PHP with NGINX

We are now going to configure PHP to work together with NGINX via FastCGI. Why FastCGI in particular, as opposed to the other two alternatives, SCGI and uWSGI? The answer came with the release of PHP version 5.3.3. As of this version, all releases come with an integrated FastCGI process manager, allowing you to easily connect applications implementing the FastCGI protocol. The only requirement is for your PHP build to have been configured with the --enable-fpm argument. If you are unsure whether your current setup includes the necessary components, worry not: a section of this chapter is dedicated to building PHP with everything we need. Alternatively, the php-fpm or php8-fpm packages can be found in most repositories.

Architecture

Before starting the setup process, it’s important to understand the way PHP will interact with NGINX. We have established that FastCGI is a communication protocol running through sockets, which implies that there is a client and...