Rate limiting for a Raspberry Pi 3 web server

To implement rate limiting for a Raspberry Pi 3 web server, you can utilize software solutions that provide rate limiting capabilities. One popular tool for this purpose is Apache’s ‘mod_ratelimit‘ module. Here’s how you can set it up:

Enable ‘mod_ratelimit‘: Enable the ‘mod_ratelimit‘ module in Apache by running the following command:

sudo a2enmod ratelimit

Configure rate limiting: Edit the Apache configuration file to set up rate limiting rules. Run the following command to open the configuration file in a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Within the file, you can add the following code snippet to set a rate limit rule. Place it inside the <Directory> section that corresponds to the directory you want to apply rate limiting to:

<Directory /var/www/html>
    # Enable rate limiting
    <IfModule mod_ratelimit.c>
        SetEnvIf Request_URI "^/" ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method GET ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method POST ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method PUT ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method DELETE ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method HEAD ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method OPTIONS ratelimit
        SetEnvIf Request_Method TRACE ratelimit
        <Limit OPTIONS>
            Order allow,deny
            Allow from all
        </Limit>
        <LimitExcept OPTIONS>
            Order deny,allow
            Deny from env=ratelimit
            Allow from all
        </LimitExcept>
    </IfModule>
</Directory>

In the above example, rate limiting is applied to the /var/www/html directory, which is the default document root directory for Apache. Adjust the directory path as per your specific setup.

Save and close the configuration file by pressing Ctrl+O, then Ctrl+X.

Restart Apache: To apply the changes, restart the Apache web server:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Rate limiting is now configured for your Raspberry Pi 3 web server. The example configuration limits the rate of requests to the specified directory for all HTTP methods. You can modify the configuration to meet your specific requirements, such as setting a specific rate limit or applying rate limiting to different directories.

Please note that rate limiting with mod_ratelimit is a basic solution and may not provide advanced features or granular control. If you require more advanced rate limiting capabilities, you might want to explore specialized software or services designed for this purpose.