how configure php-fpm 5.x and apache 2.4.x for virtualmin on centos 6, debian 6

Apache 2.4.x series introduce mod_proxy_fcgi which allows apache to communicate php-fpm directly over TCP/IP. Now consider your server running the latest high-performance version of apache and php-fpm ! What's your idea ? I can just say 'That is awesome!'
I've integrated this into virtualmin for automatically creating/removing fpm pools. Here's the guide which applies to both centos and debian servers :

1- Install latest version of php-fpm using remi or dotdeb repository.

** Apache 2.4 is shipped with Centos 7.x or Debian 8.x so you can use these default packages instead **

2- Compile latest version of apache 2.4.x from source :
- Install pcre development package :
(yum install pcre-devel) or (apt-get install libpcre3-dev)

cd /usr/src

wget http://mirror.olnevhost.net/pub/apache/apr/apr-1.5.2.tar.bz2
wget http://mirror.olnevhost.net/pub/apache/apr/apr-util-1.5.4.tar.bz2
wget http://mirror.olnevhost.net/pub/apache/httpd/httpd-2.4.25.tar.bz2
tar -jxf httpd-2.4.25.tar.bz2
tar -jxf apr-1.5.2.tar.bz2
tar -jxf apr-util-1.5.4.tar.bz2

mv apr-1.5.2 /usr/src/httpd-2.4.25/srclib/apr
mv apr-util-1.5.4 /usr/src/httpd-2.4.25/srclib/apr-util

cd httpd-2.4.25
./configure --prefix=/opt/apache2 --with-mpm=event --enable-rewrite --enable-ssl --enable-proxy-fcgi --with-included-apr

chown -R nobody /usr/src
sudo -u nobody make
make install
 

You can use my simple init startup script for centos or debian.(End of the article) enable it at boot startup :

cd /etc/init.d

(SEE END OF THIS ARTICLE, SAVE THE INIT FILE AS httpd24)
(service httpd stop OR service apache2 stop)
(chkconfig httpd off OR chkconfig apache2 off)

chmod a+x httpd24

chkconfig httpd24 on

- Now edit /opt/apache2/conf/httpd.conf, comment the following lines :
#<Directory />
#    AllowOverride none
#    Require all denied
#</Directory>
- comment out the following lines :
LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so

LoadModule proxy_fcgi_module modules/mod_proxy_fcgi.so

LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so 
LoadModule actions_module modules/mod_actions.so
- Enable expires and deflate modules for more performance :
LoadModule expires_module modules/mod_expires.so
LoadModule deflate_module modules/mod_deflate.so

- Alter User and Group line to appropriate user and group.

( www-data for debian, apache for centos )

- Add mod_expires and mod_deflate configurations to the end of httpd.conf file :
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
# Enable expirations
ExpiresActive On
# Default directive
# ExpiresDefault "access plus 15 days"
# My favicon
ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 15 days.
# Images
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 15 days"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 15 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpg "access plus 15 days"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 15 days"
# CSS
ExpiresByType text/css "access 15 days.
# Javascript
ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 15 days"
</IfModule>

<IfModule deflate_module>
<Location />
SetOutputFilter DEFLATE
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
BrowserMatch \bMSI[E] !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \
\.(?:gif|jpe?g|png|swf)$ no-gzip dont-vary
</Location>
</IfModule> 

NOTE: make sure that you have proxy and proxy_fcgi modules enabled in your apache config file, check your httpd.conf in Centos or run the following commands in Debian:

a2enmod proxy
a2enmod proxy_fcgi

3- Configure virtualmin to use the new installed apache2 :

Virtualmin -> Webmin -> Servers -> Apache webserver -> Module config -> System configuration :

root:/opt/apache2

executable:/opt/apache2/bin/httpd

apachectl:/opt/apache2/bin/apachectl

command to start:/etc/init.d/httpd24 start

command to stop: /etc/init.d/httpd24 stop

apply configuration:/opt/apache2/bin/apachectl graceful

apache pid file:/opt/apache2/logs/httpd.pid 

 4- Integrate php-fpm to virutalmin :

