Optimise PHP & Apache Configuration

[FN-GM]

Hi

 

Some of you may know my Edugeek Joomla site is running slow. Someone suggested it could be the PHP configuration. I have attached out PHP.ini file, what changes can i make so speed my site up please? The site url is:

Thanks

 

Z

 

Edit: please see below for apache config

Edited August 22, 2008 by FN-Greatermanchester

[Jona]

Maybe install some caching - both APC and eaccelerator have commented sections in your config so might already be installed, worth having a read up and turning one of them on.

 

You could turn off some of your php extentions if your not using them. Apart from that nothing that should especially affect performance.

 

You could turn on gzip compression in apache for your images, etc.

 

Cheers

Jona

Edited July 11, 2008 by Jona
correction

[KarlGoddard]

is this any help

 

: A HOWTO on Optimizing PHP with tips and methodologies

[FN-GM]

Maybe install some caching - both APC and eaccelerator have commented sections in your config so might already be installed, worth having a read up and turning one of them off.

 

You could turn off some of your php extentions if your not using them. Apart from that nothing that should especially affect performance.

 

You could turn on gzip compression in apache for your images, etc.

 

Cheers

Jona

 

Hi

 

most of that means nothing to me

 

as for the images, it downloads them fast once its started. It seems to be the initial reading of the php file.

 

is this any help

 

: A HOWTO on Optimizing PHP with tips and methodologies

 

Thanks i will have a look through that.

[Jona]

Caching -

See: eAccelerator - Trac

To enable it (if it's installed) uncomment this block in your php.ini

[eAccelerator]
;extension=eaccelerator.dll
;eaccelerator.shm_size = "0"
;eaccelerator.cache_dir = "C:\xampp\tmp"
;eaccelerator.enable = "1"
;eaccelerator.optimizer = "0"
;eaccelerator.debug = "0"
;eaccelerator.check_mtime = "1"
;eaccelerator.filter = ""
;eaccelerator.shm_max = "0"
;eaccelerator.shm_ttl = "0"
;eaccelerator.shm_prune_period = "0"
;eaccelerator.shm_only = "0"
;eaccelerator.compress = "1"
;eaccelerator.compress_level = "9"
;eaccelerator.keys = "shm_and_disk"
;eaccelerator.sessions = "shm_and_disk"
;eaccelerator.content = "shm_and_disk"
;eaccelerator.admin.name =
;eaccelerator.admin.password =

 

Additionally you should be able to comment some of the extentions in the [Extentions] block of your php.ini that your not using an example is:

extension=php_mssql.dll which if your not using a ms-sql database you can turn off. But this shouldn't have that much affect. I'm still slightly at a loose to know why your install is so slow are you sure it's php? Does the php load fast locally?

 

Jona

[FN-GM]

What do you do about username and password?

 

also is it installed with xampp by default?

 

thanks

[ZeroHour]

We use Xcache here and it gets very good write ups.

[Jona]

We use Xcache here and it gets very good write ups.

Yeh me too ZH but Xcache dosn't get installed with xampp but the looks of it eAcclerator and APC do.

[Jona]

What do you do about username and password?

 

also is it installed with xampp by default?

 

thanks

I *think* the username and password only matter if you want to use the cache administration console wigget so just set them to what ever I think. I assume it is installed by default but I'm not sure because I use a WAMP stack built from scratch.

[FN-GM]

Caching -

See: eAccelerator - Trac

To enable it (if it's installed) uncomment this block in your php.ini

[eAccelerator]
;extension=eaccelerator.dll
;eaccelerator.shm_size = "0"
;eaccelerator.cache_dir = "C:\xampp\tmp"
;eaccelerator.enable = "1"
;eaccelerator.optimizer = "0"
;eaccelerator.debug = "0"
;eaccelerator.check_mtime = "1"
;eaccelerator.filter = ""
;eaccelerator.shm_max = "0"
;eaccelerator.shm_ttl = "0"
;eaccelerator.shm_prune_period = "0"
;eaccelerator.shm_only = "0"
;eaccelerator.compress = "1"
;eaccelerator.compress_level = "9"
;eaccelerator.keys = "shm_and_disk"
;eaccelerator.sessions = "shm_and_disk"
;eaccelerator.content = "shm_and_disk"
;eaccelerator.admin.name =
;eaccelerator.admin.password =

 

Additionally you should be able to comment some of the extentions in the [Extentions] block of your php.ini that your not using an example is:

extension=php_mssql.dll which if your not using a ms-sql database you can turn off. But this shouldn't have that much affect. I'm still slightly at a loose to know why your install is so slow are you sure it's php? Does the php load fast locally?

 

Jona

 

 

Just done this rebooted the server and no change.

[maniac]

Are you sure it's PHP execution time holding up proceedings? It seems like it may be something else to me, as when I've viewed your site once each subsequent refresh is very fast, but it would be re-generating the page each time I press refresh, so if it were a PHP problem I'd expect it to take ages every time.

 

I would possibly look at your apache configuration, and how the server is configured, as it could be the webserver delaying things, and not PHP.

 

Just out of interest if you load the page on the server itself after clearing your cache, is it the same speed as viewing it externally??

 

Mike.

