Q. How do I view and verify Apache server performance status under Linux / UNIX operating system?

A. The Status module (mod_status) allows a server administrator to find out how well their server is performing. A HTML page is presented that gives the current server statistics in an easily readable form. If required this page can be made to automatically refresh.

The details given are:

* The number of children serving requests.
* The number of idle children.
* The status of each child, the number of requests that child has performed and the total number of bytes served by the child (*)
* A total number of accesses and byte count served (*).
* The time the server was started/restarted and the time it has been running for
* Averages giving the number of requests per second, the number of bytes served per second and the average number of bytes per request (*).
* The current percentage CPU used by each child and in total by Apache (*).
* The current hosts and requests being processed (*).

Details marked “(*)” are only available with ExtendedStatus On.

Configure Apache mod_status

Open your httpd.conf file:
# vi httpd.conf
Append / modify (or uncomment) directives as follows:
<Location /server-status>
SetHandler server-status
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Allow from 192.168.1.5
</Location>

Replace 192.168.1.5 with your workstation IP address. Save and close the file. Restart httpd server:
# /etc/init.d/httpd restart
For full status report type:
# /etc/init.d/httpd fullstatus

To view status report type url – http://your.com/server-status.

You can now access server statistics by using a Web browser to access the page http://your.server.name/server-status

References:

• Apache mod_status documentation and httpd.conf man page.