MaxClients directive

[gb_dev]

After reading this: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/core.html#maxclients

I have this question:

Is MaxClients the most number of httpd processes you'll see in 'ps -aux' or the max number of websurfer page requests at once it will handle.

[John Carpenter]

Is MaxClients the most number of httpd processes you'll see in 'ps -aux'

Yes. It also means the maximum number of connections that can be opened simultaneously. The word "Clients" is actually incorrect, because one client may open more than one connection (for instance, IE6 opens two connections by default). MaxClients should be renamed to something like MaxSimultaneousConnections.

[gb_dev]

I thought that 1 client (1 pre-forked httpd process) could handle more than 1 simultaneous connection.

or else you would need 5000 simultaneous httpd processes for 5000 simultaneous surfers?

man, this needs to be cleared up :)

[jdMorgan]

MaxClients is the maximum number of active client connections. Only some of those connections will be persistent, but on the other hand, a single client (browser or SE robot) may issue several near-simultaneous requests. From the Apache manual:

MaxClients [httpd.apache.org]:

The MaxClients directive sets the limit on the number of simultaneous requests that can be supported; not more than this number of child server processes will be created. To configure more than 256 clients, you must edit the HARD_SERVER_LIMIT entry in httpd.h and recompile.

Any connection attempts over the MaxClients limit will normally be queued, up to a number based on the ListenBacklog directive. Once a child process is freed at the end of a different request, the connection will then be serviced.

Jim