Current protocol extension that sends tablet info to drivers only does
that if the driver selects a non-replica coordinator for a routable
request. It works well if some node on the replica list is replaced by
other node, or if some replicas are removed from the list. Driver will
at some point send a request to stale replica, and receive new list in
response.
The issue is with extending the list with new replicas. In that case old
replicas are all still correct, so driver will not select any wrong
replica, and will not receive the new list. As far as I know that only
scenario where this could happen is RF increase.
It could be to some degree worked around in the drivers, but it would
add significant complexity (definitely more than any other invalidations
we introduced) while still not being ideal solution. This scenario
should be rare enough, and the consequences of not handling it minor
enough (new replicas not being used as coordinators) that it does not
warrant driver-side solution. Instead this commit adds info about this
to documentation, advising users to restart applications after replica
lists are extended.
It is worth noting that if new tablet feedback protocol extension is
implemented then this problem goes away. See issue #21664.
Closesscylladb/scylladb#23447