SocketIO connection#
A SocketIO connection is a bidirectional, persistent, event-based communication line. In vantage6, it is used for example to send status updates from the server to the nodes or to send a signal to a node that it should kill a task.
Each socketIO connection consists of a server and one or more clients. The clients can only send a message to the server and not to each other. The server can send messages to all clients or to a specific client. In vantage6, the central server is the socketIO server; the clients can be nodes or users.
Note
The vantage6 user interface automatically establishes a socketIO connection with the server when the user logs in. The user can then view the updates they are allowed to see.
Permissions#
The socketIO connection is split into different rooms. The vantage6 server decides which rooms a client is allowed to join; they will only be able to read messages from that room.
Nodes always join the room of their own collaboration, and a room of all nodes. Users only join the room of collaborations whose events they are allowed to view which is checked via event view rules.
Usage in vantage6#
The server sends the following events to the clients:
Notify nodes a new task is available
Letting nodes and users know if a node in their collaboration comes online or goes offline
Instructing nodes to renew their token if it is expired
Letting nodes and users know if a task changed state on a node (e.g. started, finished, failed). This is especially important for nodes to know in case an algorithm they are running depends on the output of another node.
Instruct nodes to kill one or more tasks
Checking if nodes are still alive
The nodes send the following events to the server:
Alert the server of task state changes (e.g. started, finished, failed)
Share information about the node configuration (e.g. which algorithms are allowed to run on the node)
In theory, users could use their socketIO connection to send events, but none of the events they send will lead to action on the server.