Question

My app already shows:

Front end instance hours:

Frontend Instance Hours     62% 62%     17.35 of 28.00 Instance Hours 

app.yaml:

version: 1
runtime: python27
api_version: 1
threadsafe: true

inbound_services:
- xmpp_message
- xmpp_presence
- xmpp_subscribe
- xmpp_error

libraries:
- name: django
  version: "1.2"

Does using the xmpp service increase the front end instance hours? I need xmpp service to send notifications to gchat client. The app is serving less than 10 requests an hour. How do I optimize my front end instance hours on GAE?

Any useful resources/tutorial?

Answer 1

In most cases, yes, using the XMPP service will use front end instance hours. You can see a view of the number of currently running instances within the admin console. From the Admin Console documentation on dynamic instances (which is most likely what you are using):

Billing begins when the instance starts and ends fifteen minutes after
the instance shuts down. You will be billed only for idle instances up
to the number of maximum idle instances set in the Performance
Settings tab of the Admin Console.

Depending on the architecture of your application (and how frequently it handles requests) you may have one or more instances running for a significant part of the day.

If you need to make your 10 requests evenly distributed throughout each hour, you may want to use discounted reserved instances (as noted on Managing Resources). If you can squeeze the requests into a smaller window, your instance will have a chance to shut down, thus lowering your bill.