After EA3 Multiple PHP 5.x versions [Case 55764]

[Beansprout]

We've been running solely 5.3 on new servers for a while now and have had a tiny handful of issues which were resolved either via a script update or move to a 5.2 server. It's not been a problem at all and running 5.3 by default has made things more efficient and faster.

That said the 5.2/5.3 switch we have on our in-house system is very neat and clients do like it. But I'd rather cpanel kept things simple. Let's not even talk about the 11.30 release

[UH-Matt]

I find the argument that a PHP5.2/PHP5.3 switch is not a justifiable expense very short-sighted from cPanel.

From a hosting provider's point of view we have 2 options:
1. Use PHP5.3 and Lose customers who can't upgrade to PHP5.2
2. Use PHP5.2 and Lose customers who require PCI-DSS compliant hosting / require PHP5.3 for their software

Either way, we lose business.

The suggestion to play the server shuffle & keep moving clients around is a last resort option, but means extra hassle & clients who are asked to move servers, might take the opportunity to move away entirely.

I've seen quite a few hosting competitors of ours who provide a PHP5.2/PHP5.3 switch in their control panel, obviously they are not using cPanel

So bottom line is that hosting providers who trust in cPanel are left worse off than their competition, and either play a server shuffle or lose clients.

I back this sentiment entirely.

Cpanel have been talking in this thread for months and months now, and not one person has said "no don't bother with this", everyone on this thread wants and needs this feature in Cpanel if only to compete with other products and providers out there who do provide such switches between versions to their customers.

So now its been several months again since any Cpanel comment, what work has been done? When will this vital improvement to Cpanel be in place and usable?

[cPanelDavidG]

I back this sentiment entirely.

Cpanel have been talking in this thread for months and months now, and not one person has said "no don't bother with this", everyone on this thread wants and needs this feature in Cpanel if only to compete with other products and providers out there who do provide such switches between versions to their customers.

So now its been several months again since any Cpanel comment, what work has been done? When will this vital improvement to Cpanel be in place and usable?

Much of this has already been addressed, but I realize, practically speaking, most people don't have the patience to read through 4 pages of "I want this too" posts to locate these answers. So, to recap:

- I talked to the developer who oversees much of the development on EasyApache about this. The result: PHP 5.2/5.3 concurrency cannot be easily accommodated in EasyApache 3
- The quantity of effort that would be required to get EasyApache 3 to accommodate this is so significant, a complete rewrite of EA would be much faster, easier and more productive in the long-term.
- We are already considering a significant rewrite of EA anyway to accommodate the many varied deployment suggestions we've received over the years since EA3 was originally released anyway
- It has been decided that accommodating this will not happen in EasyApache 3 (hence the "After EA3" prefix on this thread)
- This is a scenario I mention in nearly every conversation I have with the developers about EA3's successor, it is a scenario they are very mindful of accommodating in EA3's successor.
- The interim workaround for facilities with multiple cPanel&WHM servers is to have a server for your customers that still need PHP 5.2, and when they need PHP 5.3, migrate them to a different cPanel&WHM server.

Unfortunately "reminded the developers about this in a meeting" makes for some boring forum posts from me, but if you really want me to post those, I can. I realize the lack of any posts similar to "hey, here's an update" make it seem like we're ignoring this issue even if that is entirely contrary to what is actually happening. This is still in the planning stages, not because it's a difficult concept to understand, but because it requires a much bigger rewrite that itself is in the planning stages and this feature will need to work with the capabilities of that new framework which is not yet finalized.

As for those that focus on the availability of specific buttons in a control panel, use the cPanel Plugin Generator to create an icon that says "Upgrade to PHP 5.3" that then triggers a URL (via a JavaScript onclick event) that opens a ticket in your support system so you can then move their account to a server running PHP 5.3. This is not a permanent solution, just proposing an interim workaround until we can get this done properly.

I don't think we need any more +1, "I want this" type of posts on this specific request because thanks to everyone's feedback here, and at conferences, we understand there is a legitimate long-term need for this functionality from most that deploy cPanel&WHM. At a bare minimum, given that the PHP project has done a major rewrite of PHP in a minor version uptick with 5.3 (originally slated to be PHP 6), it should be anticipated this will happen again and thus should be accommodated anyway.

