fix: Unbound growth of wal files in case of checkpointing error

Entire-Checkpoint: 95a89a7127c5

ReleaseNotes.md

@@ -19,6 +19,16 @@ This is also the default.
 
 ### Bug fixes
 
+- **WAL not rotated on partial checkpoint failure**: When binary checkpointing
+  failed for some hosts, WAL files for successfully checkpointed hosts were not
+  rotated and the checkpoint timestamp was not advanced. Partial successes now
+  correctly advance the checkpoint and rotate WAL files for completed hosts.
+- **Unbounded WAL file growth**: If binary checkpointing consistently failed for
+  a host, its `current.wal` file grew without limit until disk exhaustion. A new
+  `max-wal-size` configuration option (in the `checkpoints` block) allows setting
+  a per-host WAL size cap in bytes. When exceeded, the WAL is force-rotated.
+  Defaults to 0 (unlimited) for backward compatibility.
+
 - **Doubleranged filter fixes**: Range filters now correctly handle zero as a
   boundary value. Improved validation and UI text for "more than equal" and
   "less than equal" range selections.

pkg/metricstore/checkpoint.go

@@ -129,7 +129,8 @@ func Checkpointing(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 					n, hostDirs, err := ms.ToCheckpointWAL(Keys.Checkpoints.RootDir, from.Unix(), now.Unix())
 					if err != nil {
 						cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> binary checkpointing failed: %s", err.Error())
-					} else {
+					}
+					if n > 0 {
 						cclog.Infof("[METRICSTORE]> done: %d binary snapshot files created", n)
 						lastCheckpointMu.Lock()
 						lastCheckpoint = now

pkg/metricstore/config.go

@@ -61,9 +61,12 @@ const (
 // Fields:
 //   - FileFormat:  "json" (human-readable, periodic) or "wal" (binary snapshot + WAL, crash-safe); default is "wal"
 //   - RootDir:     Filesystem path for checkpoint files (created if missing)
+//   - MaxWALSize:  Maximum size in bytes for a single host's WAL file; 0 = unlimited (default).
+//     When exceeded the WAL is force-rotated to prevent unbounded disk growth.
 type Checkpoints struct {
 	FileFormat string `json:"file-format"`
 	RootDir    string `json:"directory"`
+	MaxWALSize int64  `json:"max-wal-size,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Debug provides development and profiling options.

pkg/metricstore/configSchema.go

@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ const configSchema = `{
         "directory": {
           "description": "Path in which the checkpointed files should be placed.",
           "type": "string"
+        },
+        "max-wal-size": {
+          "description": "Maximum size in bytes for a single host's WAL file. When exceeded the WAL is force-rotated to prevent unbounded disk growth. Only applies when file-format is 'wal'. 0 means unlimited (default).",
+          "type": "integer",
+          "minimum": 0
         }
       }
     },

pkg/metricstore/walCheckpoint.go

@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ type walFileState struct {
 	f     *os.File
 	w     *bufio.Writer
 	dirty bool
+	size  int64 // approximate bytes written (tracked from open + writes)
 }
 
 // walFlushInterval controls how often dirty WAL files are flushed to disk.
@@ -214,7 +215,11 @@ func WALStaging(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 
 				// Write file header magic if file is new (empty).
 				info, err := f.Stat()
-				if err == nil && info.Size() == 0 {
+				var fileSize int64
+				if err == nil {
+					fileSize = info.Size()
+				}
+				if err == nil && fileSize == 0 {
 					var hdr [4]byte
 					binary.LittleEndian.PutUint32(hdr[:], walFileMagic)
 					if _, err := w.Write(hdr[:]); err != nil {
@@ -222,9 +227,10 @@ func WALStaging(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 						f.Close()
 						return nil
 					}
+					fileSize = 4
 				}
 
-				ws = &walFileState{f: f, w: w}
+				ws = &walFileState{f: f, w: w, size: fileSize}
 				hostFiles[hostDir] = ws
 				return ws
 			}
@@ -235,9 +241,30 @@ func WALStaging(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 				if ws == nil {
 					return
 				}
-				if err := writeWALRecordDirect(ws.w, msg); err != nil {
+
+				// Enforce max WAL size: force-rotate before writing if limit is exceeded.
+				// The in-memory store still holds the data; only crash-recovery coverage is lost.
+				if maxSize := Keys.Checkpoints.MaxWALSize; maxSize > 0 && ws.size >= maxSize {
+					cclog.Warnf("[METRICSTORE]> WAL: force-rotating %s (size %d >= limit %d)",
+						hostDir, ws.size, maxSize)
+					ws.w.Flush()
+					ws.f.Close()
+					walPath := path.Join(hostDir, "current.wal")
+					if err := os.Remove(walPath); err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+						cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> WAL: remove %s: %v", walPath, err)
+					}
+					delete(hostFiles, hostDir)
+					ws = getOrOpenWAL(hostDir)
+					if ws == nil {
+						return
+					}
+				}
+
+				n, err := writeWALRecordDirect(ws.w, msg)
+				if err != nil {
 					cclog.Errorf("[METRICSTORE]> WAL: write record: %v", err)
 				}
+				ws.size += int64(n)
 				ws.dirty = true
 			}
 
@@ -376,7 +403,8 @@ func RotateWALFilesAfterShutdown(hostDirs []string) {
 // writeWALRecordDirect encodes a WAL record into a contiguous buffer first,
 // then writes it to the bufio.Writer in a single call. This prevents partial
 // records in the write buffer if a write error occurs mid-record (e.g. disk full).
-func writeWALRecordDirect(w *bufio.Writer, msg *WALMessage) error {
+// Returns the number of bytes written and any error.
+func writeWALRecordDirect(w *bufio.Writer, msg *WALMessage) (int, error) {
 	// Compute payload and total record size.
 	payloadSize := 8 + 2 + len(msg.MetricName) + 1 + 4
 	for _, s := range msg.Selector {
@@ -430,8 +458,8 @@ func writeWALRecordDirect(w *bufio.Writer, msg *WALMessage) error {
 	binary.LittleEndian.PutUint32(buf[p:p+4], crc)
 
 	// Single atomic write to the buffered writer.
-	_, err := w.Write(buf)
-	return err
+	n, err := w.Write(buf)
+	return n, err
 }
 
 // readWALRecord reads one WAL record from the reader.