Issues with PHP 5.25 and Microsoft FastCGI

[jmottle]

Hi all,

I've already submitted a support ticket for this and the vB guys have been working on it for a few days now, but so far have not been able to figure out the problem. They suggested I post here also.

I am currently running vB using PHP 4.3.9 with Zend WinEnabler on a windows 2003 server. I have a seperate database server and a web server. This current configuration works fine, but I am moving to an upgraded web server and this is where the problems start.

Due to intermitant issues with WinEnabler (now a discontinued product) I wanted to move to the latest version of PHP (5.2.5 NTS) and Microsoft FastCGI. The problem is that I am getting blank pages when clicking the Today's Post link from the top menu and immediately following the submission of a new post. I've gone through all of the listed suggestions about trouble shooting blank pages and none apply.

Because I have a seperate database sever, I am accessing the same database with the new server vB configuration I am migrating to. As such I suspect the issue has to be related to web server given there are no issues on the current live site and the only changes are the PHP version and acceleration app.

If anyone has some suggestions, please let me know. I am running out of time on my server migration window before I am going to be billed for two servers.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers
Jeff

[eva2000]

> linux OS :)

But on serious note, maybe ask over at webhostingtalk.com :)

[TECK]

As George said, you should consider in the future to deploy your web cluster on a Linux distro. You have no idea how happy you will be. Don't get fooled by Windows "easiness" of settings, Linux is way easier to manage. :)

Now, back to your problem, did you installed the latest RTM?
http://forums.iis.net/t/1146797.aspx
You must have the GoLive release installed before you can use these updates.

[jmottle]

As George said, you should consider in the future to deploy your web cluster on a Linux distro. You have no idea how happy you will be. Don't get fooled by Windows "easiness" of settings, Linux is way easier to manage. :)

Now, back to your problem, did you installed the latest RTM?
http://forums.iis.net/t/1146797.aspx
You must have the GoLive release installed before you can use these updates.


I do have the latest version installed. 99% of my apps are ASP/ASP.NET so purchasing servers specifically for vbulletin is currently cost prohibitive. I would have purchased a ASP/ASP.NET based forum solution, but vB is the best solution out there.

[TECK]

Ya, I see what you mean. There are robust .NET solutions out there but they cost 2,500.00/license.
Back to your problem, disable any cache system you have (XCache, etc) and configure a Web garden for your processes.

Open IIS Manager, expand the local computer, expand Application Pools, right-click the application pool, and then click Properties.
Click the Performance tab, and under Web garden, in the Maximum number of worker processes box, type the number of worker processes that you want to assign to the application pool. You must type a number greater than 1 for the application pool to become a Web garden.
Click OK.
Let me know if this helped solving your problem. FastCGI should run way better then ISAPI, for example.
I also noticed that sometimes the cache makes FastCGI processes freak. Go by the elimination method, for now.

I know for sure that PHP 5.1.x will work well, without any hickups. It is definitely something related to MS FastCGI that does not digest well in PHP 5.2.x.

EDIT: I forgot another thing. Do not use any fancy directories. Try it with the examples listed below:
cd c:\fastcgi\
cscript fcgisetup.js /install
cscript fcgisetup.js /r /add c:\php\php-cgi.exe PHP

In phpinfo(), Where your php.ini points? Not to C:/WINDOWS/php.ini right?

Check those settings also:
variables_order = "GPCS"
cgi.rfc2616_headers = 0
cgi.force_redirect = 0

[benFF]

Hey - did you ever resolve this? I am having exactly the same problem...

[jmottle]

Hi Ben,

Unfourtuntely no. The guys from vB tried to figure it out, but in the end it seemed to be a conflict with something. It's unclear if it was the version of PHP, mySQL or the accelerator. If you figure it out, please let me know.

Cheers,
Jeff