Tickets , Tips and Tricks

[Pinhead]

Dame Hilda Bracket or whaever their name was? Anyways its a real point - NatWest have embraced the 2factor auth entirely.

[oneeye]

24 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

I am ?

I mentioned Ali Bongo at work today and that was met by stony silence....

 

22 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

might be the sheltered life I lead ... im 43 .. so maybe should have  

Ali Bongo.... now there is a throwback. Caveat, I turn 55 next week ?

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, oneeye said:

 

Ali Bongo.... now there is a throwback. Caveat, I turn 55 next week ?

happy birthday ... hope you can have a great birthday present on the thurs/sunday 

[august1]

MIssed out in 14 and 16, fallow in 12 and 18, not confident on even numbered years

[oneeye]

9 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

happy birthday ... hope you can have a great birthday present on the thurs/sunday 

Thanks cf1, birthday is Thurs though not trying for coach tkts, eggs in one basket for Sunday sale ?can't face the thought of missing out 2 years on the bounce... it's going to be emotional either way ?

[hfuhruhurr]

OK,  loop of death....

Let's imagine you're banging on a door that will never be answered. This can happen on both stages - the hold page (close browser/use a different one);  on the payment page (payment server dies, you're tied to it,  no number of back/retries will work) only solution is to start again.

Been there had this. Solution is to keep trying even if you get through, have that refresh going in another connection, work in pairs. Never give up, you will succeed.

[DareToDibble]

I have serious concerns about this rule where your registration will be locked for 10 minutes.

Say you’re lucky enough to see that glorious payment page. Put your details in and the page dies... going back/refreshing doesn’t work.

If you are lucky enough to get through again you won’t be able to get them anyway as your registration will be locked? Horrible to think about.

[Sasperella]

21 minutes ago, DareToDibble said:

I have serious concerns about this rule where your registration will be locked for 10 minutes.

Say you’re lucky enough to see that glorious payment page. Put your details in and the page dies... going back/refreshing doesn’t work.

If you are lucky enough to get through again you won’t be able to get them anyway as your registration will be locked? Horrible to think about.

It will do that even if the page dies???? OMG!

[DareToDibble]

3 minutes ago, Sasperella said:

It will do that even if the page dies???? OMG!

Well I don’t know but didn’t it say something like if there is a failed attempt it’ll block your registration for 10 minutes? 

Edited September 28, 2019 by DareToDibble

[Charm]

1 hour ago, DareToDibble said:

I have serious concerns about this rule where your registration will be locked for 10 minutes.

Say you’re lucky enough to see that glorious payment page. Put your details in and the page dies... going back/refreshing doesn’t work.

If you are lucky enough to get through again you won’t be able to get them anyway as your registration will be locked? Horrible to think about.

I’m worried about this too, fortunately I have another registration number to use in case of problems.

Charm x 

[parsonjack]

Just done a bit of testing on F5 rates....2 laptops, both connected to home wifi....both with Chrome Auto-Refresh installed.

First laptop set to auto-refresh every 1 second.  Runs for 5 minutes with no holding page seen.  Auto-refresh then stopped.

Second laptop set to auto-refresh every 1 second.  Runs for 5 minutes again with no holding page seen.

First laptop auto-refresh restarted to 1/second.....both laptops now running at 1/second or 2/second combined.  Runs for 5 minutes with no holding page seen.

Then....add Android tablet to the mix running Chrome.  Manual refresh approx 1/second....no holding page seen.

So far so good.....3 devices on same wifi with same public IP hitting See approx 3 times/second and well over the 1/second limit and no holding page seen.  Suggests that hit limit is not therefore per IP.

But.....continuing to F5 the tablet faster then throws me a holding page....which would be expected as I've now exceeded the rate on that device alone.  However..as that happens 1 of the laptops also simultaneously gets a holding page.  Leave manual refresh for a few seconds.....both holding pages disappear....manually F5 the tablet quickly again and after 30 or so seconds another holding page....this time on tablet and other laptop...first laptop unaffected.  Refresh on tablet stopped and both laptops now auto-refreshing 1/second for last 15 minutes with no holding pages.

So....what this tells us is that the hit rate is almost certainly per IP (the simultaneous holding page on laptop when F5-ing the tablet pretty much proves this....).  But....I also now think there is another factor in play that we have forgotten about..the load-balancers at Seetickets.  What I think is that the hit limit is per IP but also per Load Balancer.  When you make a page request you are directed to one of several load balancers (I think possibly 4) and if there are no sessions available you get the holding page.  Your hit is also counted against your IP on that balancer.  If you then F5 you won't necessarily get directed to the same load-balancer so your hit is counted on whichever balancer you get to.  F5 again and you may or may not get a different balancer again and so on.  Only once you have hit See at such a rate that you exceed 1/second on any single load balancer will you get the holding page.

Setting it up this way therefore minimises, but doesn't eliminate, the impact to multiple devices all using same IP as the randomisation reduces the probability of any single load balancer reaching the limit.  Large communities using same wifi are likely therefore at a disadvantage.

