Posts: 311 Location: Madrid
Tue 12 Jan, 2010 00:16
Hi!
I will explain something that is important and take too much time for me to understand.
The Five Types of PHP Configuration That Are Possible:
* None - Don't provide access to this version of PHP
* DSO - Provide this version of PHP via libphp4.so or libphp5.so (AKA mod_php). This is normally the fastest possible way to serve PHP requests, but PHP will execute as the user "nobody". If both versions of PHP are available, it is impossible to configure both to be served as DSO unless the concurrent DSO patch was applied at build time.
* SuPHP - Provide this version of PHP through mod_suphp. This is the most flexible way of serving PHP requests and tends to be very secure. PHP scripts are executed by the user who owns the VirtualHost serving the request.
* FCGI - Provide this version of PHP through mod_fcgid. This is a very fast way of serving PHP requests, but php.conf will most likely require additional tuning to perform well. If Suexec is enabled, each user will create their own PHP FastCGI server automatically and PHP scripts will be executed by the user who owns the VirtualHost serving the request. If Suexec is disabled, the "nobody" user will own all of the PHP FastCGI server processes and PHP scripts will be executed by the "nobody" user. FCGI mode is recommended only for advanced administrators who understand how to tune the performance of mod_fcgid. Userdir requests will not function correctly with the basic mod_fcgid setup provided by cPanel.
* CGI - Provide this version of PHP through mod_cgi or mod_cgid. If Suexec is enabled, PHP scripts will be executed by the user who owns the VirtualHost serving the request. If Suexec is disabled, the "nobody" user will execute all PHP scripts. Userdir requrests will not function correctly with the basic CGI setup provided by cPanel. It is intended as a fallback when the other preferred methods (DSO or SuPHP) are not available. Serving PHP as CGI is not particularly secure or fast regardless of whether Suexec is enabled.
Normally your hosting have
DSO or
SuPHP.
With
DSO automatic php functions will create files and folder with "nobody" or "99" user. That's easy to know, just enter by FTP and look into the files folder, if the users folder and images files are of the propietary and group 99 (or nobody) your hosting has DSO configuration and you cannot modify PHP configuration through the php.ini file. Talk with the server support.
Why hostings use this? Because is faster than others options, so less CPU consumption.
With
SuPHP you will own all your files and maybe you can configure your own PHP configuration. I have said maybe because the sysAdmin can let you do that or not. So, talk with the server support too in order to know how you can do it.
And that's it