I have successfully uploaded several .gpx tracks today (e.g. 773K, 3775 track points).
But two resist my attempts. The only difference I can spot is they are rather large (1.1M/5339 points, 1.5M/7091 points) and have long file names, the largest being 157 chars.
The error message I get is:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Error 503 backend write error
backend write error
Error 54113
Details: cache-vie6335-VIE 1781276520 2054651461
Varnish cache server
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The server (e.g. “cache-vie6335-VIE” seems to change with every request.
On DE:Upload - OpenStreetMap Wiki I cannot find any limits for .gpx uploads.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks, Marcus
does the problem persist, or have it solved itself?
Thanks for your time and response!
I took it as a nudge to have another go… and the two formerly troublesome big.gpx files succeeded!
In the meantime I had collected another largish track (1.2M) which I could upload as well, but only after shortening the description and the tags.
I’d say: resolved, though I sure would like to know why :-)
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Sorry that you ran into these difficulties. 157 characters doesn’t sound terribly long for a file name. The database does have some short fields, but even tag values can go to 255 characters. How long was the description before you shortened it?
Do I get it right that the original problem was with the length of the file names?
The char count of the file names that worked today are: 111, 156, 106.
Regarding the char count of the description and the tags (they were the same)…
it worked with 183 chars and it didn’t with 210 chars.
Inititially I had german umlauts in the description/tags line and thought that might cause troubles. Replacing them (“ä” → “ae”) made these strings even longer.
Then I started shortening the strings and when I reached 183 it worked.
As the same files (i.e. same content) succeeded, I can see only two reasons why it was failing:
- temporary error at the backend, which has been resolved; or
- something related to the description or tags which you changed on new submission (too long, too many tags, refused characters etc.).
API 0.6 only mentions limit of description of 255 chars (although theoretically 255 bytes might’ve been meant instead).
But there is almost certainly some limit on the tags too (I doubt API supports infinite amount of them of infinite lengths), but it is not spelled out in the docs.
My guess is toward the latter (otherwise almost certainly they’d be more complains if it was out-of-disk-space situation or similar).
Hello, I have the same problem (Error 503 …) since weeks.
Cannot upload new tracks, tried it every few days with different tracks.
Short description and tags used, no special characters.
Different browsers.
Quite big files with > 8 MB.
Is there a limit how many tracks you can upload or on the overall upload size of all your tracks?
Hi, I looked into this a bit (I’m working on the GPS traces backend for OSMF).
This is what I found:
About the description/tags length: I don’t think that was the real cause the site accepts descriptions up to [255 characters](openstreetmap-website/app/models/trace.rb at master · openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website · GitHub), so your original 210 characters is valid. If the length was the problem, you would see a normal error message on the upload page, not a 503 from Varnish.
I think the 503 backend write error is a timeout. The OSM servers wait up to [120 seconds](chef/cookbooks/web/templates/default/apache.frontend.erb at master · openstreetmap/chef · GitHub) for the file to arrive. If the upload takes longer than that, the server drops the connection, and the CDN in front of it (the “Varnish” in your error) shows the 503 error.
My guess is that the problem could be the upload speed, not the file size by itself, the 120 second limit would mean each file needs a minimum upload speed to make it in time. For example, in 1.5 MB file would need at least ~13 Kb/s while in smaller 773 Kb file only ~6.5 Kb/s, maybe that’s why it worked, on a slow or unstable connection (mobile data, busy wifi), the bigger file might simply not arrive in time.
That could also explain why it worked later, maybe your connection was faster at that moment, and the shorter description was just a coincidence.
It might be worth trying from a better connection or compressing the file to .gpx.gz before uploading. the site accepts compress files.
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Hello @Rub21
Thanks for looking into it!
I was attempting these uploads with my usually quite stable and fast home internet connection, which is supposed to give 50Mbit/s down and 10Mbit/s upload.
The connection could be saturated, though, of course.
But the extended period of time and repeated attempts over days speaks against this.
In short I’m afraid the timeout explanation might not hold here.
But I will keep an eye on it, of course, if the problem returns.