Name

resty.limit.count - Lua module for limiting request counts for OpenResty/ngx_lua.

Table of Contents

Synopsis

http {
    lua_shared_dict my_limit_count_store 100m;

    init_by_lua_block {
        require "resty.core"
    }

    server {
        location / {
            access_by_lua_block {
                local limit_count = require "resty.limit.count"

                -- rate: 5000 requests per 3600s
                local lim, err = limit_count.new("my_limit_count_store", 5000, 3600)
                if not lim then
                    ngx.log(ngx.ERR, "failed to instantiate a resty.limit.count object: ", err)
                    return ngx.exit(500)
                end

                -- use the Authorization header as the limiting key
                local key = ngx.req.get_headers()["Authorization"] or "public"
                local delay, err = lim:incoming(key, true)

                if not delay then
                    if err == "rejected" then
                        ngx.header["X-RateLimit-Limit"] = "5000"
                        ngx.header["X-RateLimit-Remaining"] = 0
                        return ngx.exit(503)
                    end
                    ngx.log(ngx.ERR, "failed to limit count: ", err)
                    return ngx.exit(500)
                end

                -- the 2nd return value holds the current remaining number
                -- of requests for the specified key.
                local remaining = err

                ngx.header["X-RateLimit-Limit"] = "5000"
                ngx.header["X-RateLimit-Remaining"] = remaining
            }
        }
    }
}

Description

This module provides APIs to help the OpenResty/ngx_lua user programmers limit request rate by a fixed number of requests in given time window.

It is included by default in OpenResty 1.13.6.1+.

This Lua module's implementation is similar to GitHub API Rate Limiting But this Lua module is flexible in that it can be configured with different rates and window sizes.

This module depends on lua-resty-core, you should enable it like so:

init_by_lua_block {
    require "resty.core"
}

Methods

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new

syntax: obj, err = class.new(shdict_name, count, time_window)

Instantiates an object of this class. The class value is returned by the call require "resty.limit.count".

This method takes the following arguments:

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incoming

syntax: delay, err = obj:incoming(key, commit)

Fires a new request incoming event and calculates the delay needed (if any) for the current request upon the specified key or whether the user should reject it immediately.

This method accepts the following arguments:

The return values depend on the following cases:

  1. If the request does not exceed the count value specified in the new method, then this method returns 0 as the delay and the remaining count of allowed requests at the current time (as the 2nd return value).

  2. If the request exceeds the count limit specified in the new method then this method returns nil and the error string "rejected".

  3. If an error occurred (like failures when accessing the lua_shared_dict shm zone backing the current object), then this method returns nil and a string describing the error.

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uncommit

syntax: remaining, err = obj:uncommit(key)

Undo the commit of the count of incoming call. This method is mainly for excluding specified requests from counting against limit like conditional requests.

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Limiting Granularity

The limiting works on the granularity of an individual NGINX server instance (including all its worker processes). Thanks to the shm mechanism; we can share state cheaply across all the workers in a single NGINX server instance.

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Installation

Please see library installation instructions.

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Bugs and Patches

Please report bugs or submit patches by

  1. creating a ticket on the GitHub Issue Tracker,

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Authors

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Copyright and License

This module is licensed under the BSD license.

Copyright (C) 2016-2017, by Yichun "agentzh" Zhang, OpenResty Inc.

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

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See Also

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