Increase max files limits
Sockets *are* files, so in order to improve TCP scalability the first step is to verify you have enough file descriptors available. You can check the current values with the ulimit -a command. If needed increase them.
Increase port range
By default ports between 32768 and 61000 are kept for ‘ephemeral’ usage. That plenty for clients, but could be too tight for busy web servers.
You can increase the port range like this:
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range="12800 65535"Don’t forget to add your setting inside the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
Enable TCP reuse
The TCP_TW_REUSE flag allow the kernel to reuse TCP connection in TIME_WAIT state for a new outgoing connection if the new timestamp is strictly bigger than the most recent timestamp recorded for the previous connection.
This optimization is pretty great for web server that deal with many short TCP connections. You can enable it like this:
# sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse=1Don’t forget to add your setting inside the /etc/sysctl.conf file.
There is also another parameter, called net.ipv4.tcp_tw_recycle. Do NOT enable it !
Fast-recycling of every TIME-WAIT sockets sound like a good idea but this option will cause problems with NAT clients. For more information on the subject, check this excellent article.