docs/manual/mod/prefork.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="../style/manual.xsl"?>
<modulesynopsis>
<name>prefork</name>
<description>Implements a non-threaded, pre-forking web server</description>
<status>MPM</status>
<sourcefile>prefork.c</sourcefile>
<identifier>mpm_prefork_module</identifier>

<summary>
    <p>This Multi-Processing Module (MPM) implements a
    non-threaded, pre-forking web server which handles request in a
    manner very similar to the default behavior of Apache 1.3 on
    Unix.</p>

    <p>A single control process is responsible for launching child
    processes which listen for connections and serve them when they
    arrive. Apache always tries to maintain several <em>spare</em>
    or idle server processes, which stand ready to serve incoming
    requests. In this way, clients do not need to wait for a new
    child processes to be forked before their requests can be
    served.</p>

    <p>The <directive module="mpm_common">StartServers</directive>,
    <directive module="prefork">MinSpareServers</directive>,
    <directive module="prefork">MaxSpareServers</directive>, and
    <directive module="mpm_common">MaxClients</directive> regulate how
    the parent process creates children to serve requests. In general,
    Apache is very self-regulating, so most sites do not need to
    adjust these directives from their default values. Sites which
    need to serve more than 256 simultaneous requests may need to
    increase <directive module="mpm_common">MaxClients</directive>,
    while sites with limited memory may need to decrease <directive
    module="mpm_common">MaxClients</directive> to keep the server from
    thrashing (swapping memory to disk and back). More information
    about tuning process creation is provided in the <a
    href="../misc/perf-tuning.html">performance hints</a>
    documentation.</p>

    <p>While the parent process is usually started as root under Unix
    in order to bind to port 80, the child processes are launched by
    Apache as a less-privileged user. The <directive
    module="mpm_common">User</directive> and <directive
    module="mpm_common">Group</directive> directives are used to set
    the privileges of the Apache child processes. The child processes
    must be able to read all the content that will be served, but
    should have as few privileges beyond that as possible. In
    addition, unless <a href="../suexec.html">suexec</a> is used,
    these directives also set the privileges which will be inherited
    by CGI scripts.</p>

    <p><directive module="mpm_common">MaxRequestsPerChild</directive>
    controls how frequently the server recycles processes by killing
    old ones and launching new ones.</p>
</summary>
<seealso><a href="../bind.html">Setting which addresses and
    ports Apache uses</a></seealso>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>CoreDumpDirectory</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>PidFile</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>Listen</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>ListenBacklog</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>LockFile</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>MaxRequestsPerChild</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>MaxSpareServers</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>MinSpareServers</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>ScoreBoardFile</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>SendBufferSize</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>ServerLimit</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>StartServers</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis location="mpm_common">
<name>User</name>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>AcceptMutex</name>
<description>Method that Apache uses to serialize multiple children
accepting requests on network sockets</description>
<syntax>AcceptMutex default|<em>method</em></syntax>
<default>AcceptMutex default</default>
<contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>

<usage>
    <p>The <directive>AcceptMutex</directive> directives sets the
    method that Apache uses to serialize multiple children accepting
    requests on network sockets. Prior to Apache 2.0, the method was
    selectable only at compile time. The optimal method to use is
    highly architecture and platform dependent. For further details,
    see the <a href="../misc/perf-tuning.html">performance tuning</a>
    documentation.</p>

    <p>If this directive is set to <code>default</code>, then the
    compile-time selected default will be used. Other possible
    methods are listed below. Note that not all methods are
    available on all platforms. If a method is specified which is
    not available, a message will be written to the error log
    listing the available methods.</p>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>flock</code></dt>

      <dd>uses the <code>flock(2)</code> system call to lock the
      file defined by the <directive module="mpm_common"
      >LockFile</directive> directive.</dd>

      <dt><code>fcntl</code></dt>

      <dd>uses the <code>fnctl(2)</code> system call to lock the
      file defined by the <directive module="mpm_common"
      >LockFile</directive> directive.</dd>

      <dt><code>sysvsem</code></dt>

      <dd>uses SySV-style semaphores to implement the mutex.</dd>

      <dt><code>pthread</code></dt>

      <dd>uses POSIX mutexes as implemented by the POSIX Threads
      (PThreads) specification.</dd>
    </dl>
</usage>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>MaxSpareServers</name>
<description>Maximum number of idle child server processes</description>
<syntax>MaxSpareServers <em>number</em><br /></syntax>
<default>MaxSpareServers 10</default>
<contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>

<usage>
    <p>The <directive>MaxSpareServers</directive> directive sets the
    desired maximum number of <em>idle</em> child server processes. An
    idle process is one which is not handling a request. If there are
    more than MaxSpareServers idle, then the parent process will kill
    off the excess processes.</p>

    <p>Tuning of this parameter should only be necessary on very
    busy sites. Setting this parameter to a large number is almost
    always a bad idea.</p>
</usage>
<seealso><directive module="prefork">MinSpareServers</directive></seealso>
<seealso><directive module="mpm_common">StartServers</directive></seealso>
</directivesynopsis>

<directivesynopsis>
<name>MinSpareServers</name>
<description>Minimum number of idle child server processes</description>
<syntax>MinSpareServers <em>number</em></syntax>
<default>MinSpareServers  5</default>
<contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>

<usage>
    <p>The <directive>MinSpareServers</directive> directive sets the
    desired minimum number of <em>idle</em> child server processes. An
    idle process is one which is not handling a request. If there are
    fewer than MinSpareServers idle, then the parent process creates
    new children at a maximum rate of 1 per second.</p>

    <p>Tuning of this parameter should only be necessary on very
    busy sites. Setting this parameter to a large number is almost
    always a bad idea.</p>

    <p>This directive has no effect on Microsoft Windows.</p>
</usage>
<seealso><directive module="prefork">MaxSpareServers</directive></seealso>
<seealso><directive module="mpm_common">StartServers</directive></seealso>
</directivesynopsis>

</modulesynopsis>