Min idle instances setting not working at all?

[Pol-Online]

Hi,

Because we are about to launch our app very soon, I increased the number of idle instances from 1 to 5 yesterday and things looked correct in the Dashboard.

Then this morning, in the Dashboard I see 2 idle instances and this:

The spikes correspond to cron tasks running hourly I assume.

Anyway, it looks like either the graph is wrong or the setting doesn't work, or the definition of what the setting does is wrong, because clearly it not stable at 5.

I just activated Always On to work around the issue, so now it's back to 3+1.

-Pol

________________________________

Pol-Online

in...@pol-online.net

[Pol]

Oops looks like the image was stripped, you can see it here:
http://oi52.tinypic.com/12349hi.jpg

On Sep 11, 9:53 am, Pol-Online <i...@pol-online.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Because we are about to launch our app very soon, I increased the number of idle instances from 1 to 5 yesterday and things looked correct in the Dashboard.
>
> Then this morning, in the Dashboard I see 2 idle instances and this:
>

> The spikes correspond to cron tasks running hourly I assume.
>
> Anyway, it looks like either the graph is wrong or the setting doesn't work, or the definition of what the setting does is wrong, because clearly it not stable at 5.
>
> I just activated Always On to work around the issue, so now it's back to 3+1.
>
> -Pol
>
> ________________________________
> Pol-Online

> i...@pol-online.net

[Jon McAlister]

What's the app-id?

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[Jon McAlister]

Nevermind, I remember, it's everpix-alpha.

I see that min-idle-instances was removed on 2011/08/31-19:49:59 and then set to 3 on 2011/09/11-09:47:38. So, it wasn't on when you emailed but is on now. Your instances graph now looks correct.

[Pol]

Hi Jon,

I don't know where you got that information, the admin logs clearly
reflect our actions and the feedback at the time in the Dashboard:

Originally set to 5:
2011-08-31 23:15:59 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=5, min_pending_latency=0.10

Then looking at estimated new-pricing bills, I figured that's looks
very expensive, let's reduce this as much as possible for now:
2011-09-01 00:08:03 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=3, min_pending_latency=0.10
2011-09-01 18:44:01 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=2, min_pending_latency=0.10
2011-09-03 12:07:44 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=1, min_pending_latency=0.10
2011-09-03 12:08:15 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=2, min_pending_latency=0.10

Then 2 days before our public launch at TechCrunch Disrupt, change of
mind: now we need a minimum of 5 instances all the time, just in case:
2011-09-10 10:16:23 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=5, min_pending_latency=0.10

The next morning, I look at the graph (attached to previous post),
realize it's obviously not working and decide to re-enable "always-on"
in billing so we at least get 3.
2011-09-11 09:47:15 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=5, min_pending_latency=0.10
2011-09-11 09:47:03 ad...@everpix.net Changed Performance Settings
max_idle_clones=5, min_pending_latency=0.10

And I post to the mailing list a few minutes later at 9:53AM

I guarantee you min-instances was set to 5 in the dashboard for all
the duration of the previously attached graph :)

On Sep 12, 10:36 am, Jon McAlister <jon...@google.com> wrote:
> Nevermind, I remember, it's everpix-alpha.
>
> I see that min-idle-instances was removed on 2011/08/31-19:49:59 and
> then set to 3 on 2011/09/11-09:47:38. So, it wasn't on when you emailed but
> is on now. Your instances graph now looks correct.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 10:24 AM, Jon McAlister <jon...@google.com> wrote:
> > What's the app-id?
>

> > On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Pol-Online <i...@pol-online.net> wrote:
>
> >> Hi,
>
> >> Because we are about to launch our app very soon, I increased the number
> >> of idle instances from 1 to 5 yesterday and things looked correct in the
> >> Dashboard.
>
> >> Then this morning, in the Dashboard I see 2 idle instances and this:
>

> >> The spikes correspond to cron tasks running hourly I assume.
>
> >> Anyway, it looks like either the graph is wrong or the setting doesn't
> >> work, or the definition of what the setting does is wrong, because clearly
> >> it not stable at 5.
>
> >> I just activated Always On to work around the issue, so now it's back to
> >> 3+1.
>
> >> -Pol
>
> >> ________________________________
> >> Pol-Online

> >> i...@pol-online.net

>
> >>  --
> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> >> "Google App Engine" group.
> >> To post to this group, send email to google-a...@googlegroups.com.
> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> >> google-appengi...@googlegroups.com.
> >> For more options, visit this group at
> >>http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en.
>
>
>

>  PastedGraphic-11.png
> 37KViewDownload

[Daniel Florey]

Where did you find the min idle instances setting?

[Jon McAlister]

You are conflating min-idle-instances and max-idle-instances, which
are different concepts. My statement was only with respect to
min-idle-instances, and is still correct. min-idle-instances was
removed on 2011/08/31-19:49:59 (by you disabling Always-On) and then
set to 3 on 2011/09/11-09:47:38 (by you re-enabling Always-On).

Your previously posted graph covered the time period before this last
change, which is why it shows 0 instances at times. Your instance
graph now (or otherwise after your latest change) looks correct, with
the number of instances hovering between 3 and 6.

[Pol]

I typed too fast, I meant *max* idle instances in the Dashboard. Sorry
about the confusion.

That said, the description of the slider is not very clear: it's
called "max" which is correct from a billing perspective, but from a
functionality perspective, it really looks like you're setting the
"default" almost "min" number of idle instances, especially
considering that "Always On" disappears in the new system, right?