Install PHP5 On Fedora 10 and Apache2 with mod_fcgid

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For this guide, we have to use a Fedora 10 server with some hostname, consider it to be server1.example.com and the IP address 192.168.XXX.XXX.

Now try to create two Apache vhosts, consider it to be www.example1.com and www.example2.com, for demonstration of application of mod_fcgid.

Staring with this guide, Ensure that SELinux option is disabled with the help of Open /etc/selinux/config.

vi /etc/selinux/config

and try to set it as SELINUX in order to disable it:

This file helps you to control the state of SELinux on the working system:

SELINUX= can take one of these three values:
      enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced.
      permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing.
      disabled - No SELinux policy is loaded.
SELINUX=disabled
      SELINUXTYPE= can take one of these two values:
      targeted - Targeted processes are protected,
      mls - Multi Level Security protection.
SELINUXTYPE=targeted

Execute

setenforce 0

This will help you for making changes in order to take effect.

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Installation Procedure of Apache2/mod_fcgi/PHP5:

Steps to install Apache2/mod_fcgi/Php5 is as follows:

yum install httpd mod_fcgid php-cli 

If you have already installed Apache2 with PHP5 just as an Apache module, you can disable the PHP5 module by opening /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf.

vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf 

Try to comment the entire content from the file:


PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language which attempts to make it
easy for developers to write dynamically generated webpages.

LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
Cause the PHP interpreter to handle files with a .php extension.
AddHandler php5-script .php
AddType text/html .php
Add index.php to the list of files that will be served as directory
indexes.

DirectoryIndex index.php
Uncomment the following line to allow PHP to pretty-print .phps
files as PHP source code:

AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps 

Try to create a system startup link for apache in order to start it:

chkconfig --levels 235 httpd on
/etc/init.d/httpd restart 

Then the next step is to open it:

vi /etc/php.ini 

Also add a code just at the end of the file:

cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1 

Then try to reload Apache:

/etc/init.d/httpd reload 

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Steps To Create Vhosts For www.example1.com As well as www.example2.com:

Now you have to create two vhosts, www.example1.com with the help of document root /var/www/web1/web and www.example2.com with the help of document root /var/www/web2/web. The example www.example1.com will be used and worked by the user and by the group web1, and www.example2.com owned by the user and by the group web2.

Initially try to create users and groups:

groupadd web1
groupadd web2
useradd -s /bin/false -d /var/www/web1 -m -g web1 web1
useradd -s /bin/false -d /var/www/web2 -m -g web2 web2
chmod 755 /var/www/web1
chmod 755 /var/www/web2

Then try to create the document roots and make them accessed by the users/groups web1 resp. web2:

mkdir -p /var/www/web1/web
chown web1:web1 /var/www/web1/web
mkdir -p /var/www/web2/web
chown web2:web2 /var/www/web2/web

Now execute PHP using suExec; suExec's document root is /var/www, as per the below provided command explains:

/usr/sbin/suexec -V

[root@server1 ~] /usr/sbin/suexec -V
-D AP_DOC_ROOT="/var/www"
-D AP_GID_MIN=100
-D AP_HTTPD_USER="apache"
-D AP_LOG_EXEC="/var/log/httpd/suexec.log"
-D AP_SAFE_PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
-D AP_UID_MIN=500
-D AP_USERDIR_SUFFIX="public_html"
[root@server1 ~]

It's actually not possible to call the PHP binary /usr/bin/php-cgi directly as it is actually located beyond suExec's document root. suExec will not allow symlinks, the only path for solving this problem is by creating a wrapper script for every web site in a provided subdirectory of /var/www; the wrapper script will then be able to call the PHP binary /usr/bin/php-cgi. The wrapper script must be accessed by the user and group of every web site, thus here you require a wrapper script for every web site. Try to create the wrapper scripts in provided subdirectories of /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts, e.g. /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web1 and /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2.

mkdir -p /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web1
mkdir -p /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2

vi /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web1/php-fcgi-starter 

/bin/sh
PHPRC=/etc/
export PHPRC
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=8
exec /usr/bin/php-cgi

vi /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2/php-fcgi-starter 

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The PHPRC line consists of the directory where the php.ini file is actually located /etc/ translates to /etc/php.ini. PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS will be the maximum number of requests applied as an fcgid process will be stopped for and a new one will be launched. PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN also try to define the number of PHP children which will be actually launched.

