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Message filtering

Since 11.14.0 (jeap-spring-boot-parent 30.14.0), jEAP Messaging automatically discards messages that the Error Handling Service (EHS) resubmits to a topic when they are not meant for the consuming service. This is enabled by default — there is nothing to configure.

Why it exists​

Several services can consume the same topic. When processing fails in one of them, the message is sent to the EHS, which later resubmits it to the original topic so it can be retried. Without filtering, every consumer of that topic would receive the resubmitted message again — including services that already processed it successfully. The filter makes sure only the service the retry was meant for picks it up.

How it works​

On a resubmit the EHS adds the header jeap_eh_target_service carrying the name of the service the retry is intended for. jEAP Messaging installs a Spring Kafka RecordFilterStrategy (ErrorHandlingTargetFilter) on every listener container that decides, per record:

  • no jeap_eh_target_service header → keep (normal first delivery, never filtered);
  • header value equals this service's name → keep;
  • header value is a different service → discard (the listener is never invoked).

The consuming service's name is jeap.messaging.kafka.serviceName, which defaults to ${spring.application.name} (see Configuration reference). A discarded record is logged at INFO, naming the resubmitting EHS taken from the jeap_eh_error_handling_service header:

Filtering out message because 'jeap_eh_target_service=other-service'. Message has been resent by 'my-error-handling-service'

Headers​

HeaderSet byMeaning
jeap_eh_target_serviceEHS on resubmitName of the service the retry is intended for
jeap_eh_error_handling_serviceEHS on resubmitName of the EHS that resubmitted the message (for logging)

Because the filter runs before the listener, a filtered-out message is neither processed nor passed to the error handler, and it is acknowledged like any skipped record — so it does not block the partition.