PHP 5.2 ISAPI to PHP 5.3 FastCGI

If like me it took you a little while to move from ISAPI with IIS to using FastCGI then fear not, you aren't alone.  Being honest, ISAPI with IIS went very well together as it was fast and very easy to setup.  Future versions of PHP no longer support ISAPI as of version 5.3, so you may as well make the move sooner rather than later.

So what do you need to do?  Well, firstly, download the latest build of PHP for your system (download the NTS version, which is the non-thread safe version).  Extract it somewhere on your system i.e. c:\PHP or wherever you mostly feel comfortable.  Next, assuming that you are using either Windows Server 2008 or 2008 r2, go to your Server Manager console, and then click 'Roles' on the right.  Next, click the link on the left named 'Add role services' under the Web Server (IIS) heading. This is assuming that you have IIS already setup on your server, otherwise you will need to add this as a role to your server. Drop down the 'Application Development' box and check the 'CGI' box as shown below.

As you can see, I still have my ISAPI extensions still in there but we can remove those later as we won't be needing them.  Click 'Next' and then let Windows go off and do its own thing.

Ok, your PHP config.  Do what you would normally do here.  In addition to your normal PHP config which can mostly be copied from your old PHP 5.2 config you will need to change the following:

• cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
• fastcgi.impersonate = 1
• cgi.force_redirect = 0
• extension_dir = 'c:\PHP\ext' *or where you have your PHP extension folder*
• open_basedir = *location of your wwwroot folder typically*

Don't forget to change those asterisk comments to real values!  Ok, next back over to IIS, so open your IIS Manager.

Click on your server on the left hand side.  In the central pane will be an icon called 'Handler Mappings'.  Click on that, and then go to 'Add module mapping' in the right hand pane.  Fill in the following details and click 'OK', and then 'Yes' in the popup box when you are finished:

• Request path: *.php
• Module: FastCgiModule
• Executable: *Link this to your PHP folder and then your php-cgi.exe file*
• Name: PHP FastCGI

Next, you will need to do is go back to your server on the left hand side and then click 'FastCGI settings'.  When you get there, click the PHP entry in the middle, and then click 'Edit...' on the right.  Change the InstanceMaxRequests to 10000, and then click on the '...' button under 'EnvironmentVariables'.  Add an entry of PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS with a value of 10000, and then click 'OK'.  If you don't do these steps, IIS uses its default settings of 200 instanceMaxRequests and 500 PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS.

Nearly there now.  Make yourself that old PHP test file with the following information: <?php phpinfo(); ?> and see if it runs.  Chances are if you are on a 64 bit system this will have failed unless you tell IIS to use 32-bit applications.  To change this, go to the Application Pools, and then go to your website in the central pane.  Click 'Advanced settings' and then a popup box will appear.  Change the 'Enable 32-bit applications' entry to 'True'.

Assuming that you have set up the rest of your php.ini correctly, it's a case of job done for now!