Catalyst::Engine::FastCGI - FastCGI Engine


NAME

Catalyst::Engine::FastCGI - FastCGI Engine


DESCRIPTION

This is the FastCGI engine.


OVERLOADED METHODS

This class overloads some methods from Catalyst::Engine::CGI.

$self->run($c, $listen, { option => value, ... })


Starts the FastCGI server.  If C<$listen> is set, then it specifies a
location to listen for FastCGI requests;
/path
listen via Unix sockets on /path

:port
listen via TCP on port on all interfaces

hostname:port
listen via TCP on port bound to hostname

Options may also be specified;

leave_umask
Set to 1 to disable setting umask to 0 for socket open =item nointr

Do not allow the listener to be interrupted by Ctrl+C

nproc
Specify a number of processes for FCGI::ProcManager

pidfile
Specify a filename for the pid file

manager
Specify a FCGI::ProcManager sub-class

detach
Detach from console

keep_stderr
Send STDERR to STDOUT instead of the webserver

$self->write($c, $buffer)

$self->daemon_fork()

Performs the first part of daemon initialisation. Specifically, forking. STDERR, etc are still connected to a terminal.

$self->daemon_detach( )

Performs the second part of daemon initialisation. Specifically, disassociates from the terminal.

However, this does not change the current working directory to ``/'', as normal daemons do. It also does not close all open file descriptors (except STDIN, STDOUT and STDERR, which are re-opened from /dev/null).


WEB SERVER CONFIGURATIONS

Standalone FastCGI Server

In server mode the application runs as a standalone server and accepts connections from a web server. The application can be on the same machine as the web server, on a remote machine, or even on multiple remote machines. Advantages of this method include running the Catalyst application as a different user than the web server, and the ability to set up a scalable server farm.

To start your application in server mode, install the FCGI::ProcManager module and then use the included fastcgi.pl script.

    $ script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -l /tmp/myapp.socket -n 5
    
Command line options for fastcgi.pl include:
    -d -daemon     Daemonize the server.
    -p -pidfile    Write a pidfile with the pid of the process manager.
    -l -listen     Listen on a socket path, hostname:port, or :port.
    -n -nproc      The number of processes started to handle requests.
    
See below for the specific web server configurations for using the external
server.

Apache 1.x, 2.x

Apache requires the mod_fastcgi module. The same module supports both Apache 1 and 2.

There are three ways to run your application under FastCGI on Apache: server, static, and dynamic.

Standalone server mode

    FastCgiExternalServer /tmp/myapp.fcgi -socket /tmp/myapp.socket
    Alias /myapp/ /tmp/myapp/myapp.fcgi/
    
    # Or, run at the root
    Alias / /tmp/myapp.fcgi/
    
    # Optionally, rewrite the path when accessed without a trailing slash
    RewriteRule ^/myapp$ myapp/ [R]

The FastCgiExternalServer directive tells Apache that when serving /tmp/myapp to use the FastCGI application listenting on the socket /tmp/mapp.socket. Note that /tmp/myapp.fcgi does not need to exist -- it's a virtual file name. With some versions of mod_fastcgi or mod_fcgid, you can use any name you like, but most require that the virtual filename end in .fcgi.

It's likely that Apache is not configured to serve files in /tmp, so the Alias directive maps the url path /myapp/ to the (virtual) file that runs the FastCGI application. The trailing slashes are important as their use will correctly set the PATH_INFO environment variable used by Catalyst to determine the request path. If you would like to be able to access your app without a trailing slash (http://server/myapp), you can use the above RewriteRule directive.

Static mode

The term 'static' is misleading, but in static mode Apache uses its own FastCGI Process Manager to start the application processes. This happens at Apache startup time. In this case you do not run your application's fastcgi.pl script -- that is done by Apache. Apache then maps URIs to the FastCGI script to run your application.

    FastCgiServer /path/to/myapp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl -processes 3
    Alias /myapp/ /path/to/myapp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl/
    
FastCgiServer tells Apache to start three processes of your application at
startup.  The Alias command maps a path to the FastCGI application. Again,
the trailing slashes are important.
    
=head3 Dynamic mode

In FastCGI dynamic mode, Apache will run your application on demand, typically by requesting a file with a specific extension (e.g. .fcgi). ISPs often use this type of setup to provide FastCGI support to many customers.

In this mode it is often enough to place or link your *_fastcgi.pl script in your cgi-bin directory with the extension of .fcgi. In dynamic mode Apache must be able to run your application as a CGI script so ExecCGI must be enabled for the directory.

    AddHandler fastcgi-script .fcgi

The above tells Apache to run any .fcgi file as a FastCGI application.

Here is a complete example:

    <VirtualHost *:80>
        ServerName www.myapp.com
        DocumentRoot /path/to/MyApp
        # Allow CGI script to run
        <Directory /path/to/MyApp>
            Options +ExecCGI
        </Directory>
        # Tell Apache this is a FastCGI application
        <Files myapp_fastcgi.pl>
            SetHandler fastcgi-script
        </Files>
    </VirtualHost>

Then a request for /script/myapp_fastcgi.pl will run the application.


For more information on using FastCGI under Apache, visit
L<http://www.fastcgi.com/mod_fastcgi/docs/mod_fastcgi.html>;

Lighttpd

These configurations were tested with Lighttpd 1.4.7.

Standalone server mode

    server.document-root = "/var/www/MyApp/root"
    fastcgi.server = (
        "" => (
            "MyApp" => (
                "socket"      => "/tmp/myapp.socket",
                "check-local" => "disable"
            )
        )
    )

Static mode

    server.document-root = "/var/www/MyApp/root"
    
    fastcgi.server = (
        "" => (
            "MyApp" => (
                "socket"       => "/tmp/myapp.socket",
                "check-local"  => "disable",
                "bin-path"     => "/var/www/MyApp/script/myapp_fastcgi.pl",
                "min-procs"    => 2,
                "max-procs"    => 5,
                "idle-timeout" => 20
            )
        )
    )
    
Note that in newer versions of lighttpd, the min-procs and idle-timeout
values are disabled.  The above example would start 5 processes.

Non-root configuration


You can also run your application at any non-root location with either of the
above modes.
    fastcgi.server = (
        "/myapp" => (
            "MyApp" => (
                # same as above
            )
        )
    )

For more information on using FastCGI under Lighttpd, visit http://www.lighttpd.net/documentation/fastcgi.html

IIS

It is possible to run Catalyst under IIS with FastCGI, but we do not yet have detailed instructions.


SEE ALSO

Catalyst, FCGI.


AUTHORS

Sebastian Riedel, <sri@cpan.org>

Christian Hansen, <ch@ngmedia.com>

Andy Grundman, <andy@hybridized.org>


THANKS

Bill Moseley, for documentation updates and testing.


COPYRIGHT

This program is free software, you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

 Catalyst::Engine::FastCGI - FastCGI Engine