Reliable Messaging in the World of Actors

Explore reliable messaging in actor-based systems through this 38-minute conference talk from YOW! 2022. Delve into the challenges of achieving message delivery guarantees in actor model frameworks, which typically use at-most-once delivery. Learn from Vagif Abilov's experience in revising approaches to message delivery guarantees in an F# and Akka.NET system. Discover common patterns and potential obstacles when implementing reliable messaging with actors, including four iterations of the "Don't pay for the ferryman" approach. Examine the importance of idempotency and the reactive nature of actors. Gain insights into the main lessons learned, hear a critique of workflow engines and saga managers, and understand the key takeaways for building robust actor-based systems with reliable messaging.

Intro
How to provide message handling guarantee?
Can we run a reliable system with at-most-once message delivery?
Don't pay for the ferryman version 1
Don't pay for the ferryman version 2
Don't pay for the ferryman version 3
Don't pay for the ferryman version 4
Important assumption: Idempotency
But actors are reactive
Main lesson
Rant about workflow engines & saga managers
Conclusion
Outro