As for the urgency of this issue, I will say in my constant contact with the folks that work on EasyApache in the year or so since I first talked to them about this, the necessary rewrite hasn't been far from their minds, ongoing discussion, etc.

[Kent Brockman]

Well, glad to hear that. I hope the sucessor of EA3 has the ability to accomodate several versions of PHP even in the same branch. If I have to be realistic, I don't expect that a full rewrite of EA may be completed within 2011, so guys, I realize I shouldn't remind you to take in account that future versions of PHP may pose a technical challenge and will be a lot of cPanel customers wanting to migrate to 5.3, 5.4, 6.0, 6.1, or even stick to 5.2 or worst, 4.4... and there are also a lot of WHM customers who cannot afford to have one separated server setup for every PHP version. In those future scenarios, EA flexibility to cope with several versions of PHP will be more mission critical than it actually is.
Regards.

[iqbec]

Hi,

I am currently trying 1h hive... ...this is a tool (an expensive one : 30$ per month!!!!) allowing to run up to 6 different php versions on the same server + to perform something similar to LVE, but at the process level (LVE of CloudLinux only encapsulate the account... Hive do something similar, but at the process level instead).

I would like to get something allowing to run many php versions on the same server, FROM CPANEL ... cause Hive, even if it's expensive, cause many issues with cron, and change many things in Apache... ...just ran into many issues because i was using this product...

...i think, if cPanel peoples were developing something similar, it should just be better : no issues, no problems, since cPanel is the best control panel! (needed to wait about 24 hours to get support from 1h with their 30$ product, but 5 minutes to get support from cPanel ;-)

Hive is more expensive than cPanel itself... ...maybe peoples from cPanel should release a different version of cPanel, bit more expensive, including the same functionalities + monitoring (similar to 1h guardian with it's portal).

I do not mean to do not give a try to 1h... still thinking it's a good product, once it's installed and running properly (after many 1h support ticket opens ) but, it should be better to use something supported by cPanel, with native integration...

Hope to see those features integrated in cPanel soon (maybe cPanel could buy 1h lol! )

Cheers!

[AlexAT]

Yes, with EA4 please do add support for virtually any new PHP versions.
5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.0, 15.xx etc.
And even more: 5.3.1, 5.3.2 etc. - server owner should personally choose which and how many versions he need on this server.

But current headache is 100% the 5.2->5.3 compatibility.

Thank you!

[alberto0o]

Hi, i am still waiting for this...

[jack01]

Any idea what is the e.t.a. for EA4? - Thanks.

[cPanelDavidG]

Any idea what is the e.t.a. for EA4? - Thanks.

No ETA yet, but as this would alleviate many issues it is currently a priority for our developers.

[Kent Brockman]

No ETA yet, but as this would alleviate many issues it is currently a priority for our developers.

Great to hear about that. Thank you so much

[arhs]

Any idea what is the latest ETA for EA4?

Thanks,

[deth4uall]

I have been just manually compiling the versions of PHP and making sure that I have a consistent development PHP for my users to test out PHP versions before the upgrade happens.

/http://darkprospect.net/2011/10/how-to-compile-php-dev-for-cpanel/ details what I did to get mine working the way I want, I just need to do the full thing once and the rest is just repeating the compile stage to push the new version into the phpdev spot.

Having a feature that allowed for me to install "testing" versions before they are released would be great, because then I would not need to do the above repeatedly.

[cPanelDavidG]

Any idea what is the latest ETA for EA4?

Thanks,

Not sure at the moment, it definitely wont be 11.32 though.

[ramorse]

Wow. This thread is nearly 2 years old and there is still no solution from cpanel. Very frustrating.

[Kent Brockman]

Not sure at the moment, it definitely wont be 11.32 though.

Hi, this would be a really good feature, since PHP 4 have been already deprecated and migration to 5.4 compatible scripts is difficult without making a first approach and allow to test in 5.2/5.3 first.

I wish cPanel have time to materialize this request even if it may be released for 11.34.