Improved Asynchronous Reindexing for Magento 2

The Magento platform has a very complex architecture, and it stores a great amount of information that is generated by the eCommerce shop. This data includes such values as store views, registered users, product catalog and product prices, etc.

The information is stored in many database tables, and Magento optimizes the performance of the store frontend by accumulating data into these tables using indexes. For example, any price change in the store must be reindexed in order to be displayed on the storefront.

Indexing helps Magento to calculate the price of the product only once. Without it, each time Magento has to display the price, it would be required to calculate the price on the fly, which can require a significant amount of time since multiple conditions can determine the final price. These conditions can be cart price rules, discounts, etc. Increased loading time of the product parameters may result in a missed purchase, or abandoned cart.

Our extension doesn't reindex the indexes by its own functionality. Perhaps, it can be better described as a magento reindex shell. It simply checks the index status and verifies that all indexes have been updated on time. If necessary, it schedules new tasks for reindexing via the default Magento reindex functionality. Therefore, our extension can not cause a database lock up issue.

Our extension checks and schedules tasks for reindexing, but reindexing itself is done via default Magento functionality. If after a period of normal work from the Improved Asynchronous Reindexing extension, it ceases to function, check the available free space on the server disk. Low amounts of free space may be a reason why reindexing in your Magento is not working correctly.

Not every reindexing process finishes successfully; sometimes it may encounter an error. Our Improved Asynchronous Reindexing module enhances default Magento indexing capabilities by providing the index management history.

The reindex history panel which is provided by our extension holds records on all reindexing actions that were performed in the store, including the final index status and type of reindexing. Using the history data allows for more than just tracking reindexing errors; this assessment serves as an additional source of information on the performance of the store.

However, the history table provided by the extension does not store the precise information on reindexing errors. It simply displays the summary status of the index update process. From this history table, a store administrator can get information as to whether reindexing has been sucessfully completed, or has failed.

In order to get a detailed information on a reindexing event error, it is necessary to run a manual reindexing with the magento 2 command line reindex. After launching reindexing in this way, the full information on the occurred error will be displayed in the top message box.

Our extension for Magento 2 doesn't override the indexing functionality of Magento 2 store. To do a reindex, it simply triggers default Magento indexing. Our module simply monitors the index status and schedules a reindex based on its changes. The reindex itself is done by default Magento. Therefore, it is not possible to have any kind of effect on the indexing speed in the Magento 2 store by using our extension.

Some indexes may be updated when Magento conducts a full reindex operation. Basic work mode for our extension is a partial reindex. Simply visit the module's page and run a full reindex manually in order to update all indexes. Alternatively, our module allows you to schedule the full reindex.

The main intention of the indexes in Magento is to achieve a high speed of work and great flexibility of a Magento platform for any eShop. In order to achieve great flexibility and to be suitable for almost any eCommerce store, Magento stores data in small database tables. This approach allows you to add any product attributes while keeping database tables filled with data even for stores with a very diversified product catalog.

The approach with small tables allows you to keep data in a neat format, however, it greatly reduces the search speed for the information in these tables. To overcome this problem, Magento creates an index - a big data table, which combines the information from small tables.

Creating a big data table can require a great amount of time and can create a load on a server for stores with a big product catalog. So when some information in the store, like prices, in-stock status, etc. is changed, it is written in small data tables, but the index table is kept intact. Instead, you get a notification that magento 2 reindex is required. Launching reindex rebuilds the big data table.

The default Magento allows you to configure reindexing immediately after the data is changed or according to a schedule. Additionally, it is possible to launch reindex via the command line by using php bin/magento indexer:reindex command from the project root directory. Read more on Commerce DevDocs.

Our Improved Asynchronous Reindexing extension provides a convenient interface in the backend admin panel of a Magento 2 store for managing reindexing. You can run reindex or schedule it with a single click. You can run or schedule a partial, or full reindex. Additionally, our extension provides a history of indexing jobs which can be useful in tracking problems when they occur.