Virtualmin -> System Settings -> Server Templates -> Default Settings -> Apache website

Add the following line after DirectoryIndex line of the 'Directives and settings for new websites' section :

<FilesMatch "\.php$">
    SetHandler "proxy:fcgi://localhost:${UID}/"
</FilesMatch>

Alter the following settings to and save the configuration :

Automatically add appropriate SuExec directive? : No

Default PHP execution mode : mod_php

And Also do the same for sub-server templates :

Virtualmin -> System Settings -> Server Templates -> Sub-servers -> Apache website

Set the Directives and settings for new websites to From default settings

Download my php-fpm script folder for virtualmin (See end of the article) :

mkdir /script

cd /script

(SEE END OF THE ARTICLE, SAVE FILE AS php-fpm)
chmod a+x php-fpm

Now enable the script :

Virtualmin -> System Settings ->  Virtualmin Configuration -> Actions upon server and user creation

Command to run after making changes to a server : /script/php-fpm

Always show output from pre and post commands? : Yes

5- Apply configuration for you existing domains :

virtualmin disable-feature --web --virtualmin-awstats --logrotate --webalizer --all-domains

virtualmin enable-feature --web --virtualmin-awstats --logrotate --webalizer --all-domains
Enable Subdomains :
virtualmin enable-feature --web --all-domains

I've removed some of the virtualmin feature which I didn't use ( dav, mailman, ... ). You may need to compile some extra apache modules.

6 - Fixing Script installer issue :
Script installer didn't detect php version unless you compile and install mod_php for httpd :
cd /usr/src
yum install -y libxml2-devel
wget http://us2.php.net/get/php-5.4.31.tar.bz2/from/this/mirror
tar -jxf php-5.4.21.tar.bz2
cd php-5.4.21
./configure --prefix=/usr --with-apxs2=/opt/apache2/bin/apxs
make
cp libs/libphp5.so /opt/apache2/modules
Add the following lines to /opt/apache2/conf/httpd.conf, after LoadModules section (~ Line 158)
<IfModule prefork.c>
  LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so
</IfModule>
And also :

Virtualmin -> Webmin -> Servers -> Apache webserver -> Module config :

Always detect Apache modules automatically? : YES
Note: Virtualmin adds NameVirtualHost directive to httpd.conf file which is not needed anymore. You might remove the line manually.

It's all ! Now you've run an AWESOME config on your server, enjoy it !

Mos

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Attachments
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httpd24 startup script for CentOS (save it as /etc/init.d/httpd24):

#!/bin/bash
#
# Startup script for the Apache Web Server
#
# chkconfig: - 85 15
# description: Apache is a World Wide Web server. It is used to serve \
# HTML files and CGI.
# processname: httpd
# pidfile: /opt/apache2/logs/httpd.pid
# config: /opt/apache2/conf/httpd.conf


fullpath=/opt/apache2/bin/apachectl

desc="Apache web server"

case "$1" in
'start')
echo "Starting $desc: "
$fullpath start
RETVAL=$?
        ;;
'stop')
echo "Stopping $desc: "
$fullpath stop
        RETVAL=$?
        ;;
'restart')
echo "Restarting $desc: "
$fullpath restart
        RETVAL=$?
;;
'status')
echo "Status of $desc: "
$fullpath --status-all
RETVAL=$?
        ;;
*)
        echo "Usage: $0 { start|stop|restart|status }"
        RETVAL=1
        ;;
esac

exit $RETVAL

httpd24 startup script for Debian (save it as /etc/init.d/httpd24):

#!/bin/sh -e
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          httpd
# Required-Start:    $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start/stop httpd web server
### END INIT INFO
#
# httpd This init.d script is used to start apache2.
# It basically just calls apache2ctl.

