[HOW-TO] DirectAdmin with mod_fcgid

All steps below should be done with a new clean install of DirectAdmin. It is possible to make it work on the server that already have users on it. I did that and it works perfectly fine. However, the steps will be a bit different and it won't work if you just follow instruction below.

1. Copy and paste below command into your SSH

cd /usr/local/src
wget http://mirrors.issp.co.th/apache/httpd/mod_fcgid/mod_fcgid-2.3.5.tar.bz2
tar jxf mod_fcgid-2.3.5.tar.bz2
cd mod_fcgid-2.3.5
APXS=/usr/sbin/apxs ./configure.apxs && make && make install
chmod 755 -R /var/lib/httpd
mkdir /fcgi

2. modify option file and recompile PHP.

cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/
nano -w options.conf

Modify php5_cgi=yes. All else about PHP is set to no. Then, recompile PHP.

./build php n

3. Modify Apache to load mod_fcgid

3.1 Modify httpd-info.conf as below :

nano -w /etc/httpd/conf/extra/httpd-info.conf

Add below text into the file httpd-info.conf

LoadModule fcgid_module /usr/lib/apache/mod_fcgid.so
 
SharememPath /var/run/fcgid_shm
SocketPath /var/lib/httpd/fcgid/sock
 
<IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
  FcgidIdleTimeout 3600
  FcgidProcessLifeTime 7200
  FcgidMaxProcesses 128
  FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass 4
  FcgidConnectTimeout 60
  FcgidIOTimeout 90
  FcgidInitialEnv RAILS_ENV production
#  FcgidInitialEnv PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN 4
#  MaxRequestsPerProcess 500
</IfModule>
 
<Directory "/home">
        AllowOverride All
        Options SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
        <IfModule sapi_apache2.c>
        php_admin_flag engine off
        </IfModule>
        <IfModule mod_php5.c>
        php_admin_flag engine off
        </IfModule>
</Directory>

3.2 Goes into "/usr/local/directadmin/data/templates". Create custom folder. Modify virtual_host2*.conf ( 4 Files : virtual_host2.conf / virtual_host2_secure.conf / virtual_host2_secure_sub.conf / virtual_host2_sub.conf )

cd /usr/local/directadmin/data/templates
mkdir custom
cp virtual_host2*.conf custom
cd custom

Comment out each virtual_host2* files about PHP as below :

|*if CLI="1"|
#               php_admin_flag engine |PHP|
#               <IfModule !mod_php6.c>
#                       php_admin_flag safe_mode |SAFE_MODE|
#               </IfModule>
#               php_admin_value sendmail_path '/usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i -f |USER|@|DOMAIN|'
|*endif|
|*if OPEN_BASEDIR="ON"|
#               php_admin_value open_basedir |OPEN_BASEDIR_PATH|
|*endif|
|*if SUPHP="1"|
#                suPHP_Engine |PHP|
#               suPHP_UserGroup |USER| |GROUP|
|*endif|

Then, insert below text into above of the text in previous steps:

	<IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
		<Files ~ (\.fcgi)>
			SetHandler fcgid-script
			Options +FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI
		</Files>
	</IfModule>
	<IfModule mod_fcgid.c>
	<Files ~ (\.php)>
		SetHandler fcgid-script
		FCGIWrapper "/fcgi/|USER|/public_html/fcgid.sh" .php
		Options +ExecCGI
		allow from all
	</Files>
	</IfModule>

4. Create fcgid.sh script

cd /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/
nano -w fcgid.sh

Paste below text into fcgid.sh and then, save it.

#!/bin/sh
export PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS=0
exec /usr/local/php5/bin/php-cgi

Also create file "domain_create_post.sh" in the same folder and copy text below into the file

#!/bin/sh
 
mkdir -p /fcgi/${username}/public_html
cp /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/fcgid.sh /fcgi/${username}/public_html/fcgid.sh && chmod 0700 /fcgi/${username}/public_html/fcgid.sh
cp /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/php.ini /fcgi/${username}/public_html/php.ini
perl -pi -w -e "s/PHPCFG_BASEDIR/\/home\/${username}\//g;" /fcgi/${username}/public_html/php.ini
chown -R ${username}:${username} /fcgi/${username}
echo "`date`  ${domain} created  " >> /var/log/directadmin/domain_create.log

5. Copy php.ini files to " /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/ "

Edit " /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/php.ini " that we just copied. Search for " open_basedir " that is normally comment out. Just uncomment it and have that line like below :

open_basedir = PHPCFG_BASEDIR:/tmp:/var/tmp

6. Run command below :

chmod a+x /usr/local/directadmin/scripts/custom/*.sh

Note 1 : I have tried mod_fcgid 2.3.6 which is the latest version as of today but I ran into the problem that mod_fcgid doesn't obey " FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass" variable. If you set it to 4, PHP processes for each user should not run more than 4. It works fine with mod_fcgid 2.3.4 / 2.3.5 but not with 2.3.6. I'm sure there is something that I need to set to make it work but I have no idea what is it. So, I have to stick with mod_fcid 2.3.5 for now.
Note 2 : When there is an update for Apache / PHP, you don't have to worry if it will break your sites. You can run " ./build update_versions " without any problem.

Tested with below software :
1. CentOS 5.4 / 5.5 / 5.8 - 64 bits
2. DirectAdmin 1.362 / 1.411 - With Custombuild 1.2
3. Apache 2.2.17 / 2.4.2 - Worker MPM
4. PHP 5.2.15 - 5.2.17 / 5.3.14
5. mod_fcgid 2.3.4 / 2.3.5 / 2.3.7

Source : http://www.icez.net/blog/389/directadmin-mod_fcgid-php-fastcgi
 
 
UPDATE (2012.04.11)
About mod_fcgid 2.3.6 that doesn't obey " FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass" variable according to note above. Przemek kindly let me know in the comment that I have to edit fcgid_spawn_ctl.c ( /modules/fcgid/fcgid_spawn_ctl.c ) and change line 178:

&& current_node->vhost_id == sconf->vhost_id

to

&& current_node->vhost_id == command->vhost_id

Then, compile as usual. This seems to work as it should be now. UPDATE (2012.04.25)
When use mod_fcgid 2.3.6, you may need to add FcgidMaxRequestLen variable into /etc/httpd/conf/extra/httpd-info.conf Default before Version 2.3.6 is 1 GB, while it's only 131072 in 2.3.6. Adjust it to match your need. Also with mod_fcgid 2.3.7 released on April 23, 2012, the problem that mod_fcgid doesn't obey " FcgidMaxProcessesPerClass" variable has been fixed. You don't need to follow method in UPDATE (2012.04.11) if you use version 2.3.7.