5. Performance and bandwidth management

Raw performance is only one of the factors to consider in a web server (flexibility and stability come usually first).

Having said that, there are solutions to improve performance on heavy loaded webservers serving static content. If you are in the hosting business Apache also provides ways in which you can measure and control bandwidth usage. Throttling in this context usually means slowing down the delivery of content based on the file requested, a specific client IP address, etc. This is done to prevent abuse.

• mod_mmap: Included in current Apache releases, it maps to memory a statically configured list of frequently requested but not changed files.
• Mod_bandwidth: Enables the setting of server-wide or per connection bandwidth limits, based on the specific directory, size of files and remote IP/domain.
• Bandwidth share module: provides bandwidth throttling and balancing by client IP address. It is actively maintained.
• Mod_throttle:Throttle bandwidth per virtual host or user.
• Mod_throttle_access: useful if you are slashdotted. Allows throttling based on resources (file, directory, etc.)