limit_req_zone

Sets parameters for a shared memory zone that will keep states for various keys. In particular, the state stores the current number of excessive requests. The key can contain text, variables, and their combination. Requests with an empty key value are not accounted.

Prior to version 1.7.6, a key could contain exactly one variable.

Usage example:

limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=one:10m rate=1r/s;

Here, the states are kept in a 10 megabyte zone “one”, and an average request processing rate for this zone cannot exceed 1 request per second.

A client IP address serves as a key. Note that instead of $remote_addr, the $binary_remote_addr variable is used here. The $binary_remote_addr variable’s size is always 4 bytes for IPv4 addresses or 16 bytes for IPv6 addresses. The stored state always occupies 64 bytes on 32-bit platforms and 128 bytes on 64-bit platforms. One megabyte zone can keep about 16 thousand 64-byte states or about 8 thousand 128-byte states. If the zone storage is exhausted, the server will return the 503 (Service Temporarily Unavailable) error to all further requests.

The rate is specified in requests per second (r/s). If a rate of less than one request per second is desired, it is specified in request per minute (r/m). For example, half-request per second is 30r/m.