Manage traffic spikes with the Traffic Limiter app: create a virtual waiting room

Introduction

During product launches, sales, marketing campaigns, or system rollouts, your website may experience a sudden spike in traffic.

To avoid slowdowns or outages, Fasterize’s Traffic Limiter app lets you set up a virtual waiting room to manage access smoothly and fairly for all visitors.

Let’s take a look at how to set up this waiting room step by step.

Create a virtual waiting room

Enable the Traffic Limiter app from your Fasterize dashboard, then click “Create a waiting room.”

Available settings

• Room name: to make it easy to identify (e.g., “MEP maintenance”)
• Description: Context of use
• Activation level:
  • Global: for the entire site
  • Custom: more detailed settings (see below)

In the case of a custom level:

• Total active users: number of concurrent users allowed
• Session duration (min): the amount of time that must elapse before a session is considered inactive

💡 Example: Google Analytics considers 5 minutes to be an active session

Restricted area: visitor redirection

Depending on your setup, you can redirect your visitors to an overflow page.

Global redirect

Choose a single URL that all visitors will be directed to.

Custom redirect

Allows you to configure different redirects based on URL paths:

• The waiting room applies to all subpaths
• If two rooms cover the same path, the first one declared is used
• Wildcards and query parameters are not supported

Bypass via URL or IP

Via URL

You can set one or more direct access URLs that will bypass the waiting room.

Via IP address

You can exclude specific IP addresses or IP ranges (CIDR) from the queue:

• Supports IPv4 and IPv6
• CIDR enables optimized management of address blocks

💡 This can be useful for allowing certain bots, developers, or business tools to access the site.

Advanced settings

Label

• Give your configuration a descriptive name so you can easily find it

Targets

• List the targets (one per line)
• Enable or disable the associated access rule

Why use the Traffic Limiter?

The Traffic Limiter is essential during peak times.

It helps you:

• Protect your infrastructure during peak loads
• Maintain the user experience with clear, customizable messages
• Avoid 500 errors or critical slowdowns

💡 Ideal for high-traffic events such as sales, flash sales, large-scale campaigns, or sensitive technical deployments.

Conclusion

Fasterize's waiting room offers you a simple yet powerful way to handle traffic spikes without stress.

Set it up in just a few clicks, customize it to suit your needs, and ensure a seamless user experience, even during peak periods.

📚 ⇒ Learn more about Traffic Limiter: Reduce the load on your server during peak traffic periods

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