Contributing

For each message we wish to capture, we have a class definition in structs.py.

If there is a new network message that is not yet parsed by our proxy, check the Postgres documentation here for message format and add a new class definition.

Rooms for improvement:

  • Anonymize network dumps by removing shard/placement/transaction ids
    • Occasionally changes in our codebase introduces new messages that contain parts that should be anonymized
  • Add missing message format definitions
  • Allow failure testing on underprivileged users are not allowed to write to our fifo file on the database

Resources at Postgres Docs:

  • Postgres Frontend/Backend Protocol is the root directory for message protocols between frontends and backends.
    • Protocol Flow explains the lifecyle of a session, and a tentative ordering of messages that will be dispatched
      • Extended Query Protocol uses a more detailed set of messages in the session lifecycle, and these messages are mostly left unparsed.
    • Message Formats lists formats of all the messages that can be dispatched