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- <?xml version="1.0"?>
- <!DOCTYPE modulesynopsis SYSTEM "../style/modulesynopsis.dtd">
- <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="../style/manual.en.xsl"?>
- <modulesynopsis metafile="perchild.xml.meta">
-
- <name>perchild</name>
- <description>Multi-Processing Module allowing for daemon processes serving
- requests to be assigned a variety of different userids</description>
- <status>MPM</status>
- <sourcefile>perchild.c</sourcefile>
- <identifier>mpm_perchild_module</identifier>
-
- <summary>
- <note type="warning">
- This MPM does not currently work on most platforms. Work is ongoing
- to make it functional.
- </note>
-
- <p>This Multi-Processing Module (MPM) implements a hybrid
- multi-process, multi-threaded web server. A fixed number of
- processes create threads to handle requests. Fluctuations in
- load are handled by increasing or decreasing the number of
- threads in each process.</p>
- </summary>
- <seealso><a href="../bind.html">Setting which addresses and ports Apache
- uses</a></seealso>
-
- <section id="how-it-works"><title>How it works</title>
- <p>A single control process launches the number of child processes
- indicated by the <directive module="perchild">NumServers</directive>
- directive at server startup. Each child process creates threads as
- specified in the <directive module="mpm_common">StartThreads</directive> directive.
- The individual threads then
- listen for connections and serve them when they arrive.</p>
-
- <p>Apache always tries to maintain a pool of <dfn>spare</dfn> or
- idle server threads, which stand ready to serve incoming
- requests. In this way, clients do not need to wait for new
- threads to be created. For each child process, Apache assesses
- the number of idle threads and creates or destroys threads to
- keep this number within the boundaries specified by
- <directive module="mpm_common">MinSpareThreads</directive>
- and <directive module="mpm_common">MaxSpareThreads</directive>.
- Since this process is very self-regulating, it is rarely
- necessary to modify these directives from their default values.
- The maximum number of clients that may be served simultaneously
- is determined by multiplying the number of server processes
- that will be created (<directive
- module="perchild">NumServers</directive>) by the maximum
- number of threads created in each process
- (<directive module="mpm_common">MaxThreadsPerChild</directive>).</p>
-
- <p>While the parent process is usually started as root under
- Unix in order to bind to port 80, the child processes and
- threads 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>
-
- <section id="user-ids"><title>Working with different user-IDs</title>
- <p>The <module>perchild</module> MPM adds the extra ability to
- specify that particular processes should serve requests under
- different user-IDs. These user-IDs can then be associated with
- specific virtual hosts. You have to use one <directive
- module="perchild">ChildPerUserID</directive> directive for
- every user/group combination you want to be run. Then you can tie
- particular virtual hosts to that user and group IDs.</p>
-
- <p>The following example runs 7 child processes. Two of them are run
- under <code>user1</code>/<code>group1</code>. The next four are run
- under <code>user2</code>/<code>group2</code> and the remaining
- process uses the <directive module="mpm_common"
- >User</directive> and <directive module="mpm_common">Group</directive>
- of the main server:</p>
-
- <example><title>Global config</title>
- NumServers 7<br />
- ChildPerUserID user1 group1 2<br />
- ChildPerUserID user2 group2 4
- </example>
-
- <p>Using unbalanced numbers of processes as above is useful, if the
- particular virtual hosts produce different load. The assignment to
- the virtual hosts is easily done as in the example below. In
- conclusion with the example above the following assumes, that
- <code>server2</code> has to serve about twice of the hits of
- <code>server1</code>.</p>
-
- <example><title>Example</title>
- NameVirtualHost *<br />
- <br />
- <VirtualHost *><br />
- <indent>
- ServerName fallbackhost<br />
- # no assignment; use fallback<br />
- </indent>
- </VirtualHost><br />
- <br />
- <VirtualHost *><br />
- <indent>
- ServerName server1<br />
- AssignUserID user1 group1<br />
- </indent>
- </VirtualHost><br />
- <br />
- <VirtualHost *><br />
- <indent>
- ServerName server2<br />
- AssignUserID user2 group2<br />
- </indent>
- </VirtualHost>
- </example>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>AcceptMutex</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>BS2000Account</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>CoreDumpDirectory</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>Group</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>MaxSpareThreads</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>MinSpareThreads</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>StartThreads</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>ThreadLimit</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
- <directivesynopsis location="mpm_common"><name>User</name>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>AssignUserID</name>
- <description>Tie a virtual host to a user and group ID</description>
- <syntax>AssignUserID <var>user-id</var> <var>group-id</var></syntax>
- <contextlist><context>virtual host</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Tie a virtual host to a specific user/group combination. Requests
- addressed to the virtual host where this directive appears will be
- served by a process running with the specified user and group ID.</p>
-
- <p>The user and group ID has to be assigned to a number of children
- in the global server config using the <directive module="perchild"
- >ChildPerUserID</directive> directive. See the section above for a
- <a href="#user-ids">configuration example</a>.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>ChildPerUserID</name>
- <description>Specify user ID and group ID for a number of child
- processes</description>
- <syntax>ChildPerUserID <var>user-id</var> <var>group-id</var>
- <var>num-children</var></syntax>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>Specify a user ID and group ID for a number of child processes.
- The third argument, <var>num-children</var>, is the number of child
- processes to start with the specified user and group. It does
- <em>not</em> represent a specific child number. In order to use this
- directive, the server must be run initially as <code>root</code>.
- If you start the server as a non-root user, it will fail to change
- to the lesser privileged user.</p>
-
- <p>If the total number of child processes, found by totaling all of the
- third arguments to all <directive>ChildPerUserID</directive> directives
- in the config file, is less than <directive module="perchild"
- >NumServers</directive>, then all remaining children will inherit the
- <directive module="mpm_common">User</directive> and <directive
- module="mpm_common">Group</directive> settings from the main server.
- See the section above for a <a href="#user-ids">configuration
- example</a>.</p>
-
- <note type="warning"><title>Security</title>
- <p>Don't set <var>user-id</var> (or <var>group-id</var>) to
- <code>root</code> unless you know exactly what you are doing, and
- what the dangers are.</p>
- </note>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>MaxThreadsPerChild</name>
- <description>Maximum number of threads per child process</description>
- <syntax>MaxThreadsPerChild <var>number</var></syntax>
- <default>MaxThreadsPerChild 64</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>This directive sets the maximum number of threads that will be
- created in each child process. To increase this value beyond its
- default, it is necessary to change the value of the <directive
- module="mpm_common">ThreadLimit</directive> directive and stop and
- re-start the server.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- <directivesynopsis>
- <name>NumServers</name>
- <description>Total number of children alive at the same time</description>
- <syntax>NumServers <var>number</var></syntax>
- <default>NumServers 2</default>
- <contextlist><context>server config</context></contextlist>
-
- <usage>
- <p>The <directive>NumServers</directive> directive determines the number
- of children alive at the same time. This number should be large enough to
- handle the requests for the entire site. To increase this value beyond the
- value of <code>8</code>, it is necessary to change the value of the
- <directive module="mpm_common">ServerLimit</directive> directive and stop
- and re-start the server. See the section above for a <a href="#user-ids"
- >configuration example</a>.</p>
- </usage>
- </directivesynopsis>
-
- </modulesynopsis>
-