Installation guide

Chapter 14. Apache HTTP Server 191
Your server’s default MinSpareServers is 5; your server’s default MaxSpareServers is 20. These
default settings should be appropriate in most situations. You should not increase the MinSpare-
Servers to a large number. Doing so will create a heavy processing load on your server even when
traffic is light.
14.5.10. StartServers
StartServers sets how many server processes are created upon startup. Since your Web server
dynamically kills and creates server processes based on traffic load, you will not need to change this
parameter. Your Web server is set to start eight server processes at startup.
14.5.11. MaxClients
MaxClients sets a limit on the total number of server processes, or simultaneously connected clients,
that can run at one time. You should keep MaxClients at a high number (your server’s default is set
to 150), because no one else will be allowed to connect once that number of simultaneously connected
clients is reached. You can not set MaxClients to higher than 256 without recompiling Apache. The
main reason for having MaxClients is to keep a runaway Web server from crashing your operating
system.
14.5.12. MaxRequestsPerChild
MaxRequestsPerChild sets the total number of requests each child server process serves before
the child dies. The main reason for setting MaxRequestsPerChild is to avoid long-lived process
induced memory leaks. The default MaxRequestsPerChild for your server is 1000.
14.5.13. Listen
The Listen command identifies the ports on which your Web server will accept incoming requests.
Your Web server is set to listen to port 80 for non-secure Web communications and (in the virtual host
tags that define the secure server) to port 443 for secure Web communications.
If you set the Apache HTTP Server to listen to a port under 1024, you must be root to start it. For port
1024 and above, httpd can be started as a regular user.
Listen can also be used to specify particular IP addresses over which the server will accept connec-
tions.
14.5.14. Include
Include allows other configuration files to be included at runtime.
The path to these configuration files can be absolute or relative to the ServerRoot.
Important
In order for the server to use individually packaged modules, such as mod_ssl, mod_perl, and php,
the following directive must be in Section 1: Global Environment of http.conf:
Include conf.d/*.conf