Apache Server Status OPTIONS *

Checking the Apache server-status page I noticed multiple lines like the following:

29-39 0/0/3162 . 32.26 8949 0 0.0 0.00 186.48 123.111.123.111 mywebsite.co.uk OPTIONS * HTTP/1.0
30-39 0/0/10 . 0.00 24324 0 0.0 0.00 0.04 123.111.123.111 mywebsite.co.uk OPTIONS * HTTP/1.0

The access_log for that website also showed:

123.111.123.111 – – [18/Nov/2009:09:28:44 +0000] “OPTIONS * HTTP/1.0” 200 – “-” “Apache/2.2.3 (Red Hat) (internal dummy connection)” 2468
123.111.123.111 – – [18/Nov/2009:09:35:37 +0000] “OPTIONS * HTTP/1.0” 200 – “-” “Apache/2.2.3 (Red Hat) (internal dummy connection)” 1924

Apparently these are Apache calling itself to keep child processes alive:

When the Apache HTTP Server manages its child processes, it needs a way
to wake up processes that are listening for new connections. To do
this, it sends a simple HTTP request back to itself.