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Configuration Values of PHP-FPM

Last modified: December 5, 2023

Overview

This document lists the PHP-FPM system’s configuration settings and their default values. This document also explains how to add additional settings to your system’s PHP-FPM configuration.

You can configure some of the global directives and pool options through WHM’s MultiPHP Manager interface (WHM » Home » Software » MultiPHP Manager).

Warning:

We strongly recommend that you only activate Apache PHP-FPM if your server has at least 2 GB of RAM available, or at least 30 MB of RAM per domain. If you enable PHP-FPM on a server with less than the required RAM, your server may experience severe performance issues.

Global directives

cPanel & WHM uses template values for defaults. For example, when the [% ea_php_version %] template value appears in the .yaml file, the system replaces this value with the desired PHP version. The following list outlines the global directives labels:

  • Key — The entry in the .yaml file.
  • Name — The pool name in the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system_pool_defaults.yaml configuration file.
    More:
    For more information about pool names, read our PHP-FPM Domain Pools documentation.
  • Present if not listed — When you set this value to Yes, the system adds the value to the /var/cpanel/userdata/user/domain.php-fpm.yaml configuration file, where user represents the cPanel user’s name and domain represents the domain.
  • Default — The template value that resides in the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system.yaml configuration file. For more information about creating the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system.yaml file, read our PHP-FPM implementation documentation.
Warning:
  • You must normalize the period character . to an underscore character _ for all key names when you create or modify the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system.yaml file. For example, you would normalize syslog.ident to syslog_ident. Otherwise, the system may not accept the key name.
  • Exercise extreme caution when you manually edit .yaml files. Incorrect syntax in these files will cause services to fail. We strongly suggest that you create a backup of your system before you manually edit .yaml files.
Key Name Present if not listed Default
daemonize daemonize Yes no
emergency_restart_interval emergency_restart_interval Yes 0
emergency_restart_threshold emergency_restart_threshold Yes 0
error_log error_log Yes /opt/cpanel/[% ea_php_version %]/root/usr/var/log/php-fpm/error.log
events_mechanism events.mechanism No N/A
log_level log_level Yes notice
pid pid Yes /opt/cpanel/[% ea_php_version %]/root/usr/var/run/php-fpm/php-fpm.pid
process_control_timeout process_control_timeout Yes 10
process_max process_max No 0
process_priority process.priority No N/A
rlimit_core rlimit_core No 0
rlimit_files rlimit_files No N/A
syslog_facility syslog.facility No daemon
syslog_ident syslog.ident No php-fpm
systemd_interval systemd_interval No 10

Pool name directives

PHP-FPM pools allow you to configure different websites and applications to run under their own user. The following table lists directives that you can configure in the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system_pool_defaults.yaml file. For more information about creating the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system_pool_defaults.yaml file, read our PHP-FPM implementation documentation.

Important:

To avoid directive configuration errors, you must follow these syntax rules:

  • You must use single quotation marks ' ' at the beginning and end of strings with double quotation marks " ". The YAML parser automatically removes quotation marks from string values. This means that values that require double quotation marks must use single quotation marks before and after the double quotation marks to retain their value.

  • You must use an escape character \ with any double quotation marks " " that you use inside of the string.

Key Name Present if not listed Default
catch_workers_output catch_workers_output Yes yes
chdir chdir Yes [% homedir %]
chroot chroot No N/A
clear_env clear_env No N/A
group group Yes nobody
listen listen Yes "[% socket_path %]"
listen_acl_groups listen.acl_groups No N/A
listen_acl_users listen.acl_users No N/A
listen_allowed_clients listen.allowed_clients No any
listen_backlog listen.backlog No -1
listen_group listen.group No nobody
listen_mode listen.mode No 0660
listen_owner listen.owner No "[% username %]"
php_admin_flag_allow_url_fopen php_admin_flag[allow_url_fopen] Yes on
php_admin_flag_log_errors php_admin_flag[log_errors] Yes on
php_admin_value_disable_functions php_admin_value[disable_functions] Yes exec,passthru,shell_exec,system
php_admin_value_doc_root php_admin_value[doc_root] Yes [% documentroot %]
Note:
  • When you specify a vhost document root for subdomains, the system does not escape the vhost correctly in the subdomain’s PHP-FPM configuration file.
  • PHP-FPM does not process certain characters in the document root unless you add double quotes "" around the document root.
  • You can also add the colon :, semicolon ;, and parenthesis () characters to the document root.
php_admin_value_error_log php_admin_value[error_log] Yes [% homedir %]/logs/[% scrubbed_domain %].php.error.log
Note:

The system normalizes the period character . to an underscore character _ for the domain. For example, the /home/example/logs/example.net.php.error.log file becomes the /home/example/logs/example_net.php.error.log file, where example represents the username and example_net represents the domain name.
php_admin_value_short_open_tag php_admin_value[short_open_tag] Yes on
php_value_error_reporting php_value[error_reporting] Yes E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE
php_value_session_save_handler php_value[session.save_handler] No N/A
php_value_session_save_path php_value[session.save_path] No N/A
php_value_soap_wsdl_cache_dir php_value[soap.wsdl_cache_dir] No N/A
ping_path ping.path Yes /ping
pm pm Yes ondemand
pm_max_children pm.max_children Yes 5
pm_max_requests pm.max_requests Yes 20
pm_max_spare_servers pm.max_spare_servers Yes 5
pm_min_spare_servers pm.min_spare_servers Yes 1
pm_process_idle_timeout pm.process_idle_timeout Yes 10
pm_start_servers pm.start_servers Yes 0
pm_status_path pm.status_path Yes /status
request_slowlog_timeout request_slowlog_timeout No N/A
request_terminate_timeout request_terminate_timeout No N/A
rlimit_core rlimit_core No N/A
rlimit_files rlimit_files No N/A
security_limit_extensions security.limit_extensions Yes The system allows the following options:
  • .phtml
  • .php
  • .php3
  • .php4
  • .php5
  • .php6
  • .php7
slowlog slowlog No N/A
user user Yes "[% username %]"
Note:

For more information about pool names, read our PHP-FPM Domain Pools documentation.

Add a value to a configuration

A complete configuration directive line would resemble the following example:

php_value_open_basedir: { name: 'php_value[open_basedir]', value: "[% documentroot %]" }

This example contains the following values:

  • php_value_open_basedir represents the Key entry.
  • The Key entry must only contain letters, numbers, and underscores.
  • php_value[openbasedir] represents the pool name.
  • documentroot represents the configuration value.

Add an unknown value to a configuration

You can add a value that cPanel & WHM does not currently provide as a default with a YAML map.

To create a YAML map, add a line to the configuration file that resembles the following example:

php_admin_value_ldap_max_links: { name: 'php_admin_value[ldap.max_links]', value: -1 }

This example contains the following values:

  • php_admin_value_ldap_max_links represents the Key entry.
  • The Key entry must only contain letters, numbers, and underscores.
  • php_admin_value[ldap.max_links] represents the pool name.
  • -1 represents the configuration value.
Important:

If you prepend any PHP settings with the php_value or php_flag flags, the system will overwrite any previous php.ini values that you set in the user’s .htaccess files. To remove these flags, run the following commands: 

1
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find /home -type f -name '.htaccess' -exec grep -Hrn 'php_value' '{}' \;
find /home -type f -name '.htaccess' -exec grep -Hrn 'php_flag' '{}' \;

If you prepend any PHP settings with the disable functions or disable_classes flags, the system will append the new php.ini value to the previous one in the user’s .htaccess files.

For more information, read our How to Manage Your php.ini Directives with PHP-FPM documentation.

Additional Documentation