The php-fcgi-starter scripts will get executed, and they are actually present the directories which must be actually accessed by the web site's owner and group:

chmod 755 /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web1/php-fcgi-starter
chmod 755 /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2/php-fcgi-starter
chown -R web1:web1 /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web1
chown -R web2:web2 /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2 

Also you can try to create the Apache vhosts for the www.example1.com and www.example2.com. Also you can add the required two vhosts at the end of /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:

vi /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

NameVirtualHost *:80

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName www.example1.com
  ServerAlias example1.com
  ServerAdmin webmaster@example1.com
  DocumentRoot /var/www/web1/web/

  <IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
    SuexecUserGroup web1 web1
    PHP_Fix_Pathinfo_Enable 1
    <Directory /var/www/web1/web/>
      Options +ExecCGI
      AllowOverride All
      AddHandler fcgid-script .php
      FCGIWrapper /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web1/php-fcgi-starter .php
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from all
    </Directory>
  </IfModule>

  # ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
  # CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
  ServerSignature Off

</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName www.example2.com
  ServerAlias example2.com
  ServerAdmin webmaster@example2.com
  DocumentRoot /var/www/web2/web/

  <IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
    SuexecUserGroup web2 web2
    PHP_Fix_Pathinfo_Enable 1
    <Directory /var/www/web2/web/>
      Options +ExecCGI
      AllowOverride All
      AddHandler fcgid-script .php
      FCGIWrapper /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2/php-fcgi-starter .php
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from all
    </Directory>
  </IfModule>

  # ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
  # CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
  ServerSignature Off

</VirtualHost> 

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Try to Ensure you fill in the correct options and the correct owner and group in the SuexecUserGroup lines.

Try to Reload Apache later:

/etc/init.d/httpd reload

Testing:

Try to create a small PHP test file, for instance such as in the www.example1.com web site.

vi /var/www/web1/web/info.php

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

and then try to call the file present inside the browser http://www.example1.com/info.php). If everything works fine, the output you will recieve will be similar to this, and you should check CGI/FastCGI in the Server API line:

Custom php.ini for Each Web Site:

As every web site consists of its own php-fcgi-starter wrapper script, it can be a case in order to define different php.ini files for some different web sites. In order to demonstrate this activity, you have to copy the default php.ini /etc/php.ini to the /var/www/web2/ directory and create www.example2.com will help you to apply the php.ini from the /var/www/web2/ directory:

cp /etc/php.ini /var/www/web2/
chown web2:web2 /var/www/web2/php.ini 

You are also able to modify /var/www/web2/php.ini to your likings.

Then you can try to open /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2/php-fcgi-starter.

vi /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2/php-fcgi-starter 

Then try to insert /var/www/web2/ in the PHPRC line:

!/bin/sh
PHPRC=/var/www/web2/
export PHPRC
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=8
exec /usr/bin/php-cgi 

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Try to reload Apache later:

/etc/init.d/httpd reload

You can create a new phpinfo(); file for www.example2.com.

vi /var/www/web2/web/info.php

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Try to call this inside a browser by typing http://www.example2.com/info.php. The Loaded Configuration File line will display /var/www/web2/php.ini:

Change Single PHP Configuration Settings:

You can escape from passing the entire new php.ini file on your web site, you are also able to change single PHP configuration settings in the php-fcgi-starter wrapper script or can apply a combination of both just by inserting the -d switch on the PHP executable. For example, if you are not able to disable magic_quotes_gpc for the web site www.example2.com, you have to just perform as follows:

vi /var/www/php-fcgi-scripts/web2/php-fcgi-starter

/bin/sh
PHPRC=/etc/
export PHPRC
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=8
exec /usr/bin/php-cgi -d magic_quotes_gpc=off 

You can alos Reload Apache later:

/etc/init.d/httpd reload

You are also able to call the info.php script inside a browser http://www.example2.com/info.php and then try to search for the magic_quotes_gpc line - which will be displayed: