Improve Error Notification for Insufficient Memory during npm Module Installation

[MarianRaphael]

Epic

#626

Description

As a FlowFuse user,

I want to receive a clear and informative notification when an npm module installation fails due to insufficient memory,

So that I can understand the cause of the failure and take appropriate action to upgrade my instance to medium or higher to prevent future installation issues.

Which customers would this be availble to

Everyone - CE/Starter/Team/Enterprise

Acceptance Criteria

• When an npm module installation fails due to insufficient memory, the system should detect this
• A notification should be generated and sent to the user immediately upon failure detection. This notification should clearly state that the installation failed due to insufficient memory.
• The notification should include a recommendation to upgrade the instance to a medium level or higher for successful installation.
• FlowFuse should log these incidents in the AuditLog

Task List

Preview Give feedback

1. Allow pods to use 128m extra memory for npm driver-k8s#145
   +0
   
2. Log exit code and signal if npm errors nr-launcher#219
   +0
   
3. For long running node installs show a message node-red/node-red#4622
   bug fixed +2

Have you provided an initial effort estimate for this issue?

I have provided an initial effort estimate

[hardillb]

Adding extra memory to k8s deployments that can only be used for npm in FlowFuse/driver-k8s#145

But also needs some better UX in Node-RED -> node-red/node-red#4622

[hardillb]

Need to decide what to do with this one, FlowFuse/driver-k8s#145 is merged and deployed to production.

I need to find some more time on node-red/node-red#4622

[hardillb]

Working on: node-red/node-red#4622

This turned out to not be a timeout in NR, but in the nginx reverse proxy. The default timeout for the proxy is 60 seconds. I don't want to change this as it would present a DOS target.

I have opened a PR for NR to add a notification if the POST is closed before the install is complete, and allow the user to open the event log to see the progress or to just allow the install to continue in the background.

[joepavitt]

@hardillb whats' the status on this, not seen any activity for a couple of weeks in here?

[joepavitt]

Update from @hardillb: PR for NR 4.0 is merged, not sure if released into a beta yet

[joepavitt]

@hardillb can you include a screenshot here to show that:

I want to receive a clear and informative notification when an npm module installation fails due to insufficient memory,

has been satisfied if running a NR4.0 instance please?

[hardillb]

Not 100%

The current state is

• An extra 128mb of memory has been available to the Instance container to run npm, this should strongly mitigate the underlying cause of the failure.
• On FlowFuse the reverse proxy will close the open request that "tracks" the npm install after 2mins no mater what. In this case the Node-RED Editor will now display a message allowing the user to open the log window to continue tracking the install. If they choose not to open the log window (inside Node-RED Editor, not FF) then the only notification of a failure to install will be in the FF Node-RED logs.

[joepavitt]

Okay, so is there any outsanding work to be done on this item, or are we drawing a line under it as is, and moving forward?

[hardillb]

I think we close this for now