fullpath=/opt/apache2/bin/apachectl

desc="Apache web server"

case "$1" in
'start')
echo "Starting $desc: "
$fullpath start
RETVAL=$?
        ;;
'stop')
echo "Stopping $desc: "
$fullpath stop
        RETVAL=$?
        ;;
'restart')
echo "Restarting $desc: "
$fullpath restart
        RETVAL=$?
;;
'status')
echo "Status of $desc: "
$fullpath --status-all
RETVAL=$?
        ;;
*)
        echo "Usage: $0 { start|stop|restart|status }"
        RETVAL=1
        ;;
esac

exit $RETVAL

php-fpm Script for virtualmin (save it as /script/php-fpm):

#!/bin/bash
# Script to check and create fpm pools
# Simply create the target fpm pool at uid port : 127.0.0.1:UID
# Set the User and Group of fpm pool to User and Group of domain
if [ -d /etc/php-fpm.d ]; then
os="centos";
confdir="/etc/php-fpm.d/";
fpm="/etc/init.d/php-fpm";
elif [ -d /etc/php5/fpm/pool.d ]; then
os="debian";
confdir="/etc/php5/fpm/pool.d/";
fpm="/etc/init.d/php5-fpm"
fi

# There's no need to create pools for sub-servers
if [ "$VIRTUALSERVER_PARENT" = "" ]; then
if 
[[ "$VIRTUALSERVER_ACTION" = "CREATE_DOMAIN" && "$VIRTUALSERVER_WEB" = "1" ]] ||
[[ "$VIRTUALSERVER_ACTION" = "MODIFY_DOMAIN" && "$VIRTUALSERVER_WEB" = "1" && ! -f $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf ]] ||
[ "$VIRTUALSERVER_ACTION" = "ENABLE_DOMAIN" ]; then

# Create the pool for main domain
echo -e "\nCreating fpm pool $VIRTUALSERVER_USER at 127.0.0.1:$VIRTUALSERVER_UID with config file $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf"
#
echo "[$VIRTUALSERVER_USER]" > $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "listen = 127.0.0.1:$VIRTUALSERVER_UID" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "listen.allowed_clients = 127.0.0.1" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "user = $VIRTUALSERVER_USER" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "group = $VIRTUALSERVER_GROUP" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "pm = dynamic" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "pm.max_children =  20" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "pm.start_servers = 2" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "pm.min_spare_servers = 2" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "pm.max_spare_servers = 3" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "pm.max_requests = 2000" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "chdir = $VIRTUALSERVER_HOME" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo ";request_slowlog_timeout = 0" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "slowlog = $VIRTUALSERVER_HOME/logs/"$VIRTUALSERVER_DOM"_slow_log" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "php_admin_value[error_log] = $VIRTUALSERVER_HOME/logs/"$VIRTUALSERVER_DOM"_error_log" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "php_admin_value[session.save_path] = $VIRTUALSERVER_HOME/tmp" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo "php_admin_flag[log_errors] = on" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf
echo ";php_admin_value[memory_limit] = 32M" >> $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf

echo "Applying php-fpm configuration"
$fpm reload
fi
# Remove php-fpm pool when deleting a virtual-server
if [[ "$VIRTUALSERVER_ACTION" = "DELETE_DOMAIN" ]] ||
        [[ "$VIRTUALSERVER_ACTION" = "MODIFY_DOMAIN" && "$VIRTUALSERVER_WEB" = "0" && -f $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf ]] ||
        [ "$VIRTUALSERVER_ACTION" = "DISABLE_DOMAIN" ]; then
echo "Removing fpm pool $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf";
if [ -f $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf ]; then
rm -fr $confdir$VIRTUALSERVER_UID.conf;
fi
$fpm reload
fi
fi
sed -i /opt/apache2/conf/httpd.conf -e '/^NameVirtualHost/d'