Old version 1.4.xx has mod_fastcgi for PHP. This module has been replaced by mod_proxy_backend_fastcgi and mod_proxy_core in Lighttpd 1.5.xx.
FastCGI was developed by FastCGI and is a binary container around HTTP requests which reduces the parsing overhead.
FastCGI used for both PHP and rails application. In this small howto I will explain howto configure PHP under Lighttpd 1.5.xx.
Required softwares
[a] Make sure you have Lighttpd v1.5.xx installed [b] spawn-fcgi binary (part of lighttpd software) to spawns fastcgi processes. It is used to spawn remote/local FastCGI processes such as PHP or ruby. [c] PHP compiled / installed as fastcgi. Type the following command to verify that php is installed as fastcgi binary (look for cgi-fcgi word):$ php-cgi -v
OR
$ php -v
Output:
PHP 5.1.6 (cgi-fcgi) (built: Mar 9 2007 07:25:36) Copyright (c) 1997-2006 The PHP Group Zend Engine v2.1.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2006 Zend Technologies
mod_proxy_backend_fastcgi configuration
Open configuration file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
# vi /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
Make sure following modules are loaded:
server.modules += ( "mod_proxy_core", "mod_proxy_backend_fastcgi" )
Configure fastcgi PGP module by appending following configuration directives:
$HTTP["url"] =~ "\.php$" { proxy-core.balancer = "round-robin" proxy-core.allow-x-sendfile = "enable" proxy-core.check-local = "enable" proxy-core.protocol = "fastcgi" proxy-core.backends = ( "unix:/tmp/php-fastcgi.sock" ) proxy-core.max-pool-size = 16 }
Save and close the file.
Task: Start lighttpd
Type the following command to swap php using spawn-fcgi:
# /usr/bin/spawn-fcgi -s /tmp/php-fastcgi.sock -f /usr/bin/php-cgi -u lighttpd -g lighttpd -C 5 -P /var/run/spawn-fcgi.pid
Start/restart lighttpd:
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd start
Task: Stop lighttpd
Type the following command:
# /etc/init.d/lighttpd stop
Kill external php process:
# killall php-cgi
Task: Patch lighttpd init startup script
Since lighttpd uses external binary to swap php or ruby application you need to add stop and start functionality by patching /etc/init.d/lighttpd file. You can grab my /etc/init.d/lighttpd file .
# cd /etc/init.d/
# mv lighttpd lighttpd.old
# wget http://www.cyberciti.biz/files/lighttpd/1.5.0/lighttpd.init.d.txt
# mv lighttpd.init.d.txt lighttpd
# chmod +x lighttpd
🐧 10 comments so far... add one ↓
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Just wanted to mention that PHP 5.3 has fcgi enabled by default, and the output of the “php -v” command won’t containg the “cgi” word ..
After following all the steps when i am trying to start lighttpd its showing me this error:
Can’t open /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
any clue wil be very much appreciated , please
Are you using RHEL / CentOS or Fedora?
Very usefull … greate thanx but I found /etc/init.d/spawn-cgi
edited it and got the result!
Thank you for apwn-fcgi command.
I was install Lighttpd 1.5 and get problem with php engine.
After apwan-fcgi I can run .php file.
Thanks for this very informative tutorial, I was able to compile and get lighttpd 1.5.0 running but I’m having a problem with the init script to run spawn-fcgi and lighttpd automatically. I’m using ubuntu 8.10 and the script that you have does not seem to work.
Can you please provide instructions on how I can configure lighttpd on ubuntu and also using virtual host.
Thanks 🙂
Thanks for the spawn-fcgi tips! This was a lifesaver.
Included it in my post about setting up uploaders with lighttpd here:
Lighttpd 1.5 and PHP (Uber-Uploader too)
good job dude, just upgraded today from 1.4.18 to 1.5 and was surprise to see the fastCGI system fuly rewrote, but finnally that’s better I no more have to use the 3rd party tool execwrap now because spawn-cgi does the job, thanks for the nice page dude, already ready for 1.5.x by your help 😉
thanks!
Ah, nice work. I’ll have to play with this once 1.5x comes out officially. Bookmarked till then.