How to avoid web server overload
Posted 29 December 2006 at 3:17PM by Alexa Williamson in Managing your website
iPod and iTunes customers suffered major problems over Christmas when the official site became overwhelmed with download requests. Apple wasn't prepared for the mass of traffic they received and the result was disappointed customers.
If you know your website is going to be hit hard, you ought to be able to put a plan in place to cope with the added visitors.
Prevent server overload
Some standard techniques for preventing server overload include:
- using firewalls to block unwanted traffic from dubious IP addresses
- effectively controlling the amount of traffic using your bandwith at any one time
- making sure you don't have any bandwith problems
- use more than one web server
Signs that a server is overloaded
It's also important to be able to recognise the signs of impending server overload. These include long delays in requesting a web page or attempting a download, receiving an 'error' page or trying to visit a site and getting a message that says 'TCP connection refused'.
How I've avoided server download
When I worked at Ticketmaster UK, the servers would get hit hard when tickets for a major event were released. Eventually we settled on having enough servers to handle the sale, plus introducing a static html home page that linked directly to where you could buy the event tickets. This reduced the load on the servers and has since worked very well in keeping the service online.
Further reading
- Web content adaptation to improve server overload behaviour (PDF) (HP Labs)
- Webservers under overload: How scheduling can help (PDF) (Carnegie Mellon University)
Tags: anti-overload techniques, server overload, site traffic managment
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