Going thru a fresh install on a

debian

  os.

Came across something that confused me the last time, so it's time for an explanation that I can understand.  Non-geeky Americanski plz.

MaxRequestsPerChild: maximum number of requests a server process serves.

So, why is the default 0?  Doesn't that mean that there are no upper limits?  Should there be limits?  Why/why not?

Yours truly,
Boliver Shagnasty

Exactly - if it's zero, then there's no limit to how many requests each child will process.

This is a leak-protection scheme: if you have a leaky "support object" (ie., something you compiled that uses memory and doesn't give it back) then by limiting the number of times each process can handle a request, you're doing a sort of "forced garbage collection" and reclaiming the memory.

For most installations, 0 is fine.

If you find yourself running out of memory, then you might start playing with that to see if it's something that

Apache

  is causing.

Cool.  Thanks.



Ya.  I gots one of those.  Dint know that was what was causing my memory to go south though.