Manage conflict resolution policies in Azure Cosmos DB

  • Article

APPLIES TO: NoSQL

With multi-region writes, when multiple clients write to the same item, conflicts may occur. When a conflict occurs, you can resolve the conflict by using different conflict resolution policies. This article describes how to manage conflict resolution policies.

Tip

Conflict resolution policy can only be specified at container creation time and cannot be modified after container creation.

Create a last-writer-wins conflict resolution policy

These samples show how to set up a container with a last-writer-wins conflict resolution policy. The default path for last-writer-wins is the timestamp field or the _ts property. For API for NoSQL, this may also be set to a user-defined path with a numeric type. In a conflict, the highest value wins. If the path isn't set or it's invalid, it defaults to _ts. Conflicts resolved with this policy do not show up in the conflict feed. This policy can be used by all APIs.

.NET SDK

DocumentCollection lwwCollection = await createClient.CreateDocumentCollectionIfNotExistsAsync(
  UriFactory.CreateDatabaseUri(this.databaseName), new DocumentCollection
  {
      Id = this.lwwCollectionName,
      ConflictResolutionPolicy = new ConflictResolutionPolicy
      {
          Mode = ConflictResolutionMode.LastWriterWins,
          ConflictResolutionPath = "/myCustomId",
      },
  });

Java V4 SDK

Java SDK V4 (Maven com.azure::azure-cosmos) Async API


ConflictResolutionPolicy policy = ConflictResolutionPolicy.createLastWriterWinsPolicy("/myCustomId");

CosmosContainerProperties containerProperties = new CosmosContainerProperties(container_id, partition_key);
containerProperties.setConflictResolutionPolicy(policy);
/* ...other container config... */
database.createContainerIfNotExists(containerProperties).block();

Java V2 SDKs

Async Java V2 SDK (Maven com.microsoft.azure::azure-cosmosdb)

DocumentCollection collection = new DocumentCollection();
collection.setId(id);
ConflictResolutionPolicy policy = ConflictResolutionPolicy.createLastWriterWinsPolicy("/myCustomId");
collection.setConflictResolutionPolicy(policy);
DocumentCollection createdCollection = client.createCollection(databaseUri, collection, null).toBlocking().value();

Node.js/JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

const database = client.database(this.databaseName);
const { container: lwwContainer } = await database.containers.createIfNotExists(
  {
    id: this.lwwContainerName,
    conflictResolutionPolicy: {
      mode: "LastWriterWins",
      conflictResolutionPath: "/myCustomId"
    }
  }
);

Python SDK

database = client.get_database_client(database=database_id)
lww_conflict_resolution_policy = {'mode': 'LastWriterWins', 'conflictResolutionPath': '/regionId'}
lww_container = database.create_container(id=lww_container_id, partition_key=PartitionKey(path="/id"), 
    conflict_resolution_policy=lww_conflict_resolution_policy)

Create a custom conflict resolution policy using a stored procedure

These samples show how to set up a container with a custom conflict resolution policy. This policy uses the logic in a stored procedure to resolve the conflict. If a stored procedure is designated to resolve conflicts, conflicts won't show up in the conflict feed unless there's an error in the designated stored procedure.

After the policy is created with the container, you need to create the stored procedure. The .NET SDK sample below shows an example of this workflow. This policy is supported in the API for NoSQL only.

Sample custom conflict resolution stored procedure

Custom conflict resolution stored procedures must be implemented using the function signature shown below. The function name does not need to match the name used when registering the stored procedure with the container but it does simplify naming. Here is a description of the parameters that must be implemented for this stored procedure.

  • incomingItem: The item being inserted or updated in the commit that is generating the conflicts. Is null for delete operations.
  • existingItem: The currently committed item. This value is non-null in an update and null for an insert or deletes.
  • isTombstone: Boolean indicating if the incomingItem is conflicting with a previously deleted item. When true, existingItem is also null.
  • conflictingItems: Array of the committed version of all items in the container that are conflicting with incomingItem on ID or any other unique index properties.

