Xcache admin end location

[Archmactrix]

I have installed xcache with easyapache and want to access the xcache admin end. I have set user and password in the xcache configuration, and now I need to move the admin directory to be able to access it.

But first I need help with this:

1. admin directory location

Locating the admin directory gives this result:
/home/cpeasyapache/src/xcache/xcache-2.0.1/admin/

Is that correct?


2. Where exactly should I move it to?

Any information of how to do it would be further appreciated.

3. Xcache doesn't show up when doing php -v. But in phpinfo it's there. Is that a problem?

[Gene Steinberg]

Seems unfortunate that you got no response after all these months. Evidently nobody is using Xcache, or at least knows enough about it to help.

In my case, I just moved it to the admin folder to the public_html directory of one of my domains. But, after configuring the password in accordance with instructions, I could never get it to work. cPanel doesn't help since, despite the script being part of EasyApache, it is not otherwise supported according to them. Curious. Also, the standard configuration basically sets everything at zero, so it's otherwise non-functional until fully configured.

But, as I said, nobody seems to care, and there isn't much out there about solving admin password problems.

Peace,
Gene

[cPScottT]

Hi Gene and Archmactrix,

I'm a member of the EasyApache team here at cPanel. I'm sorry to see that this post didn't receive a reply. Am I understanding correctly that need some help after moving your Xcache admin folder to public_html? Knowing that will help us further research your issue.

Thank you

[Gene Steinberg]

Hi Scott,

I figured out moving the folder.

This link helps:

http://www.gnutoolbox.com/xcache-installation/

My real problem was getting the admin password to be accepted. Turns out one of your support people (who said he'd write up a full report) said that the admin feature is not compatible with FCGI, and recommended another configuration, such as DSO instead.

It's a lot more complicated than that, but you have the basics.

Also, you should be adding some basic Xcache settings in your installation beyond the defaults, which basically turn caching off (memory settings set to zero for example). I realize you have to accommodate a variety of server/hosting packages, but a basic, minimalist setting (say 16M) would be sufficient to make the thing work without hogging memory on a server.

For those of us with more powerful servers (mine's a dual quad-core Xeon, E5540 @ 2.53GHz, 24MB, multi-terabyte drives), I'd like suggestions for best performance.

Currently using XenForo forum software, and WordPress (with xcache opcode cache plugin) on our main domains.

Here's the current setting:

xcache.admin.enable_auth On On
xcache.cacher On On
xcache.coredump_directory no value no value
xcache.count 16 16
xcache.experimental Off Off
xcache.gc_interval 0 0
xcache.mmap_path /dev/zero /dev/zero
xcache.readonly_protection Off Off
xcache.shm_scheme mmap mmap
xcache.size 256M 256M
xcache.slots 8K 8K
xcache.stat On On
xcache.test Off Off
xcache.ttl 14400 14400
xcache.var_count 16 16
xcache.var_gc_interval 300 300
xcache.var_maxttl 14400 14400
xcache.var_size 128M 128M
xcache.var_slots 8K 8K
xcache.var_ttl 14400 14400

Suggestions, improvements, anyone?

Peace,
Gene

[cPScottT]

Hi Gene,

The EasyApache team is still looking at a possible solution for your issue. Thanks for the additional information. We'll get a post up as soon as we have an answer for you!

Thank you

[cPanelJamyn]

Hi Archmactrix,

I have installed xcache with easyapache and want to access the xcache admin end. <snip> Locating the admin directory gives this result:
/home/cpeasyapache/src/xcache/xcache-2.0.1/admin/ - is that correct?

We do not install the Xcache administrative components by default. This is to limit potential exposure of sensitive information, and because the vast majority of our customers never use that interface. Customers typically setup Xcache once and then move on to other items. However, we do leave the source files in /home/cpeasyapache/ as you've noted, in case you would like to install the admin interface yourself.

2. Where exactly should I move it to?

You may move it to any location you prefer. I would not use /admin/ as the folder name, as that's typically scanned by many exploit kits because it's used for so many products. Instead, put the files in a uniquely-named folder.

