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I have tried to optimize (memory) my program, but GC is still making it lag

I have written a piece of software in Java that checks if proxies are working by sending a HTTP request using the proxy.
It takes around 30,000 proxies from a database, then attempts to check if they are operational. The proxies received from the database used to be returned as an ArrayList<String>, but have been changed to Deque<String> for reasons stated below.
The way the program works is there is a ProxyRequest object that stores the IP & Port as a String and int respectively. The ProxyRequest object has a method isWorkingProxy() which attempts to send a request using a proxy and returns a boolean on whether it was successful.
This ProxyRequest object is wrapped around by a RunnableProxyRequest object that calls super.isWorkingProxy() in the overrided run() method. Based on the response from super.isWorkingProxy(), the RunnableProxyRequest object updates a MySQL database.
Do note that the updating of the MySQL database is synchronized().
It runs on 750 threads using a FixedThreadPool (on a VPS), but towards
the end, it becomes very slow (stuck on ~50 threads), which obviously
implies the garbage collector is working. This is the problem.
I have attempted the following to improve the lag, it does not seem to work:
1) Using a Deque<String> proxies and using Deque.pop() to obtain the String in which the proxy is. This (I believe), continuously makes the Deque<String> smaller, which should improve lag caused by the GC.
2) Set the con.setConnectTimeout(this.timeout);, where this.timeout = 5000; This way, the connection should return a result in 5 seconds. If not, the thread is completed and should no longer be active in the threadpool.
Besides this, I don't know any other way I can improve performance.
Can anyone recommend a way for me to improve performance to avoid / stop lagging towards the end of the threads by the GC? I know there is a Stackoverflow question about this (Java threads slow down towards the end of processing), but I have tried everything in the answer and it has not worked for me.
Thank you for your time.
Code snippets:
Loop adding threads to the FixedThreadPool:
//This code is executed recursively (at the end, main(args) is called again)
//Create the threadpool for requests
//Threads is an argument that is set to 750.
ThreadPoolExecutor executor = (ThreadPoolExecutor)Executors.newFixedThreadPool(threads);
Deque<String> proxies = DB.getProxiesToCheck();
while(proxies.isEmpty() == false) {
try {
String[] split = proxies.pop().split(":");
Runnable[] checks = new Runnable[] {
//HTTP check
new RunnableProxyRequest(split[0], split[1], Proxy.Type.HTTP, false),
//SSL check
new RunnableProxyRequest(split[0], split[1], Proxy.Type.HTTP, true),
//SOCKS check
new RunnableProxyRequest(split[0], split[1], Proxy.Type.SOCKS, false)
//Add more checks to this list as time goes...
};
for(Runnable check : checks) {
executor.submit(check);
}
} catch(IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
continue;
}
}
ProxyRequest class:
//Proxy details
private String proxyIp;
private int proxyPort;
private Proxy.Type testingType;
//Request details
private boolean useSsl;
public ProxyRequest(String proxyIp, String proxyPort, Proxy.Type testingType, boolean useSsl) {
this.proxyIp = proxyIp;
try {
this.proxyPort = Integer.parseInt(proxyPort);
} catch(NumberFormatException e) {
this.proxyPort = -1;
}
this.testingType = testingType;
this.useSsl = useSsl;
}
public boolean isWorkingProxy() {
//Case of an invalid proxy
if(proxyPort == -1) {
return false;
}
HttpURLConnection con = null;
//Perform checks on URL
//IF any exception occurs here, the proxy is obviously bad.
try {
URL url = new URL(this.getTestingUrl());
//Create proxy
Proxy p = new Proxy(this.testingType, new InetSocketAddress(this.proxyIp, this.proxyPort));
//No redirect
HttpURLConnection.setFollowRedirects(false);
//Open connection with proxy
con = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection(p);
//Set the request method
con.setRequestMethod("GET");
//Set max timeout for a request.
con.setConnectTimeout(this.timeout);
} catch(MalformedURLException e) {
System.out.println("The testing URL is bad. Please fix this.");
return false;
} catch(Exception e) {
return false;
}
try(
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));
) {
String inputLine = null; StringBuilder response = new StringBuilder();
while((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
response.append(inputLine);
}
//A valid proxy!
return con.getResponseCode() > 0;
} catch(Exception e) {
return false;
}
}
RunnableProxyRequest class:
public class RunnableProxyRequest extends ProxyRequest implements Runnable {
public RunnableProxyRequest(String proxyIp, String proxyPort, Proxy.Type testingType, boolean useSsl) {
super(proxyIp, proxyPort, testingType, useSsl);
}
#Override
public void run() {
String test = super.getTest();
if(super.isWorkingProxy()) {
System.out.println("-- Working proxy: " + super.getProxy() + " | Test: " + test);
this.updateDB(true, test);
} else {
System.out.println("-- Not working: " + super.getProxy() + " | Test: " + test);
this.updateDB(false, test);
}
}
private void updateDB(boolean success, String testingType) {
switch(testingType) {
case "SSL":
DB.updateSsl(super.getProxyIp(), super.getProxyPort(), success);
break;
case "HTTP":
DB.updateHttp(super.getProxyIp(), super.getProxyPort(), success);
break;
case "SOCKS":
DB.updateSocks(super.getProxyIp(), super.getProxyPort(), success);
break;
default:
break;
}
}
}
DB class:
//Locker for async
private static Object locker = new Object();
private static void executeUpdateQuery(String query, String proxy, int port, boolean toSet) {
synchronized(locker) {
//Some prepared statements here.
}
}

