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Using the Apache2Buddy Script for Performance and Stability

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What is Apache2Buddy?

Use the Apache2Buddy script to help make recommendations for changes to the Apache® web server configuration that assist with performance and stability. Apache2Buddy has no impact on the server itself and makes no changes. After the script runs, it suggests Apache fixes that you can examine and consider applying.

Apache2Buddy checks at least the following areas of concern:

  • PHP® memory limits
  • Memcache
  • MaxClients
  • Memory usage
  • Max potential memory usage
  • Percentage of total RAM allocated to Apache
  • MaxRequestWorkers

Run Apache2Buddy

Run the following command to launch the script from a Linux® command line:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/richardforth/apache2buddy/master/apache2buddy.pl | perl

After the Apache2Buddy script completes, it returns something similar to the following output:

Apache Tuning with Respect to RAM Footprint of Web Applications
--------------------------------------------------------------

The MaxClients setting in your Apache configuration allows your web application child processes 
to consume more RAM than is available on the server.
---
[ -- ] Distro: CentOS
[ -- ] Version: 6.9
[ -- ] Codename: Final
[ OK ] This distro is supported by apache2buddy.pl.
[ -- ] Hostname: Server-01
[ -- ] Primary IP: 123.45.67.890
[ -- ] Apache is using prefork model.
[ OK ] Memory usage of parent PID is less than 50MB: 8368 Kilobytes.
[ -- ] Apache has been running 21d 06h 49m 32s.
[ -- ] Your server has 5834 MB of PHYSICAL memory.
[ -- ] Your ServerLimit setting is 60.
[ -- ] Your MaxClients setting is 60.
[ OK ] Current Apache Process Count is 22, including the parent PID.
[ -- ] Number of vhosts detected: 17.
[ -- ]             |________ of which 13 are HTTP (specifically, port 80).
[ -- ]             |________ of which 4 are HTTPS (specifically, port 443).
[ OK ] Current Apache vHost Count is less than maxclients.
[ -- ] Your MaxRequestsPerChild setting is 2000.
[ -- ] Your PHP Memory Limit (Per-Process) is 128 MB.
[ -- ] MySQL Detected => Using 134.74 MB of memory.
[ OK ] No large logs files were found in /var/log/httpd.
[ OK ] MaxClients has not been hit recently.
[ !! ] PHP Fatal errors were found, see summaries below.
[ @@ ] Check the logs manually.
[ @@ ]  - /var/log/httpd/example.com-error.log-20200203: 3
[ @@ ]  - /var/log/httpd/example.com-error.log: 5
[ @@ ]  - /var/log/httpd/example2.com-error.log-20200203: 1
[ -- ] httpd is currently using 2384.92 MB of memory.
[ -- ] The smallest apache process is using 83.18 MB of memory
[ -- ] The average apache process is using 107.48 MB of memory
[ -- ] The largest apache process is using 133.83 MB of memory
[ !! ] Going by the average Apache process, Apache can potentially use 6448.81 MB RAM: 
Without considering services: 110.54 % of total installed RAM 
Considering extra services: 113.16 % of remaining RAM 
[ !! ] Going by the largest Apache process, Apache can potentially use 8029.81 MB RAM: 
Without considering services: 137.64 % of total installed RAM 
Considering extra services: 140.90 % of remaining RAM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
### GENERAL FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS ###
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache2buddy.pl report for server: Server-01 (123.45.67.890):
Settings considered for this report:
  Your server's physical RAM:                                   5834 MB
  Remaining Memory after other services considered:             5699 MB
  Apache's MaxClients directive:                                60       <---- Current Setting    
  Apache MPM Model:                                             prefork
  Largest Apache process (by memory):                           133 MB
[ !! ]  Your MaxClients setting is too high.
Your recommended MaxClients setting is between 37 and 42.              <---- Acceptable Range (10% of MAX)
Max potential memory usage:                                   8029 MB
Percentage of TOTAL RAM allocated to Apache:                  137.64  %
Percentage of REMAINING RAM allocated to Apache:              140.90  %
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review the results

You might also see output from the Apache2Buddy script that is similar to the following example:

 [ !! ] Going by the average Apache process, Apache can potentially use 6448.81 MB RAM: 
 Without considering services:    110.54 % of total installed RAM 
 Considering extra services: 113.16 % of remaining RAM 
 [ !! ] Going by the largest Apache process, Apache can potentially use 8029.81 MB RAM: 
 Without considering services: 137.64 % of total installed RAM             
 Considering extra services: 140.90 % of remaining RAM

You should know that this statement makes the following assumptions:

  • Going by the average Apache process: Not all Apache processes are average-sized. Some processes
    might be larger or smaller.
  • Without considering services: Apache2Buddyy attempts to calculate the possible memory usage of
    the Apache web server. It does not consider that available memory is also used for other
    applications such as PHP, MariaDB®, and the operating system itself.
  • Considering extra services: Apache2Buddy attempts to calculate the possible memory usage of
    the Apache web server while making assumptions of the memory usage of other available applications,
    which might not be correct.

Note:
You should consider this statement provided by Apache2Buddy to be informational regarding the worst-case
scenario. You might need to investigate further to gain clarity. For more information, see the following link: https://richardforth.github.io/apache2buddy_ag/.

Updated 12 months ago