10.5.5.  KeepAlive

KeepAlive sets whether the server allows more than one request per connection and can be used to prevent any one client from consuming too much of the server's resources.

By default Keepalive is set to off. If Keepalive is set to on and the server becomes very busy, the server can quickly spawn the maximum number of child processes. In this situation, the server slows down significantly. If Keepalive is enabled, it is a good idea to set the the KeepAliveTimeout low (refer to Section 10.5.7, “ KeepAliveTimeout ” for more information about the KeepAliveTimeout directive) and monitor the /var/log/httpd/error_log log file on the server. This log reports when the server is running out of child processes.