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

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/20081106-how-to-enable-nginx-to-serve-php-code-pages-in-ubuntu/152690>\
**Category:** NGINX\
**Created:** [November 6, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/20081106-how-to-enable-nginx-to-serve-php-code-pages-in-ubuntu/152690 "2008-11-06T13:52:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![larios](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@larios](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/larios)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/20081106-how-to-enable-nginx-to-serve-php-code-pages-in-ubuntu/152690/1 "2008-11-06T13:52:03Z")

</div>

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/](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.

— cut here —  
#! /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

# 

— cut here —