What are some good Apache settings to use with wordpress?

2 comments

1. Just to break cycle of “doesn’t belong here”.

   WordPress basically has no specific requirements for web server itself (which doesn’t even have to be Apache), aside from permalinks.

   The message you are getting seems to be performance-related and may or may not be connected to you using WordPress. For starters check if your traffic had recently increased and ask your hosting if they recommend specific Apache configuration for your hardware and traffic.

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2. Depending on your server configuration, you can change the setting for MaxClients in /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf.

   [edit: Since I’ve only been given a line or two about it myself from my server admin, here is a better explanation as to what MaxClient is…

   ServerLimit controls the maximum
   configured value for MaxClients.
   Reducing MaxClients on a webserver
   that is serving dynamic content (e.g.
   WordPress) can make a big difference.
   If you experience a traffic spike on
   your VPS and your MaxClients is set
   too high your server will more than
   likely get stuck in an endless loop of
   swapping pages from physical memory to
   virtual memory, commonly referred to
   as thrashing. The accepted way of
   calculating an appropriate MaxClients
   value is dividing your total available
   system memory by the size per Apache
   process. For example, if you had a
   500MB left for Apache to use and each
   Apache process was using around 10MB
   you would set your MaxClients to
   (512-12) / 10 = 50. To check real time
   memory usage on your VPS use top.

   -from The Theme Foundry]

   As others have suggested, consult a server administrator before changing settings if you don’t know what you’re doing.

   As for your more general question, I would steer you to a similar question I asked some weeks ago: What are best practices for configuring a server for WordPress sites?

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