Files
ScadaBridge/docs/plans/2026-03-16-communication-layer-refinement-design.md
T
Joseph Doherty d1ade5653b docs(plans): bookkeeping sync — reconcile stale trackers with merged code
A verified audit of all ~90 plan documents (2026-08-01) found ~30 .tasks.json
trackers and several plan headers still reporting 'pending'/'draft' for work
fully merged to main. Sync them so future audits don't re-litigate closed work:

- Flip ~380 stale task statuses to completed across March/May/June/July
  trackers (audit-log series, milestones M5-M10, playwright waves, stillpending,
  LocalDb, ClusterClient->gRPC DoD rows, and more), each verified against
  code/git evidence before flipping.
- Annotate obsolete-not-done rows: ClusterClient CLI transport (never built,
  HTTP shipped), TreeView Areas/Instances pages (replaced by Topology),
  template-tree drag-drop (dropped for M9 menu reorder), otopcua item C
  (premise superseded by #17).
- Flip stale headers: aggregated-live-alarm + kpi-rollups 'Draft not executed'
  -> Delivered 2026-07-10; otopcua cutover-scope SCOPING -> DECIDED;
  scadabridge-rename -> Implemented; LocalDb phase1/2 status strings ->
  merged 28ca04d7.
- Fix doc drift: T9/T10 'deferred' -> shipped as SMS (Teams dropped); waitfor
  sandbox follow-up shipped; followups #52/#53/#54/#162/#207 resolved; purge
  TODO closed by PendingDeploymentPurgeActor; live-gate pre-existing failures
  #28/#29/#31 fixed; auto-down boot-alone residual superseded by self-first
  seeds; supersession banners on keep-oldest SBR + ClusterClient-era designs;
  requirements-traceability 'Pending' clarified as frozen plan-generation
  status.

Deliberately left pending (genuinely open, tracked in the pending-work list):
opcua-tag-browser task 19 (live smoke), ipsen tasks 7-8 (vd03 verification),
selfform task 7 (vd03 overlay, user-held), live-gate observation 1
(external-system delete orphan bug), otopcua item A + maxDepth calibration.
2026-08-01 08:53:56 -04:00

2.8 KiB
Raw Blame History

Communication Layer Refinement — Design

Date: 2026-03-16 Component: CentralSite Communication (docs/requirements/Component-Communication.md) Status: Approved — transport decisions superseded by the ClusterClient→gRPC migration (docs/plans/2026-07-22-clusterclient-to-grpc-plan.md); the "no buffering at central" decision still stands.

Problem

The Communication Layer doc defined 8 message patterns clearly but lacked specification for timeouts, transport configuration, reconnection behavior, message ordering guarantees, and connection failure handling.

Decisions

Message Timeouts

  • Per-pattern timeouts with sensible defaults, overridable in configuration.
  • Deployment and system-wide artifacts: 120 seconds (script compilation can be slow).
  • Lifecycle commands, integration routing, recipe/command delivery, remote queries: 30 seconds.
  • Uses the Akka.NET ask pattern; timeout results in failure to caller.

Transport Configuration

  • Akka.NET built-in reconnection with explicitly configured transport heartbeat interval and failure detection threshold.
  • No custom reconnection logic — framework handles it.
  • Settings explicitly documented rather than relying on framework defaults, for predictability in a SCADA context.

Connection Failure Behavior

  • In-flight messages get a timeout error — caller retries manually. No buffering at central. Consistent with existing design principle.
  • Automatic retry rejected due to risk of duplicate processing (e.g., site may have applied a deployment before the connection dropped).

Message Ordering

  • Per-site ordering guaranteed — relies on Akka.NET's built-in per-sender/per-receiver ordering. No custom sequencing logic needed.

Debug Stream Interruption

  • Stream dies on any disconnect (failover or network blip). Engineer reopens the debug view manually.
  • Auto-resume rejected — adds complexity for a transient diagnostic tool.

Affected Documents

Document Change
docs/requirements/Component-Communication.md Added 4 new sections: Message Timeouts, Transport Configuration, Message Ordering, Connection Failure Behavior

Alternatives Considered

  • Global timeout for all patterns: Rejected — deployment involves compilation and needs more time than a simple query.
  • Default Akka.NET transport settings: Rejected — relying on undocumented defaults is risky for SCADA; explicit configuration ensures predictable behavior.
  • Automatic retry of in-flight messages: Rejected — risks duplicate processing and contradicts the no-buffering-at-central principle.
  • No ordering guarantee: Rejected — Akka.NET provides this for free; the design already implicitly relies on it.
  • Auto-resume debug streams on reconnection: Rejected — adds state tracking complexity for a transient diagnostic feature.