[users@httpd] performance considerations (looong)

[Pavel Stratil <pavel.stratil-jun@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi all!

I have an older machine with no real funds to upgrade hw and growing 
traffic. Apache eats most of the resources, before some basic config 
tweaking enough to take the machine down (now average cpu load 35% (peak 
70), avg mem usage 85% (peak 100)). The biggest issue is memory and 
processor load and also traffic (about 1 TB/month). To be able to 
further optimize the performance, i'd rely on your experiences. I ask a 
lot at once so please dont be afraid of partial answers:-)

Solving traffic: I plan to use mod_deflate > greater cpu usage
Solving memory limits: using a second instance of apache for serving 
static content
Solving CPU load: using caching > more RAM consumption.

Currently apache (2.2.2) loads php and modsecurity,

My questions:
--- are there any other options that i have missed?
--- For using two apache instances, one for dynamic, one for static 
content, I found an example online:

ProxyPassReverse / http://%{HTTP_HOST}:8088/
RewriteEngine on                                            
RewriteCond  %{REQUEST_URI} !.*\.(gif|png|jpg)$
RewriteRule ^/(.*) http://%{HTTP_HOST}:8088/$1 [P]

so the static content server sits behind the dynamic content server. am 
I correct when assuming that to help
reduce the memory load the servers should be in reverse order (static 
server infront, dynamic back)?
As both instances would be running over the same data, can I let them 
use same logfiles? Wont they fight over them?
If separate logs are preferable, is there some kind of a tool to merge 
logs for statistical analysis of the traffic?
Anything else that cant be shared (i.e. lock files, pid files?) could 
anyone give me some tips about securing the
proxy tightly or point me to some article dealing with this?

--- |Will using -DDYNAMIC_MODULE_LIMIT=0 to build the static server 
disable it from
using statically compiled modules such as proxy/cache/deflate?
|
--- Cache considerations: could anyone point me to some introductory 
article or give me some hints how to
setup caching? If caching is used along with deflate, is the cached 
content stored compressed or is it compressed
after being pulled from the cache?

--- Optimal layout.. I'd plan to use the static server with mod 
deflate,proxy and possibly cache. Dynamic content
would be served from proxied dynamic server (won't that hit server 
responsiveness?)

thanks to anyone patient enough to read through to this point :-)


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