Topic: number of fcgid processes on Windows Server

[PanchoJ]

Hi All,

I'm new to fcgid on Windows. my current set up is as follows;

Windows Server 2008
Apache 2.4.4
PHP 5.3.27 (fcgid)
MySQL 5.6.14

1. Looking at windows task manager, each of my processes have 4 threads each. What does this mean?

2. Does the number of FcgidMaxProcesses x memory_limit = Total amount of memory required?

3. Number of Threadsperchild = number of FcgidMaxProcesses ? Sorry for this silly question, i just want to know how these two work together.

Thanks

[Steffen]

In Taskmanager you should see two httpd.exe processes and the number of threads depends on load/connections/accesses:

Httpd threads is defined:

# ThreadsPerChild: constant number of worker threads in the server process
# MaxConnectionsPerChild: maximum number of connections a server process serves

note: Windows uses mpm_winnt, where there is only one child process. So two httpd.exe processes.


Httpd threadsperchild is not related to mod_fgcid processes/threads.

[PanchoJ]

Thanks Steffen,

Makes more sense. However, as per my number 1 question, my php-cgi processes on average have 4 threads each. Does this mean each php-cgi process can handle 4 concurrent requests?

Also, how does threadsperchild and fcgidoutputbuffersize work together. In one of your posts you mention that the fcgid outputbuffer size depends on the threadsperchild setting.

Thanks again

[Steffen]

PHP with mod_fcgid is Non Thread Safe(NTS, so only one PHP request.

When the server gets busier, then mod_fcgid spawns more php-cgi processes on as needed base. It stops/kills the process when the idle time out is reached (default 300 seconds) or when you have defined the tip below.

Tip:
For php you have to have in your conf:

FcgidInitialEnv PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS 1000
FcgidMaxRequestsPerProcess 1000

Explanation, see the heading Special PHP considerations at http://httpd.apache.org/mod_fcgid/mod/mod_fcgid.html

Httpd threadsperchild is not related to mod_fgcid buffers/processes/thread

[PanchoJ]

Makes more sense

On my server I have 6 cores and 16GB of RAM. Any feedback on the PROCESSES controls would be appreciated.

FcgidConnectTimeout 10
FcgidMaxProcesses 120
FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass 120
FcgidMinProcessesPerClass 3
FcgidOutputBufferSize 64
FcgidMaxRequestsPerProcess 50000 is this too high?
FcgidProcessLifeTime 0
FcgidZombieScanInterval 20
FcgidBusyTimeout 3600
FcgidIOTimeout 600
FcgidIdleTimeout 180
FcgidIdleScanInternal 60
FcgidTimeScore 3
FcgidFixPathinfo 0
FcgidMaxRequestLen 268435456

Also, I get a lot of this errors "mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function" any ideas?

Cheers

[James Blond]

FcgidMaxProcesses and FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass --> this depends how many requests at the same time should be handled. I use 300. Your 120 might be ok for you. If not you can increase it.

FcgidMaxRequestsPerProcess 50000 --> after 50000 requests the apache will eleminate the php process and respawns another. I personally use 0 so it will never die unless I restart apache. You should set FcgidFixPathinfo to 1 (my recommendation).

mod_fcgid: ap_pass_brigade failed in handle_request_ipc function --> You might play with FcgidBusyTimeout and FcgidIOTimeout

[PanchoJ]

Thanks James,

The reason why I have set FcgidMaxProcesses and FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass --> to 120 is because my memory_limit is set to 128MB. I run around 10 Drupal instances on a load balanced setup which are CPU and RAM hungry. So 120 * 128 = around 15GB of RAM.

As for FcgidMaxRequestsPerProcess 50000 --> I originally had it @ 0, but it wasn't running good with WINCACHE. The cache was clearing every 2-3 minutes, so i ended up setting it to 50000.

any further advice on the above would be great.The FcgidBusyTimeout and FcgidIOTimeout are making a bit crazy . Do these errors mean that users are getting 500 internal server errors?

Thanks again.

[James Blond]

my settings (working for me)

[Steffen]

Using here at AL, same as from the readme from the download here, except the settings for z-push.

[C0nw0nk]

[admin]

FcgidInitialEnv PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS :

See the tip form Steffen above.

[PanchoJ]

What is your apache MPM config?

Thanks, I will test and report back.

[admin]

Here at AL:

ThreadsPerChild 250
MaxConnectionsPerChild 0

The graphs from today:

[PanchoJ]

Thanks admin,

Are you using the ApacheStats module for these graphs? Also, what are is the server specs for AL?

Cheers

[admin]

What specs you want to hear ?

Indeed you can use ApacheStats from the download page, see http://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?p=20147 . The mod_fcgid memory is not included in the download there.

But the above graphs are made with mod_watch, RRD perl module, mrtg, routers2. So you can have additional more graphs and features, like per vhost, in/out traffic and some more I cannot recall now. Also the minimum interval can be 2 minutes instead of 5 minutes with ApacheStats. It is more complicated/complex to setup and works only with Perl 5.10. Some time ago you could download it here, but it gave me to many questions/support, so I removed it.

[C0nw0nk]

[PanchoJ]

[PanchoJ]

Hi C0nw0nk,

I noticed that you are using FcgidMaxRequestInMem and FcgidWin32PreventOrphans, can you tell the benefits you have found using these?

Cheers

[C0nw0nk]