This series adds support for a DynamoDB-compatible Write Capacity Unit (WCU) calculation in Alternator by introducing an optional forced read-before-write mechanism.
Alternator's model differs from DynamoDB, and as a result, some write operations may report lower WCU usage compared to what DynamoDB would report. While this is acceptable in many cases, there are scenarios where users may require accurate WCU reporting that aligns more closely with DynamoDB's behavior.
To address this, a new configuration option, alternator_force_read_before_write, is introduced. When enabled, Alternator will perform a read before executing PutItem, UpdateItem, and DeleteItem operations. This allows it to take the existing item size into account when computing the WCU. BatchWriteItem support is also extended to use this mechanism. Because BatchWriteItem does not support returning old items directly, several internal changes were made to support reading previous item sizes with minimal overhead. Reads are performed at consistency level LOCAL_ONE for efficiency, and the WCU calculation is now done in multiple stages to accurately account for item size differences.
In addition to the implementation changes, test coverage was added to validate the new behavior. These tests confirm that WCU is calculated based on the larger of the old and new items when read-before-write is active, including for BatchWriteItem.
This feature comes with performance overhead and is therefore disabled by default. It can be enabled at runtime via the system.config table and should be used only when precise WCU tracking is necessary.
**New feature, no need to backport**
Closesscylladb/scylladb#24436
* github.com:scylladb/scylladb:
alternator/test_returnconsumedcapacity.py: Test forced read before write
alternator/executor.cc: DynamoDB WCU calculation in BatchWriteItem using read-before-write
executor.cc: get_previous_item with consistency level
executor: Extend API of put_or_delete_item
alternator/executor.cc: Accurate WCU for put, update, delete
config: add alternator_force_read_before_write
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