Is there a limit that one should put on the number of web sites hosted with one IP address? Can a large number of them slow down the sites?

Thanks,

-Mike

What web server are you using?

Originally posted by bitserve
What web server are you using?

Cobalt RAQ4r.

Actually, I also have a self-built redhat linux box.

-Mike

On a raq there is a limit for the whole server. I don't remember myself how much it was, but I believe it was something aroung 300.

On your RH box you can run as many sites on 1 ip. You will only need a new ip for SSL sites and sites with anomyous ftp.

That's what I was told - unlimited sites on one IP. Just checking.

I took the limit off of the RAQ, as most of my customers' sites are barely used (local businesses and such).

Thanks!

-Mike

IP itself is innocent. You can host as many sites as you want. Like most of the hosting companies would say: "unlimited domains" ;)

Actually, each name based virtual host does slow things down some, and different web servers handle this differently. Apache builds its virtual hosts into a hash. Although the hashing is fast, the more virtual hosts, the bigger the hash it has to look through.

The longer your httpd configuration file, the more memory that apache will use. If you have logs for each virtual host, more file descriptors will be used, and you may run out of them.

For apache, you may want to visit:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/misc/FAQ.html#fdlim
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/misc/descriptors.html
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/vhosts/
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/vhosts/mass.html

For other web servers, I can't comment because I'm not that familiar with them.