Maxclients

[hotrod007]

SMF 1.1.14

Site http://njsaltwaterfisherman.com/forums/index.php
Status php  http://njsaltwaterfisherman.com/forums/status.php

Do bots and Spiders have an effect on this setting.

[Sun Jul 03 21:05:14 2011] [error] server reached MaxClients setting, consider raising the MaxClients setting

I am experiencing legacy issues during my peak time and my host said they found those errors in the log. 

Also concerned if I tune apache will this take away from my already over burden resources?

[LiroyvH]

Is it your own server or are you on a shared system?
If it is a shared system, you will have to ask your host to raise the MaxClients directive in httpd.conf. You cannot do this yourself.

If it is a dedicated server, well.. You know what to do yourself then
Note that there is a soft- and hardlimit. I think, if memory serves right, the MaxClients is overruled by ServerLimit. So if MaxClients exceed ServerLimit, it will reset itself.

And yes, bots and search spiders have effect on it. Though, judging by your forum it should not exceed the default MaxClients. I guess you are on shared?

[Illori]

Hi Illori, thank you for your reply

I am on a VPS with Hosting.com.   here is my  Status.php...  http://njsaltwaterfisherman.com/forums/status.php

looks like this user has a vps not a shared hosting.

[LiroyvH]

Hmm... In that case, check out apache status. If you dont have ExtendedStatus enabled, enable it (make sure to whitelist your IP for /server-status) and look where and by what you are getting requests to Apache. However, just up the MaxClients directive (and if required: ServerLimit) anyway. If it gives performance issues it is easily reverted and the ExtendedStatus will show you who and what is making the connections.

To indicate how MaxClients does not *have* to affect performance if you give it a high number:
When SlowLoris was just released it was rather popular, you could set MaxClients to thousands of connections and SlowLoris would attempt to connect. Your server would remain online, it didnt affect performance and the attacker would run out of memory
Though, SlowLoris doesnt do anything other than eating connections, so you may still wanna check where all the connections go to.

[hotrod007]

Yes. she is a VPS..  One way or anther. I need to move to a dedicated with more resourses..  would this stop my issue? If not....

I am pretty Green when it comes to all this.  and understood what you said. but can't comprehend how to make it happen.  How do I raise max clients?  and I should do something else also?

I'm sorry...

[LiroyvH]

Moving to a dedicated server with the same settings will not stop the issue.
Login to root SSH, or a account with access to all files on the server and find your httpd.conf.
(You could try running command updatedb and then: locate httpd.conf)

Very basic explanation on how to do it quikly:

Open httpd.conf with a text editor, like: nano httpd.conf
Hit CTRL + W and type MaxClients in the search field that pops up, then hit enter.
No results? At the top of httpd.conf type, on a new line:
MaxClients 512
Hit CTRL + X, save the file and restart your Apache webserver. (Try: service httpd restart)

If you do get a result and it is higher than 512, try raising it more but you really should look at where the requests are going that are clogging up your apache. 512 simultaneous connections does not seem normal for a forum of your size with that activity. Judging by your forum only, you wouldnt even need a VPS.

See what it comes up with. It will either accept it or spit out a error saying it resets it to default due to the ServerLimit directive. In which case more measures have to be taken to raise it.
We'll get to enabling ExtendedStatus later. First things first.

If you are not sure what you are doing; do you have a managed VPS?
If you do, let your host have a look at doing this for you.

[hotrod007]

Thank You, No Not a managed VPS, but I do have a "Paid tech" that helps me do things like this..

I am thinking.  slowing down the bot traffic should be a first step..  blocking threw htacess.. yes?

I'm not even sure my robot.txt is correct..  I couldn't find a straight answer if it should go in http.  fold with forums/etc.. 
or the forums folder.. with just /etc..

Yea  20-30 active users..  plus guests.  of 130 maybe.  with 50 not being bots.   this I know to be a fact.. because I have seen my forum stats page views increase almost 70% this season.. but the actual topic view numbers aren't reflecting this..  so this leads me to believe.. it's the bots..

Can we help me make sure My robot file is correct?

This is the file I have in my http folder.  is this right.  I also put it in my forums folder..

I do thank you for your help. I try my best to read and learn....  when I wind up here. I usually have reached my limits..

[LiroyvH]

Are you sure the bots visiting your forum are search bots?
If they are not search bots they will ignore robots.txt.

In your robots.txt you disallow pretty much all robots except for "Slurp" as far as I can see.
They cant access much to anything on your site and you banned Google aswell. Surely the legitimate bots shouldnt create too much traffic. You sure they are legit bots?

[hotrod007]

I'm thinking NO..  they aren't legit bots..  and I don't want to ban Google.. that shouldn't be there..
where did I ban Google?..   I use to have just a robot.txt in the http folder for the main site, and one in the forums folder..  I was trying to get google to stop indexing the print page of the forums and came across someones I thought looked good, so I used that..  and moved it all to the http folder using /forums for the forums.

Also this is a Joomla site. I have a pretty large Home Page here.  http://njsaltwaterfisherman.com/  that get's it's fair share of traffic.

I'm a mess...

[LiroyvH]

My mistake, I read it wrong. Google is able to access your site indeed

[hotrod007]

So you think maybe I should start by blocking some bots through my htacces.  like this http://blamcast.net/articles/block-bots-hotlinking-ban-ip-htaccess

When you said. My Site isn't large enough to warrant a dedicated yet.  tells me My BAD  traffic is causing the problems.  I have been in touch with my host during bad legacy times and they confirmed my resources are maxing out..  this is also during the peek time when I know my site is busy.  between 6- 10 pm when everyone is done fishing for the day..

So..  raising max clients.. and trying and block some bad bots.. could help me a lot I'm assuming..

Is there a working Mod for 1.1.14 that can really show me who the Guests are

You have been very helpful so far.  I can't thank you enough..