[TriLUG] Re: high volume web server

[Lance A. Brown]

Ryan Leathers wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> Suppose I have a Linux host running some version of apache, getting a
> handful of hits each day.  Then, all of the sudden, my site gets
> featured on CNN or something and gets 90-gazillion hits a minute.
> 
> Apart from instantly discovering that I can't open the site myself any
> more, where would I look at to see that in fact:
> 
> a) I am getting all these hits
> b) My host / apache server is indeed overwhelmed
> c) the problem is probably NOT due to (*wild theory XYZ*)

Wherever apache is putting its logs. :-)  Tools such as analog and
webalizer can help you quickly process your log data and show if you
there has been a traffic spike.

> Once I can point to some definitive evidence on the host that shows it
> can not keep up with demand, what are my options on the host to improve
> things?  Short of adding a load balancer and web farm, are there things
> I could do to the host itself -- increase embryonic pool size for
> example?

Add as much RAM as possible.  Adjust process pool sizes to suit new
amount of RAM.  If you are using dynamic pages, switch the most commonly
viewed pages to static by rendering them, capturing the HTML output and
putting the static version in place.

--[Lance]

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