Important

Just as with any stored procedure, a custom conflict resolution procedure can access any data with the same partition key and can perform any insert, update or delete operation to resolve conflicts.

This sample stored procedure resolves conflicts by selecting the lowest value from the /myCustomId path.

function resolver(incomingItem, existingItem, isTombstone, conflictingItems) {
  var collection = getContext().getCollection();

  if (!incomingItem) {
      if (existingItem) {

          collection.deleteDocument(existingItem._self, {}, function (err, responseOptions) {
              if (err) throw err;
          });
      }
  } else if (isTombstone) {
      // delete always wins.
  } else {
      if (existingItem) {
          if (incomingItem.myCustomId > existingItem.myCustomId) {
              return; // existing item wins
          }
      }

      var i;
      for (i = 0; i < conflictingItems.length; i++) {
          if (incomingItem.myCustomId > conflictingItems[i].myCustomId) {
              return; // existing conflict item wins
          }
      }

      // incoming item wins - clear conflicts and replace existing with incoming.
      tryDelete(conflictingItems, incomingItem, existingItem);
  }

  function tryDelete(documents, incoming, existing) {
      if (documents.length > 0) {
          collection.deleteDocument(documents[0]._self, {}, function (err, responseOptions) {
              if (err) throw err;

              documents.shift();
              tryDelete(documents, incoming, existing);
          });
      } else if (existing) {
          collection.replaceDocument(existing._self, incoming,
              function (err, documentCreated) {
                  if (err) throw err;
              });
      } else {
          collection.createDocument(collection.getSelfLink(), incoming,
              function (err, documentCreated) {
                  if (err) throw err;
              });
      }
  }
}

.NET SDK

DocumentCollection udpCollection = await createClient.CreateDocumentCollectionIfNotExistsAsync(
  UriFactory.CreateDatabaseUri(this.databaseName), new DocumentCollection
  {
      Id = this.udpCollectionName,
      ConflictResolutionPolicy = new ConflictResolutionPolicy
      {
          Mode = ConflictResolutionMode.Custom,
          ConflictResolutionProcedure = string.Format("dbs/{0}/colls/{1}/sprocs/{2}", this.databaseName, this.udpCollectionName, "resolver"),
      },
  });

//Create the stored procedure
await clients[0].CreateStoredProcedureAsync(
UriFactory.CreateStoredProcedureUri(this.databaseName, this.udpCollectionName, "resolver"), new StoredProcedure
{
    Id = "resolver",
    Body = File.ReadAllText(@"resolver.js")
});

Java V4 SDK

Java SDK V4 (Maven com.azure::azure-cosmos) Async API


ConflictResolutionPolicy policy = ConflictResolutionPolicy.createCustomPolicy("resolver");

CosmosContainerProperties containerProperties = new CosmosContainerProperties(container_id, partition_key);
containerProperties.setConflictResolutionPolicy(policy);
/* ...other container config... */
database.createContainerIfNotExists(containerProperties).block();

Java V2 SDKs

Async Java V2 SDK (Maven com.microsoft.azure::azure-cosmosdb)

DocumentCollection collection = new DocumentCollection();
collection.setId(id);
ConflictResolutionPolicy policy = ConflictResolutionPolicy.createCustomPolicy("resolver");
collection.setConflictResolutionPolicy(policy);
DocumentCollection createdCollection = client.createCollection(databaseUri, collection, null).toBlocking().value();

After your container is created, you must create the resolver stored procedure.

Node.js/JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

const database = client.database(this.databaseName);
const { container: udpContainer } = await database.containers.createIfNotExists(
  {
    id: this.udpContainerName,
    conflictResolutionPolicy: {
      mode: "Custom",
      conflictResolutionProcedure: `dbs/${this.databaseName}/colls/${
        this.udpContainerName
      }/sprocs/resolver`
    }
  }
);

After your container is created, you must create the resolver stored procedure.

