Problems with memory concerning apache

[fosstux]

Hi!

I'm using Apache 2.0.49 with PHP 4.3.4.

When running my servers including apache2 my memory is about 95% full and the swap is being used.

When I stop my apache2, I suddenly have approx 80MB free . How can that be?

I also have noticed multiple instances of apache2 in my ps ax list (I had a maximum of 12!!!) Why that?

Please help.

Thanks in advance!
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[moocha]

Try reducing the number of child processes Apache spawns (see the StartServers, MinSpareServers, and MaxSpareServers directives in /etc/apache2/conf/apache2.conf - look up the Apache manual). Do that only if you don't have many requests on the server.
As to the memory footprint - try compiling less stuff into PHP, that's usually the main culprit. I never compile more extensions into it than I really, really need.
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