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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 on every node.

Broker logical diagram

Create a ServiceBroker

Quick tip: 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.

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({
nodeID: "my-node"
});

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
});

Metadata option

Use metadata property to store custom values. It can be useful for a custom middleware or strategy.

const broker = new ServiceBroker({
nodeID: "broker-2",
transporter: "NATS",
metadata: {
region: "eu-west1"
}
});

The metadata property can be obtained by running $node.list action.

The metadata property is transferred to other nodes.

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 information (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 of ServiceBroker

Name Type Description
broker.options Object Broker options.
broker.Promise Promise Bluebird Promise class.
broker.started Boolean Broker state.
broker.namespace String Namespace.
broker.nodeID String Node ID.
broker.instanceID String Instance ID.
broker.metadata Object Metadata from broker options.
broker.logger Logger Logger class of ServiceBroker.
broker.cacher Cacher Cacher instance
broker.serializer Serializer Serializer instance.
broker.validator Any Parameter Validator instance.
broker.services Array<Service> Local services.
broker.metrics MetricRegistry Built-in Metric Registry.
broker.tracer Tracer Built-in Tracer instance.
broker.errorRegenerator Regenerator Built-in Regenerator instance.

Methods of ServiceBroker

Name Response Description
broker.start() Promise Start broker.
broker.stop() Promise Stop broker.
broker.repl() - Start REPL mode.
broker.errorHandler(err, info) - Call the global error handler.
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) Service Create a service from schema.
broker.destroyService(service) Promise Destroy a loaded local service.
broker.getLocalService(name) Service Get a local service instance by full name (e.g. v2.posts)
broker.waitForServices(serviceNames, timeout, interval) Promise Wait for services.
broker.call(actionName, params, opts) Promise Call a service.
broker.mcall(def) Promise Multiple service calling.
broker.emit(eventName, payload, opts) - Emit a balanced event.
broker.broadcast(eventName, payload, opts) - Broadcast an event.
broker.broadcastLocal(eventName, payload, opts) - Broadcast an event to local services only.
broker.ping(nodeID, timeout) Promise Ping remote nodes.
broker.hasEventListener("eventName") Boolean Checks if broker is listening to an event.
broker.getEventListeners("eventName") Array<Object> Returns all registered event listeners for an event name.
broker.generateUid() String Generate an UUID/token.
broker.callMiddlewareHook(name, args, opts) - Call an async hook in the registered middlewares.
broker.callMiddlewareHookSync(name, args, opts) - Call a sync hook in the registered middlewares.
broker.isMetricsEnabled() Boolean Check the metrics feature is enabled.
broker.isTracingEnabled() Boolean Check the tracing feature is enabled.

Global error handler

The global error handler is generic way to handle exceptions. It catches the unhandled errors of action & event handlers.

Catch, handle & log the error

const broker = new ServiceBroker({
errorHandler(err, info) {
// Handle the error
this.logger.warn("Error handled:", err);
}
});

Catch & throw further the error

const broker = new ServiceBroker({
errorHandler(err, info) {
this.logger.warn("Log the error:", err);
throw err; // Throw further
}
});

The info object contains the broker and the service instances, the current context and the action or the event definition.