MageStack Queue

MageStack Queue is a supporting module to provide queuing functionality on busy websites - where you want to control the volume of visitors on the website; either to prevent excessive load or to create the atmosphere of demand.

This module can be used with Magento (1 or 2), WordPress, Laravel or any other PHP application you want to add a queuing mechanism to.

Installation

Via composer

Add the following repository to your composer.json configuration file,

"repositories": [
    {
        "type": "vcs",
        "url": "https://github.com/sonassi/magestack-queue.git"
    }
]

Then update composer and install the module,

composer update
composer require magestack/queue

In your application's bootstrap file, add the include at the very top of the file after the opening <?php

require __DIR__.'/../vendor/magestack/queue/queue.php';

Finally, create the queue database,

cd vendor/magestack/queue
php queue.php --install

Standalone

The module should be downloaded to a non-publically accessible directory (eg. one level below the document root) - or, if placed in the document root in a custom directory, it must be secured.

Download and extract the module outside of the document root,

cd /microcloud/domains/example/domains/example.com
wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/sonassi/magestack-queue/archive/master.zip -O magestack-queue.zip
unzip magestack-queue.zip
mv magestack-queue-master ___queue
rm magestack-queue.zip

In your application's bootstrap file, add the (relative) include at the very top of the file after the opening <?php

require __DIR__.'/../___queue/queue.php';

Finally, create the queue database,

cd ___queue
php queue.php --install

Cron

The scheduled cron is mandatory to ensuring the metrics for the queue are updated and users are granted access. Without the cron, the queue will not function!

The cron method needs to specify the full path to your installation directory, please adjust as necessary to suit your installation method,

Composer

* * * * * /usr/bin/php /microcloud/domains/example/domains/example.com/http/vendor/magestack/queue/queue.php --cron

Standalone

* * * * * /usr/bin/php /microcloud/domains/example/domains/example.com/___queue/queue.php --cron

Configuration

There are files you should customise to configure the module,

• config.php: This contains all configuration variables for the module
• src/view/queue-landing.phtml: This contains the template shown when a user is in the queue

Variables

Database Driver

sqlite|mysql

The module comes with support for SQLite (for smaller/low-volume deployments) and full MySQL support. For standalone servers looking to implement a queue, or for testing purposes, the built in SQLite database is more than adequate, however for large scale promotions a dedicated MySQL database should be created.

You can create a database by following this guide and update the configuration accordingly.

Whitelist

regex (array of strings)

This setting supports the automatic whitelisting by IP or by URI - so that you can permanently grant access to specific requests from certain IPs or to certain destination URIs. Examples of this may be administrator users that should never be placed in the queue, or callbacks from payment gateways.

Regular expressions are supported for pattern matching both fields

Enabled

true|false (boolean)

As the name would imply, this setting toggles the module on or off based on the value.

Threshold

-1 to ~

This value defines the maximum number of active users on the store.

Eg. If set to 100, then only 100 active users will be allowed to browse the site, all other users will be put into the queue.

If set to -1, then the queue will be enabled for all users (this is ideal for testing purposes).

Timer

0 to ~ (seconds)

When users successfully exit the queue and are allowed access to the site, the value set in the timer dictates how long they are allowed to remain "idle" on the site.

Eg. If the timer is set to 600 seconds and the user accesses the site but does not click a link for more than 600 seconds (from their last link click), they will be ejected from the store and put back into the queue. If the user however were actively clicking, they will remain on the site indefinitely occupying a queue slot.

GA Code

Enter your Google Analytics tracking code to be able to report users in the queue to Google.

Template

The queue-landing.phtml file is what is shown to the user when they are actively queuing. This file can be customised as you wish, but we recommend not using any internally linked assets (ie. only load assets from a remote server/URL/CDN).

No PHP is supported in this file - although JavaScript is (provided your library is externally hosted).

Simulating queue

You can fill the queue with artificial queuing customers like so,

php queue.php --flush
php queue.php --simulate 100  # Where 100 is the number of users to put in the queue

Then observe the queue status,

php queue.php --status

Appendix

Command line arguments / Usage

Usage:  php -f queue.php -- [options]

    --install          Create SQL Lite database for tracking queue entries
    --cron             Update the queue metrics
    --flush            Delete entire queue (both users in and out of the queue)
    --status           Show queue statistics
    --simulate [0-9]+  Insert defined number of users into the queue

Common bootstraps

• Magento 1: /index.php Installation: Standalone

  require realpath(__DIR__) . '/../___queue/queue.php';
  

• Magento 2: /pub/index.php Installation: Composer

  require realpath(__DIR__) . '/../vendor/magestack/queue/queue.php';
  

• Laravel: /public/index.php Installation: Composer

  require realpath(__DIR__) . '/../vendor/magestack/queue/queue.php';
  

• WordPress: /index.php Installation: Standalone

  require realpath(__DIR__) . '/../___queue/queue.php';
  

Securing the module

MageStack will automatically protect the default directory name (magestack-queue) - but if you have renamed it, ensure you add the following to your domain's ___general/example.com.conf file.

location ~* ^/my-queue-dir {
    deny all;
}