# Why can we use listen directive on http context?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-can-we-use-listen-directive-on-http-context/226110>\
**Category:** NGINX\
**Created:** [December 13, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-can-we-use-listen-directive-on-http-context/226110 "2010-12-13T18:19:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aryanto\_Rachmad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@Aryanto\_Rachmad](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Aryanto_Rachmad)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/why-can-we-use-listen-directive-on-http-context/226110/1 "2010-12-13T18:19:38Z")

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Hello Everybody,

I have been using lighttpd for about 4 years, and now I would like to  
explore the capability of nginx. It does not mean that I don’t like  
lighttpd any more though 🙂

As I mentioned on the subject, why can we use listen directive on http  
context?

If we have multiple virtual hosts on a single physical server and we  
would like to bind nginx to a single IP address, it seems to me that we  
have to put multiple listen directive on every server contexts. Is there  
any relation to the fact that nginx can only limit the transmission rate  
per connection, instead of IP link?

I am confused because we can set the limit\_rate within http context, why  
can we do that to the listen directive?

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Anto