Describe the bug
Under high concurrency conditions, particularly during new Python release events, the /downloads/ endpoint may experience Redis connection pool exhaustion. The application is configured with gunicorn.conf setting workers = 2, which creates a bottleneck when combined with synchronous Redis operations in the downloads view.
This manifests as increased tail latency and potential redis.exceptions.ConnectionError entries in application logs during traffic spikes.
To Reproduce
- Access https://www.python.org/downloads/ during a high-traffic event (e.g., new Python release announcement)
- Monitor response times and Redis connection metrics via application monitoring
- Observe elevated error rates and latency under sustained concurrent requests
Expected behavior
- Connection pooling should gracefully handle burst traffic without exhaustion
- Stale-while-revalidate caching pattern should serve cached download statistics when Redis is under pressure
- Celery tasks triggered from download views should be truly asynchronous, not blocking Redis operations on the main request thread
URL to the issue
https://www.python.org/downloads/
Screenshots
N/A (requires production monitoring access: Datadog dashboards, Sentry error logs, or Redis connection pool metrics)
Browsers
Microsoft Edge
Operating System
Windows
Browser Version
N/A
Relevant log output
# Example of expected log entry during pool exhaustion (needs verification in production):
redis.exceptions.ConnectionError: Connection pool exhausted. Unable to acquire connection within timeout.
# Relevant files for investigation:
# - gunicorn.conf (workers = 2)
# - apps/downloads/views.py
# - config/settings/cache.py
Additional context
Recent PR #2764 added a sitetree cache purge command to the Makefile, indicating the team's awareness of caching best practices. Similar patterns should be applied to high-traffic endpoints like /downloads/. Django cache framework documentation recommends connection pooling for production deployments. The project's dependency modernization efforts (e.g., pygments bump in PR #2977) suggest the team is actively maintaining performance-critical components.
Describe the bug
Under high concurrency conditions, particularly during new Python release events, the /downloads/ endpoint may experience Redis connection pool exhaustion. The application is configured with gunicorn.conf setting workers = 2, which creates a bottleneck when combined with synchronous Redis operations in the downloads view.
This manifests as increased tail latency and potential redis.exceptions.ConnectionError entries in application logs during traffic spikes.
To Reproduce
Expected behavior
URL to the issue
https://www.python.org/downloads/
Screenshots
Browsers
Microsoft Edge
Operating System
Windows
Browser Version
N/A
Relevant log output
Additional context
Recent PR #2764 added a sitetree cache purge command to the Makefile, indicating the team's awareness of caching best practices. Similar patterns should be applied to high-traffic endpoints like /downloads/. Django cache framework documentation recommends connection pooling for production deployments. The project's dependency modernization efforts (e.g., pygments bump in PR #2977) suggest the team is actively maintaining performance-critical components.