suPHP

SuExec is for all CGI scripts (such as those coded in Perl or Python).

SuPHP is only for PHP scripts not running as CGI (e.g. running as DSO, SuPHP).

Enabling SuPHP alone will not affect CGI Perl scripts running on your server.

 

That's the reason I don't use eAccelerator although, with my server, it has at best a very modest advantage.

Peace,
Gene

 

I'm not suffering from a speed hit on my own sites (check www.theparacast.com to see).

But faster is always better.

Peace,
Gene

 

My server only contains my own sites (six so far). Lots of traffic and page views, but I suppose that makes for an easier load. I didn't see a huge improvement with DSO and eAccelerator, but it was a bit better. I killed it, because I didn't appreciate all the permissions headaches that were added in that environment.

If there was even a slight improvement with eAccelerator and suPHP, I'd consider it as a test.

 

I'm fairly certain that eAccelerator, APC, and XCache all have to be ran in a persistent environment (dso, fastcgi) to have any effect at caching.

The worst part of suPHP is the overhead you incur whilst creating a new process for each execution. You might look into using FastCGI, it takes a little bit of work since cPanel uses a very basic and insecure configuration, but the benefits are worth it in the end.

 

How about suggesting an Easy Apache configuration that might be suitable?

I'm not the most knowledgeable bout such things. But I know enough to stay out of trouble -- most of the time. :D

Peace,
Gene

 

I agree. Should we be choosing FastCGI instead of suPHP, and would that give us the option of moving to eAccelerator within a "persistent environment"?

Also, would choosing fcgi return all those permissions issues I solved when going to suPHP?

Advise, counsel, and general information appreciated.

Peace,
Gene

 

I wanted to add one more thing. Despite checking suPHP I do see FastCGI is enabled, per the phpinfo listing from my server:

Server API CGI/FastCGI

So, we go back to the other issues, for which I would appreciate some answers.

Peace,
Gene

 

SuPHP and FastCGI are not even remotely the same thing and no
security or other configuration tweaks are going to give you the
security of SuPHP verses operating a plain CGI PHP under FastCGI
without using SuPHP.

The advantages of having SuPHP verses anything else whether it
be apache module based, regular cgi, FastCGI, with or without
phpsuexec and so on is just too overwhelming to list all of the
advantages and benefits you gain just by using SuPHP!

Now regarding the original thread poster's question more ....

Talking about performance of SuPHP, I am not entirely sure where exactly
the question is stemming from because I have been running SuPHP on many,
many servers all the way back since it was originally created a number of years ago
and I have not really run into any serious performance impairments even
on the most heavily loaded servers. The worst of which probably had
1100 cpanel server accounts with 65% of those moderate to heavy
traffic sites and really didn't notice all that much impact from SuPHP
which is generally only slightly slower than direct module based PHP
and often much faster than direct CGI without SuPHP ironically.

If you are running into performance issues, the cause may be more that
of a configuration issue or some other underlying process going on
totally separate from your SuPHP. There are things that can be done
to tweak and optimize your SuPHP configuration but I'd be willing to bet
you have something else going on under there if you are actually seeing
a humanly noticable degradation in your server performance.

I'd be willing to give you a hand and take a look if you like.

 

You are also free to check my config and advise me as to what I'm using and what's necessary and what isn't. In my case, I copied the setups in Easy Apache from previous hosts (HostGator and HostICan), with only minor changes.

Switching the PHP 5 handler from SuPHP to fcgi and installing eAccelerator a couple of days ago, as an experiment, gave me a measurable 20-30% boost in performance. I didn't expect that!

You can see the current config here:

http://www.macnightowl.com/phpinfo.php

Enjoy.

Peace,
Gene