Inconsistency of http://overpass-api.de/api/status

[zstadler]

It seems like http://overpass-api.de/api/status is sometimes inconsistent with my activity and the servers responses. For example, the server may issue

Error: runtime error: […] Please check /api/status for the quota of your IP address.

while the status page shows

2 slots available now.

in a different tab.

In other occasions, a long query may be running in a separate tab and the status page shows no activity.

[mmd-osm]

overpass-api.de is a DNS alias for two servers lz4.overpass-api.de and z.overpass-api.de. Depending on which of the two servers gets selected by your client in a round robin fashion, your query and the /api/status call might end up on different servers. There isn't much you can do about it, unless you direct your /api/status query to the same server that returned the error mesage.

[zstadler]

From a user perspective, the reference to /api/status in the error message is not very useful. Perhaps the specific server can be spelled-out in the error message:

Error: runtime error: […] Please check https://lz4.overpass-api.de/api/status for the quota of your IP address.

Another possible approach, given the DNS alias, is to have a single user quota management mechanism for all servers.

[mmd-osm]

a single user quota management mechanism for all servers

I think that's not feasible at this time, as both servers do not know anything about each other.

[zstadler]

And what about my simpler proposal?

Perhaps the specific server can be spelled-out in the error message:

Error: runtime error: […] Please check https://lz4.overpass-api.de/api/status for the quota of your IP address.

[drolbr]

Nowadays, the server name is displayed in the /api/status call.