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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2025.2

# Limit simultaneous connections

If monitoring is enabled (`p4 configure` `set monitor=1` or higher), you can set the `server.maxcommands` configurable to limit the number of simultaneous command requests that the service will attempt to handle.

Ideally, this value should be set both:

- low enough to detect a runaway script or denial of service attack before the underlying hardware resources are exhausted

- high enough to maintain a substantial margin of safety between the typical average number of connections and your site’s peak activity.

If `P4LOG` is set, the server log contain lines of the form:

    Server is now using nnn active threads.

You can use the server log to determine what levels of activity are typical for your site. Set ``server.maxcommands`` to a value higher than your anticipated peak activity. We recommend at least 200% to 500% higher.

## Commands that super and operator users can always run

Starting in 2019.1, if a problem occurs with `server.maxcommands`, users with the access level of `super`, or the user type of operator (see p4 user), can still run the following commands to diagnose the problem.

- p4 admin

- p4 configure, p4 counter, p4 counters

- p4 group, p4 groups

- p4 help, p4 help-graph

- p4 info

- p4 journals

- p4 lockstat, p4 login, p4 login2, p4 logout, p4 logtail

- p4 monitor

- p4 protect, p4 protects, p4 pull

- p4 server, p4 servers

- p4 user, p4 users

To disable the super and operator users from having this capability, see the `server.maxcommands.allow` configurable.

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