The Design and Implementation of laffer1

EA turned off the xbox live servers for their 2005 and lower games.  I can't play NHL 2005 or NBA Live against other people.  Consider that the only game that works online is forza motorsport, the point of an xbox live membership is limited.  I downloaded all the content for NBA Jam today.  How lame.

I've been having weird problems with Safari and just journal. Most noticeably, the image servlets seem to be randomly failing to load. What I mean by an image servlet is a servlet that pulls an image (JPG, PNG or GIF) from a MySQL blob field and then spits it out to the client. Here's the source of my servlet. This version is not in production yet, but it is similar to the one in production.

The weird byte array plus buffered stream thing is to allow me to send the size of the file. It seemed to fix some issues with IE and firefox, but it did slow down the servlet. I'm looking for two outcomes: fix safari and speed this up. Safari is more important. The expires header is new code.

/*
Copyright (c) 2006, Lucas Holt
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are
permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of
  conditions and the following disclaimer.

  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
  list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
  materials provided with the distribution.

  Neither the name of the Just Journal nor the names of its contributors
  may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
  specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY
OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/
package com.justjournal;

import com.justjournal.db.SQLHelper;
import com.justjournal.utility.ServletUtilities;
import org.apache.log4j.Category;
import sun.jdbc.rowset.CachedRowSet;

import javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;

/**
 * Image viewer servlet to display userpics and other images
 * from the database.
 * 

 * User: laffer1
 * Date: Nov 22, 2005
 * Time: 9:31:28 PM
 *
 * @version $Id: Image.java,v 1.9 2007/06/27 20:20:24 laffer1 Exp $
 */
public final class Image extends HttpServlet {

    private static final Category log = Category.getInstance(Image.class.getName());

    // processes get requests
    protected final void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws java.io.IOException {

        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        Integer id;

        try {
            id = new Integer(request.getParameter("id"));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);
            return;
        }

        if (id.intValue() < 1) {
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);
            return;
        }

        try {
            response.reset();
            response.setHeader("Expires", ServletUtilities.createExpiresHeader(180));
            CachedRowSet rs = SQLHelper.executeResultSet("call getimage(" + id + ");");
            if (rs.next()) {
                response.setContentType(rs.getString("mimetype").trim());
               BufferedInputStream img = new BufferedInputStream(rs.getBinaryStream("image"));
                byte[] buf = new byte[4 * 1024]; // 4k buffer
                int len;
                while ((len = img.read(buf, 0, buf.length)) != -1)
                    baos.write(buf, 0, len);

                response.setContentLength(baos.size());
                final ServletOutputStream outstream = response.getOutputStream();
                baos.writeTo(outstream);
                outstream.flush();
                outstream.close();
            } else
                response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);

            rs.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            log.debug("Could not load image: " + e.toString());
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
        }
    }
}

Here's another version of the servlet. This time it uses prepare statements and avoids the beta CachedRowSet code.

/*
Copyright (c) 2006-2007, Lucas Holt
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are
permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of
  conditions and the following disclaimer.

  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
  list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
  materials provided with the distribution.

  Neither the name of the Just Journal nor the names of its contributors
  may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
  specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND
CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY
OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/
package com.justjournal;

import com.justjournal.utility.ServletUtilities;
import org.apache.log4j.Category;

import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.servlet.ServletOutputStream;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import javax.sql.DataSource;
import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.ResultSet;


/**
 * Image viewer servlet to display userpics and other images
 * from the database.
 * 

 * User: laffer1
 * Date: Nov 22, 2005
 * Time: 9:31:28 PM
 *
 * @version $Id: Image.java,v 1.9 2007/06/27 20:20:24 laffer1 Exp $
 */
public final class Image extends HttpServlet {

    private static final Category log = Category.getInstance(Image.class.getName());

    // processes get requests
    protected final void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws java.io.IOException {

