From owner-freebsd-hackers  Sat Dec 18 11:42: 8 1999
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From: Kevin Day <toasty@dragondata.com>
Message-Id: <199912181944.NAA68434@celery.dragondata.com>
Subject: Practical limit for number of TCP connections?
To: hackers@freebsd.org
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 13:44:59 -0600 (CST)
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I've started a side project that I'm trying to figure out how to scale. The
end result will be a test-based realtime chat (IRC, java, or otherwise) that
will bring very large crowds. You wouldn't believe how many geeks will show
up on IRC for a TV/Movie star.... even lessor known ones.

I've found that a poorly advertised event with a not-so-famous actress can
draw 3-5 thousand people, easily. If I'm able to make this grow, I'm sure
that number will go much higher.

What's the practical number of TCP connections per server? Is there an easy
guideline for how ram the kernel will be taking per
connection/route/socket/fd/etc?

My next interview will be Sunday, but to a much smaller audience than
normal, so I'll be able to do some experimenting. Can anyone recommend
specific things to watch for, wrt limits and memory use? I'll be watching
vmstat carefully, at least.


Thanks,

Kevin


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