Thanks to Peter Lawrey for guiding me to the solution! :)
His comment:
#ILoveKali I have found network libraries are not aggressive enough in
shutting down a connection when things go really wrong. Timeouts tend
to work best when the connection is fine. YMMV
So I did some research, and found that I had to also use the method setReadTimeout(this.timeout);. Previously, I was only using setConnectTimeout(this.timeout);!
Thanks to this post (HttpURLConnection timeout defaults) that explained the following:
Unfortunately, in my experience, it appears using these defaults can
lead to an unstable state, depending on what happens with your
connection to the server. If you use an HttpURLConnection and don't
explicitly set (at least read) timeouts, your connection can get into
a permanent stale state. By default. So always set setReadTimeout to
"something" or you might orphan connections (and possibly threads
depending on how your app runs).
So the final answer is: The GC was doing just fine, it was not responsible for the lag. The threads were simply stuck FOREVER at a single number because I did not set the read timeout, and so the isWorkingProxy() method never got a result and kept reading.

Async IO handling in Spring CLI with Java how to?

I have built a Spring CLI app which communicates with a server in an async fashion. The server was given, I did not create it, basically my app is required to open a TCP socket and send a JSON through it, then it sends back a JSON. It is mandatory not to use CLI parameters, but instead in the callback of the request I want to show the user a set of options for which he needs to select by inserting the corresponding number on the CLI. Most probably I'm not doing right something, because after entering the command, I see spring> on the console (this is an expected behavior) and it will block the async callback unless I press something (nothing is printed to the CLI when I receive the callback unless I press a bunch of enters - this is unexpected). To read from the console so far I used JLine's command line, what I would like to achieve is that when I get the response from the server and the callback is served, the console is given to the thread on which the callback is running (I instantly print the contents of the callback to the console, and I'm able to read the input without any tricks).
Some code:
public void runReceiver(){
receiverThread = new Thread(() -> {
byte[] digit = null;
int nb;
Iterator<CommandListener> it;
CommandListener listener;
String message;
List<CommandListener> listenersToRemove = new ArrayList<>();
while (true) {
try {
nb = communicatorInput.readInt();
digit = new byte[nb];
communicatorInput.readFully(digit);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
it = listeners.iterator();
while (it.hasNext()){
listener = it.next();
if (digit != null && digit.length > 0) {
message = new String(digit);
// the message was not acknowledged
if(message.contains("NACK")){
try {
listener.onError(message);
if (listener.isDone()) {
listenersToRemove.add(listener);
}
} catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
} else try {
listener.onCompleted(message);
} catch (InvalidObjectException e){
Main.logger.debug(String.format("Response could not be parsed as %s", listener.getCommandType()));
} catch (Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
if (listener.isDone()) {
listenersToRemove.add(listener);
}
}
}
listeners.removeAll(listenersToRemove);
}
}, "receiverThread");
receiverThread.setDaemon(true);
receiverThread.start();
Then a CLI command (it expects no input here):
#CliCommand(value="start", help = "Starts stuff")
public void start() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
// this method is passed to the thread with the listener
getAvailabilities().updateAvailabilities("all", "all", "all", someListener);
}
And the callback for that listener:
someListener = new CommandListener() {
private String source = "Start some listener";
#Override
public void onCompleted(String r) throws IOException {
System.out.println("Which would you like to start?");
getAvailabilities().printAvailableBrands();
String brandNumber = "";
while(Objects.equals(brandNumber, "")){
System.out.println("Please enter the number of the Brand: ");
//when the callback arrives here I still only see ">spring:" and I get nothing printed on the console
brandNumber = cr.readLine();
if(!isInputAllowed(brandNumber, getAvailabilities().AvailableBrands.size())){
brandNumber = "";
}
}
BrandName = getAvailabilities().AvailableBrands.get(Integer.parseInt(brandNumber) - 1);
//updating the availabilities narrows down the things I list to the console, so I send an update after every selection
getAvailabilities().updateAvailabilities("all", BrandName, "all", getInterfaceListener);
done = true;
}
This might slightly connect to the issue that sometimes while debugging the CLI in Idea, it gets whacky inputs, eg. when I insert start it says No such command as ar, and if I press enter again, it'll say (some of) the rest: No such command as stt.