Python SDK

database = client.get_database_client(database=database_id)
udp_custom_resolution_policy = {'mode': 'Custom' }
udp_container = database.create_container(id=udp_container_id, partition_key=PartitionKey(path="/id"),
    conflict_resolution_policy=udp_custom_resolution_policy)

After your container is created, you must create the resolver stored procedure.

Create a custom conflict resolution policy

These samples show how to set up a container with a custom conflict resolution policy. With this implementation, each conflict will show up in the conflict feed. It's up to you to handle the conflicts individually from the conflict feed.

.NET SDK

DocumentCollection manualCollection = await createClient.CreateDocumentCollectionIfNotExistsAsync(
  UriFactory.CreateDatabaseUri(this.databaseName), new DocumentCollection
  {
      Id = this.manualCollectionName,
      ConflictResolutionPolicy = new ConflictResolutionPolicy
      {
          Mode = ConflictResolutionMode.Custom,
      },
  });

Java V4 SDK

Java SDK V4 (Maven com.azure::azure-cosmos) Async API


ConflictResolutionPolicy policy = ConflictResolutionPolicy.createCustomPolicy();

CosmosContainerProperties containerProperties = new CosmosContainerProperties(container_id, partition_key);
containerProperties.setConflictResolutionPolicy(policy);
/* ...other container config... */
database.createContainerIfNotExists(containerProperties).block();

Java V2 SDKs

Async Java V2 SDK (Maven com.microsoft.azure::azure-cosmosdb)

DocumentCollection collection = new DocumentCollection();
collection.setId(id);
ConflictResolutionPolicy policy = ConflictResolutionPolicy.createCustomPolicy();
collection.setConflictResolutionPolicy(policy);
DocumentCollection createdCollection = client.createCollection(databaseUri, collection, null).toBlocking().value();

Node.js/JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

const database = client.database(this.databaseName);
const {
  container: manualContainer
} = await database.containers.createIfNotExists({
  id: this.manualContainerName,
  conflictResolutionPolicy: {
    mode: "Custom"
  }
});

Python SDK

database = client.get_database_client(database=database_id)
manual_resolution_policy = {'mode': 'Custom'}
manual_container = database.create_container(id=manual_container_id, partition_key=PartitionKey(path="/id"), 
    conflict_resolution_policy=manual_resolution_policy)

Read from conflict feed

These samples show how to read from a container's conflict feed. Conflicts may show up in the conflict feed only for a couple of reasons:

  • The conflict was not resolved automatically
  • The conflict caused an error with the designated stored procedure
  • The conflict resolution policy is set to custom and does not designate a stored procedure to handle conflicts

.NET SDK

FeedResponse<Conflict> conflicts = await delClient.ReadConflictFeedAsync(this.collectionUri);

Java SDKs

Java V4 SDK (Maven com.azure::azure-cosmos)

int requestPageSize = 3;
CosmosQueryRequestOptions options = new CosmosQueryRequestOptions();

CosmosPagedFlux<CosmosConflictProperties> conflictReadFeedFlux = container.readAllConflicts(options);

conflictReadFeedFlux.byPage(requestPageSize).toIterable().forEach(page -> {

    int expectedNumberOfConflicts = 0;
    int numberOfResults = 0;
    Iterator<CosmosConflictProperties> pageIt = page.getElements().iterator();

    while (pageIt.hasNext()) {
        CosmosConflictProperties conflictProperties = pageIt.next();

        // Read the conflict and committed item
        CosmosAsyncConflict conflict = container.getConflict(conflictProperties.getId());
        CosmosConflictResponse response = conflict.read(new CosmosConflictRequestOptions()).block();

        // response.
    }
});

Node.js/JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

const container = client
  .database(this.databaseName)
  .container(this.lwwContainerName);

const { result: conflicts } = await container.conflicts.readAll().toArray();

Python

conflicts_iterator = iter(container.list_conflicts())
conflict = next(conflicts_iterator, None)
while conflict:
    # Do something with conflict
    conflict = next(conflicts_iterator, None)

Next steps

Learn about the following Azure Cosmos DB concepts: