Forwarding PHP requests via ProxyPassMatch as a handler, or only when file exists

Question

I am migrating my server to use mod_proxy_fcgi and php-fpm instead of mod_php. Apache is able to forward .php requests to the fcgi proxy and PHP executes correctly. I've got this working with:

ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000/var/www/html/$1

Unfortunately, Apache forwards all .php requests to the proxy, even when the file doesn't exist. This causes a few problems. My ErrorDocument rule isn't invoked, and DirectoryIndex index.php index.html doesn't fall back to index.html.

I was able to fix these problems with mod_rewrite:

RewriteEngine On                                                           
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} ^/((.*\.php)(/.*)?)$                       
RewriteCond /var/www/html/%2 -f                                   
RewriteRule . fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000/var/www/html/%1 [P] 

However, the Apache documentation does not recommend RewriteRule: "This is because this flag triggers the use of the default worker, which does not handle connection pooling."

Ideally, I think I'd either like to use ProxyPass in a FilesMatch block (currently unsupported), or define a new handler that proxies through fcgi and use it to handle .php requests, similar to what mod_php does.

Any suggestions for simulating a standard mod_php setup but actually proxying through fcgi?

Solution 1

One option is to install mod_proxy_handler: https://gist.github.com/progandy/6ed4eeea60f6277c3e39

Or you can wait for Apache 2.4.10, which should include the module.

Basically the module lets you do this:

#tcp
<FilesMatch \.php$>
SetHandler proxy:fcgi://localhost:9000
</FilesMatch>

#uds
<FilesMatch \.php$>
    SetHandler "proxy:unix:/path/to/socket.sock|fcgi://./"
</FilesMatch>

Solution 2

Just for the record as a one liner:

AddHandler "proxy:unix:/path/to/socket.sock|fcgi://./" .php

You'll need a recent Apache 2.4 (RedHat back ported that to 2.4.6)

Oliver

Solution 3

I had same issue when file did not existed was showing "File not found." message , this fixed my issue and allowed me to setup a 404 page :

<VirtualHost *:80>

---------- content --------

DocumentRoot /home/user/public_html/domain.tld

#this disables php execution if you wish to show only html files
#ProxyPass /errors !

ProxyErrorOverride On
# /errors folder is located in public_html
ErrorDocument 404 /errors/404.php


</VirtualHost>

Comments

[mcdado]

YAEEES! I lost an entire day to trial and error, what solved the issue for me was using the #tcp block above. Using ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000/usr/local/var/www/$1 does not work with VirtualDocumentRoots, and the rewriting trick never worked for me.

[mcdado]

Also, it's important to note that proxy:fcgi://localhost:9000 does not want the path after it. This was a big time misunderstanding for me.

[mcdado]

FYI I wrote this up in a blog post: mcdado.com/post/166619749589/apache-and-php-fpm-via-homebrew

[8ctopus]

Make sure that php-fpm is listening using a socket instead of a TCP port as otherwise it won't work (displays the php code in the browser). The php-fpm listen config should look like listen = /var/run/php-fpm7.sock