The problem is here:
if (listener.isDone()) {
listenersToRemove.add(listener);
}
If you want your listeners to be executed asynchronously you should not check their completion right away on the same thread as it will most likely return false.
The issue you might be having is that your listeners schedule some task but have no time to finish it as you immediately remove them after the loop:
listeners.removeAll(listenersToRemove);
It is very hard to tell what your logic is but I guess in the next while iteration your list is empty.

Thread pool in a web server in Java

I have my multithread web server and now i wish to implement a thread pool, however even after looking about it i don't get how can i do it in my code :(
Could someone help me get it better?
I really need to understand how what i read can be used here, because i don't see the connection and how that works.
import java.io.*;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
public class WebServer {
static class RequisicaoRunnable implements Runnable {
private Socket socket;
RequisicaoRunnable(Socket socket) {
this.socket = socket;
}
#Override
public void run() {
try {
//System.out.println("connection from " + socket.getInetAddress().getHostName());
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));
//System.out.println("READING SOCKET...");
String str = in.readLine();
String[] arr = str.split(" ");
if (arr != null && arr.length > 2) {
while(!str.equals("")) {
//System.out.println(str);
str = in.readLine();
}
if (arr[0].equals("GET")) {
//System.out.println("REQUESTED RESOURCE: " + arr[1]);
String nomeArquivo = arr[1];
if (arr[1].startsWith("/")) {
nomeArquivo = nomeArquivo.substring(1);
}
if (nomeArquivo.equals("")) {
nomeArquivo = "index.html";
}
File f = new File(nomeArquivo);
if (f.exists()) {
FileInputStream fin = new FileInputStream(f);
socket.getOutputStream().write("HTTP/1.0 200 OK\n\n".getBytes());
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int lidos;
do {
lidos = fin.read(buffer);
if (lidos > 0) {
socket.getOutputStream().write(buffer, 0, lidos);
}
} while (lidos > 0);
fin.close();
} else {
socket.getOutputStream().write("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found\n\n".getBytes());
socket.getOutputStream().write("<html><body>HTTP/1.0 404 File Not Found</body></html>\n\n".getBytes());
}
} else {
socket.getOutputStream().write("HTTP/1.0 501 Not Implemented\n\n".getBytes());
}
}
socket.close();
} catch (IOException e) { }
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(8080);
System.out.println("waiting connections....");
while (true) {
Socket socket = serverSocket.accept();
RequisicaoRunnable req = new RequisicaoRunnable(socket);
new Thread(req).start();
}
}
}

