= Configurable Module Fail Over

Before configurable module failover, we had this kind of entry in "radiusd.conf"::
----
authorize {
  preprocess
  files
}
----

This entry instructed the "authorize" section to first process the request through the "preprocess" module, and if that returned success, to process it through "files" module.  If that sequence returned success, then the "authorize" stage itself would then return success.  Processing was strictly linear and if one module failed, the whole section would fail immediately.

Configurable failover provides more flexibility. It takes advantage of the tree structure of radiusd.conf to support a configuration
language that allows you to "group" modules that should work together in ways other than simple lists.  You can control the flow of any stage (e.g. "authorize") to fit your needs, without touching C code, just by altering radiusd.conf.

This configurable fail-over has a convenient short-hand, too.  Administrators commonly want to say things like "try SQL1, if it's
down, try SQL2, otherwise drop the request."

For example::
----
modules {
    sql sql1 {
        # configuration to connect to SQL database one
    }
    sql sql2 {
        # configuration to connect to SQL database two
    }
    always handled {
        rcode = handled
    }
}
  
#  Handle accounting packets
accounting {
    # always log to detail, stopping if it fails
    detail
    redundant {
    # try module sql1
          sql1
          # if that's down, try module sql2
          sql2
          # otherwise drop the request as
          # it's been "handled" by the "always"
          # module (see doc/rlm_always)
          handled
    }
}
----

The "redundant" section is a configuration directive which tells the server to process the second module if the first one fails.  Any
number of modules can be listed in a "redundant" section.  The server will process each in turn, until one of the modules succeeds.  It will then stop processing the "redundant" list.

== Rewriting results for single modules

Normally, when a module fails, the entire section ("authorize", "accounting", etc.) stops being processed.  In some cases, we may want to permit "soft failures".  That is, we may want to tell the server that it is "ok" for a module to fail, and that the failure should not be treated as a fatal error.

In this case, the module is treated as a "section", rather than just as a single line in "radiusd.conf".  The configuration entries for
that section are taken from the "configurable fail-over" code, and not from the configuration information for that module.

For example, the "detail" module normally returns "fail" if it is unable to write its information to the "detail" file.  As a test, we
can configure the server so that it continues processing the request, even if the "detail" module fails.  The following example shows how::
----
#  Handle accounting packets
accounting {
    detail {
    fail = 1
}
redundant {
    sql1
    sql2
    handled
    }
}
----

The "fail = 1" entry tells the server to remember the "fail" code, with priority "1".  The normal configuration is "fail = return", which
means "if the detail module fails, stop processing the accounting section".

== Fail-over configuration entries

Modules normally return on of the following codes as their result:

[options="header"]
[cols="30%,70%"]
|=====
| Code         | Meaning
| notfound     | the user was not found
| noop         | the module did nothing
| ok           | the module succeeded
| updated      | the module updated information in the request
| fail         | the module failed
| reject       | the module rejected the user
| userlock     | the user was locked out
| invalid      | the user's configuration entry was invalid
| handled      | the module has done everything to handle the request
|=====

In a configurable fail-over section, each of these codes may be listed, with a value.  If the code is not listed, or a configurable fail-over section is not defined, then values that make sense for the requested "group" (group, redundant, load-balance, etc) are used.

The special code "default" can be used to set all return codes to the specified value.  This value will be used with a lower priority than ones that are explicitly set.

The values for each code may be one of the following:

[options="header"]
[cols="30%,70%"]
|=====
| Value        | Meaning
| <number>     | Priority for this return code.
| return       | Stop processing this configurable fail-over list.
| reject       | Stop processing this configurable fail-over list and immediately return a reject.
|=====

The <number> used for a value may be any decimal number between 1 and 99999.  The number is used when processing a list of modules, to determine which code is returned from the list.  For example, if "module1" returns "fail" with priority "1", and a later "module2" returns "ok" with priority "3", the return code from the list of modules will be "ok", because it has higher priority than "fail".

This configurability allows the administrator to permit some modules to fail, so long as a later module succeeds.

== More Complex Configurations

The "authorize" section is normally a list of module names.  We can create sub-lists by using the section name "group".  The "redundant" section above is just a short-hand for "group", with a set of default return codes, which are different than the normal "stop processing the list on failure".

