Trimming Apache

I've been adjusting the settings for Apache (our web server) for the duration of our exile from Yuri. Because we're running CPanel, we're sort of stuck on Apache 1.3, which is multi-process but not multi-threaded, and can use LOTS of memory. (Particularly if you have a mix of PHP and CGI apps - which we do.)

On Yuri, Apache was pretty much the only thing running, so it didn't matter if it took over the whole machine. Right now, it does.

I've fairly aggressively trimmed things down to minimize the memory footprint. As a side-effect, you might get a "server busy" message now and then. The alternative, unfortunately, is that the server runs out of memory and it doesn't work for anyone.

So far, it seems to be coping okay, and things are fairly busy right now. I'll keep an eye on it, or if you see a problem, comment and/or email.

(New-born Apache processes weigh in at eight or nine MB. After running a bunch of PHP and CGI apps, a single process can exceed 32MB. We have a maximum 120 Apache processes running. At 8MB each, that's about half the memory used up, which is fine. At 32MB, that's twice as much memory as we actually have, which is a disaster. I've set Apache so that processes have a very limited lifespan. The cost of starting a new processes every ten seconds is far outweighed by the savings in memory.)