Idea behind the Thread pool is that create a specified number of threads at start and then assign task to them. Alternatively removing headache of creating threads each time.
I was implemented it a little some days ago, here is what I done.
Create some threads at start they share a request queue
Threads are constantly looking for queue and when a request come one
of the thread dispatch the request and perform action
The Queue will be synchronized 3.
Here are some queue methods
Queue#add(); //add the socket at the end
Queue#removeFront();//remove socket
Queue#isEmpty();//boolean if queue is empty
Queue#size(); //return size of queue
Queue#getMaxSize();//get maximum allowed size for queue
Your Request processing runnable
public class Processor implements Runnable {
private Queue<Socket> requests;
private boolean shut;
Processor(Queue<Socket> requests) {
this.requests = requests;
shut = false;
}
#Override
public void run() {
while(!shut) {
if(requests.isEmpty()) {
try{
Thread.sleep(#rendomeTimemill);
} catch(InterruptedException e){}
}else {
Socket skt = Queue.removeFront();
try {
//System.out.println("processing request from " + socket.getInetAddress().getHostName());
//do you want
} catch (Exception e) {
} finally {
if(skt != null) {
try{ skt.close(); skt = null; } catch(IOException ex){}
}
}
}
}
}
public void stopNow() {
shut = true;
Thread.interrupt();
}
}
in your main thread
create a queue to put requests
//start your server socket
Queue<Socket> requests = new Queue<Socket>();
Start worker thread pool
Precessor []workers = new Processor[NUM_WORKER];
for(int i=0;i<NUM_WORKER; i++) {
worker[i] = new Processor(requests);
Thread th = new Thread(worker[i]);
th.strat();
}
in request listening
//while loope that run forever
// accept socket
if(requests.size() == requests.getMaxSize()) {
socket.getOutputStream().write("HTTP/1.0 505 Error\n\n".getBytes());
socket.getOutputStream().write("<html><body>Try again</body></html>\n\n".getBytes());
socket.close();
} else {
requests.add(socket);
}
when you want to shout down server
for(int i=0;i<NUM_WORKER; i++) {
worker[i].stopNow();
}
Note: My concern was not the HTTP headers, so i m not specific, but you must implement the complete HTTP header e.g. Content-type, Content-length etc.

JDK might be a good place to start
An Executor or ExecutorService should is what you're looking for. Reading material:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/ExecutorService.html
The examples in there are pretty complete I think, but here's an example using the code you posted:
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
ServerSocket serverSocket = new ServerSocket(8080);
System.out.println("waiting connections....");
ExecutorService pool = Executors.newCachedThreadPool();
while (true) {
Socket socket = serverSocket.accept();
RequisicaoRunnable req = new RequisicaoRunnable(socket);
pool.execute(req);
}
}
We create an executor service that is backed by a cached thread pool. You can swap this out for any type of pool you like by changing the type of executor service you get from Executors:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/concurrent/Executors.html
In the example I've given we use a cached thread pool which should create new threads as needed but re use old ones as they become available (finish whatever they were executing). If you look through the methods provided in that class you can create Executor services that are backed by various types of thread pool e.g. single thread, fixed number of threads, etc.
The example above should work as is, but if you want to change how the thread pool works try another thread pool type.
The cached thread pool will mean each connection will immediately be serviced, however it can create an unbounded number of threads.
on the other hand if you wanted the executor to use a blocking queue as suggested by fge you could try a fixed thread pool instead:
Executors.newFixedThreadPool(x)
you get the blocking queue for free with that.

You can use, for instance, a BlockingQueue. This is the basis for a producer/consumer scenario.
In your case:
the producer holds the server socket; it accepts new client sockets and pushes the client sockets onto the queue;
the consumers grab client sockets from the queue and process requests.
On top of all that, you can also use a bounded queue; you can try and push a new client socket to the queue; if the queue is full you can then default to a "no can't do" consumer.
Scenarios are many. There is not one answer.

OK, the idea is simple enough. You main loop currently creates a new RequisicaoRunnable object and a new Thread to run it each time it gets a connection from a client. The idea behind a thread pool is to avoid creating new Threads each time.
In the simplest version of a thread pool, you create a blocking queue, and you create and start a fixed number of worker threads before you enter your main loop. The main loop will look almost exactly the same as what you have now, but instead of starting a Thread to run each new RequisicaoRunnable, it will simply add the new object to the queue.
Your worker threads are all the same:
while (! shutdownHasBeenRequested()) {
RequisicaoRunnable requisicaoRunnable = getATaskFromTheQueue();
requisicaoRunnable.run();
}
That way, each new task (client) will be executed (handled) by the next available thread from your pool.
If this is a homework assignment then you'll pretty much want to implement what I described, filling in some details as needed.
If it's not homework, then consider using a java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExcecutor() instead. No point in re-inventing the wheel when there's a perfectly good wheel right there waiting to be used.
Edit: as fge said, one improvement would be to send back a quick "sorry, try again later" response when new connections are coming in faster than you can handle them. When the queue has too many pending connections in it (i.e., when you hit the limit of a BoundedQueue), that's when you know to bail out and send the "try again later" response.

how to prevent multiple clicks on an executable jar

I have an executable jar that runs a Java Swing application with an internal SqlLite db.
Users (by mistake) do more than a click on the jar, causing the db lock.
I'd like to prevent this behavior.
What can I do?
thank you very much

You need some kind of synchronization mechanism.
Either you need to code it yourself, or you can create a Java WebStart configuration for your application, where Java WebStart can handle the "only one invocation" through the Single Instance Service (which you must call explicitly in your code).
See http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/guides/javaws/developersguide/examples.html#SingleInstanceService for an example.

