[Asterisk-biz] AreskiCC - Scaling experiences

[Herman Webley]

Hi

On Wed, 2005-03-30 at 11:30 +0100, David John Walsh wrote:
> Hello there
> 
> I was wondering if the members of the list would be kind enough to
> post a few sentences regarding their experiences with AreskiCC.  I am
> interested in how well you feel it scales to a larger card base.

It can't offer the best scaling as (but it should be good enough):
	1. it is AGI (AGI is more CPU intensive than dialplan commands)
	2. (I think that) unlike, say res_python, the PHP interpreter is loaded
each time the AGI is called (in the web interface, PHP is probably
loaded as a module of apache so its not so bad, plus you don't use the
web interface much compared to AGI use.)

> I intended to load my test platform up with 20,000 users, to see how
> it would handle.  The following are my observations:
> 
> 1) editing the code so that it produces "reasonable" sized batches
> fails.  I changed it to 10,000 on the first try and got a fatel error,
> as somthing timed out after 30 seconds in the PHP

30 seconds is the default maximum execution time for a script in PHP.
You can change this in php.ini, just search for '30'. (make sure you
edit the right one, you might have one for cgi and another for apache
module)
> 
> 2) I reduced this to 2000, which on the first batch it worked, on the
> second it created 536 cards, the 3rd 289 cards and now generates
> aproximatly 200 cards each time the submit button is created.

I don't know the internals of AreskiCC, but I presume in the process of
creating new card, it checks existing cards to avoid duplication of
PINs. As the number of cards increase, so will the length of this
checking procedure.

> 3) After about 3,500 cards on the system several of the pages do not
> apear (notably - list customers, billing - wheres the money)

Can't make a good comment on this without more info (warnings, what are
on the screens, how AreskiCC works, etc.). Sorry.

> No delays apear on the "IVR" when at these levels.   
> 
> My questions are:
> 
> 1) are the figures above a true limit, or is down to hardware or
> settings in the php.
> 2) does anyone have a testing system that runs to around 20,000 and
> have you experienced these issues
> 3) is there any advice on what spec the hardware needs to be to allow
> it to run at those specs.
> 4) One major issue (for me) is this 30 second time out on generating a
> large number of cards.  Is there a way to generate cards in huge
> numbers, prehaps by not performing it via a web page, or by increasing
> the time out variable.

See above. You can always but back the value to 30 afterward. Its there
as a very useful safeguard against endless loops and the like.
> 
> My interests in this software do not come from a commericial
> requirement.  I work for a national childrens charity, who have
> vollenteers staffing accomodation sites.  We are looking for a cost
> efficent way of allowing those vollenteers to make personal calls in a
> regulated manner.  These calls are provided at no cost to the
> volenteer, but we have to account them and ensure fair useage of the
> budget allocated.

Thats nice of you. I'll try to help out if I can. Just continue posting.
Remember there is also the asterisk-users list, which is really the tech
support list. I am not subscribed to that list, too much traffic!

> Areski seems a great solution, and I'm hoping that some comes back
> with at least hope that it scales!
> 
> Kind regards
> David Walsh
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> 
> 

Best regards,
Herman Webley