apache php connections

Question

Hi,

I have one site running in apache and php, when I'm downloading something the site doesn't repond to any click on links until the download finish.

What can be?

Regards,
Pedro

Answer 1

Check that you don't have ServerLimit set to 1 because if that's the case you only have on process to handle all requests (and if it's busy with the download can handle your clicks.)

Answer 2

Somewhere in the Apache configuration file, there should be lines like those :

<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
    StartServers          50
    MinSpareServers       20
    MaxSpareServers       30
    ServerLimit           250
    MaxClients            250
    MaxRequestsPerChild    0
</IfModule>

Make sure none of these configuration options have a too small (like 1) value.

If this doesn't help : can another user (with another browser, for instance) still access the site while you are downloading your file ?
(Just to make sure the problem doesn't come from your browser)

Answer 3

Do you have sessions on automagically?

If you download PHP code or files through PHP, make sure to use session_write_close() before you start the download (if you dont need to write anything else to session after the file/page finished).

With PHP session apache will wait until one page is finished with the session before allowing another page to access it.