You might set MinSpareServers , MaxSpareServers , and StartServers to a very low number. Someone running an overloaded server which handles mail, news, and web traffic might want to limit MaxClients . Watch, tune, watch, tune. Incidentally, if you have a particularly nice configuration you're willing to share, please post a message on the O'Reilly Network Apache Forum . We now wander into Section 2 to take a peek at some of the basic directives that define the server's main web site.
Port Think of a port as a television channel.
Suppose you wish to hide a test or experimental server from the outside world. You have a DSL line and have configured your router to only allow requests directed at port 80, served by your public web server. You can choose any port number as long as the port is not reserved for use by another service, and the number is greater than 1023 if you're not running as root. To visit a web site hosted on a port other than 80, your visitors must include the port number in the URL they type into their browsers. Be sure to set the ServerAdmin directive so that your visitors don't have to resort to guesswork to report problems they have with your site.