Apache PHP7.0 Module vs PHP-FPM -Ubuntu 17.04

Install Apache, MariaDB and PHP7 (LAMP Stack) on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS/Ubuntu 17.04

Apache PHP7.0 Module vs PHP-FPM

Step 1: Update Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

#sudo apt-get update

#sudo apt-get upgrade

#sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Step 2: Install Apache Web Server

#sudo apt-get install apache2 apache2-utils
#systemctl status apache2

If it’s not running, use systemctl to start it.

#sudo systemctl start apache2
#sudo systemctl enable apache2

Check Apache version:

#apache2 -v

o 

#apache2ctl -V

we need to make www-data (Apache user) as the owner of web root directory.

#sudo chown www-data /var/www/html/ -R

Step 3: Install MariaDB

MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. It is developed by former members of MySQL team who concerned that Oracle might turn MySQL into a closed-source product. Many Linux distributions and companies have migrated to MariaDB. So we’re going to install MariaDB instead of MySQL

#sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

After it’s installed, MariaDB server should be automatically stared. Use systemctl to check its status.

#systemctl status mysql

If it’s not running, start it with this command:

#sudo systemctl start mysql
To enable MariaDB to automatically start when Ubuntu 16.04 is rebooted:
#sudo systemctl enable mysql

Now run the post installation security script.
#sudo mysql_secure_installation

Step 4: Install PHP7

#sudo apt-get install php7.0-fpm php7.0-mysql php7.0-common php7.0-gd php7.0-json php7.0-cli php7.0-curl libapache2-mod-php7.0

Enable the Apache php7.0 module then restart Apache Web server.

#sudo a2enmod php7.0
#sudo systemctl restart apache2

Step 5: Test PHP

#sudo nano /var/www/html/test.php
<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Save and close the file. Now in the browser address bar, enter server-ip-address/test.php. Replace sever-ip-address with your actual IP. Of course, if you follow this tutorial on your local computer, then type 127.0.0.1/test.php or localhost/test.php.
You should see your server’s PHP information. This means PHP processing is fine. You can find that Zend OPcache is enabled.

Apache PHP7.0 Module vs PHP-FPM

There are now basically two ways to run PHP code with Apache web server:

• Apache PHP module
• PHP-FPM.
  

The above configuration uses the Apache PHP7.0 module to handle PHP code. It’s totally fine and if you are happy with it, then delete test.php file now so that no one else can see your server’s information and don’t follow the instructions below.
But if you want to use PHP-FPM to run PHP code, then you need to enable Apache mod_proxy_fcgi module with the following command:

#sudo a2enmod proxy_fcgi

Then edit the virtual host configuration file. This tutorial uses the default virtual host as an example.

#sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Add the ProxyPassMatch directive to this file.

....

ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
ProxyPassMatch ^/(.*\.php(/.*)?)$ unix:/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost/var/www/html/

.....

Save and close this file. Restart Apache2.

#sudo systemctl restart apache2

Start php7.0-fpm

#sudo systemctl start php7.0-fpm

Enable php7.0-fpm to start at boot time.

#sudo systemctl enable php7.0-fpm

Check status:

#systemctl status php7.0-fpm
php7.0-fpm.service - The PHP 7.0 FastCGI Process Manager
 Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/php7.0-fpm.service; enabled; vendor pre
set: enabled)
 Active: active (running) since Wed 2016-04-20 19:21:05 EDT; 2s ago

Now if you refresh the test.php page in your browser, you will find that Server API is FPM/FastCGI which means Apache web server will pass PHP requests to PHP-FPM.