In theory therefore you could have several devices all refreshing 1/second and have no issue....but the more devices you have on same IP the higher the probability.

My advice...if you're going to have multiple devices set them up so they all use different connections....4G, wifi etc.

[Little Andy]

Nightmare! My ticket group ended up with 7 people (the dreaded number). Everyone knew everyone except me, so I've bitten the bullet and been the 1 to pull out. Is there anyone out there in a group with space for 1 more? I'll be all hands on deck for the sale, and have never missed out on tickets on all 5 attempts (either me or a friend getting through!)

[ceetee]

27 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

Just done a bit of testing on F5 rates....2 laptops, both connected to home wifi....both with Chrome Auto-Refresh installed.

First laptop set to auto-refresh every 1 second.  Runs for 5 minutes with no holding page seen.  Auto-refresh then stopped.

Second laptop set to auto-refresh every 1 second.  Runs for 5 minutes again with no holding page seen.

First laptop auto-refresh restarted to 1/second.....both laptops now running at 1/second or 2/second combined.  Runs for 5 minutes with no holding page seen.

Then....add Android tablet to the mix running Chrome.  Manual refresh approx 1/second....no holding page seen.

So far so good.....3 devices on same wifi with same public IP hitting See approx 3 times/second and well over the 1/second limit and no holding page seen.  Suggests that hit limit is not therefore per IP.

But.....continuing to F5 the tablet faster then throws me a holding page....which would be expected as I've now exceeded the rate on that device alone.  However..as that happens 1 of the laptops also simultaneously gets a holding page.  Leave manual refresh for a few seconds.....both holding pages disappear....manually F5 the tablet quickly again and after 30 or so seconds another holding page....this time on tablet and other laptop...first laptop unaffected.  Refresh on tablet stopped and both laptops now auto-refreshing 1/second for last 15 minutes with no holding pages.

So....what this tells us is that the hit rate is almost certainly per IP (the simultaneous holding page on laptop when F5-ing the tablet pretty much proves this....).  But....I also now think there is another factor in play that we have forgotten about..the load-balancers at Seetickets.  What I think is that the hit limit is per IP but also per Load Balancer.  When you make a page request you are directed to one of several load balancers (I think possibly 4) and if there are no sessions available you get the holding page.  Your hit is also counted against your IP on that balancer.  If you then F5 you won't necessarily get directed to the same load-balancer so your hit is counted on whichever balancer you get to.  F5 again and you may or may not get a different balancer again and so on.  Only once you have hit See at such a rate that you exceed 1/second on any single load balancer will you get the holding page.

Setting it up this way therefore minimises, but doesn't eliminate, the impact to multiple devices all using same IP as the randomisation reduces the probability of any single load balancer reaching the limit.  Large communities using same wifi are likely therefore at a disadvantage.

In theory therefore you could have several devices all refreshing 1/second and have no issue....but the more devices you have on same IP the higher the probability.

My advice...if you're going to have multiple devices set them up so they all use different connections....4G, wifi etc.

Good work. Did you check the cookies to confirm the  devices seeing the simultaneous holding pages were assigned the same load balancer?

[parsonjack]

3 minutes ago, ceetee said:

Good work. Did you check the cookies to confirm the  devices seeing the simultaneous holding pages were assigned the same load balancer?

Thanks....I haven't checked cookies...mainly cos I'm not sure how ?

[ceetee]

21 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

Thanks....I haven't checked cookies...mainly cos I'm not sure how ?

In Chrome it's F12, application tab, cookies in the tree view (from memory, not in front of a computer at the moment). I think the cookie is called X-Mapping or something similar.

Edited September 28, 2019 by ceetee

[chatty]

41 minutes ago, Little Andy said:

Nightmare! My ticket group ended up with 7 people (the dreaded number). Everyone knew everyone except me, so I've bitten the bullet and been the 1 to pull out. Is there anyone out there in a group with space for 1 more? I'll be all hands on deck for the sale, and have never missed out on tickets on all 5 attempts (either me or a friend getting through!)

I dunno if this is the change they are talking about but generally once you get tickets you can go in again and get more so the six restriction doesnt work that way. Wewe done it loads of years where our group has got the original six then whoever got them was able to jump back to the front of the queue and order the second lot. 

Edited September 28, 2019 by chatty

[parsonjack]

13 minutes ago, ceetee said:

In Chrome it's F12, application tab, cookies in the tree view (from memory, not in front of a computer at the moment)

Found them.....there are 3 against glastonbury.seetickets.com but the interesting one is the X-Mapping one which is issued by Riverbed Stingray load-balancers.  It is set to expire when browsing session ends....which is why you would need to close the browser to get a different balancer, and why you could get the cookie of death if the balancer it points to goes offline while you are pointed to it. 

[parsonjack]

23 minutes ago, chatty said:

I dunno if this is the change they are talking about but generally once you get tickets you can go in again and get more so the six restriction doesnt work that way. Wewe done it loads of years where our group has got the original six then whoever got them was able to jump back to the front of the queue and order the second lot. 

