Scalelite: Limit Participants Per Tenant - A Feature Request

In the world of online collaboration, managing resources efficiently is key. For platforms like Scalelite, which orchestrates BigBlueButton (BBB) instances, controlling the number of participants per tenant is a significant challenge. This article dives deep into a proposed solution to this problem, exploring the current limitations, the suggested feature, and the alternatives considered.

The Problem: Managing User Limits in Scalelite

Currently, Scalelite lacks a straightforward mechanism to limit the total number of concurrent users per tenant. The existing maxParticipants parameter in BigBlueButton only restricts the number of users within a single meeting. This means that a tenant could potentially host numerous meetings, each with its own maxParticipants limit, effectively bypassing any overall tenant-level restriction. The core problem is the need for a holistic solution that ensures a tenant doesn't exceed its allocated user capacity across all meetings.

Without a proper tenant-level limit, administrators face several challenges:

• Resource Overload: A tenant with many active users can strain the underlying BBB instances, leading to performance degradation for all users.
• Unfair Resource Allocation: One tenant might consume a disproportionate share of the available resources, impacting the experience of other tenants.
• Complex Management: Administrators must rely on workarounds to enforce user limits, which are often cumbersome and inefficient.
• Scalability Concerns: As the platform grows, managing user limits manually becomes increasingly difficult and error-prone.

To address these issues, a more robust solution is needed that provides granular control over user capacity at the tenant level. This would empower administrators to effectively manage resources, ensure fair usage, and maintain optimal performance for all users.

The Proposed Solution: A Tenant-Level User Limit

The proposed solution involves adding a new option to Scalelite that allows administrators to set a maximum number of allowed users per tenant. This feature would operate as a global constraint, ensuring that a tenant cannot exceed its allocated user capacity across all active meetings. The workflow would be as follows:

1. Configuration: Administrators would configure the maximum number of users allowed for each tenant through the Scalelite administration interface or API.
2. User Authentication: When a user attempts to join a meeting, Scalelite would check the current number of active users for the user's tenant.
3. Limit Enforcement:
   • If the tenant has available capacity (i.e., the number of active users is below the configured limit), the user is allowed to join the meeting.
   • If the tenant has reached its maximum capacity, the user is denied access, and a user-friendly message is displayed, such as: "There are currently too many participants. Please consider ending a meeting to make space for more users."

This approach offers several advantages:

• Centralized Control: Administrators have a single point of control for managing user limits, simplifying resource allocation and tenant management.
• Fair Resource Distribution: Ensures that resources are distributed fairly among tenants, preventing any single tenant from monopolizing the system.
• Improved Performance: By limiting the number of concurrent users, the system can maintain optimal performance and stability.
• Enhanced User Experience: Provides a consistent and predictable experience for all users, regardless of which tenant they belong to.

Implementation Considerations:

• Database Schema: The tenant table in the Scalelite database would need to be updated to include a max_users column.
• API Endpoints: New API endpoints would be required to create, update, and retrieve tenant user limits.
• Real-time Monitoring: Scalelite would need to monitor the number of active users per tenant in real-time to enforce the limits effectively.
• User Interface: The administration interface would need to be updated to allow administrators to manage tenant user limits.

Considered Alternatives: Weighing the Options

Before proposing the tenant-level user limit, several alternative solutions were considered. Each alternative has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

1. Watchdog on Scalelite Killing Meetings

This approach involves creating an external watchdog process that monitors the number of active users per tenant. When a tenant exceeds its allocated limit, the watchdog would automatically terminate meetings to reduce the number of users. While this approach can enforce user limits, it has several drawbacks:

• Abrupt Disruptions: Terminating meetings can disrupt ongoing sessions and lead to a negative user experience.
• Complexity: Implementing a reliable watchdog requires significant development effort and ongoing maintenance.
• Race Conditions: There is a potential for race conditions if multiple watchdogs are running simultaneously or if the watchdog interferes with other Scalelite processes.

2. Using BBB's maxParticipants Parameter

As mentioned earlier, the maxParticipants parameter in BigBlueButton only limits the number of users within a single meeting. This approach does not provide a tenant-level limit, as a tenant can simply create multiple meetings to bypass the restriction. While maxParticipants can be useful for managing individual meetings, it is not a viable solution for enforcing overall tenant limits.

Comparison Table:

Conclusion: The Path Forward

The proposed tenant-level user limit offers a more effective and user-friendly solution for managing resources in Scalelite. By providing a centralized mechanism for controlling user capacity, administrators can ensure fair resource distribution, maintain optimal performance, and enhance the overall user experience. While the implementation requires some development effort, the benefits outweigh the costs compared to the alternatives. This feature would be a valuable addition to Scalelite, empowering administrators to manage their platforms more efficiently and effectively.

For further reading on BigBlueButton and Scalelite, you can explore the official *BigBlueButton Documentation * for comprehensive information and guides.