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  1. Application Development
  2. Streaming (DataStream API)
  3. State & Fault Tolerance
  4. Custom State Serialization

Custom Serialization for Managed State

This page is targeted as a guideline for users who require the use of custom serialization for their state, covering how to provide a custom state serializer as well as guidelines and best practices for implementing serializers that allow state schema evolution.

If you’re simply using Flink’s own serializers, this page is irrelevant and can be ignored.

Using custom state serializers

When registering a managed operator or keyed state, a StateDescriptor is required to specify the state’s name, as well as information about the type of the state. The type information is used by Flink’s type serialization framework to create appropriate serializers for the state.

It is also possible to completely bypass this and let Flink use your own custom serializer to serialize managed states, simply by directly instantiating the StateDescriptor with your own TypeSerializer implementation:

public class CustomTypeSerializer extends TypeSerializer<Tuple2<String, Integer>> {...};

ListStateDescriptor<Tuple2<String, Integer>> descriptor =
    new ListStateDescriptor<>(
        "state-name",
        new CustomTypeSerializer());

checkpointedState = getRuntimeContext().getListState(descriptor);
class CustomTypeSerializer extends TypeSerializer[(String, Integer)] {...}

val descriptor = new ListStateDescriptor[(String, Integer)](
    "state-name",
    new CustomTypeSerializer)
)

checkpointedState = getRuntimeContext.getListState(descriptor)

State serializers and schema evolution

This section explains the user-facing abstractions related to state serialization and schema evolution, and necessary internal details about how Flink interacts with these abstractions.

When restoring from savepoints, Flink allows changing the serializers used to read and write previously registered state, so that users are not locked in to any specific serialization schema. When state is restored, a new serializer will be registered for the state (i.e., the serializer that comes with the StateDescriptor used to access the state in the restored job). This new serializer may have a different schema than that of the previous serializer. Therefore, when implementing state serializers, besides the basic logic of reading / writing data, another important thing to keep in mind is how the serialization schema can be changed in the future.

When speaking of schema, in this context the term is interchangeable between referring to the data model of a state type and the serialized binary format of a state type. The schema, generally speaking, can change for a few cases:

  1. Data schema of the state type has evolved, i.e. adding or removing a field from a POJO that is used as state.
  2. Generally speaking, after a change to the data schema, the serialization format of the serializer will need to be upgraded.
  3. Configuration of the serializer has changed.

In order for the new execution to have information about the written schema of state and detect whether or not the schema has changed, upon taking a savepoint of an operator’s state, a snapshot of the state serializer needs to be written along with the state bytes. This is abstracted a TypeSerializerSnapshot, explained in the next subsection.

The TypeSerializerSnapshot abstraction

public interface TypeSerializerSnapshot<T> {
    int getCurrentVersion();
    void writeSnapshot(DataOuputView out) throws IOException;
    void readSnapshot(int readVersion, DataInputView in, ClassLoader userCodeClassLoader) throws IOException;
    TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility<T> resolveSchemaCompatibility(TypeSerializer<T> newSerializer);
    TypeSerializer<T> restoreSerializer();
}
public abstract class TypeSerializer<T> {    
    
    // ...
    
    public abstract TypeSerializerSnapshot<T> snapshotConfiguration();
}

A serializer’s TypeSerializerSnapshot is a point-in-time information that serves as the single source of truth about the state serializer’s write schema, as well as any additional information mandatory to restore a serializer that would be identical to the given point-in-time. The logic about what should be written and read at restore time as the serializer snapshot is defined in the writeSnapshot and readSnapshot methods.

Note that the snapshot’s own write schema may also need to change over time (e.g. when you wish to add more information about the serializer to the snapshot). To facilitate this, snapshots are versioned, with the current version number defined in the getCurrentVersion method. On restore, when the serializer snapshot is read from savepoints, the version of the schema in which the snapshot was written in will be provided to the readSnapshot method so that the read implementation can handle different versions.

At restore time, the logic that detects whether or not the new serializer’s schema has changed should be implemented in the resolveSchemaCompatibility method. When previous registered state is registered again with new serializers in the restored execution of an operator, the new serializer is provided to the previous serializer’s snapshot via this method. This method returns a TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility representing the result of the compatibility resolution, which can be one of the following:

  1. TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility.compatibleAsIs(): this result signals that the new serializer is compatible, meaning that the new serializer has identical schema with the previous serializer. It is possible that the new serializer has been reconfigured in the resolveSchemaCompatibility method so that it is compatible.
  2. TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility.compatibleAfterMigration(): this result signals that the new serializer has a different serialization schema, and it is possible to migrate from the old schema by using the previous serializer (which recognizes the old schema) to read bytes into state objects, and then rewriting the object back to bytes with the new serializer (which recognizes the new schema).
  3. TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility.incompatible(): this result signals that the new serializer has a different serialization schema, but it is not possible to migrate from the old schema.