The first instances accessing the db should acquire a lock of some sort on the db and all further instances should first check if there is already such a lock. If there is one -> "I am not the first, show warning/error, quit.", if there is none "I am the first, get a lock, proceed."

You can use JPS or JNI (need to implement on different platform). The attached is the JPS code to check the Java application instance. You can modify it to more OO.
Using File, Socket or Registry as a lock is not perfect, since there are a lot of chance that a mis-operation can make your application can not start any more (for example, another program occupe the same port)
import java.io.*;
public class TestRun {
public TestRun() {}
public static void main(String args[]) {
String jpsApp = "jps -mlvV";
int count = 0;
try {
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(jpsApp);
//parser the result to check if TestAPP is running
InputStream is = p.getInputStream();
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
String line = null;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
System.out.println();
System.out.println(line);
String[] pair = line.split(" ");
if (pair.length >= 2) {
System.out.println("name is " + pair[1]);
if (pair[1].trim().indexOf("TestRun") > -1) {
count++;
System.out.println("count is " + count);
}
}
}
//it is running, just exit the second instance
if(count>1){
System.out.println("Has run a application!");
return;
}
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

Problem with a blocking network task

I'm new in Java so please forgive any obscene errors that I may make :)
I'm developing a program in Java that among other things it should also handle clients that will connect to a server. The server has 3 threads running, and I have created them in the following way :
DaemonForUI du;
DaemonForPort da;
DaemonForCheck dc;
da = new DaemonForPort(3);
dc = new DaemonForCheck(5);
du = new DaemonForUI(7);
Thread t_port = new Thread(da);
Thread t_check = new Thread(dc);
Thread t_ui = new Thread(du);
t_port.setName("v1.9--PORTd");
t_check.setName("v1.9-CHECKd");
t_ui.setName("v1.9----UId");
t_port.start();
t_check.start();
t_ui.start();
Each thread handles a different aspect of the complete program. The thread t_ui is responsible to accept asynchronous incoming connections from clients, process the sent data and send other data back to the client. When I remove all the commands from the previous piece of code that has to with the t_ui thread, everything runs ok which in my case means that the other threads are printing their debug messages.
If I set the t_ui thread to run too, then the whole program blocks at the "accept" of the t_ui thread.
After reading at online manuals I saw that the accepted connections should be non-blocking, therefore use something like that :
public ServerSocketChannel ssc = null;
ssc = ServerSocketChannel.open();
ssc.socket().bind(new InetSocketAddress(port));
ssc.configureBlocking(false);
SocketChannel sc = ssc.accept();
if (sc == null) {
;
}
else {
System.out.println("The server and client are connected!");
System.out.println("Incoming connection from: " + sc.socket().getRemoteSocketAddress());
in = new DataInputStream(new BufferedInputStream(sc.socket().getInputStream()));
out = new DataOutputStream(new BufferedOutputStream(sc.socket().getOutputStream()));
//other magic things take place after that point...
The thread for t_ui is created as follows :
class DaemonForUI implements Runnable{
private int cnt;
private int rr;
public ListenerForUI serverListener;
public DaemonForUI(int rr){
cnt = 0;
this.rr = rr;
serverListener = new ListenerForUI();
}
public static String getCurrentTime() {
final String DATE_FORMAT_NOW = "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss";
Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat(DATE_FORMAT_NOW);
return (sdf.format(cal.getTime()));
}
public void run() {
while(true) {
System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + "\t (" + cnt + ")\t (every " + rr + " sec) # " + getCurrentTime());
try{
Thread.sleep(rr * 1000);
cnt++;
}
catch (InterruptedException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
Obviously, I'm doing something wrong at the creation of the socket or at the use of the thread. Do you know what is causing the problem?
Every help would be greatly appreciated.

Don't use non-blocking I/O until you know you need it. Just start a new thread for every accepted socket, as well as for the accepting threads.

Problem solved :)
I looked at your suggestions and had a closer look at the code. It was a design error since I had a function that created a while(true) loop inside the constructor of DaemonForUI (and more specifically inside ListenerForUI()). It was causing the whole program to cycle through the while statement, therefore stalling every other action.
Silly mistake I must admit... :(
Thanks for all the help everyone that answered my question.
I will consider the mentioned idea of creating a new thread for every incoming connection. The duty that has to be performed for every incoming connection is not so heavy, so I thought that one single thread could do the job.