For example, we can configure two detail modules, and allow either to fail, so long as one of them succeeds.
----
#  Handle accounting packets
accounting {
    group {
      detail1 {
        fail = 1		# remember "fail" with priority 1
	ok = return		# if we succeed, don't do "detail2"
      }
detail2 {
	fail = 1		# remember "fail" with priority 1
	ok = return		# if we succeed, return "ok"
			# if "detail1" returned "fail"
}
    }			# returns "fail" only if BOTH modules returned "fail"
    redundant {
      sql1
      sql2
handled
    }
}
----

This configuration says:

- Log to "detail1", and stop processing the "group" list if "detail1" returned OK.

- If "detail1" returned "fail", then continue, but remember the "fail" code, with priority 1.

- If "detail2" fails, then remember "fail" with priority 1.

- If "detail2" returned "ok", return "ok" from the "group".

The return code from the "group" is the return code which was either forced to return (e.g. "ok" for "detail1"), or the highest priority
return code found by processing the list.

This process can be extended to any number of modules listed in a "group" section.

== More Complex Configuration using "if" and "else"

As of version 2.0, the server allows "if"-style checking in the configuration sections.  The section is still processed as a list, so there is no looping or "goto" support.  But by using "if", the administrator can have branching paths of execution, where none was possible before.

The "if" syntax added in 2.0.0-pre0 has been completely re-written in 2.0.0-pre2, to add major new functionality.  Documentation will be updated later...

== Virtual Modules

Some configurations may require using the same list of modules, in the same order, in multiple sections.  For those systems, the configuration can be simplified through the use of "virtual" modules.  These modules are configured as named sub-sections of the "instantiate" section, as follows::
----
instantiate {
    ...
  
    redundant sql1_or_2 {
        sql1
        sql2
    }
}
----

The name "sql1_or_2" can then be used in any other section, such as "authorize" or "accounting".  The result will be exactly as if that section was placed at the location of the "sql1_or_2" reference.

These virtual modules are full-fledged objects in and of themselves.  One virtual module can refer to another virtual module, and they can contain "if" conditions, or any other configuration permitted in a section.

== Redundancy and Load-Balancing

See load balancing for information on simple redundancy (fail-over) and load balancing.

== The Gory Details

The fundamental object is called a MODCALLABLE, because it is something that can be passed a specific radius request and returns one of the RLM_MODULE_* results. It is a function - if you can accept the fact that pieces of radiusd.conf are functions. There are two kinds of MODCALLABLEs: GROUPs and SINGLEs.

A SINGLE is a reference to a module instance that was set up in the modules{} section of radiusd.conf, like "preprocess" or "sql1". When a SINGLE is called, the corresponding function in the rlm is invoked, and whichever RLM_MODULE_* it returns becomes the RESULT of the SINGLE.

A GROUP is a section of radiusd.conf that includes some MODCALLABLEs.  Examples of GROUPs above include "authorize{...}", which implements the C function module_authorize, and "redundant{...}", which contains two SINGLEs that refer to a couple of redundant databases. Note that a GROUP can contain other GROUPs - "Auth-Type SQL{...}" is also a GROUP, which implements the C function module_authenticate when Auth-Type is set to SQL.

Now here's the fun part - what happens when a GROUP is called? It simply runs through all of its children in order, and calls each one, whether it is another GROUP or a SINGLE. It then looks at the RESULT of that child, and takes some ACTION, which is basically either "return that RESULT immediately" or "Keep going". In the first example, any "bad" RESULT from the preprocess module causes an immediate return, and any "good" RESULT causes the authorize{...} GROUP to proceed to the files module.

We can see the exact rules by writing them out the long way::
----
authorize {
    preprocess {
        notfound = 1
        noop     = 2
        ok       = 3
        updated  = 4
        fail     = return
        reject   = return
        userlock = return
        invalid  = return
        handled  = return
    }
    files {
        notfound = 1
        noop     = 2
        ok       = 3
        updated  = 4
        fail     = return
        reject   = return
        userlock = return
        invalid  = return
        handled  = return
    }
  }
----

This is the same as the first example, with the behavior explicitly spelled out. Each SINGLE becomes its own section, containing a list of RESULTs that it may return and what ACTION should follow from them. So preprocess is called, and if it returns for example RLM_MODULE_REJECT, then the reject=return rule is applied, and the authorize{...} GROUP itself immediately returns RLM_MODULE_REJECT.

