I’ve now changed my slice from running lighttpd to nginx. Here’s the simplest way, in around 6 commands, to get PHP up and running via FastCGI.
Install and setup
Install PHP 5:
sudo aptitude install php5-cgi
Install nginx:
sudo aptitude install nginx
Create PHP 5 FastCGI start-up script:
sudo nano /etc/init.d/php-fastcgi
Inside, put:
#!/bin/bash
BIND=127.0.0.1:9000
USER=www-data
PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=15
PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=1000
PHP_CGI=/usr/bin/php-cgi
PHP_CGI_NAME=`basename $PHP_CGI`
PHP_CGI_ARGS="- USER=$USER PATH=/usr/bin PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=$PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=$PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS $PHP_CGI -b $BIND"
RETVAL=0
start() {
echo -n "Starting PHP FastCGI: "
start-stop-daemon --quiet --start --background --chuid "$USER" --exec /usr/bin/env -- $PHP_CGI_ARGS
RETVAL=$?
echo "$PHP_CGI_NAME."
}
stop() {
echo -n "Stopping PHP FastCGI: "
killall -q -w -u $USER $PHP_CGI
RETVAL=$?
echo "$PHP_CGI_NAME."
}
case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
restart)
stop
start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: php-fastcgi {start|stop|restart}"
exit 1
;;
esac
exit $RETVAL
Make start-up script executable:
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/php-fastcgi
Launch PHP:
sudo /etc/init.d/php-fastcgi start
Launch at start-up:
sudo update-rc.d php-fastcgi defaults
That’s it. All installed and ready to go.
Test
In your server config, add the following:
location ~ \.php$ {
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /var/www/nginx-default$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
Restart nginx:
sudo /etc/init.d/nginx restart
Create a file in your web root (in the example above, /var/www/nginx-default/test.php):
<?php
phpinfo();
Visit the page in your browser and you should see the standard PHP info page. And you’re done.
Source: Aberration