Bright and API Status Update (29 March 2022)

edited March 2022 in General

Apologies for the known performance issues which the team are working hard to resolve.

There was an increased load on our API calls and we are adding capacity to deal with it. The load was generated by aggressive API calling from code that has been distributed via the open source community. We are engaging with those users to help them write more efficient calls to the API.

Clive will provide more details once normal service has resumed.

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Comments

  • Thanks for the confirm Jane! :-)

  • Sorry for taking a while to give it - delicate balancing act between the team identifying the root cause and then being able to get to work on a fix, and me pestering them for language to send you all an update :)

  • Thanks for the update Jane. Now everyone should leave you guys in peace to resolve the issue

  • As others have said, thanks for the update.

  • Afternoon! Thank you for this 😄

    I take it this has knocked out MQTT too? 👀

  • Hi all,

    Performance has returned to normal; people with our CAD will see that the data catch up may take a little while yet.

    Thank you all for your support which we appreciate.

    Jane

  • Excellent! Thank you Jane, Clive, and the rest of the team for your quick response.

  • Hi! Can confirm that MQTT (with a CAD) has been back since 14:22 😄

    Thanks all 👍

  • I've got MQTT data coming through in dribs and drabs currently, is performance still slightly degraded?

  • Many thanks Jane & Team.

  • Seems to be back to normal service for me on MQTT now, many thanks for sorting so quickly.

  • Working fine here for the last 3 hours at least.

    Well done! And thanks for keeping us up to date.

  • You are all very welcome. Now the clever people are working out what we do to ensure that those who write aggressive API calls in future are better 'managed' - in the nicest possible way, of course! ;)

    Clive says the queues are back down to normal now - and I think caught up so if you are still having issues, please leave it until the morning to confirm and then drop a note to support. Many thanks everyone.

  • Crikey, could you make it sound any more “take ‘em out the back with a cricket bat”? 🤣

  • It's fairly simple I would have thought - anyone who exceeds a 'fair usage' limit gets their account disabled or severely rate limited?

    Or the cricket bat ...

  • Or just use MQTT for those who want more regular data?

  • This is simply a manifestation of the design flaw that has been obvious all along. Most users consume the real time data on the same LAN to which the CAD is connected so why is it necessary for that trip to involve a server miles away that is subject to loading by other users?

    I understand the business model of providing a service in exchange for access to my data but I don’t want a “service”. All I want is a product that can translate data from the HAN to the LAN. One off price, all equipment based in my house, as long as it works, no need for the supplier to be involved. 

    I’d be happy to share data as well as being able to access it locally but if I am going to be blackmailed into using a remote server, at least make it reliable. 

  • I imagine this issue was the reason why the app was claiming that my Glowstick "had no internet" - even though all 3 lights on it were green.

    It wasn't working Monday evening or Tuesday when I left home but seemed to recover during the day as mobile version of app is now seeing data. Similarly, my Python script to get HH meter readings via MQTT also failed but now works again.

    Surely reporting "has no internet" is an error within the app ? It's certainly very confusing !


    Not really related but could someone remind me of the url to use to get a Bright display on a PC. I have it at home but don't seem to have added it to my laptop.

  • Good morning all,

    Thanks for the feedback - as always, much appreciated.

    @KS_Eric - Good point about the error messages and we do always try and improve them - we are putting out a new release of Bright in the next few weeks and will review the triggers and related messaging.

    Here is the web version of the Bright App - https://bright.glowmarkt.com - not beautiful but definitely functional.

    A customer also said " I have discovered that by running a programme called ‘BlueStacks’ your app (and indeed many others) can be run on a PC."

    @barneyd - I'm not sure it is a 'business model' when we don't charge a fee for the data access. People using Bright on a half hourly data only and our APIs are getting it all for free.

    I'll ask Clive to post a summary of what the performance issue was triggered by when he gets a chance.

    And finally, thank you @andyvee - always good to start the day with a laugh! 🤣

  • @barneyd I'm not sure that 'most' users are harvesting and processing real time MQTT data themselves TBH. I would have thought the majority of the users of Bright do not own a Glow/stick and are using the half hour delayed data from the DNO in the Bright App. If they want to retrieve that data for processing then maybe they should be limited on requests anyway as they haven't purchased the necessary hardware for anything else.

    I originally purchased a Glow so I had the slightest clue what Agile was costing in real time, and could see in the Bright App those historic costs as well. The world has moved on since then though ...

    But yes, for those that do just want raw data and no interaction with the Bright App or API then a local MQTT device is a better solution. But I suspect that is a minority of Bright users TBH, not most.

  • Thanks Jane,

    I don't often rely on the laptop buy away from home this week and just realised that I hadn't added Bright to my list of regularly used urls.


    &BTW "a customer" who recommended Bluestacks was me - but that's not on my laptop either,

  • Hahahaha - you can see how rubbish my memory is - although I let myself off as there are thousands of you using our services :)

    Hopefully you can at least feel impressed that we do listen to you all, and share your recommendations. Happy travels.

  • Anyone else been having issues again since 16.21 today? Lost MQTT data and my CAD has supposedly dropped off the network (which it hasn't)

  • Aaaand it's back. Would be good to know if it was just me or not?

  • Yep, I had the same issue but only for about 25mins started at approx 15:31 BST, then sorted itself out...

  • edited April 2022

    OK, thanks good to know it wasn't something local my end! It just so happened to coincide with updating Home Assistant to 2022.4.0 and I thought I might have broke something ;)

  • lol, been there, done that !! 😂

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