The Options Lists

Short options list

This screen lists what, for most systems, are the most relevant and useful options to integrate with Apache.

• FrontPage®
• Mod SuPHP
  • This module is the replacement for EasyApache 1’s PHPSuexec patches. This module provides an easy way of running PHP as the owner of the VirtualHost who is serving the request.
• UniqueID
  • Apache Version 1.3
  • Apache Version 2.0
  • Apache Version 2.2
• Mod Bandwidth
  • Apache Version 1.3
  • Apache Version 2.x
• Tomcat
  • Tomcat Version 5.5
• Mod Mono
• Mod Perl
  • mod_perl Version 2.0.x

The following options only appear when PHP is enabled.

• Suhosin for PHP
• SourceGuardian Loader for PHP
• Zend Optimizer for PHP
• EAccelerator for PHP
• IonCube Loader for PHP
  • A loader handles the reading and execution of encoded files at runtime.

Exhaustive options list

Apache options related to PHP

This section will review a number of Apache options that directly affect how PHP is served.

• CGI (mod_cgi) -- This module is required for Apache to execute CGI scripts. We strongly recommend leaving this option enabled. Disabling it will prevent mod_cgi from serving PHP pages.
• CGID (mod_cgid) -- This module is only available for Apache 2.x and is required as a replacement for mod_cgi when using threaded MPMs. If you wish to use a threaded MPM, make sure this module is enabled.
• Mod FCGID -- This module is only available with Apache 2.x and allows Apache to create and manage FastCGI server processes that remain in memory between HTTP requests. Because any binary capable of using the FastCGI protocol can be managed using this module, you can enable mod_fcgid independently of FastCGI support in PHP. This would, for instance, allow you to serve Ruby via FastCGI.
  • Warning: FastCGI is an advanced tool requiring a detailed configuration. It is not recommended for new or inexperienced administrators.
  • For FastCGI documentation, click here.
• MPMs -- These modules are only available with Apache 2.x. It is important to remember that only one of these modules can be enabled for Apache 2.0 and 2.2. MPMs allow you to fine-tune how resources are allocated when serving HTTP requests. EasyApache will automatically enable or disable Zend Thread Safe support in PHP, depending upon which MPM you select.
  • Prefork -- This MPM is recommended by cPanel. It causes Apache to fork before requests are made.
    • Important: If you are using libphp4 or libphp5, you must select Prefork.
  • Event -- Divides the task of serving a single HTTP request across multiple threads.
  • Worker -- Apache forks several times to prevent a single crash from killing the entire Apache process, then each forked process creates numerous threads.

Warnining: Before enabling any MPM, you should read and understand its documentation. You can find the documentation for MPMs here, in Apache's documentation.

• Mod SuPHP -- This module is the replacement for EasyApache 1’s PHPSuexec patches. This module provides an easy way of running PHP as the owner of the VirtualHost who is serving the request.

Important PHP options

Most PHP options simply enable an extension that is shipped with PHP. This section, however, will discuss options that have subtle interactions or effects on how PHP is served.

• CGI -- This option is enabled by default. Disabling this option will cause a PHP CLI binary to install in /usr/bin/php and /usr/local/bin/php. When no CGI binary is available, your server will be unable to serve PHP requests without DSO.
• Concurrent DSO patch -- By default, Apache is unable to load libphp4 and libphp5 simultaneously. This option applies a patch to PHP that versions objects in libphp4 and libphp5. This option will also create new Apache directives so that both PHP 4 and 5 can be communicated with separately.
  • This option is not required if you will serve both versions of PHP via SuPHP, CGI, or FCGID.
  • Important: Compiled PHP extensions other than those shipped with PHP will not function correctly with this patch enabled. Enabling this module may also render some PECL and PEAR modules nonfunctional. Do not use this module unless you must serve both PHP 4 and 5 as DSOs and can work around other issues it will case.
  • This option is not available to FreeBSD 4, 5, and 6 users.
• DiscardPath -- This security option is provided by PHP; however, it is generally not recommended. Enabling this module prevents PHP from functioning with CGI or FCGID. However, DSO and SuPHP will be able to serve PHP.
• FastCGI -- A method for serving PHP. If you wish to use FastCGI, you must compile Apache with mod_fcgid support and PHP with FastCGI support. FastCGI may interfere with PHP being served via CGI and suPHP. We recommend that you only enable this option if you will be running PHP through mod_fcgid and understand the performance tuning that the setup will require.
• ForceCGIRedirect -- This security option is provided by PHP. Enabling this option may interfere with PHP running via CGI.
• SafePHPCGI -- This option sets 2 flags for PHP that attempt to lock PHP to system php.ini files. This prevents users from using custom php.ini files when PHP is served via CGI. However, enabling this option does not prevent the use of custom php.ini files if PHP is running via mod_suphp.
• Versioning -- This option was intended to allow the same functionality as concurrent DSO patches; however, it does not work well and is not recommended by cPanel or PHP.