PHP-FPM does have some advantages depending on the solution and the common path is to use Nginx with PHP-FPM. However what happens when you want to utilize the normal features of Apache, such as basics like .htaccess files, but still keep the tuning options open that come with PHP-FPM? Well, there is a module for that!
This guide is going to assume a fresh Ubuntu 16.04 server to illustrate everything from start to finish, and will assume that all sites on this server will use the same php-fpm pool.
First, installed the required packages for your web server:
[root@web01 ~]# apt-get update [root@web01 ~]# apt-get install php7.0-fpm apache2
Now confirm or update the Apache configuration to use the mpm_event_module instead of the mpm_prefork_module:
[root@web01 ~]# a2enmod actions [root@web01 ~]# apache2ctl -M | grep mpm [root@web01 ~]# a2dismod mpm_prefork [root@web01 ~]# a2dismod mpm_worker [root@web01 ~]# a2enmod mpm_event
Then tell Apache to send all PHP requests over to PHP-FPM by creating a new configuration file:
[root@web01 ~]# vim /etc/apache2/conf-available/php.conf <FilesMatch \.php$> SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/" </FilesMatch>
Enable the new Apache PHP configuration:
[root@web01 ~]# a2enconf php.conf
Confirm PHP-FPM is set to use sockets instead of TCP connections for performance purposes, and also confirm the following additional settings:
[root@web01 ~]# vim /etc/php/7.0/fpm/pool.d/www.conf ; listen = 127.0.0.1:9000 listen = /run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock ... listen.owner = www-data listen.group = www-data listen.mode = 0660 user = www-data group = www-data
Enable FCGI proxy, then restart Apache and PHP-FPM to apply the changes above:
[root@web01 ~]# a2enmod proxy_fcgi [root@web01 ~]# systemctl restart apache2 [root@web01 ~]# systemctl restart php7.0-fpm
If you are using a software firewall on the server, open ports 80/443 accordingly. This example will open them up to the world. Adjust yours accordingly:
[root@web01 ~]# ufw allow 80 [root@web01 ~]# ufw allow 443
Finally, test a site to ensure PHP is working and is using PHP-FPM by creating the file below, then visiting the page at x.x.x.x/info.php:
[root@web01 ~]# vim /var/www/html/info.php <?php phpinfo(); ?>
And your done!
Using multiple PHP-FPM pools
What happens if you want to isolate each site to their own PHP-FPM pool instead of using a shared pool? That is easy enough to do. Assuming that you followed everything in this guide to get to this point, do the following.
First, disable the global Apache configuration for PHP:
[root@web01 ~]# a2disconf php.conf
Create a new PHP-FPM pool for this specific site and update it accordingly:
[root@web01 ~]# cp /etc/php/7.0/fpm/pool.d/www.conf /etc/php/7.0/fpm/pool.d/example.com.conf
[root@web01 ~]# vim /etc/php/7.0/fpm/pool.d/example.com.conf
; Start a new pool named 'www'.
; the variable $pool can be used in any directive and will be replaced by the
; pool name ('www' here)
[example.com]
...
; listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
listen = /run/php/www.example.com-php7.0-fpm.sock
...
listen.owner = www-data
listen.group = www-data
listen.mode = 0660
user = www-data
group = www-data
Then update the site’s Apache vhost to point to a new PHP-FPM pool in both the 80 and 443 stanzas. Be sure to update the socket accordingly for your site in the 2 sections below! (ie: unix:/run/php/www.example.com-php7.0-fpm.sock)
[root@web01 ~]# vim /etc/httpd/vhost.d/example.com.conf
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/vhosts/example.com
# Send PHP requests to php-fpm
<FilesMatch \.php$>
SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/www.example.com-php7.0-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
</FilesMatch>
...
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
DocumentRoot /var/www/vhosts/example.com
# Send PHP requests to php-fpm
<FilesMatch \.php$>
SetHandler "proxy:unix:/run/php/www.example.com-php7.0-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/"
</FilesMatch>
...
Enable FCGI proxy, then restart Apache and PHP-FPM to apply the changes above:
[root@web01 ~]# a2enmod proxy_fcgi [root@web01 ~]# systemctl restart php7.0-fpm [root@web01 ~]# systemctl restart apache2
Finally, test a site to ensure PHP is working and is using PHP-FPM by creating the file below, then visiting the page at example.com/info.php:
[root@web01 ~]# vim /var/www/vhosts/example.com/info.php <?php phpinfo(); ?>
And your done!