20081106 - How to enable Nginx to serve PHP code/pages in UBUNTU

The php5-cgi (until 5.2.4) package does not include a script to
automatically start it in external FASTCGI Mode (Daemon mode).

As there is some confusion on the Internet on how to properly set PHP
script execution in the Nginx Web server, I am attaching the script that
we reliably use at our UBUNTU Linux http://ubuntu.com/ servers.

We use Upstart, the Ubuntu’s native event-based replacement for the
sysvinit daemon.

Note:

20081106: To use Unix domain sockets substitute, in the exec line:

from: exec /usr/bin/sudo -u www-data PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=5

PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=125 /usr/bin/php-cgi -q -b 127.0.0.1:9000

to: exec /usr/bin/sudo -u www-data PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=5

PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=125 /tmp/php-fastcgi.socket

Take care to also change the relevant line(s) in nginx config file(s):

from: fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;

to: fastcgi_pass unix:/tmp/php-fastcgi.socket;

This how we set it up:

sudo tee /etc/event.d/php-fastcgi <<-\EOA

/etc/event.d/php-fastcgi

php-fastcgi - starts php-cgi as an external FASTCGI process

start on runlevel 2
start on runlevel 3
start on runlevel 4
start on runlevel 5
stop on runlevel 0
stop on runlevel 1
stop on runlevel 6
exec /usr/bin/sudo -u www-data PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=5
PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=125 /usr/bin/php-cgi -q -b 127.0.0.1:9000
respawn
EOA

sudo chmod u+x /etc/event.d/php-fastcgi
sudo initctl start php-fastcgi # start php-fastcgi
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart

sudo initctl status php-fastcgi # check if upstart is supervising
ps aux | grep cgi # check the php-cgi running processes

sudo initctl stop php-fastcgi # stop php-fastcgi and all its childs.

Regards,

M.

This is how we install it in Ubuntu/Debian(sudo enabled):
sudo nano /etc/init.d/php-fastcgi # copy and paste the text between
the “— cut here —” to this file and save it (+x, Y, ).
sudo chmod u+x /etc/init.d/php-fastcgi
sudo chown 0.0 /etc/init.d/php-fastcgi
sudo update-rc.d php-fastcgi defaults 21 23

I hope it may also help you at your setups.

M.

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#! /bin/sh

BEGIN INIT INFO

Provides: php-fastcgi

Required-Start: $all

Required-Stop: $all

Default-Start: 2 3 4 5

Default-Stop: 0 1 6

Short-Description: Start and stop php-cgi in external FASTCGI mode

Description: Start and stop php-cgi in external FASTCGI mode

END INIT INFO

Do NOT “set -e”

Default values are enclosed in []

PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

Start php-fastcgi? [no]

START=yes

Read configuration data

NAME=php-fastcgi
DESC=“php-cgi runing in external FASTCGI mode”
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME

Daemon pathname and args: IP=[127.0.0.1], port=[9000]

/usr/bin/php-cgi links to → /etc/alternatives/php-cgi →

/usr/bin/php5-cgi
DAEMON=/usr/bin/php-cgi
DAEMON_ARGS=“-q -b 127.0.0.1:9000”

Which user runs PHP? [www-data]

EXEC_AS_USER=www-data

php-cgi env. variables: spawned children [5] , concurrent requests

[1000]
PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=5
PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=125
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS

Exit if php-cgi is not installed

[ -x “$DAEMON” ] || exit 0

Load rcS variable settings and set (re)start/stop verbosity

[ -f /etc/default/rcS ] && . /etc/default/rcS
VERBOSE=yes

Define LSB log_* functions.

Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.0-6) to ensure that this file is present.

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

If $START not ‘yes’ AND we are not stopping the $DAEMON

if [ “$START” != “yes” -a “$1” != “stop” ]; then
log_warning_msg “To enable $NAME, edit /etc/init.d/$NAME and set
START=yes”
exit 0
fi

do_start()
{

Return values: 0=started ok,1=already running,2=unable to start

start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON
–test > /dev/null || return 1
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --background
–chuid $EXEC_AS_USER --pidfile $PIDFILE --make-pidfile
–exec $DAEMON – $DAEMON_ARGS
|| return 2
}

do_stop()
{

Return values: 0=stopped ok,1=already stopped,2=unable to stop,

other if a failure occurred

start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/30/KILL/5 \
  --pidfile $PIDFILE > /dev/null # --name $DAEMON

RETVAL=“$?”
[ “$RETVAL” = 2 ] && return 2

Wait for children to finish too.

start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --retry=0/30/KILL/5
–exec $DAEMON
[ “$?” = 2 ] && return 2

Many daemons don’t delete their pidfiles when they exit.

rm -f $PIDFILE
return “$RETVAL”
}

case “$1” in
start)
[ “$VERBOSE” != no ] && log_daemon_msg “Starting $DESC”
do_start
case “$?” in
0|1) [ “$VERBOSE” != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
2) [ “$VERBOSE” != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
esac
;;
stop)
[ “$VERBOSE” != no ] && log_daemon_msg “Stopping $DESC”
do_stop
case “$?” in
0|1) [ “$VERBOSE” != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
2) [ “$VERBOSE” != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
esac
;;
restart|force-reload)
log_daemon_msg “Restarting $DESC”
do_stop
case “$?” in
0|1)
do_start
case “$?” in
0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
*) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
esac
;;
*)
# Failed to stop
log_end_msg 1
;;
esac
;;
*)
echo “Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload}” >&2
exit 3
;;
esac

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