Encountered errror when calling CampaignCriterionService: RateExceededError <rateName=RequestsPerMinute

[Caihua Du]

Hi AdWords team,

We encountered several errors around 12/8 2am UTC - 12/8 3am UTC time when calling CampaignCriterionService. It reported that RateExceededError. I checked the existing posts before and seems like the request is associate with my "dev token". However, we don't have many request compared with before, so I am wondering if we changed the limitation some how? Can you please take a look, thanks!

Pasted call stack below for reference:

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: [RateExceededError <rateName=RequestsPerMinute, rateKey=all_qps, rateScope=ACCOUNT, retryAfterSeconds=30>] 

    at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMessage message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall) 

    at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters) 

    at Google.Api.Ads.Common.Lib.AdsSoapClient.MakeApiCall(String methodName, Object[] parameters) 

    --- End of inner exception stack trace --- 

    at Google.Api.Ads.Common.Lib.AdsSoapClient.MakeApiCall(String methodName, Object[] parameters) 

    at Google.Api.Ads.Common.Lib.AdsSoapClient.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters) 

    at Google.Api.Ads.AdWords.v201607.CampaignCriterionService.get(Selector serviceSelector) 

Thanks,

Caihua.

[Caihua Du]

Additional information:

According to the SOAP log, we made around 85 calls during that min: 12/08/2016 09:44:08, and received the rate exceeded exception. Add according to the doc here: https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/guides/rate-limits the rate is fluctuated, not fixed. So can you please help confirm if the 85 calls break the limit? I can share with you the customerid privately if you need it, Thanks!

Caihua.

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Caihua,

Decomposing the error message that you have shared, it looks like the RateLimitExceeded error is with the Account rate scope. As you would have read in the document, this could be because your application is performing an excess number of mutate() operations against a single AdWords account.

As you already mentioned, the rate limits associated with your account can fluctuate and it depends on different variables. I would suggest that you please wait for 30 seconds (as given in the error message) and then retry. The document linked has strategies that you can implement at the code level if you hit this error more often and would like to manage it in a better way. 

Thanks,

Sreelakshmi Sasidharan, AdWords API Team

[Caihua Du]

Thank you Sreelakshmi. Is it possible for you to get back some numbers like which limit we break? 85 per min doesn't sounds like a crazy number, but maybe it's violate the adwords policy. I just want to confirm. I can send you the custmoer id privately if that helps, thanks! 

[Caihua Du]

Oh, btw, we are calling get method (as you can see from the call stack), and it shouldn't be a mutable operation, right?

[Caihua Du]

Hi Sreelakshmi,

Please let me know if you have any update, we want to root cause this issue so that we can fix from our side. Just want to confirm if the 85 calls within a minute can possibly reach the rate exceeded error.  thanks!

Caihua.

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Caihua, 

 

As you have noticed, the limit that is being exceeded in your case is 'RequestsPerMinute'. Given that the limits enforced are based on various factors and could fluctuate, it is hard to comment about the number. But since you are hitting the error, the best way to go would be either combining the requests if that is a possible option for you or implementing a throttling mechanism to handle these errors. Here are the links to the best practices and the batch processing guide.

If you still see issues after implementing our suggestions and with fewer requests, please write back using 'Reply privately to author' option with your customer Id.

Thanks,

Sreelakshmi Sasidharan, AdWords API Team

On Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 1:17:13 PM UTC-5, Caihua Du wrote:

[Caihua Du]

Thank you Sreelakshmi! Yes, we applied the suggestion yesterday by retrying after 1 min or more, but still the same issue happened for some customers. I will share the SOAP request and the customerid with you privately. This is currently affecting your customer and it would be great it can be figured our shortly. Thank you and really appreciate your help!!!

Caihua.