Apache :: Help with mod_fcgid on Win 2016

sam452 · Joined: 19 Dec 2016 Posts: 23 Location: US, Nashville

We are about to go live running php 7.2.20 NTS, Apache 2.4 downloaded from here, 48gb RAM.
We're getting Apache 500 errors, mostly due to timeouts. But with a 48gb server, I would think that we have resources that pages should load in under 2-1/2 minutes. The app is Drupal 8.7, pruning out the development modules.

Windows NT myserver 10.0 build 14393 (Windows Server 2016) i586
MSVC15 (Visual C++ 2017)
x86
CGI/FastCGI
PHP API => 20170718
Zend Extension Build => API320170718,NTS,VC15

cgi.fix_pathinfo => 1
fastcgi.impersonate => 0
max_execution_time => 300
max_input_time => 300
max_input_vars => 3000
memory_limit => 512M
post_max_size => 2008M
upload_max_filesize => 2000M

PHPRC => c:\php7
_FCGI_SHUTDOWN_EVENT_ => 1792

$_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTWARE' => Apache/2.4.39 (Win64) OpenSSL/1.1.1c mod_fcgid/2.3.10-dev

Here is my mod_fcgid in my httpd.conf

James Blond

That error is from

modules/fcgid/fcgid_proc_win.c line 34 and or line 98.
The comment in line 97 says "Pass the finish event id to subprocess"

That that is form the function proc_spawn_process()

The error number 1792 is that the process failed start.

Do you have more information in the windows event log about that error? More info in the apache error log?

sam452 · Joined: 19 Dec 2016 Posts: 23 Location: US, Nashville

Yes, certainly.
I can add that I'm using
mod_fcgid-2.3.10-win64-VS16.
Should have thought to add that.

Apache error:

James Blond

FcgidProcessLifeTime is twice in the config ;)

increase the values of

sam452 · Joined: 19 Dec 2016 Posts: 23 Location: US, Nashville

Yes, thank you, I've struck the duplicate ProcessLifetime and set my php_temp as indicated. I've been moving up the values for timeouts on httpd.conf and the corresponding php.ini as well from reading other posts in this forum, hoping that 300 (five minutes?) will be enough, but really, should users have to wait that long for a somewhat complex POST on a page? Heck, why not set it for ten minutes and potentially make customers wait up to that limit?
Of course, a legitimate response could be that my Drupal code sucks, or some variant of that, could be offered. But I've got several Drupal installs, but this is my only Drupal 8 on Windows which is why I'm here. I'm wondering if my Windows setup could put more of its resources into Apache/PHP to make it run faster, so that timeouts wouldn't need to be the first recourse.

From what I read here, other PHP variants like FPM, where I believe I could spawn several PHP threads to handle isn't going to work with PHP on Windows? This is a WAMP setup with MySQL taking a small amount of the RAM on this machine, so it shouldn't be waiting for the database.

James Blond

Yes, those values are seconds.

I didn't wanted to say it, but drupal is slow and on windows even slower than on linux based systems.

What helps to increase the speed is to enable opcache and run the session data in redis. Turning on opcache is quiet easy.

sam452 · Joined: 19 Dec 2016 Posts: 23 Location: US, Nashville

Your suggestion to add redis, since I have the resources, is the approach I'm going to attempt. Searching this forums, I saw your post using it successfully and link to windows.php.net.

The PHP community suggests to use thread-safe builds of PHP if I'm going to use Apache. That prompted me to return again to your https://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?t=2394 here which says to use the NTS if I'm using PHP as a module. In my instance, am I using PHP as a module, since I'm pulling in mod_fcgi? In that same windows.php.net page, NTS is recommended for PHP used FastGCI protocol. I'm assuming mod_fcgi is a modification of FastCGI?
I've learned from experience that all things must align within PHP on Windows (can't mix/match 32-bit, TS, VC builds and all its extensions). I know using NTS on the previous Windows 2008 has worked well for Drupal 7.
Is there a discussion elsewhere on Apachelounge about this? It didn't show up in my searches.
Given my instance, should I have gone the TS route?

James Blond

TS = Thread safety and that comes to a price for performance. It is not too much of a difference, but noticeable. Yes mod_fcgid is module f(ast)cgi demon. There a several acronyms around for different modules that implement that protocol.

With the use of mod_fcgid and not loading mod_php aka php7apache2_4.dll you can mix all flavors of 32bit and 64 bit, NON Thread safe and thread safe of PHP with any version of Apache. They don't need to have the same VC version. And you can mix PHP versions within vhosts and directories.

From a long time ago https://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?t=3430

https://www.apachelounge.com/viewtopic.php?t=6615

And https://pastebin.com/raw/eJTSmUsw