Pretty sure that little avenue of pleasure has been closed off for the last couple of years now, and once you have made payment the session ends and you're back to fighting for a new one.

[Charm]

1 hour ago, Little Andy said:

Nightmare! My ticket group ended up with 7 people (the dreaded number). Everyone knew everyone except me, so I've bitten the bullet and been the 1 to pull out. Is there anyone out there in a group with space for 1 more? I'll be all hands on deck for the sale, and have never missed out on tickets on all 5 attempts (either me or a friend getting through!)

Not sure how many I’m trying for yet but will happily add you if there’s room, will let you know nearer the time. 

Charm x

[Hutchmaster]

Anyone trying for London coach tickets have a space in their group for Thursday? Group I'm in are only trying for Sunday tickets so would be good to buddy up for coach tickets with another group!

[Little Andy]

1 hour ago, Charm said:

Not sure how many I’m trying for yet but will happily add you if there’s room, will let you know nearer the time. 

Charm x

Thank you Charm, that would be utterly brilliant if there ends up being room!

[Charm]

1 hour ago, Little Andy said:

Thank you Charm, that would be utterly brilliant if there ends up being room!

No problem, there’s definitely 4 of us and the other spaces being filled depend on whether a couple more newbies manage to register, seems pretty unlikely now.

Charm x

[Lycra]

4 hours ago, parsonjack said:

Just done a bit of testing on F5 rates....2 laptops, both connected to home wifi....both with Chrome Auto-Refresh installed.

First laptop set to auto-refresh every 1 second.  Runs for 5 minutes with no holding page seen.  Auto-refresh then stopped.

Second laptop set to auto-refresh every 1 second.  Runs for 5 minutes again with no holding page seen.

First laptop auto-refresh restarted to 1/second.....both laptops now running at 1/second or 2/second combined.  Runs for 5 minutes with no holding page seen.

Then....add Android tablet to the mix running Chrome.  Manual refresh approx 1/second....no holding page seen.

So far so good.....3 devices on same wifi with same public IP hitting See approx 3 times/second and well over the 1/second limit and no holding page seen.  Suggests that hit limit is not therefore per IP.

But.....continuing to F5 the tablet faster then throws me a holding page....which would be expected as I've now exceeded the rate on that device alone.  However..as that happens 1 of the laptops also simultaneously gets a holding page.  Leave manual refresh for a few seconds.....both holding pages disappear....manually F5 the tablet quickly again and after 30 or so seconds another holding page....this time on tablet and other laptop...first laptop unaffected.  Refresh on tablet stopped and both laptops now auto-refreshing 1/second for last 15 minutes with no holding pages.

So....what this tells us is that the hit rate is almost certainly per IP (the simultaneous holding page on laptop when F5-ing the tablet pretty much proves this....).  But....I also now think there is another factor in play that we have forgotten about..the load-balancers at Seetickets.  What I think is that the hit limit is per IP but also per Load Balancer.  When you make a page request you are directed to one of several load balancers (I think possibly 4) and if there are no sessions available you get the holding page.  Your hit is also counted against your IP on that balancer.  If you then F5 you won't necessarily get directed to the same load-balancer so your hit is counted on whichever balancer you get to.  F5 again and you may or may not get a different balancer again and so on.  Only once you have hit See at such a rate that you exceed 1/second on any single load balancer will you get the holding page.

Setting it up this way therefore minimises, but doesn't eliminate, the impact to multiple devices all using same IP as the randomisation reduces the probability of any single load balancer reaching the limit.  Large communities using same wifi are likely therefore at a disadvantage.

In theory therefore you could have several devices all refreshing 1/second and have no issue....but the more devices you have on same IP the higher the probability.

My advice...if you're going to have multiple devices set them up so they all use different connections....4G, wifi etc.

OGreat work parsonjack. Thought which occurred in my head is "What if the load balancers and blockers are not currently activated at See there is no need right now?"  

 

[Sasperella]

4 hours ago, parsonjack said:

Found them.....there are 3 against glastonbury.seetickets.com but the interesting one is the X-Mapping one which is issued by Riverbed Stingray load-balancers.  It is set to expire when browsing session ends....which is why you would need to close the browser to get a different balancer, and why you could get the cookie of death if the balancer it points to goes offline while you are pointed to it. 

Oh...this is interesting. So this only comes into force once you've exceeded the refresh limit within one load balancer? Or it's just one load balancer that you may happen to end up on?

 

[Lycra]

29 minutes ago, Lycra said:

OGreat work parsonjack. Thought which occurred in my head is "What if the load balancers and blockers are not currently activated at See there is no need right now?"  

 

Guess I'm being a bit of a devil's advocate but I can't help thinking that if I was in charge of See's  IT I wouldn't have my defences turned on right now. I'd have them upgraded, tested and ready to deploy later this week at the invading hordes.