Recommended server mode for EA?
Hi all
New poster here. I have installed EA using the build available here (thanks!) for both 5.1.4 and 5.1.6, and as far as I can tell at this early stage, both work fine with a symfony framework application I am running. I am using Apache 2.0.59 for both and it really was plug-n-play.
I am not much of an expert on server configuration, and wondered what server mode EA generally runs best in (we are presently using Apache2Handler and a reasonable speed increase is already noticeable). We don't have a large number of concurrent users so reliability is more key for us than speed. Is FastCGI a good approach, or is mod_php better? What do users here find the simplest to set up? I presume in using Apache2Handler, scripts do not persist in memory from one request to another?
Thanks all. And thanks Chris for providing the binaries - it is very useful for those of us without the necessary compilation tools!
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mod_php or FastCGI
Hi Halfer,
I run a few sites (all Drupal sites ;-) ) under mod_php and other under FastCGI. I try my sites using mod_php until I have a reliability problem. From what I understand this problem is not EA specific but related to the stack Apache+PHP+windows.
Running under mod_php with EA will be the perfect performance boost (kinda php become html pages).
The nice thing about Apache under Windows versus IIS is you can run multiple instances without any issue. So you could configure a second Apache running PHP under FastCGI and switch over any site with some traffic. FACTCGI basically recycle your Apache+PHP instance and provide for a very stable stack. Everytime it recycles, your EA cache is cleared...but since these are sites with some traffic the cache is recreated "quickly".
Another idea (still waiting for the time to test) is to run IIS + PHP + EA and use Apache has some proxy server to IIS. I've been running IIS 4.x 5.x + PHP (4.x) + EA since years and never had a stability issues.
Cheers,
Chris
FastCGI seems like a good idea
Hi Chris, and apologies for the seriously belated reply. I post here for the benefit of other users who may be frustrated getting a highly solid Apache to run under a Win environment.
I launched a symfony/Oracle application for customers a couple of days ago, and with PHP 5.1.6, Apache 2.0.59, and eA 0.95, we have had serious stability issues. I've taken the advice on the Apache site and this improved things, but not by much; traffic spikes now bring the service down after ten hours rather than four! The traffic isn't particularly heavy either - we're talking solid use by twenty or so users (so the box has to deal with maybe five concurrent users) over a period of several hours.
Accordingly at present I have configured a schedule to restart the Apache2 service every three hours - not elegant admittedly, but better than having no web app for frustrated users at 4am in the morning! Meanwhile I will take your advice and add FastCGI to the stack. I am determined to get a really reliable Apache/Win environment running, as if we don't it will add fuel to current discussions to port to Win/.net (eek).
Incidentally I haven't found any issues with eA with PHP 5.1.6, and if/when we port to 5.2.1 I shall look forward to getting the latest version. Meantime, thanks for your advice.