Creating Multiple Instances of a Webbot

There are three basic ways to create additional instances of a webbot:

  • Fork additional harvesting processes from the same process.

  • Use the operating system to create multiple instances of the same script.

  • Execute the same webbot on multiple pieces of hardware.

Forking Processes

Some webbot developers prefer to create new instances of the same webbot by forking processes from a single script. Forking is the method of creating somewhat independent scripts from a parent script. It allows a script to execute tasks in parallel. In the case of webbot development, forking could allow a single script to download web pages from multiple target websites at the same time.

Forking is mentioned only because it is something ...

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