[mythtv-users] Web interface scalability issue: Video Gallery

[Paul Harrison]

On 11/09/2023 01:48, Peter Bennett wrote:

>
> On 9/10/23 09:59, Paul Harrison wrote:
>> I wonder how many users have actually used it though? 
>
> James Abernathy tested everything, including doing multiple setups 
> from scratch using the web app setup.
>
> Klaas DeWaal, Bill Meek, Ken Mandelbaum, David Engel, gave feedback 
> after testing it. Some feedback was that it does not look pretty, but 
> no slowness complaints that have not been fixed.
>
>

OK so just me then :(


> I have done nothing for security in the web app. I rely on the ip 
> address checks that I put in a couple of years ago. Unless the user 
> specifically allows connection form all ip addresses, only connections 
> for the local subnet are permitted.
>

Yeah you definitely don't want to expose the API or WebApp to the 
internet in it's current state. The initial aim was the WebApp would be 
secure out of the box although admittedly we never came up with a plan 
to do it. You can password protect some or all of the API but unless you 
added it there is no support in the WebApp to use it that way.


The other thing we would have liked to add was to follow up on Stuart 
M's user support and to be able to restrict parts of the webApp to 
certain users. For example admin users could use the setup stuff but 
other users can't. Or the kids can only see video's or recordings 
appropriate for their age that sort of thing.


> Slave backend setup is supported. If you start the web app on a slave 
> backend, or a system that looks like it should be a slave, it displays 
> at the top of the page:
>
> This appears to be a slave backend. If it is intended as a slave 
> backend, please disable scheduling on the master backend while running 
> slave backend setup.
> If this is not intended as a slave backend, please go to Setup, 
> General, Host Address Backend Setup, and select "This server is the 
> Master Backend" or else set the correct custom identifier on the 
> Database Setup page. Save and Restart the backend,
>
> In the case of master backends, the code will not save any setup pages 
> until you disable scheduling. In the case of slave backends, the user 
> must manually make sure that scheduling is disabled on the master.
>
> The dashboard part of the web app is rather limited when running 
> against a slave.
>

Cool. I missed you added support for slave BE's. Is that support built 
in to the API or just the WebApp? I kind of envisioned a drop down in 
the header where you could select the BE you wanted to configure.


>>
>>> I have installed a recent master on my production system, and I use 
>>> the web app perfectly successfully on that, no delays.
>>>
>>> Here are my timimgs for main.js: 10 ms for local machine and 51 ms 
>>> for remote over wifi. Nowhere near 10 seconds.
>>>
>>> https://imgur.com/a/3I9iUFN
>>>
>>
>> Aren't you the lucky one :)
>>
> It is hard work, not luck. I have spent over a year working on this 
> and some of the time was spent on improving performance whe I found 
> something was slow.
>>

Oh I'm not ungrateful you took on the task. I appreciate the time and 
effort you have put in to this because I know how much work is involved.


>>
>>> Peter
>>>
>>>

>> I just did some testing on the slowest machine I have, a pentium 
>> laptop from 2017. For example it takes 30 seconds on this laptop for 
>> chrome to start after clicking it on the start menu. I am accessing a 
>> backend that is on wifi and the slow machine with the browser is also 
>> on wifi. The slow laptop has only 2.4 GHz wifi, the backend on a fast 
>> laptop has 5 GHz wifi, so the signal is getting translated in the 
>> router.
>
> Channel editor (843 items) : 7 seconds to open
> Program Guide (843 channels): 6 seconds to open
> Videos (7531 videos) : 3 seconds to open
> Upcoming (701 shows): 1 second
>
> Is your database remote from your backend? Tests of running queries 
> against my slave backend are rather slower (because of the remote 
> database), with API response of 6.2 seconds for the call to get the 
> video list, for example
>

My MySql server runs in it's own VM because it is shared by several VM's 
in my ESXI server, it just makes maintenance easier if there is just one 
MySql server running that is shared.  I haven't observed any problems 
with the other users of the database server. Most of the queries are 
from VM to VM so never leave the virtual environment so everything is 
really quick from what I've seen.


> If my database is on a system connected to the backend via wifi, then 
> I get some horrible response times. Wifi is asymmetric. They advertise 
> speeds of a Gigabit per second, but that is download speed. Upload 
> speed is a fraction of that, and having the database on a wifi 
> connected laptop kills the speed.
>

I have a really good UniFi smart switch and everything is hard wired 
using Gigabit connections where appropriate.


> Peter
>
>

Paul H.