Managing a high-traffic Laravel application? If your API receives thousands of requests, you need performance
optimization to prevent CPU/RAM overload.

Understanding Entry Processes

Every time a request hits Laravel, it spawns a new PHP process. If your server allows 50 entry processes, only 50
requests can be processed simultaneously.

ps aux | grep php

To optimize:

• Use queues instead of processing in real-time.
• Limit unnecessary API calls.

Laravel Throttle Middleware

Throttle API requests to prevent excessive load:

Route::middleware(['throttle:10,1'])->post('/route-update', [Controller::class, 'update']);

Problem: Throttle works per IP, so multiple IPs can still overload your server.

Use Queues Instead of Processing in Real-time

Instead of saving each request instantly, push it to a queue.

php artisan queue:work --daemon --queue=default --max-jobs=100 --max-time=300

This prevents database overload.

Prevent DDoS & Bot Attacks

Rate limiting doesn’t stop bot attacks. Use Cloudflare:

• Enable WAF (Web Application Firewall)
• Block suspicious IPs
• Use reCAPTCHA on API endpoints

Optimize PHP & Server Configuration

For Nginx/PHP-FPM users, optimize workers:

pm.max_children = 10
pm.start_servers = 3
pm.min_spare_servers = 2
pm.max_spare_servers = 5

This prevents PHP from using too many processes at once.

Conclusion

By implementing these strategies, you’ll prevent server crashes, reduce CPU usage, and optimize Laravel API performance.

Need help? Let me know! 😊