rpcclient: Add retry with backoffs to HTTP POST requests

Adds behavior similar to the retries of persistent RPC connections
to HTTP request.

* Initial backoff: 500ms
* Linear increase
* Max retries: 10

Room for future improvement:
* Make configurable
* Add jitter
* Tests for retry behavior

rpcclient/infrastructure.go

@@ -86,15 +86,11 @@ const (
 	// connectionRetryInterval is the amount of time to wait in between
 	// retries when automatically reconnecting to an RPC server.
 	connectionRetryInterval = time.Second * 5
-)
 
-// sendPostDetails houses an HTTP POST request to send to an RPC server as well
+	// requestRetryInterval is the initial amount of time to wait in between
-// as the original JSON-RPC command and a channel to reply on when the server
+	// retries when sending HTTP POST requests.
-// responds with the result.
+	requestRetryInterval = time.Millisecond * 500
-type sendPostDetails struct {
+)
-	httpRequest *http.Request
-	jsonRequest *jsonRequest
-}
 
 // jsonRequest holds information about a json request that is used to properly
 // detect, interpret, and deliver a reply to it.
@@ -183,7 +179,7 @@ type Client struct {
 
 	// Networking infrastructure.
 	sendChan        chan []byte
-	sendPostChan    chan *sendPostDetails
+	sendPostChan    chan *jsonRequest
 	connEstablished chan struct{}
 	disconnect      chan struct{}
 	shutdown        chan struct{}
@@ -765,10 +761,50 @@ out:
 // handleSendPostMessage handles performing the passed HTTP request, reading the
 // result, unmarshalling it, and delivering the unmarshalled result to the
 // provided response channel.
-func (c *Client) handleSendPostMessage(details *sendPostDetails) {
+func (c *Client) handleSendPostMessage(jReq *jsonRequest) {
-	jReq := details.jsonRequest
+	protocol := "http"
-	log.Tracef("Sending command [%s] with id %d", jReq.method, jReq.id)
+	if !c.config.DisableTLS {
-	httpResponse, err := c.httpClient.Do(details.httpRequest)
+		protocol = "https"
+	}
+	url := protocol + "://" + c.config.Host
+
+	var err error
+	var backoff time.Duration
+	var httpResponse *http.Response
+	tries := 10
+	for i := 0; tries == 0 || i < tries; i++ {
+		bodyReader := bytes.NewReader(jReq.marshalledJSON)
+		httpReq, err := http.NewRequest("POST", url, bodyReader)
+		if err != nil {
+			jReq.responseChan <- &Response{result: nil, err: err}
+			return
+		}
+		httpReq.Close = true
+		httpReq.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		for key, value := range c.config.ExtraHeaders {
+			httpReq.Header.Set(key, value)
+		}
+
+		// Configure basic access authorization.
+		user, pass, err := c.config.getAuth()
+		if err != nil {
+			jReq.responseChan <- &Response{result: nil, err: err}
+			return
+		}
+		httpReq.SetBasicAuth(user, pass)
+
+		httpResponse, err = c.httpClient.Do(httpReq)
+		if err != nil {
+			backoff = requestRetryInterval * time.Duration(i+1)
+			if backoff > time.Minute {
+				backoff = time.Minute
+			}
+			log.Debugf("Failed command [%s] with id %d attempt %d. Retrying in %v... \n", jReq.method, jReq.id, i, backoff)
+			time.Sleep(backoff)
+			continue
+		}
+		break
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		jReq.responseChan <- &Response{err: err}
 		return
@@ -821,8 +857,8 @@ out:
 		// Send any messages ready for send until the shutdown channel
 		// is closed.
 		select {
-		case details := <-c.sendPostChan:
+		case jReq := <-c.sendPostChan:
-			c.handleSendPostMessage(details)
+			c.handleSendPostMessage(jReq)
 
