For standard partitioning, you use com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.PartitionResolver. To implement fixed partitioning, you use com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.FixedPartitionResolver.

Procedure

1. Using com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.PartitionResolver (standard partitioning) or com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.FixedPartitionResolver (fixed partitioning), implement the standard partitioning resolver or the fixed partitioning resolver in one of the following locations, listed here in the search order used by GemFire:
   • Custom class. You provide this class as the partition resolver to the region creation.
   • Entry key. You use the implementing key object for every operation on the region entries.
   • Cache callback argument. This implementation restricts you to using methods that accept a cache callback argument to manage the region entries. For a full list of the methods that take a callback argument, see the Region Javadocs. Among the methods that you cannot use with cache callback are putAll, getAll, containsKey, and getDistributedLock. These methods do not work with the FunctionService execution calls.
2. If you need the resolver's getName method, program that.
3. Program the resolver's getRoutingObject method to return the routing object for each entry, based on how you want to group the entries. Give the same routing object to entries you want to group together. GemFire will place the entries in the same bucket.

   For example, here is an implementation on a region key object that groups the entries by month and year:

   Public class TradeKey implements PartitionResolver 
   { 
       private String tradeID; 
       private Month month; 
       private Year year; 
       public TradingKey(){ } 
       public TradingKey(Month month, Year year)
       { 
           this.month = month; 
           this.year = year; 
       } 
       public Serializable getRoutingObject(EntryOperation opDetails)
       { 
           return this.month + this.year; 
       }
   }

4. For fixed partitioning only, program and configure additional fixed partitioning pieces:
   1. Set the fixed partition attributes for each member.
      These attributes define the data stored for the region by the member and must be different for different members. See com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.FixedPartitionAttributes for definitions of the attributes. Define each partition-name in your data host members for the region. For each partition name, in the member you want to host the primary copy, define it with is-primary set to true. In every member you want to host the secondary copy, define it with is-primary set to false (the default). The number of secondaries must match the number of redundant copies you have defined for the region. See Configure High Availability for a Partitioned Region.
      Note: Buckets for a partition are hosted only by the members that have defined the partition name in their FixedPartitionAttributes.

      These examples set the partition attributes for a member to be the primary host for the "Q1" partition data and a secondary host for "Q3" partition data.

      • XML:

        <cache>
           <region name="Trades">
              <region-attributes>
                 <partition-attributes redundant-copies="1">
                   <partition-resolver name="QuarterFixedPartitionResolver">
                      <class-name>myPackage.QuarterFixedPartitionResolver</class-name>
                   </partition-resolver>
                   <fixed-partition-attributes partition-name="Q1" is-primary="true"/>
                   <fixed-partition-attributes partition-name="Q3" is-primary="false" num-buckets="6"/>
                 </partition-attributes> 
              </region-attributes>
           </region>
        </cache>

      • Java:

        FixedPartitionAttribute fpa1 = FixedPartitionAttributes.createFixedPartition("Q1", true);
        FixedPartitionAttribute fpa3 = FixedPartitionAttributes.createFixedPartition("Q3", false, 6);
        
        PartitionAttributesFactory paf = new PartitionAttributesFactory()
             .setPartitionResolver(new QuarterFixedPartitionResolver())
             .setTotalNumBuckets(12)
             .setRedundantCopies(2)
             .addFixedPartitionAttribute(fpa1)
             .addFixedPartitionAttribute(fpa3);
        
        AttributesFactory attrFactory = new AttributesFactory();
        attrFactory.setPartitionAttributes(paf.create());
        
        DistributedSystem system = DistributedSystem.connect(new Properties());
        Cache cache = CacheFactory.create(system);
        Region createRegion = cache.createRegion("Trades", attrFactory.create());
        Region<String, String> region = (PartitionedRegion)createRegion;

      • gfsh:

        You cannot specify a partition resolver using gfsh.

   2. Program the FixedPartitionResolver getPartitionName method to return the name of the partition for each entry, based on where you want the entries to reside. GemFire uses getPartitionName and getRoutingObject to determine where an entry is placed.
      Note: To group entries, assign every entry in the group the same routing object and the same partition name.
      This example places the data based on date, with a different partition name for each quarter-year and a different routing object for each month.

      /**
       * Returns one of four different partition names
       * (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) depending on the entry's date
       */
      class QuarterFixedPartitionResolver implements
          FixedPartitionResolver<String, String> {
      
        @Override
        public String getPartitionName(EntryOperation<String, String> opDetails,
            Set<String> targetPartitions) {
      
           Date date = (Date)opDetails.getKey();
           Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
           cal.setTime(date);
           int month = cal.get(Calendar.MONTH);
           if (month >= 0 && month < 3) {
              if (targetPartitions.contains("Q1")) return "Q1";
           }
           else if (month >= 3 && month < 6) {
              if (targetPartitions.contains("Q2")) return "Q2";
           }
           else if (month >= 6 && month < 9) {
              if (targetPartitions.contains("Q3")) return "Q3";
           }
           else if (month >= 9 && month < 12) {
              if (targetPartitions.contains("Q4")) return "Q4";
           }
           return "Invalid Quarter";
        }
      
        @Override
        public String getName() {
           return "QuarterFixedPartitionResolver";
        }
      
        @Override
        public Serializable getRoutingObject(EntryOperation<String, String> opDetails) {
           Date date = (Date)opDetails.getKey();
           Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
           cal.setTime(date);
           int month = cal.get(Calendar.MONTH);
           return month;
        }
      
        @Override
        public void close() {
        }
      }

5. Configure or program so GemFire finds your resolver for every operation that you perform on the region's entries. How you do this depends on where you chose to program your custom partitioning implementation (step 1).
   1. Custom class. Define the class for the region at creation. The resolver will be used for every entry operation. Use one of these methods:
      • XML:

        <region name="trades">
            <region-attributes>
                <partition-attributes>
                    <partition-resolver name="TradesPartitionResolver"> 
                        <class-name>myPackage.TradesPartitionResolver
                        </class-name>
                    </partition-resolver>
                <partition-attributes>
            </region-attributes>
        </region>

      • Java:

        PartitionResolver resolver = new TradesPartitionResolver();
        PartitionAttributes attrs = 
        	new PartitionAttributesFactory()
        	.setPartitionResolver(resolver).create();
        Region Trades = 
        	new RegionFactory().setPartitionAttributes(attrs).create("trades");

      • gfsh:

        You cannot specify a partition resolver using gfsh.

   2. Entry key. Use the key object with the resolver implementation for every entry operation.
   3. Cache callback argument. Provide the argument to every call that accesses an entry. This restricts you to calls that take a callback argument.
6. If your colocated data is in a server system, add the PartitionResolver implementation class to the CLASSPATH of your Java clients. The resolver is used for single hop access to partitioned region data in the servers.