[ic] how many httpd/pid instances is normal

Stephanie Smith interchange-users@icdevgroup.org
Mon Jun 24 21:53:01 2002


> Looking at the number of httpd instances running on my server, I count about
> 21 - is this normal?

Very likely. Simplified, the number of httpd instances currently running
will depend on one of two things:

*the minimum number of idle servers that your web server has been
configured to have running at any given time (default is something like 5,
if I recall correctly)

*the number of requests that your web server is currently handling.

Each request that your web server responds to gets its own PID. So if your
web server is currently configured to always have 5 idle processes
going, and you have 9 simultaneous requests, you're going to see 14 PIDs,
9 busy, and 5 that are waiting for something to do.

If, on the other hand, your web server is only handling one or two
requests, and your minimum number of instances is still set to 5, you're
going to see maybe 6 or 7 PIDs.

Assuming you're using apache http server.....

the documentation explains all the nuances, and directives you can tweak:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/prefork.html#mixspareservers


-- 

	 Stephanie Smith        02-06-24 | 21:36
         26 Moore Avenue   Kitchener, ON N2H 5M3
         519.578.3906     stephanie@thinkers.org