# Possible to have a limit\_req "nodelay burst" option? **URL:** \ **Category:** NGINX\ **Created:** [April 16, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264 "2013-04-16T00:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/1 "2013-04-16T00:18:30Z")
Hello, I’m using the limit\_req directive to control the rate at which my backends are hit with requests. Typically a backend will generate a page and the client will not request anything for a short while, so a rate of 1 per second works well. Sometimes however a backend will return a HTTP redirect, and then the client must wait for a one second delay on the request to the redirected page. I’d like to avoid this if possible to avoid the slow feeling when users click on redirected links. The nodelay option looked like it would work at first glance, but this bypasses the delay completely for all requests up to the burst, so it’s still possible for the backend to be hit with many requests at once. Ideally I would like to have a “nodelay burst” option to control how many of the burst requests are processed without delay which I could set to 2 in my situation, while still delaying any further requests beyond that. Another idea I had was to have the backend send a special header similar to how X-Accel-Redirect works, eg X-Limit-Req: 0 to avoid counting a single request towards the rate limit for purposes of redirects and similar situations. Any other thoughts how something like this could work? ---
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/2 "2013-04-16T00:38:22Z")
Hello! On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 06:18:04PM -0400, Richard S. wrote: > bypasses the delay completely for all requests up to the burst, so it’s > still possible for the backend to be hit with many requests at once. > Ideally I would like to have a “nodelay burst” option to control how many > of the burst requests are processed without delay which I could set to 2 in > my situation, while still delaying any further requests beyond that. … and next time you’ll notice that site feels slow on a page which uses 2 redirects in a row, or includes an image/css from a backend, or user just clicks links fast enough. I would recommend just using “limit\_req … nodelay” unless you are really sure you need a delay in a particular case. – Maxim D. > **[nginx: donation](http://nginx.org/en/donation.html)** ---
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/3 "2013-04-16T02:09:31Z")
On Mon, Apr 15, 2013 at 6:38 PM, Maxim D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > and then the client must wait for a one second delay on the request to the > > … and next time you’ll notice that site feels slow on a page > > which uses 2 redirects in a row, or includes an image/css from a > > backend, or user just clicks links fast enough. > > I would recommend just using “limit\_req … nodelay” unless you > are really sure you need a delay in a particular case. Thanks for the reply. I’ll try to explain my situation a little better, the delay is mainly there to prevent crazy scripts / spambots / etc from making too many fast requests to the backend and tying up the “expensive” processes. Images and CSS are served from a separate backend that isn’t subject to rate limiting, and if the main backend determines a redirect is needed, it will guarantee a redirect to a final URL with no further intermediate redirects. Currently I’m using a burst of 10 since showing a 503 to users is a bad experience, in the event they click links really fast I’d prefer them to just think the server is a little busy. I was hoping to remove this delay on redirects or at least the first couple of “fast clicks”, while still causing spambots / etc to be subjected to 1 req/s delay so the backend is not suddenly hit with up to 10 requests at once. For now I’m going to try using rewrite rules to catch the most commonly redirected paths and pass them to a non-limited backend, but I’d really like to see this feature if possible. Regards, Richard ---
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/4 "2014-06-17T02:32:17Z")
+1 to the idea. Maybe something like: limit\_req one burst=10 nodelay=5; # first 5 ‘bursts’ don’t have a delay, the next 5 do I haven’t tried, but I suspect this doesn’t do the desired thing: limit\_req one burst=10; limit\_req one burst=5 nodelay; (I’m guessing that the first directive above essentially overrides the second for the first 5, then the second directive overrides the first after that) Posted at Nginx Forum: > **[Re: Possible to have a limit\_req "nodelay burst" option?](https://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,238389,250902#msg-250902)** > > Hello, I'm using the limit\_req directive to control the rate at which my backends are hit with requests. Typically a backend will generate a page and the client will not request anything for a short while, so a rate of 1 per second works well.... ---
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/5 "2014-10-15T09:51:19Z")
ppy wrote in post #1114430: > I have to agree with this completely. In fact, I thought this was the > intended behaviour of the “burst” argument, and it wasn’t until further > testing that I realised its true meaning. > > I am looking for the exact same behaviour here – to allow _actual_ burst > requests before the delay starts to kick in. The eventual 503 is not > necessary. I came across the same issue today. Actually, a lot of the explanations of the limit\_req functionality that you can find on the web seem to think that it works that way, probably because it would be the most intuitive and useful way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/6 "2016-02-05T10:52:07Z")
I support this proposal. We need this functionality, too. Posted at Nginx Forum: > **[Re: Possible to have a limit\_req "nodelay burst" option?](https://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,238389,264364#msg-264364)** > > Hello, I'm using the limit\_req directive to control the rate at which my backends are hit with requests. Typically a backend will generate a page and the client will not request anything for a short while, so a rate of 1 per second works well.... ---
**Author:** ![indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@indigoi](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/indigoi)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/possible-to-have-a-limit-req-nodelay-burst-option/228264/7 "2013-07-04T18:04:49Z")
I have to agree with this completely. In fact, I thought this was the intended behaviour of the “burst” argument, and it wasn’t until further testing that I realised its true meaning. I am looking for the exact same behaviour here – to allow _actual_ burst requests before the delay starts to kick in. The eventual 503 is not necessary. I believe this is a very common scenario and it would likely benefit a lot of others looking for the same kind of thing. Posted at Nginx Forum: > **[Re: Possible to have a limit\_req "nodelay burst" option?](https://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,238389,240585#msg-240585)** > > Hello, I'm using the limit\_req directive to control the rate at which my backends are hit with requests. Typically a backend will generate a page and the client will not request anything for a short while, so a rate of 1 per second works well....