()],

replCommands: [],

created(broker) {
},

started(broker) {
},

stopped(broker) {
}
}
Moleculer runner

You don’t need to create manually ServiceBroker in your project. Use the Moleculer Runner to create and execute a broker and load services. Read more about Moleculer Runner.

Ping

To ping remote nodes, use broker.ping method. You can ping a node, or all available nodes. It returns a Promise which contains the received ping informations (latency, time difference). A timeout value can be defined.

Ping a node with 1 second timeout

broker.ping("node-123", 1000).then(res => broker.logger.info(res));

Output

{ 
nodeID: 'node-123',
elapsedTime: 16,
timeDiff: -3
}

The timeDiff value is the difference of the system clock between these two nodes.

Ping multiple nodes

broker.ping(["node-100", "node-102"]).then(res => broker.logger.info(res));

Output

{ 
"node-100": {
nodeID: 'node-100',
elapsedTime: 10,
timeDiff: -2
},
"node-102": {
nodeID: 'node-102',
elapsedTime: 250,
timeDiff: 850
}
}

Ping all available nodes

broker.ping().then(res => broker.logger.info(res));

Output

{ 
"node-100": {
nodeID: 'node-100',
elapsedTime: 10,
timeDiff: -2
} ,
"node-101": {
nodeID: 'node-101',
elapsedTime: 18,
timeDiff: 32
},
"node-102": {
nodeID: 'node-102',
elapsedTime: 250,
timeDiff: 850
}
}

Properties

Name Type Description
broker.nodeID String Node ID.
broker.Promise Promise Bluebird Promise class.
broker.namespace String Namespace.
broker.logger Logger Logger class of ServiceBroker.
broker.cacher String Request ID. If you make nested-calls, it will be the same ID.
broker.serializer String Parent context ID (in nested-calls).
broker.validator Any Request params. Second argument from broker.call.
broker.options Object Broker options.

Methods

Name Response Description
broker.start() Promise Start broker.
broker.stop() Promise Stop broker.
broker.repl() - Start REPL mode.
broker.getLogger(module, props) Logger Get a child logger.
broker.fatal(message, err, needExit) - Throw an error and exit the process.
broker.loadServices(folder, fileMask) Number Load services from a folder.
broker.loadService(filePath) Service Load a service from file.
broker.createService(schema, schemaMods) Service Create a service from schema.
broker.destroyService(service) Promise Destroy a loaded local service.
broker.getLocalService(name, version) Service Get a local service instance by name & version.
broker.waitForServices(serviceNames, timeout, interval) Promise Wait for services (e.g.: v2.posts).
broker.call(actionName, params, opts) Promise Call a service.
broker.mcall(def) Promise Multiple service calling.
broker.emit(eventName, payload, groups) - Emit a balanced event.
broker.broadcast(eventName, payload, groups) - Broadcast an event.
broker.broadcastLocal(eventName, payload, groups) - Broadcast an event to local services.
broker.ping(nodeID, timeout) Promise Ping remote nodes.