Off-page speed optimization at server

[joe524]

Hello Everyone,

Not sure whether there is a previous thread for this topic. If so, please point me to it and moderator can close this one.

I'm hoping we can share some optimal configuration suggestions for httpd.config or apache2.config (ubuntu). I know many variables apply here (heavy mysql, php's, etc) and there's probably not a "one-size-fits-all" answer, but it may be good to exchange information for the benefit of all.

On-page website speed tweaking tips is only one half of the equation, the other half lies on what powers your website and how that power is delivered optimally. Even if you don't have root access into your server, talk about what can be done at .htaccess level.

For instance, by now we are all aware of the part that "KeepAlive ON" plays into website speed.

How about running PHP as FastCGI?
Disable DNS lookups?
Optimizing PHP?
Spreading your workload by running SQL on a different server?
Prefork & Worker MPM settings? This one is underrated and plays a crucial part.

Regards to all!

[pmeenan]

1 - If you haven't installed PHP APC, do it NOW! (sudo apt-get install php-apc). It will cache the compiled PHP bytecode and improve the performance of the server
2 - See #1
3 - If you're not on shared hosting, I'm actually a fan of running PHP as a module and not CGI (even FastCGI). That depends on how you run Apache though because it doesn't work with all MPM's.

[joe524]

Thanks Pat!

I just installed using yum since my server runs Plesk (dependencies?). Also added extension=apc.so into apc.ini file.

Based on phpinfo, I'm assuming it installed and is enabled. I copied snapshot of phpinfo for your review.
**As an added security layer, I've implemented code below into .htaccess (highly recommended!), it can be momentarily turned off to view file info from browser.
<Files ~ "(php\.ini|\.htaccess|\.php.?|\.py|\.pl|\.cgi)$">
order deny,allow
deny from all
</Files>

=============================================
Does it look OK?

apc

APC Support enabled
Version 3.1.9
APC Debugging Disabled
MMAP Support Enabled
MMAP File Mask no value
Locking type pthread mutex Locks
Serialization Support php
Revision $Revision: 308812 $
Build Date Jun 2 2011 17:48:08

Directive Local Value Master Value
apc.cache_by_default On On
apc.canonicalize On On
apc.coredump_unmap Off Off
apc.enable_cli Off Off
apc.enabled On On
apc.file_md5 Off Off
apc.file_update_protection 2 2
apc.filters no value no value
apc.gc_ttl 3600 3600
apc.include_once_override Off Off
apc.lazy_classes Off Off
apc.lazy_functions Off Off
apc.max_file_size 1M 1M
apc.mmap_file_mask no value no value
apc.num_files_hint 1000 1000
apc.preload_path no value no value
apc.report_autofilter Off Off
apc.rfc1867 Off Off
apc.rfc1867_freq 0 0
apc.rfc1867_name APC_UPLOAD_PROGRESS APC_UPLOAD_PROGRESS
apc.rfc1867_prefix upload_ upload_
apc.rfc1867_ttl 3600 3600
apc.serializer default default
apc.shm_segments 1 1
apc.shm_size 32M 32M
apc.slam_defense On On
apc.stat On On
apc.stat_ctime Off Off
apc.ttl 0 0
apc.use_request_time On On
apc.user_entries_hint 4096 4096
apc.user_ttl 0 0
apc.write_lock On On