The last bit of detail is how the previous serializer is obtained in the case that migration is required. Another important role of a serializer’s TypeSerializerSnapshot is that it serves as a factory to restore the previous serializer. More specifically, the TypeSerializerSnapshot should implement the restoreSerializer method to instantiate a serializer instance that recognizes the previous serializer’s schema and configuration, and can therefore safely read data written by the previous serializer.

To wrap up, this section concludes how Flink, or more specifically the state backends, interact with the abstractions. The interaction is slightly different depending on the state backend, but this is orthogonal to the implementation of state serializers and their serializer snapshots.

Off-heap state backends (e.g. RocksDBStateBackend)

  1. Register new state with a state serializer that has schema A
    • the registered TypeSerializer for the state is used to read / write state on every state access.
    • State is written in schema A.
  2. Take a savepoint
    • The serializer snapshot is extracted via the TypeSerializer#snapshotConfiguration method.
    • The serializer snapshot is written to the savepoint, as well as the already-serialized state bytes (with schema A).
  3. Restored execution re-accesses restored state bytes with new state serializer that has schema B
    • The previous state serializer’s snapshot is restored.
    • State bytes are not deserialized on restore, only loaded back to the state backends (therefore, still in schema A).
    • Upon receiving the new serializer, it is provided to the restored previous serializer’s snapshot via the TypeSerializer#resolveSchemaCompatibility to check for schema compatibility.
  4. Migrate state bytes in backend from schema A to schema B
    • If the compatibility resolution reflects that the schema has changed and migration is possible, schema migration is performed. The previous state serializer which recognizes schema A will be obtained from the serializer snapshot, via TypeSerializerSnapshot#restoreSerializer(), and is used to deserialize state bytes to objects, which in turn are re-written again with the new serializer, which recognizes schema B to complete the migration. All entries of the accessed state is migrated all-together before processing continues.
    • If the resolution signals incompatibility, then the state access fails with an exception.

Heap state backends (e.g. MemoryStateBackend, FsStateBackend)

  1. Register new state with a state serializer that has schema A
    • the registered TypeSerializer is maintained by the state backend.
  2. Take a savepoint, serializing all state with schema A
    • The serializer snapshot is extracted via the TypeSerializer#snapshotConfiguration method.
    • The serializer snapshot is written to the savepoint.
    • State objects are now serialized to the savepoint, written in schema A.
  3. On restore, deserialize state into objects in heap
    • The previous state serializer’s snapshot is restored.
    • The previous serializer, which recognizes schema A, is obtained from the serializer snapshot, via TypeSerializerSnapshot#restoreSerializer(), and is used to deserialize state bytes to objects.
    • From now on, all of the state is already deserialized.
  4. Restored execution re-accesses previous state with new state serializer that has schema B
    • Upon receiving the new serializer, it is provided to the restored previous serializer’s snapshot via the TypeSerializer#resolveSchemaCompatibility to check for schema compatibility.
    • If the compatibility check signals that migration is required, nothing happens in this case since for heap backends, all state is already deserialized into objects.
    • If the resolution signals incompatibility, then the state access fails with an exception.
  5. Take another savepoint, serializing all state with schema B
    • Same as step 2., but now state bytes are all in schema B.

Predefined convenient TypeSerializerSnapshot classes

Flink provides two abstract base TypeSerializerSnapshot classes that can be used for typical scenarios: SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot and CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot.

Serializers that provide these predefined snapshots as their serializer snapshot must always have their own, independent subclass implementation. This corresponds to the best practice of not sharing snapshot classes across different serializers, which is more thoroughly explained in the next section.

Implementing a SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot

The SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot is intended for serializers that do not have any state or configuration, essentially meaning that the serialization schema of the serializer is solely defined by the serializer’s class.

There will only be 2 possible results of the compatibility resolution when using the SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot as your serializer’s snapshot class:

  • TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility.compatibleAsIs(), if the new serializer class remains identical, or
  • TypeSerializerSchemaCompatibility.incompatible(), if the new serializer class is different then the previous one.

Below is an example of how the SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot is used, using Flink’s IntSerializer as an example:

public class IntSerializerSnapshot extends SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot<Integer> {
    public IntSerializerSnapshot() {
        super(() -> IntSerializer.INSTANCE);
    }
}

The IntSerializer has no state or configurations. Serialization format is solely defined by the serializer class itself, and can only be read by another IntSerializer. Therefore, it suits the use case of the SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot.

The base super constructor of the SimpleTypeSerializerSnapshot expects a Supplier of instances of the corresponding serializer, regardless of whether the snapshot is currently being restored or being written during snapshots. That supplier is used to create the restore serializer, as well as type checks to verify that the new serializer is of the same expected serializer class.

