IIS FastCGI and PHP: What you absolutely need to know to host PHP applications on IIS 6 and IIS 7

Comments

# iis said on October 9, 2007 3:09 PM:

Everybody knows that IIS FastCGI is a great way to run PHP applications on IIS. We've been making great

# Jonathan Puddle said on October 12, 2007 7:58 AM:

lol, are you sure "everyone knows"? Seems like no one knows...

# Jonathan Puddle said on October 12, 2007 7:58 AM:

That said, I am really thrilled to try this out. Good work!

# Mike Volodarsky said on October 12, 2007 4:26 PM:

Yes, I'd say a lot of people know :) There has been a great deal of talk and excitement around this, but this post is really about the straight facts to help people get started.

# John Rich said on October 26, 2007 6:08 PM:

I have no problem running applications such as phpBB with php5ISAPI.dll ? Can you tell me why fast cgi is better?

# Mike Volodarsky said on October 27, 2007 2:01 AM:

Hi John,

The main reason why ISAPI is not an adequate solution is the lack of thread safety in many popular PHP extensions.  The PHP core itself is thread safe, and so are some of the extensions, so its possible that some applications will work correctly in the ISAPI environment.  However, many production environments do experience instability with the ISAPI.  You can read more about this in my original post: http://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2006/09/29/Making-PHP-rock-on-Windows_2F00_IIS.aspx.

Thanks,

Mike

# Aaron Smith said on November 30, 2007 1:08 PM:

I found out about this my just searching through the 2003 Updates Database. I was really surprised to see this option for IIS, now I can work more efficiently instead of having to run Linux or Apache! This is really cool. Great way to mix up scripting and application on one server instead of many.

# Felix said on December 19, 2007 3:38 AM:

Some 6 months ago I tried FastCGI in Vista 64-bit. It was quite painful; I think I ultimately got it to work... or almost to work, but I wouldn't want to try it again. Is PHP / FastCGI is as mature as x86 version?

# Antonio said on January 6, 2008 3:06 PM:

Several PHP Apps required Apache "mod_rewrite". We can read about several PHP Apps at http://www.iis.net/phpapps, but not a word about this requirement. I read about some 3rd solutions like "IIS Mod-Rewrite Pro" that we have to buy. There is a Microsoft Solution? I don't want to use in our Production Server a 3rd solution but how can we use Fastcgi/PHP5 with some real Apps like DRUPAL without "mode_rewrite"?

# DoctorScience said on January 9, 2008 8:58 PM:

Should I remove or disable ISAPI before enabling FastCGI? I'm running IIS7 on Vista Business.

# Mike Volodarsky said on March 6, 2008 8:52 PM:

You dont need to do that, although, it is recommended - it can help avoid creating confusing handler mapping configuration where you may be accidentally using Isapi instead of FastCGI and visa versa.

FastCGI is a more reliable way to host PHP applications so you should theoretically never install the ISAPI. If you follow the installation instructions in one of the linked articles, it will walk you through installing PHP with FastCGI without using the PHP Windows installer which may generate ISAPI configuration.

Thanks,

Mike

# mumu said on March 21, 2008 6:46 PM:

Mr  Program Manager  you have so many errors in links and text that I doubt IIS7 will work under your "management" Server 2006 what that means dude?

# John Wielki said on March 22, 2008 1:00 PM:

I just installed Vista SP1. I want to enable PHP, using the instructions on IIS.net. The instuctions say that FastCGI is included in SP1. When I go into IIS manager and click "Handler Mappings", then click "add module mapping" (which is in the instructions), the dropdown list of modules does not contain an entry for fastCGI. I have rebooted a couple of times, and Vista says that its version is SP1, but I don't see the fastcgi module. Am I doing something wrong?

# Mike Volodarsky said on March 24, 2008 10:39 AM:

Hi mumu,

Thanks for spotting the "Windows Server 2006" typo, I fixed it.  All other links are working - what other errors did you see?

As far as your other concern, IIS 7.0 is "working" pretty well so far, be sure to try it :)

Thanks,

Mike

# Coolhand said on April 30, 2008 9:58 AM:

Thanks for the efforts to get PHP and IIS7 to be good neighbors; I am trying to get PHP 5.2.3 ro work on IIS7 I still have an issue getting PHP to work on my Vista Business installation - using the fastCGI or the IIS-ISAPI modules as suggested by bill's blog on IIS.net. From localhost i call mytest.php, - then the page just hangs... - and no IIS error apge or HTTP40X.X error returns any suggestions?

# Mike Volodarsky said on April 30, 2008 6:22 PM:

Coolhand,

Can you get a simple hello world php script working, or does it also hang?

Be sure that you are creating the FastCGI mapping to php-cgi.exe, not php.exe. If you configure a random process that doesnt support FastCGI to be used with FastCGI, it may exibit hanging.

If it doesnt help, post on forums.asp.net and we'll help you more.

Thanks,

Mike

# Mibble said on June 14, 2008 2:39 PM:

i have 2k3 and iis6, main site works fine however a 'cname' site does not. no matter whici one i use all i get is the phpinfo page displayed. and i have other url info chosen ie index.php or install.php, same thing. perhaps i have done something wrong?

# Mibble said on June 14, 2008 2:39 PM:

i have 2k3 and iis6, main site works fine however a 'cname' site does not. no matter whici one i use all i get is the phpinfo page displayed. and i have other url info chosen ie index.php or install.php, same thing. perhaps i have done something wrong?

# NeilH said on September 24, 2008 11:53 PM:

Please could someone address the issue that John Wielki queried above? People keep saying that fastCGI comes in II7 - and yet neither I nor four other people who I know have tried it have been able to discover the module through IIS manager. I did see - and try out - a command line workaround on one of the many threads I've been searching which made the fastCGI 'discoverable' - but putting files to testing server returned an 'erroneous module' fault which subsequently screwed up my ability to install/uninstall IIS components. I had to do a system restore. I am yet to hear of ANYBODY who has managed successfully to use IIS7 as a testing server for PHP web testing. I and one other have had to keep an XP machine running with IIS6 - because it works, - simply and efficiently!

# Mike Volodarsky said on September 26, 2008 2:54 AM:

NeilH,

FastCGI is built-in in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1, and requires to install the "CGI" component.

Please see for detailed instructions: http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/246/using-fastcgi-to-host-php-applications-on-iis-70/.

www.iis.net will have plenty of resources, and a dedicated forum for hosting PHP on IIS 7.0.

Quite a few hosts are offering IIS7-based PHP ... not sure how you missed it while searching.

I do have to update this post with the latest links/info, sorry if it misled you in any way. Hope this helps -

Mike

# jonny salmon said on October 18, 2008 9:01 AM:

One side effect with the 'not thread-safe' PHP on IIS 7 with fastcgi is that the windows binaries for DBG or XDebug that are readily available work with the 'thread-safe' PHP. So if you dont have time to build your own, and who does, and you want to use a product like VS.PHP (Visual Studio 2008 IDE for PHP) for debugging, then reconsider the 'not thread-safe' PHP.

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