[users@httpd] MaxClients directive

[David K <da...@ymail.com>]

Hello

Can somebody explain what the MaxClients directive really does and how it differs from total threads?I am using Worker MPM.
What is considered a "Client" and how does it differ from a "thread"? By my own findings, a "Client" is != ip address. 
I can understand that MaxClients are restricted by ServerLimit x ThreadsPerChild but I don't understand why you ever want to set MaxClients lower than ServerLimit x ThreadsPerChild. 

What is the real usage of MaxClients? Since there already are directives that limit number simultaneous connections (ThreadsPerChild x ServerLimit), what does this additional directive give?
As I understand it: MaxClients seems to limit total number of threads that you can use. If the directive works that way: When do you want to limit number of threads that you can use, when you can limit the total number of existing threads instead!?.

What should I look for if I want to monitoring number of "Clients" used (using ServerStatus for example) ?

// David