The Bandwidth Problem

Most shared hosting systems want some sort of system to prevent a few hosts from using all the available bandwidth. I have been rather disappointed by my choices.

For Apache 1.3.XX there are many options:

• mod_throttle (Semi-Public Domain License) - Shared Mem based (good!). Active Development.
• mod_bandwidth (Apache License) - File Based in /tmp (BAD). Inactive Development.
• mod_bwshare (Artistic License) - Shared Memory based (good!). Inactive Development.
• OS Based: Netfilter - Linux (GPL License) - In Kernel (good!). Active Development. (1)
• OS Based: FreeBSD - ALTQ (BSD License) - In Kernel (good!). Active Development. (1)

For Apache 2.0.XX:

• mod_bwshare (Artistic License) - Shared Memory based (good!). Inactive Development.
• OS Based: Netfilter - Linux (GPL License) - In Kernel (good!). Active Development. (1)
• OS Based: FreeBSD - ALTQ (BSD License) - In Kernel (good!). Active Development. (1)

(1) Not easy todo filtering based on filetype/vhost/http specific things.

Ah. Only mod_bwshare for Apache 2.0. And its not actively supported by its author for Apache 2.0. Not a good situation at all. It seems to work with Apache 2, but I do not like modules that have been abandoned by their authors.

Personaly, I would prefer an OS level bandwidth shapping, but these do not allow the type of configurations that most shared hosting companies want.