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5.1.1 Installing FastCGI

The Roadsend PHP Web Interpretor and Compiled Web Applications use the FastCGI interface. FastCGI is an extension to the industry standard Common Gateway Interface (CGI) that was developed as a superior solution for interfacing web servers to high performance applications.

FastCGI support must be available in your web server before installing the Roadsend PHP web interpreter or compiled web applications. FastCGI is available for many web servers on a variety of platforms. The most popular are listed below. Please see the FastCGI website if your web server is not listed.

Acquiring FastCGI for your web server

Unix users should check their system distribution for a prepackaged version of mod_fastcgi, lighttpd, or use one of the links below.

Windows users should use one of the links provided below.

Check the main FastCGI website for support for other web servers and platforms.

Notes on FastCGI for Apache

Apache has two modules that provide FastCGI support. In this manual we have documented the standard mod_fastcgi available from the main FastCGI website. The other module, mod_fcgid is available at http://fastcgi.coremail.cn/. This module is compatible but requires different Apache settings which are not documented here.

Enabling FastCGI In Apache

On Windows, start by renaming mod_fastcgi-2.4.2-APnn.dll to mod_fastcgi.so and place it in your c:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache\modules directory.

Load the module by adding mod_fastcgi.so to your Apache configuration. Associate it with the .fcgi extension.

             <IfModule !mod_fastcgi.c>
                     LoadModule fastcgi_module     modules/mod_fastcgi.so
             </IfModule>
     
             <IfModule mod_fastcgi.c>
                     AddHandler fastcgi-script .fcgi
                     FastCgiConfig -initial-env PATH
             </IfModule>

Additional directives for mod_fastcgi are documented at http://www.fastcgi.com/mod_fastcgi/docs/mod_fastcgi.html.

You must restart Apache after making these changes.

Enabling FastCGI In lighttpd

Add mod_fastcgi to the server modules:

     server.modules += ("mod_fastcgi")

This may already be done for you in the mod_fastcgi.conf file, which you can include from lighttpd.conf

For more detailed documentation on FastCGI support in lighttpd, see http://www.lighttpd.net/documentation/fastcgi.html.

Installation Conclusion

Please note, the instructions above merely enable FastCGI support in your web server.