Use flood limits in the SearchStax Drupal module to control how many requests Drupal sends to your Search App within a defined time window. This can help reduce the impact of bot traffic, bursty autocomplete traffic, or unexpected indexing spikes before they consume more of your SearchStax service limits.
Flood limits are disabled by default. When enabled, they apply in Drupal before requests are sent to SearchStax.
When to use flood limits
Consider enabling flood limits if you want to reduce request bursts from a single IP address, protect your app from unexpected traffic spikes, or add another layer of control for search and indexing activity.
Note: Flood limits don't change your SearchStax plan limits. They help Drupal send requests more conservatively. For platform-level limits, see Service Limits.
How flood limits work
Flood limits use a sliding time window and a maximum request count.
- Window: The number of seconds Drupal checks.
- Limit: The maximum number of requests Drupal allows during that window.
If requests exceed the configured limit during the active window, Drupal suppresses additional requests until traffic falls back under the threshold.
Search and update operations
- Search operations: API requests for search, autocomplete, and auto-suggestion activity. Autocomplete requests are part of the search flood limit.
- Update operations: API requests that index batches of items into a Search App.
You can configure separate window and limit values for search operations and update operations.
Configure flood limits
- In Drupal, go to Configuration > Search and metadata > SearchStax settings.
- Enable flood control for the operation you want to limit.
- Enter a window value in seconds.
- Enter the maximum number of requests allowed in that window.
- Save your changes.
Example configuration
- Search Window: 60
- Search Limit: 60
- Update Window: 10
- Update Limit: 10
In this example, Drupal allows up to 60 search requests in any 60-second sliding window and up to 10 update requests in any 10-second sliding window.
If your Drupal site uses autocomplete, those requests count toward the search window and search limit.
Choose starting values carefully
Start with values that reduce abusive or accidental bursts without interrupting normal user behavior. If your site has high legitimate traffic, test in a lower environment first and adjust gradually.
Tip: If you're troubleshooting request-limit errors, review 429, 401, and Other API Errors alongside your Drupal module settings.
Next steps
- Review Drupal Module for broader module setup and behavior.
- See Drupal Auto-Suggest if you need guidance for query-heavy autocomplete scenarios.
- Use Service Limits and 429, 401, and Other API Errors when you need to separate Drupal-side throttling from SearchStax platform limits.