Implementing a CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot

The CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot is intended for serializers that rely on multiple nested serializers for serialization.

Before further explanation, we call the serializer, which relies on multiple nested serializer(s), as the “outer” serializer in this context. Examples for this could be MapSerializer, ListSerializer, GenericArraySerializer, etc. Consider the MapSerializer, for example - the key and value serializers would be the nested serializers, while MapSerializer itself is the “outer” serializer.

In this case, the snapshot of the outer serializer should also contain snapshots of the nested serializers, so that the compatibility of the nested serializers can be independently checked. When resolving the compatibility of the outer serializer, the compatibility of each nested serializer needs to be considered.

CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot is provided to assist in the implementation of snapshots for these kind of composite serializers. It deals with reading and writing the nested serializer snapshots, as well as resolving the final compatibilty result taking into account the compatibility of all nested serializers.

Below is an example of how the CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot is used, using Flink’s MapSerializer as an example:

public class MapSerializerSnapshot<K, V> extends CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot<Map<K, V>, MapSerializer> {

    private static final int CURRENT_VERSION = 1;

    public MapSerializerSnapshot() {
        super(MapSerializer.class);
    }

    public MapSerializerSnapshot(MapSerializer<K, V> mapSerializer) {
        super(mapSerializer);
    }

    @Override
    public int getCurrentOuterSnapshotVersion() {
        return CURRENT_VERSION;
    }

    @Override
    protected MapSerializer createOuterSerializerWithNestedSerializers(TypeSerializer<?>[] nestedSerializers) {
        TypeSerializer<K> keySerializer = (TypeSerializer<K>) nestedSerializers[0];
        TypeSerializer<V> valueSerializer = (TypeSerializer<V>) nestedSerializers[1];
        return new MapSerializer<>(keySerializer, valueSerializer);
    }

    @Override
    protected TypeSerializer<?>[] getNestedSerializers(MapSerializer outerSerializer) {
        return new TypeSerializer<?>[] { outerSerializer.getKeySerializer(), outerSerializer.getValueSerializer() };
    }
}

When implementing a new serializer snapshot as a subclass of CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot, the following three methods must be implemented:

  • #getCurrentOuterSnapshotVersion(): This method defines the version of the current outer serializer snapshot’s serialized binary format.
  • #getNestedSerializers(TypeSerializer): Given the outer serializer, returns its nested serializers.
  • #createOuterSerializerWithNestedSerializers(TypeSerializer[]): Given the nested serializers, create an instance of the outer serializer.

The above example is a CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot where there are no extra information to be snapshotted apart from the nested serializers’ snapshots. Therefore, its outer snapshot version can be expected to never require an uptick. Some other serializers, however, contains some additional static configuration that needs to be persisted along with the nested component serializer. An example for this would be Flink’s GenericArraySerializer, which contains as configuration the class of the array element type, besides the nested element serializer.

In these cases, an additional three methods need to be implemented on the CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot:

  • #writeOuterSnapshot(DataOutputView): defines how the outer snapshot information is written.
  • #readOuterSnapshot(int, DataInputView, ClassLoader): defines how the outer snapshot information is read.
  • #isOuterSnapshotCompatible(TypeSerializer): checks whether the outer snapshot information remains identical.

By default, the CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot assumes that there isn’t any outer snapshot information to read / write, and therefore have empty default implementations for the above methods. If the subclass has outer snapshot information, then all three methods must be implemented.

Below is an example of how the CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot is used for composite serializer snapshots that do have outer snapshot information, using Flink’s GenericArraySerializer as an example:

public final class GenericArraySerializerSnapshot<C> extends CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot<C[], GenericArraySerializer> {

    private static final int CURRENT_VERSION = 1;

    private Class<C> componentClass;

    public GenericArraySerializerSnapshot() {
        super(GenericArraySerializer.class);
    }

    public GenericArraySerializerSnapshot(GenericArraySerializer<C> genericArraySerializer) {
        super(genericArraySerializer);
        this.componentClass = genericArraySerializer.getComponentClass();
    }

    @Override
    protected int getCurrentOuterSnapshotVersion() {
        return CURRENT_VERSION;
    }

    @Override
    protected void writeOuterSnapshot(DataOutputView out) throws IOException {
        out.writeUTF(componentClass.getName());
    }

    @Override
    protected void readOuterSnapshot(int readOuterSnapshotVersion, DataInputView in, ClassLoader userCodeClassLoader) throws IOException {
        this.componentClass = InstantiationUtil.resolveClassByName(in, userCodeClassLoader);
    }

    @Override
    protected boolean isOuterSnapshotCompatible(GenericArraySerializer newSerializer) {
        return this.componentClass == newSerializer.getComponentClass();
    }

