The worker MPM uses multiple child processes with many threads each. Each thread handles one connection at a time. Worker generally is a good choice for high-traffic servers because it has a smaller memory footprint than the prefork MPM. This guide provides the process of switching from Apache’s default installation of MPM Prefork to that of MPM Worker and i will also be covering the proper installation of FastCGI (mod_fcgid) to further improve your server performance.

Install Apache & Switching Apache to Worker MPM mode

To install apache on CentOS, type the following command as root

# yum install httpd

If you want to run Apache by default when the system boots, type the following command

# chkconfig httpd --level 2345 on

To start Apache for the first time, type the following command

# /etc/init.d/httpd start

To switch Apache to Worker MPM mode edit /etc/sysconfig/httpd

# vi /etc/sysconfig/httpd

Uncomment the following line

HTTPD=/usr/sbin/httpd.worker

Install PHP & mod_fcgid

To install PHP 5.3 on CentOS, type the following command

# yum install php53

Apache run mod_php by default, to disable mod_php, type the following command

# mv /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf /etc/httpd/conf.d/php.conf.bak

To install mod_fcgid, the first you need to ensure httpd-devel package installed, enter

# yum install httpd-devel

Download & Extract mod_fcgid

# wget http://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/mod_fcgid/mod_fcgid-2.3.6.tar.gz
tar zxvf mod_fcgid-2.3.6.tar.gz
cd mod_fcgid-2.3.6

To compile mod_fcgid, type the following command

# ./configure.apxs
# make
# make install

The module will be automatically installed and specified in the configuration file of the Apache. The next step create config for mod_fcgi, enter

# vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/mod_fcgid.conf

Add the following content

AddHandler php-fcgi
<FilesMatch \.php$>
Options +ExecCGI
AddHandler php-fcgi .php
FCGIWrapper /var/www/cgi-bin/php-fcgi .php
</FilesMatch>
AddType text/html .php
DirectoryIndex index.php

Create php-fcgi script in cgi-bin, enter

# vi /var/www/cgi-bin/php-fcgi

Add the following content

#!/bin/sh
PHPRC=/etc/
export PHPRC
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=5000
export PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN=0
exec /usr/bin/php-cgi

Make file executable

# chmod +x /var/www/cgi-bin/php-fcgi

I would recommend that you specify the line below in /etc/php.ini cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1, enter

# echo "cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1" >> /etc/php.ini

Final, restart Apache with the following command

# /etc/init.d/httpd restart

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