100-Days-Of-DevOps-Challenge-KodeKloud

Configure Nginx + PHP-FPM Using Unix Sock

The Nautilus application development team is planning to launch a new PHP-based application, which they want to deploy on Nautilus infra in Stratos DC. The development team had a meeting with the production support team and they have shared some requirements regarding the infrastructure. Below are the requirements they shared:

• Install nginx on app server 1 , configure it to use port 8093 and its document root should be /var/www/html.
• Install php-fpm version 8.2 on app server 1, it must use the unix socket /var/run/php-fpm/default.sock (create the parent directories if don’t exist).
• Configure php-fpm and nginx to work together.
• Once configured correctly, you can test the website using curl http://stapp01:8093/index.php command from jump host.

Steps

1. Login into App Server and run the following commands:

    sudo dnf update -y
    sudo dnf install nginx -y
    sudo dnf module install php:8.2 -y # change version here if requires
   

   • It will update packge repo
   • Install nginx and php with expected version

2. Configure php-fpm config:

    sudo mkdir -p /var/run/php-fpm
    sudo vi /etc/php-fpm.d/www.conf
   

   • listen = /run/php-fpm/www.sock update this line with expected directory. It should be listen = /var/run/php-fpm/default.sock

3. Configure nginx

    sudo vi /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
   

   • change port 80 to 8093

4. Configure php with nginx

    sudo vi /etc/nginx/default.d/php.conf
   

   • Update fastcgi_pass php-fpm; to this: fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php-fpm/default.sock;

5. Restart php-fpm and nginx

    sudo systemctl enable --now nginx
    sudo systemctl enable --now php-fpm
   

6. Test: curl http://stapp01:8093/index.php

Good to Know?

PHP-FPM (FastCGI Process Manager)

• Purpose: High-performance PHP FastCGI implementation
• Process Management: Manages PHP worker processes
• Performance: Better than mod_php for high-traffic sites
• Isolation: Separate processes for different applications

Communication Methods

• Unix Sockets: Faster, local communication only
• TCP Sockets: Network communication, can be remote
• Performance: Unix sockets generally faster for local communication
• Security: Unix sockets more secure (filesystem permissions)

NGINX + PHP-FPM Benefits

• Scalability: Handle more concurrent connections
• Resource Efficiency: Lower memory usage
• Stability: PHP crashes don’t affect web server
• Flexibility: Different PHP versions per application

Configuration Best Practices

• Process Management: Configure pm.max_children appropriately
• Socket Permissions: Ensure NGINX can access PHP-FPM socket
• Security: Run PHP-FPM as dedicated user
• Monitoring: Enable status page for monitoring

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