    @Override
    protected GenericArraySerializer createOuterSerializerWithNestedSerializers(TypeSerializer<?>[] nestedSerializers) {
        TypeSerializer<C> componentSerializer = (TypeSerializer<C>) nestedSerializers[0];
        return new GenericArraySerializer<>(componentClass, componentSerializer);
    }

    @Override
    protected TypeSerializer<?>[] getNestedSerializers(GenericArraySerializer outerSerializer) {
        return new TypeSerializer<?>[] { outerSerializer.getComponentSerializer() };
    }
}

There are two important things to notice in the above code snippet. First of all, since this CompositeTypeSerializerSnapshot implementation has outer snapshot information that is written as part of the snapshot, the outer snapshot version, as defined by getCurrentOuterSnapshotVersion(), must be upticked whenever the serialization format of the outer snapshot information changes.

Second of all, notice how we avoid using Java serialization when writing the component class, by only writing the classname and dynamically loading it when reading back the snapshot. Avoiding Java serialization for writing contents of serializer snapshots is in general a good practice to follow. More details about this is covered in the next section.

Implementation notes and best practices

A serializer’s snapshot, being the single source of truth for how a registered state was serialized, serves as an entry point to reading state in savepoints. In order to be able to restore and access previous state, the previous state serializer’s snapshot must be able to be restored.

Flink restores serializer snapshots by first instantiating the TypeSerializerSnapshot with its classname (written along with the snapshot bytes). Therefore, to avoid being subject to unintended classname changes or instantiation failures, TypeSerializerSnapshot classes should:

  • avoid being implemented as anonymous classes or nested classes,
  • have a public, nullary constructor for instantiation

2. Avoid sharing the same TypeSerializerSnapshot class across different serializers

Since schema compatibility checks goes through the serializer snapshots, having multiple serializers returning the same TypeSerializerSnapshot class as their snapshot would complicate the implementation for the TypeSerializerSnapshot#resolveSchemaCompatibility and TypeSerializerSnapshot#restoreSerializer() method.

This would also be a bad separation of concerns; a single serializer’s serialization schema, configuration, as well as how to restore it, should be consolidated in its own dedicated TypeSerializerSnapshot class.

3. Avoid using Java serialization for serializer snapshot content

Java serialization should not be used at all when writing contents of a persisted serializer snapshot. Take for example, a serializer which needs to persist a class of its target type as part of its snapshot. Information about the class should be persisted by writing the class name, instead of directly serializing the class using Java. When reading the snapshot, the class name is read, and used to dynamically load the class via the name.

This practice ensures that serializer snapshots can always be safely read. In the above example, if the type class was persisted using Java serialization, the snapshot may no longer be readable once the class implementation has changed and is no longer binary compatible according to Java serialization specifics.

This section is a guide for API migration from serializers and serializer snapshots that existed before Flink 1.7.

Before Flink 1.7, serializer snapshots were implemented as a TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot (which is now deprecated, and will eventually be removed in the future to be fully replaced by the new TypeSerializerSnapshot interface). Moreover, the responsibility of serializer schema compatibility checks lived within the TypeSerializer, implemented in the TypeSerializer#ensureCompatibility(TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot) method.

Another major difference between the new and old abstractions is that the deprecated TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot did not have the capability of instantiating the previous serializer. Therefore, in the case where your serializer still returns a subclass of TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot as its snapshot, the serializer instance itself will always be written to savepoints using Java serialization so that the previous serializer may be available at restore time. This is very undesirable, since whether or not restoring the job will be successful is susceptible to availability of the previous serializer’s class, or in general, whether or not the serializer instance can be read back at restore time using Java serialization. This means that you be limited to the same serializer for your state, and could be problematic once you want to upgrade serializer classes or perform schema migration.

To be future-proof and have flexibility to migrate your state serializers and schema, it is highly recommended to migrate from the old abstractions. The steps to do this is as follows:

  1. Implement a new subclass of TypeSerializerSnapshot. This will be the new snapshot for your serializer.
  2. Return the new TypeSerializerSnapshot as the serializer snapshot for your serializer in the TypeSerializer#snapshotConfiguration() method.
  3. Restore the job from the savepoint that existed before Flink 1.7, and then take a savepoint again. Note that at this step, the old TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot of the serializer must still exist in the classpath, and the implementation for the TypeSerializer#ensureCompatibility(TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot) method must not be removed. The purpose of this process is to replace the TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot written in old savepoints with the newly implemented TypeSerializerSnapshot for the serializer.
  4. Once you have a savepoint taken with Flink 1.7, the savepoint will contain TypeSerializerSnapshot as the state serializer snapshot, and the serializer instance will no longer be written in the savepoint. At this point, it is now safe to remove all implementations of the old abstraction (remove the old TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot implementation as will as the TypeSerializer#ensureCompatibility(TypeSerializerConfigSnapshot) from the serializer).

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