throttle
An OTP application to implement throttling/rate limiting of resources.
Rebar3 dependency
{throttle, "0.3.0", {pkg, lambda_throttle}}Build
$ rebar3 compile
Usage
The application allows to limit different resources (scopes) at different rates.
-
throttle:setup(Scope, RateLimit, RatePeriod): setup a rate limit for a givenScope, allowing at mostRateLimitrequests perRatePeriod. Allowed rate periods areper_second,per_minute,per_hourandper_day.Rates can also be set via application environment instead of calling
setup:{throttle, [{rates, [{my_global_scope, 10, per_second} {my_expensive_endpoint, 2, per_minute}]}]} -
throttle:check(Scope, Key): attempt to requestScopewith a givenKey(e.g. user token, IP). The result will be{ok, RemainingAttempts, TimeToReset}if there are attempts left or{limit_exceeded, 0, TimeToReset}if there aren't. -
throttle:peek(Scope, Key): returns the same result ascheckwithout increasing the requests count.
Distributed support
By default, throttle keeps the attempt counters on ETS tables, and
therefore those are local to the Erlang node. Mnesia can be used
instead to enfore access limits across all connected nodes, by setting
the driver configuration parameter to throttle_mnesia:
{throttle, [{driver, throttle_mnesia},
{rates, [{my_global_scope, 10, per_second}]}]}When using the Mnesia driver, throttle_mnesia:setup() needs to be
called after the cluster is connected (the tables have to be shared across
nodes, so the nodes must be visible before intialization):
(n1@127.0.0.1)1> application:set_env(throttle, driver, throttle_mnesia).
ok
(n1@127.0.0.1)2> application:ensure_all_started(throttle).
{ok,[throttle]}
(n1@127.0.0.1)3> net_kernel:connect('[email protected]').
true
(n1@127.0.0.1)4> throttle_mnesia:setup().
okWhen checking for a Key to access a given Scope, an access counter is
incremented in Mnesia. The
activity access context
for that operation can be configured with the access_context
parameter:
{throttle, [{driver, throttle_mnesia},
{access_context, sync_transaction}]}.By default, the async_dirty context is used, which prioritizes speed
over consistency when propagating the counter increment. This means
there's a chance of two nodes getting access to a resource when there
is one attempt left. Depending the application, it may make more
sense to choose a different context (like sync_transaction) to
reduce the chances of allowing accesses above the limit.
Examples
Shell
1> application:ensure_all_started(throttle).
{ok,[throttle]}
2> throttle:setup(my_api_endpoint, 3, per_minute).
ok
3> throttle:check(my_api_endpoint, my_token_or_ip).
{ok,2,30362}
4> throttle:check(my_api_endpoint, my_token_or_ip).
{ok,1,29114}
5> throttle:check(my_api_endpoint, my_token_or_ip).
{ok,0,27978}
6> throttle:check(my_api_endpoint, my_token_or_ip).
{limit_exceeded,0,26722}Cowboy 2.0 limit by IP
Middleware module:
-module(throttling_middleware).
-behavior(cowboy_middleware).
-export([execute/2]).
execute(Req, Env) ->
{{IP, _}, Req2} = cowboy_req:peer(Req),
case throttle:check(my_api_rate, IP) of
{limit_exceeded, _, _} ->
lager:warning("IP ~p exceeded api limit", [IP]),
Req3 = cowboy_req:reply(429, Req2),
{stop, Req3};
_ ->
{ok, Req2, Env}
end.Using it:
cowboy:start_clear(my_http_listener, [{port, 8080}], #{
env => #{dispatch => Dispatch},
middlewares => [cowboy_router, throttling_middleware, cowboy_handler]
}),Cowboy 2.0 limit by Authorization header
-module(throttling_middleware).
-behavior(cowboy_middleware).
-export([execute/2]).
execute(Req, Env) ->
Authorization = cowboy_req:header(<<"authorization">>, Req),
case throttle:check(my_api_rate, Authorization) of
{limit_exceeded, _, _} ->
lager:warning("Auth ~p exceeded api limit", [Authorization]),
Req3 = cowboy_req:reply(429, Req),
{stop, Req2};
_ ->
{ok, Req, Env}
end.Note that assumes all requests have an authorization header. A more realistic approach would be to fallback to an IP limit when Authorization is not present.
Cowboy 1.0 limit by IP
Middleware module:
-module(throttling_middleware).
-behavior(cowboy_middleware).
-export([execute/2]).
execute(Req, Env) ->
{{IP, _}, Req2} = cowboy_req:peer(Req),
case throttle:check(my_api_rate, IP) of
{limit_exceeded, _, _} ->
lager:warning("IP ~p exceeded api limit", [IP]),
{error, 429, Req2};
_ ->
{ok, Req2, Env}
end.Using it:
cowboy:start_http(my_http_listener, 100, [{port, 8080}],
[{env, [{dispatch, Dispatch}]},
{middlewares, [cowboy_router, throttling_middleware, cowboy_handler]}]
),A more detailed example, choosing the rate based on the path, can be found here.