Hey,
I'm running Drupal 8 with PHP 5.6.38. I am on a VPS hosting other sites (within same company).
In the current server configuration - I cannot use a newer version of PHP (i.s. PHP7) until EasyApache4 is installed. Once that is installed - I can designate the php version - per site.
Regarding the install/upgrade I was told the following:
"fcgi isn't available as a php handler, and that is the primary php handler in use at this time. The options for ea4 are php-fpm or suphp."
QUESTION 1: Would this (switching the php handler) affect my Drupal site?
QUESTION 2: If so - what are the work-arounds?
Apologies as I don't know a lot about the inner-workings of servers.
Thanks for any answers & advice.
Comments
it's PROBABLY fine to use php-fpm
Hi CB1_Dru1,
Your site will PROBABLY run fine using php-fpm. I have one site (out of several) using php-fpm, and we didn't experience any problems when we switched.
To be absolutely sure, though, it would be best to test your site on the system you're planning to switch to - PHP7 and EasyApache4. Can you get a second account for a month or so with your current provider and make a copy of your current site, using the newer software (PHP7 and EA4) you want to use, so you can do some thorough testing before making that change on your live server?
If there's any way to do that, I strongly recommend it.
I hope that helps.
Kristi
P.S. You can see some of the discussion of other Drupal users working with php-fpm here:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22php-fpm%22+site%3Adrupal.org
For example, here's a pointer to an article about getting started:
https://groups.drupal.org/node/458613
˚ ˚ ˚ ˚ ˚
Kristi Wachter
Drupal consultant, evangelist, and enthusiast
A little progress...
A little progress...
1 - I created a cloned server (VPS) with my hosting company.
2 - EasyApache4 now running.
3 - All sites currently running default PHP 5.6
4 - EasyApache4 running PHP FPM
5 - I took a Server Image so I have something to roll back to if needed.
Lastly - I see my version of MySql (5.6.38) will reach end-of-life in February, 2018. Which I guess means I need to update that also.
I'm now sort-of overwhelmed with choices I know little about.
Question 1 - Should I upgrade my MySql 5.6 to the recommended MariaDB 10.1 BEFORE upgrading the PHP version?
Question 2 - In the EasyApache4 interface - I have a myriad of "Packages" to choose from. The Default package contains the following: (I omitted listing the 5.4 & 5.5 Packages) --
Are the Requirements for 7.0 and 7.1 OKAY for my Drupal 8 install? IF NOT - what am I missing?
Question 3 - I see SuHosin is not listed in the PHP7.x lists, yet I used it for a previous situation - is it NOT able to be loaded with these new packages?
Question 4 - ZendGuard has compatibility issues with the latter versions of PHP 7. Is it okay that it is missing?
Any help with any of this would be appreciated. Thanks!
Depends
Q1: Not as such, provided it is implemented properly. The web server needs to support PHP. How that is implemented effects the web server and anything that is using it. The new configuration needs to match the current. A change in the underlying infrastructure should be treated as a migration. You need to test, proving that everything works as it is supposed to. Very unlikely the php handler is the only thing that is different.
Q2: Not really a work-around, considering a change in infrastructure a migration project should be the way to do it. Not treating it as a migration should be considered work-arounds. Obviously, when the sites have no importance, downtime is acceptable. Trusting you can get everything running again in due time is a viable alternative.
I thought an easy first step
I thought an easy first step might be to install the php 7 version of XAMPP on my windows machine. Then test a current backup of my site (php 5.6.29).1 - I installed XAMPP2 - Imported Database (after increasing some php.ini parameters
3 - Added site download to proper folder
4 - In browser typed the localhost:443/directory
This brought me to a Drupal8.4.2 Install page.Which makes no sense and leaves me stumped.Any thoughts? Thanks.My fault - omitted files in copying to my XAMPP server. All works well on XAMPP server with PHP7. I know it's not the production server. But it's a first step.
suPhp is no longer supported so it looks like php-fpm is the only way to go. Checking on a testing server (but think that's wishful thinking). Thanks for the help!
To be expected when moving a site !
When moving a site to a different infrastructure you need to make sure it fits. Obviously, when starting the installation process, it doesn't recognize the existing site.
Suggest to check the .htaccess in DocumentRoot, .htaccess in /directory and settings.php. They definitely need to be dealt with to recognize your existing site. One of the most obvious things you need to do is changing the database settings in settings.php, very unlikely that they remain the same. The other thing is running your site in /directory, might require changing /directory/.htaccess concerning rewriteBase. The last thing I can think of is having two .htaccess files might cause problems. Obviously, that depends on their content. Was the one of your site customized? Adjusted to match the infrastructure?