If preprocess returns RLM_MODULE_NOOP, the corresponding ACTION is "2". An integer ACTION serves two purposes - first, it tells the parent GROUP to go on to the next module. Second, it is a hint as to how desirable this RESULT is as a candidate for the GROUP's own RESULT. So files is called... suppose it returns RLM_MODULE_NOTFOUND. The ACTION for notfound inside the files{...} block is "1". We have now reached the end of the authorize{...} GROUP and we look at the RESULTs we accumulated along the way - there is a noop with preference level 2, and a notfound with preference level 1, so the authorize{...} GROUP as a whole returns RLM_MODULE_NOOP, which makes sense because to say the user was not found at all would be a lie, since preprocess apparently found him, or else it would have returned RLM_MODULE_NOTFOUND too.

We could use the "default" code to simplify the above example a little.  The following two configurations are identical::
----
files {
    notfound = 1
    noop     = 2
    ok       = 3
    updated  = 4
    default  = return
}
----

When putting the "default" first, later definitions over-ride it's return code::
----
  files {
    default  = return
    notfound = 1
    noop     = 2
    ok       = 3
    updated  = 4
}
----

[Take a deep breath - the worst is over]

That RESULT preference/desirability stuff is pretty complex, but my hope is that it will be complex enough to handle the needs of everyone's real-world imperfect systems, while staying out of sight most of the time since the defaults will be right for the most common configurations.

So where does redundant{...} fit in with all that? Well, redundant{...} is simply a group that changes the default ACTIONs to something like::
----
fail = 1
everythingelse = return
----

so that when one module fails, we keep trying until we find one that doesn't fail, then return whatever it returned. And at the end, if they all failed, the redundant GROUP as a whole returns RLM_MODULE_FAIL, just as you'd want it to (I hope).

There are two other kinds of grouping: group{...} which does not have any specialized default ACTIONs, and append{...}, which should be used when you have separate but similarly structured databases that are guaranteed not to overlap.

That's all that really needs to be said. But now a few random notes:

* GROUPs may have RESULT=ACTION specifiers too! It would look like this:
----
  authorize {
      preprocess
      redundant {
          sql1
          sql2
          notfound = return
      }
      files
  }
----

which would prevent rlm_files from being called if neither of the SQL instances could find the user.

* redundant{...} and append{...} are just shortcuts. You could write:
----
group {
    sql1 {
        fail     = 1
        notfound = 2
        noop     = return
        ok       = return
        updated  = return
        reject   = return
        userlock = return
        invalid  = return
        handled  = return
    }
    sql2 {
        fail     = 1
        notfound = 2
        noop     = return
        ok       = return
        updated  = return
        reject   = return
        userlock = return
        invalid  = return
        handled  = return
    }
}
----

instead of
----
redundant {
    sql1
    sql2
}
----

but the latter is just a whole lot easier to read.

* "authenticate{...}" itself is not a GROUP, even though it contains a list of Auth-Type GROUPs, because its semantics are totally different - it uses Auth-Type to decide which of its members to call, and their order is irrelevant.

* The default rules are context-sensitive - for authorize, the defaults are what you saw above - notfound, noop, ok, and updated are considered success, and anything else has an ACTION of "return". For authenticate, the default is to return on success *or* reject, and only try the second and following items if the first one fails. You can read all the default ACTIONs in modcall.c (int defaultactions[][][]), or just trust me. They do the right thing.

* There are some rules that can't be implemented in this language - things like "notfound = 1-reject", "noop = 2-ok", "ok = 3-ok", etc. But I don't feel justified adding that complexity in the first draft.  There are already enough things here that may never see real-world usage. Like append{...}

== See Also

* load balancing

// Copyright (C) 2025 Network RADIUS SAS.  Licenced under CC-by-NC 4.0.
// This documentation was developed by Network RADIUS SAS.