 

Edit: you might like to try inserting some code in your template to time PHP execution.

 

Back up your template first of course!

 

Then put this at the top of the main template PHP code.

 

$time_start = microtime(true);

 

<<<>>

 

Put this at the end after everything else (inside the PHP identifier of course)

 

$time_end = microtime(true);

$time = $time_end - $time_start;

echo "Page generated in $time seconds\n";

 

It should give you a time that PHP took to generate the page right at the bottom of every page. I would have used the code boxes, but they seem to have disappeared!

 

Mike.

Edited July 11, 2008 by maniac

[DMcCoy]

I did post on the other thread but it got eaten by farsehosts.

 

If the speed is ok locally and on the same network then it's not a php issue. You say it's on another network. You aren't using ISA to publish the server are you as that has been unbelievebally awful when I used it with a php site in the past, often it would just halt on images.

[FN-GM]

Just out of interest if you load the page on the server itself after clearing your cache, is it the same speed as viewing it externally??

 

Its very fast when i got to htpp://localhost on the Server.

 

i have attached to apache config, please help

 

I did post on the other thread but it got eaten by farsehosts.

 

If the speed is ok locally and on the same network then it's not a php issue. You say it's on another network. You aren't using ISA to publish the server are you as that has been unbelievebally awful when I used it with a php site in the past, often it would just halt on images.

 

To be honest i am not 100% but i don’t think it is, i don’t handle that side. We are on a network with our local CLC and the guy there looks after the DMZ. The webserver has been put directly exposed to the internet in front of all the firewalls etc and the same thing happens.

httpd.txt

Edited July 11, 2008 by FN-Greatermanchester

[DMcCoy]

ServerName localhost:80

 

You could try changing this to the servers IP that may help.

[FN-GM]

ServerName localhost:80

 

You could try changing this to the servers IP that may help.

 

Tried that. I tried using the public and the local server IP and i get the same result. I put it back to default after i played with it.

[maniac]

As DMcCoy has posted above, if it's fast browsing it on the server, then it's almost definitely not PHP and probably not apache holding things up. If it's also the same speed when you browse it from within the same LAN, then I think you can illiminate the server causing your problems all together.

 

You then need to look at the next link in the chain. Where does it go next when you view it from outside? If it's an ISA box or simelar then this would be my next port of call to troubleshoot this problem.

 

Mike.

[FN-GM]

When you browse in the same LAN its slow

 

You then need to look at the next link in the chain. Where does it go next when you view it from outside? If it's an ISA box or simelar then this would be my next port of call to troubleshoot this problem

 

We have bypassed all that kind of stuff and it gives the same result

[SYNACK]

According to firebug you have a fair few images that are called for but do not exist, this could be slowing it down:

 

x.co.uk/templates/eg_brown/images/headerkuva

x.co.uk/images/stories/smoothgallery/thumbs/tn_history1.jpg

x.co.uk/images/stories/smoothgallery/thumbs/tn_gerrard.jpg

x.uk/images/stories/smoothgallery/thumbs/tn_football.jpg

x.co.uk/images/stories/smoothgallery/thumbs/tn_newart.jpg

x.co.uk/images/stories/smoothgallery/thumbs/tn_ict1.jpg

x.co.uk/images/stories/smoothgallery/thumbs/tn_history%202.jpg

x.co.uk/templates/eg_brown/images/top_bg.png

x.co.uk/templates/eg_brown/images/footerpalkki.gif

 

Other than that it appears to load quite quickly.

Edited August 23, 2008 by SYNACK
Remove links that were messing with schools placement in Google search

[FN-GM]

I don’t think it is that when I remove the images it’s the same slow speed. Also when you access a page with little on it directly for example URL Removed it’s still slow. When you navigate to the same page from the home page its nice and fast.

 

Also if you go to URL Removed then to the home page its fast.

 

Do you get what i mean?

 

HTML seems fine but the PHP site is slow

Edited August 22, 2008 by FN-Greatermanchester

[maniac]

As its slow to initially load, but is then quick I would look at how your PHP sessions are handled. I think joomla uses sessions which are valid for a short while, which is why the first page you visit is slow (it could be trying to create the session and failing?) then loading subsequent pages is fast.

 

Does that sound plausable to anyone who understands sessions a bit more than me??

 

Mike.

[FN-GM]

As its slow to initially load, but is then quick I would look at how your PHP sessions are handled. I think joomla uses sessions which are valid for a short while, which is why the first page you visit is slow (it could be trying to create the session and failing?) then loading subsequent pages is fast.

 

Does that sound plausable to anyone who understands sessions a bit more than me??

 

Mike.

 

means nothing to me

[DMcCoy]

Are files being create in this path:

 

session.save_path = "C:\xampp\tmp"

 

 

With random looking names? The user running apache needs write permissions to this folder.

[FN-GM]

Yes it seems to. I have a attached a screenshot

 

Thanks for all the help! but please keep it coming

[FN-GM]

Clone the partition to create a backup.

Format, reinstall & service pack.

Create another installation and ensure this is not a corrupt installation.

You could go round in circles and still not get anywhere.

 

Might be worth a try, i only installed last Friday though. That will be something for Monday.

[FN-GM]

Any more suggestions please?