FreeBSD Configure Apache 2.2 PHP with FastCGI mod_fcgi Module

Q. I'd like to switch from mod_php5 to mod_fastcgi. I'm using FreeBSD 7 release along with following software:

+ Apache 2.2
+ PHP as mod_php5
+ MySQL DB 5.1.23 server
How do I configure php as FastCGI server?

A. mod_fcgid has a new process management strategy, which concentrates on reducing the number of fastcgi server, and kick out the corrupt fastcgi server as soon as possible. It is a binary compatibility alternative to Apache module mod_fastcgi; so your existing fastcgi programs do not need to be recompiled. mod_fcgid supports suEXEC.

Why run PHP5 as mod_fcgi / mod_fastcgi?

FastCGI as has some serious advantages over mod_php5:

• You can do user level separations. You can enable quotas per user. Limit users by processes and CPU consumption.
• chroot security call per user possible
• According to several reports fastcgi works much faster than mod_php and cgi mode.

Step # 1: Install mod_fcgid

Make sure your ports are upto date:
# portsnap fetch update
Install mod_fcgid:
# cd /usr/ports/www/mod_fcgid
# make install clean

Make sure php supports FastCGI

Make sure php-cgi binary exists and it is compiled with fastcgi support:
# cd /usr/ports/lang/php5
# make showconfig | grep -i FASTCGI

Output:

FASTCGI=on "Enable fastcgi support (CGI only)"

Another way to test fastcgi support, enter:
# /usr/local/bin/php-cgi -v
Output:

PHP 5.2.5 with Suhosin-Patch 0.9.6.2 (cgi-fcgi) (built: Mar  6 2008 09:15:41)
Copyright (c) 1997-2007 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2007 Zend Technologies

If you don't see word cgi-fcgi, recompile php with fastcgi support by visiting /usr/ports/lang/php5
# cd /usr/ports/lang/php5
# make config
# make install clean

Step # 3: Load mod_fcgi module

Open your httpd.conf file located at /usr/local/etc/apache22/ directory:
# vi /usr/local/etc/apache22/httpd.conf
Load mod_fcgi module:
LoadModule fcgid_module libexec/apache22/mod_fcgid.so
Configure mod_fcgi

<IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
    AddHandler fcgid-script .fcgi
    FCGIWrapper /usr/local/bin/php-cgi .php
</IfModule>

Find your DocumentRoot directory configuration option that read as follows:

<Directory "/usr/local/www/apache22/data">

Append following two lines:
SetHandler fcgid-script
FCGIWrapper /usr/local/bin/php-cgi .php
Options ExecCGI

At the end configuration should read as follows:

# This should be changed to whatever you set DocumentRoot to.
<Directory "/usr/local/www/apache22/data">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    SetHandler fcgid-script
    FCGIWrapper /usr/local/bin/php-cgi .php
    Options ExecCGI
  Allow from all
</Directory>

Step # 4: Disable mod_php5

Find line that read as follows:
LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache22/libphp5.so
Comment out line:
#LoadModule php5_module libexec/apache22/libphp5.so
Also make sure following two line (mime type) exists:
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

Save and close the file.

Step # 5: Restart Apache22

Finally, restart apache web server:
# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/apache22 restart

Step # 5: Test mod_fcgi

Use following small program to verify mod_fcgi is working properly:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

You must see Server API as CGI/FastCGI as well as following screen:

(Fig. 01: PHP5 Configured as FastCGI using mod_fcgi)

Further readings:

• mod_fcgid project
• FreeBSD project

Updated for accuracy.