        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        Integer id;
        Context ctx;
        DataSource ds = null;
        Connection conn;
        PreparedStatement stmt;

        try {
            id = new Integer(request.getParameter("id"));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);
            return;
        }

        if (id.intValue() < 1) {
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);
            return;
        }

        try {
            response.reset();
            response.setHeader("Expires", ServletUtilities.createExpiresHeader(180));
            try {
                ctx = new InitialContext();
                ds = (DataSource) ctx.lookup("java:comp/env/jdbc/jjDB");
            } catch (Exception e) {
                log.debug(e.getMessage());
                response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);

            }

            conn = ds.getConnection();
            stmt = conn.prepareStatement("call getimage(?)");
            stmt.setInt(1, id);
            ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery();

            if (rs.next()) {
                response.setContentType(rs.getString("mimetype").trim());
                BufferedInputStream img = new BufferedInputStream(rs.getBinaryStream("image"));
                byte[] buf = new byte[4 * 1024]; // 4k buffer
                int len;
                while ((len = img.read(buf, 0, buf.length)) != -1)
                    baos.write(buf, 0, len);

                response.setContentLength(baos.size());
                final ServletOutputStream outstream = response.getOutputStream();
                baos.writeTo(outstream);
                outstream.flush();
                outstream.close();
            } else
                response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_FOUND);

            rs.close();
            stmt.close();
            conn.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            log.debug("Could not load image: " + e.toString());
            response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
        }
    }
}

I just ran apache bench on this thing...

70-91-226-205-busname-michigan:/Users/laffer1% ab -n 100 -c 2 -k http://www.justjournal.com/users/laffer1
This is ApacheBench, Version 1.3d <$Revision: 1.73 $> apache-1.3
Copyright (c) 1996 Adam Twiss, Zeus Technology Ltd, http://www.zeustech.net/
Copyright (c) 1998-2002 The Apache Software Foundation, http://www.apache.org/

Benchmarking www.justjournal.com (be patient).....done
Server Software:
Server Hostname: www.justjournal.com
Server Port: 80

Document Path: /users/laffer1
Document Length: 38393 bytes

Concurrency Level: 2
Time taken for tests: 33.879 seconds
Complete requests: 100
Failed requests: 0
Broken pipe errors: 0
Keep-Alive requests: 100
Total transferred: 3880102 bytes
HTML transferred: 3839300 bytes
Requests per second: 2.95 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request: 677.58 [ms] (mean)
Time per request: 338.79 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate: 114.53 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connnection Times (ms)
min mean[+/-sd] median max
Connect: 0 29 293.0 0 2931
Processing: 442 644 73.4 630 828
Waiting: 442 644 73.4 630 828
Total: 442 674 305.3 630 3608

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
50% 630
66% 677
75% 686
80% 692
90% 731
95% 808
98% 828
99% 3608
100% 3608 (last request)
70-91-226-205-busname-michigan:/Users/laffer1% ab -n 100 -c 2 http://www.justjournal.com/users/laffer1
This is ApacheBench, Version 1.3d <$Revision: 1.73 $> apache-1.3
Copyright (c) 1996 Adam Twiss, Zeus Technology Ltd, http://www.zeustech.net/
Copyright (c) 1998-2002 The Apache Software Foundation, http://www.apache.org/

Benchmarking www.justjournal.com (be patient).....done
Server Software:
Server Hostname: www.justjournal.com
Server Port: 80

Document Path: /users/laffer1
Document Length: 38393 bytes

Concurrency Level: 2
Time taken for tests: 36.213 seconds
Complete requests: 100
Failed requests: 0
Broken pipe errors: 0
Total transferred: 3876500 bytes
HTML transferred: 3839300 bytes
Requests per second: 2.76 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request: 724.26 [ms] (mean)
Time per request: 362.13 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate: 107.05 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connnection Times (ms)
min mean[+/-sd] median max
Connect: 0 0 0.0 0 1
Processing: 660 724 34.2 733 796
Waiting: 659 724 34.2 733 795
Total: 660 724 34.1 733 796
ERROR: The median and mean for the initial connection time are more than twice the standard
deviation apart. These results are NOT reliable.

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
50% 733
66% 744
75% 752
80% 756
90% 765
95% 777
98% 782
99% 796
100% 796 (last request)