When choosing a password for the interface, be creative, and use something unique here as well (don't re-use passwords).

Any information of how to do it would be further appreciated

No problem. All of this information is fully covered in detail, within the Xcache Documentation, but here's a quick rundown.

For the purpose of this example, say:
- your cPanel account username will be whatever
- your domain is whatever.com
- the Xcache management user will be bananas
- the Xcache management pass will be FluffyClouds618

Then the following is an example of how to set that up:

1. Create the necessary folders, copy the files in place, and set proper permissions

mkdir /home/whatever/public_html/xcache-view/
cp /home/cpeasyapache/src/xcache/xcache-*/admin/* /home/whatever/public_html/xcache-view/
chown -R whatever.whatever /home/whatever/public_html/xcache-view

2. Get the md5 of the password you want to use.

Xcache comes with a page to do just that, or you could use the php md5() function, or any other md5 utility here. But, assuming we put the Xcache administrative utilities under our example domain, we would simply visit:

http://whatever.com/xcache-view/mkpassword.php

Or if we called PHP directly:

php -r 'print "xcache.admin.pass=" . md5(FluffyClouds618) . "\n";'


So in our example, the resulting hash is: 3ca6c8bfa71fd980fc874386d722e7ce.

3. Update php.ini with your chosen user/password for the Xcache page

xcache.admin.pass=3ca6c8bfa71fd980fc874386d722e7ce
xcache.admin.user=bananas

# back up your ini before making changes
cp /usr/local/lib/php.ini /usr/local/lib/php.ini.`date`

# update the following settings in /usr/local/lib/php.ini:
xcache.admin.enable_auth="On"
xcache.admin.user="bananas"
xcache.admin.pass="aa1c3282887a73c14b710eac607dea31"

4. Test your page

Now, visit your administration page and type in your chosen user/pass. Ex
http://whatever.com/xcache-view/

.

3. Xcache doesn't show up when doing php -v. But in phpinfo it's there. Is that a problem?

No, this is by design. To address any other concerns:

Xcache authentication will not work with CGI or FastCGI. This is not an issue unique to Xcache; it is a limitation of PHP in CGI mode, as the PHP_AUTH variables are not available. In that case, one solution would be to:

1. Set xcache.admin.enable_auth="Off" in /usr/local/lib/php.ini
2. Enable .htaccess password protection for the xcache admin folder in cPanel

Alternatively, if you have a specific need to do so, you may override default Xcache behavior, and implement your own authentication mechanism.

Finally, we do not modify the default settings for Xcache, and this is intentional. This is because each server is unique, and what works very well for customer A would not work for customer B. Each site/server has different needs depending on a wide variety of factors. Some examples:

How many domains are on the server?
Lots of domains may mean lots of files, and a potential need to increase xcache.slots and xcache.size. However, you may have a large number of domains but relatively few PHP files overall, which would mean increasing those values would effectively waste memory.

How much memory does the server have (and how much do you want to use for Xcache?)
Do you want to allocate a (relatively) large amount of memory to Xcache so you can cache "everything", or do you just want to cache the most active PHP pages and save the remaining memory for other services you consider more critical, like MySQL or Exim?

How often do pages change in the cache?
Does your server consist of just a few "heavy", high-traffic websites and a lot of little websites with relatively no traffic? If so, you may just need a small amount of memory for xcache with a large xcache.ttl and xcache.gc_interval. Are your site traffic patterns extremely random? Maybe reducing the TTL or increasing the cache size would help, at the cost of more memory (or a higher swap-out of pages).

All of these decisions depend on traffic patterns, the hardware of your system, and your personal goals for Xcache use. cPanel runs on a wide range of hardware (from almost no memory to a very large amount, from 1 CPU to 8-core and higher) and your client needs can vary widely, so -- similar to mysql tuning -- rather than guessing your needs, it's best if tuning the config is done by a well-informed administrator after careful observation of system use. While we are happy to help you with technical issues via the support system(s) here at cPanel, I recommend reading the Xcache php.ini directives page for an overview of each setting, and then using the Xcache users mailing list as another resource. Thanks!

[Archmactrix]

Thanks a million