Configurable product variations missing on frontend

[ifekaj]

Preconditions

1. Magento 2.2.3 in development mode
2. PHP 7.0.29
3. Centos 7.4

Steps to reproduce

1. Create new configurable product with two attributes: color and size
2. Add ten different product variations, one color and ten different sizes. For example: Color - Black; Sizes - 25, 26, 27... 34
3. Add stock for each variation
4. Save product

Expected result

1. All product variations show on frontend

Actual result

1. Some product variations (sizes in this case) are not showing on frontend.

Cron is setup correctly. I checked logs in cron_schedule and all cron jobs have status success or pending. Index also seems to be in order.
Only way to make all variations appear is if I manually run php bin/magento indexer:reindex

[ghost]

HI @ifekaj thi is duplicate for -> #15984

[ghost]

@ifekaj we are closing this issue due to inactivity. If you'd like to update it, please reopen the issue.

[ifekaj]

What kind of update do you require?

[adamlavery]

Please reopen this and resolve it. This is not the same as issue #15984 or has not been resolved by the fix to that issue. Same is happening in 2.4.3-p1. We add new variations but they don't appear on the frontend until a manual re-index is done, no matter how long we wait.

Store admins should not have to run a manual re-index just to get the correct product configurations to appear; this process should/must be automatic. There is clearly a bug/deficiency in the code that is not invalidating the relevant index when product variations are added. Indexes/caches are there to make Magento perform adequately and should not be interfering with normal shop management.

P.S. There's no need to create a new issue as someone will no doubt try to close it by calling it a duplicate and referring to something else. This ticket describes the issue clearly and needs proper investigation.

[adamlavery]

To note, this issue can be worked around by setting indexers to update on save rather than update by schedule.

Question: why does Magento show indexes set to update on save in red? That indicates this is not good - why is it not good? What's wrong with store owners wanting to see updates they make immediately rather than having to wait for the system to catch up and update the front end? Which in this case never happens.

To my mind update on save is a perfectly valid way to operate a store so why is it flagged with an error state?

[nicolasbachmaier]

This issue has yet to be resolved - happened on Adobe Commerce 2.4.4-p2 and differs from the above mentioned ticket.

this issue needs to be reopened and investigated