I dont know if this is distribution specific or not (my guess is, its not) so I am posting the question here...

Say you wanted to run a web server with 500 domains on it. Each domain getting a fair amount of traffic. The CPU can handle the load, there is plenty of memory (say a gig or so). But I think there will be some problem with file handler limitations. Is this correct?

How would one go about increasing the file handler limitations? What is involved?

I currently have 5 web servers, I would like to consolidate them down into one very powerful machine hosting all the sites, but I am being told this wont work (at least not without some tweaking) due to file handler limitations.

Can someone shed some light on this topic?

As always, thank you.

Joe

P.S. I am running Slackware if it makes a difference?

Do you mean the maximum number of files opened by a process?
Servers like apache generally fork into several processes, so the number of open files is only limited by kernel memory. However, hosting 500 domains on one machine doesn't sound like a Good Thing. My recommendation is to keep the 5 machines.
And no, it doesn't make a difference that you are running Slackware.

Well, that does answer my question.

500 domains is an exageration.... I just picked a large number and rounded it off. But the real number is a lot of domains.

The reason I was thinking about combining the web servers into one is because the load on each server is almost non-existant. I could probably squish all 5 servers into one powerful server and still be well under 50% CPU/Mem usage.

It would save on the power bill, be easier to manage, and easier to implement a disaster recovery system.

having 5 servers is nice though... goes with that whole saying dont put all your eggs in one basket.

I am just tossing around some ideas.

So by default apache will fork into multiple processes and thats how it can get around the max files opened by a process issue? No mods have to be installed or anything special setup?