Re: PHP and a general problem understanding fastcgi

David Birnbaum wrote:
> We use php/FastCGI extensively - it's great for a number of reasons:
> 
> 1.  You can control the number of instances of PHP per vhost very 
> easily, which prevents CPU thrash.
> 2.  The memory usage of the server is reduced because httpd stays very 
> light.
> 3.  Each PHP instance runs as the correct user/group which reduces 
> security exposure.

1 and 3 are my friends here..

> Our bench testing shows straight PHP is about the same in other mod_php 
> or FastCGI.  However, I find overall web performance to be slightly 
> higher because plenty of httpd's stay uninvolved with PHP and can handle 
> images/static pages while the PHP instances crunch away independently.

Thanks for sharing that experience..

> Here's a sample vhost configuration for you:
> 
>  User blah
>  Group blahgrp
>  FastCgiServer /export/httpd/DOMAINS/blah.com/cgi-bin/php -port 9050
>  AddHandler php-fastcgi .php
>  <Location /cgi-bin/php>
>    SetHandler fastcgi-script
>  </Location>
>  Action php-fastcgi /cgi-bin/php
> 
> That creates the necessary hookup for .php files, and runs PHP stuff via 
> suexec as blah/blahgrp.  You then have this file:
> 
>  #!/bin/sh
>  PHPRC="/usr/local/etc/php/php-blah"
>  export PHPRC
> 
>  PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=4
>  export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN
>  exec /opt/php/4.3.4/bin/php
> 
> which controls that particular instance.

Nice example and helps quite a lot, thanks. But some questions remain:
- What is the port for? Who connects to that port?
- How is the FastCgiServer connected to the AddHandler? I mean: Couldn't 
you define multiple servers? How do you distinguish which server you 
want to use for .php files? To clarify my question:

FastCgiServer /export/httpd/DOMAINS/blah.com/cgi-bin/php -port 9050
FastCgiServer /export/httpd/DOMAINS/blah2.com/cgi-bin/php -port 9051
AddHandler php-fastcgi .php

Is the above possible? How can I connect a specific server to a filetype?

- What happens if the php handler die? Do I deliver source in that case, 
as apache defaults to without mod_php?

Thanks a lot for your help so far,
Ben
___________________________________
fastcgi-developers mailing list
http://fastcgi.com/fastcgi-developers/