 		case <-c.shutdown:
 			break out
@@ -834,8 +870,8 @@ out:
 cleanup:
 	for {
 		select {
-		case details := <-c.sendPostChan:
+		case jReq := <-c.sendPostChan:
-			details.jsonRequest.responseChan <- &Response{
+			jReq.responseChan <- &Response{
 				result: nil,
 				err:    ErrClientShutdown,
 			}
@@ -852,7 +888,7 @@ cleanup:
 // sendPostRequest sends the passed HTTP request to the RPC server using the
 // HTTP client associated with the client.  It is backed by a buffered channel,
 // so it will not block until the send channel is full.
-func (c *Client) sendPostRequest(httpReq *http.Request, jReq *jsonRequest) {
+func (c *Client) sendPostRequest(jReq *jsonRequest) {
 	// Don't send the message if shutting down.
 	select {
 	case <-c.shutdown:
@@ -860,10 +896,9 @@ func (c *Client) sendPostRequest(httpReq *http.Request, jReq *jsonRequest) {
 	default:
 	}
 
-	c.sendPostChan <- &sendPostDetails{
+	log.Tracef("Sending command [%s] with id %d", jReq.method, jReq.id)
-		jsonRequest: jReq,
+
-		httpRequest: httpReq,
+	c.sendPostChan <- jReq
-	}
 }
 
 // newFutureError returns a new future result channel that already has the
@@ -885,42 +920,6 @@ func ReceiveFuture(f chan *Response) ([]byte, error) {
 	return r.result, r.err
 }
 
-// sendPost sends the passed request to the server by issuing an HTTP POST
-// request using the provided response channel for the reply.  Typically a new
-// connection is opened and closed for each command when using this method,
-// however, the underlying HTTP client might coalesce multiple commands
-// depending on several factors including the remote server configuration.
-func (c *Client) sendPost(jReq *jsonRequest) {
-	// Generate a request to the configured RPC server.
-	protocol := "http"
-	if !c.config.DisableTLS {
-		protocol = "https"
-	}
-	url := protocol + "://" + c.config.Host
-	bodyReader := bytes.NewReader(jReq.marshalledJSON)
-	httpReq, err := http.NewRequest("POST", url, bodyReader)
-	if err != nil {
-		jReq.responseChan <- &Response{result: nil, err: err}
-		return
-	}
-	httpReq.Close = true
-	httpReq.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
-	for key, value := range c.config.ExtraHeaders {
-		httpReq.Header.Set(key, value)
-	}
-
-	// Configure basic access authorization.
-	user, pass, err := c.config.getAuth()
-	if err != nil {
-		jReq.responseChan <- &Response{result: nil, err: err}
-		return
-	}
-	httpReq.SetBasicAuth(user, pass)
-
-	log.Tracef("Sending command [%s] with id %d", jReq.method, jReq.id)
-	c.sendPostRequest(httpReq, jReq)
-}
-
 // sendRequest sends the passed json request to the associated server using the
 // provided response channel for the reply.  It handles both websocket and HTTP
 // POST mode depending on the configuration of the client.
@@ -935,7 +934,7 @@ func (c *Client) sendRequest(jReq *jsonRequest) {
 				log.Warn(err)
 			}
 		} else {
-			c.sendPost(jReq)
+			c.sendPostRequest(jReq)
 		}
 		return
 	}
@@ -1428,7 +1427,7 @@ func New(config *ConnConfig, ntfnHandlers *NotificationHandlers) (*Client, error
 		ntfnHandlers:    ntfnHandlers,
 		ntfnState:       newNotificationState(),
 		sendChan:        make(chan []byte, sendBufferSize),
-		sendPostChan:    make(chan *sendPostDetails, sendPostBufferSize),
+		sendPostChan:    make(chan *jsonRequest, sendPostBufferSize),
 		connEstablished: connEstablished,
 		disconnect:      make(chan struct{}),
 		shutdown:        make(chan struct{}),
@@ -1642,7 +1641,7 @@ func (c *Client) sendAsync() FutureGetBulkResult {
 		marshalledJSON: marshalledRequest,
 		responseChan:   responseChan,
 	}
-	c.sendPost(&request)
+	c.sendPostRequest(&request)
 	return responseChan
 }