Php – IIS/PHP/FCgi wrong setup – No page no error

fastcgiiisPHPwindows-server-2003

Not the first setup I install, but I can't figure out what's going on …

System :
– Windows Server 2003
– IIS with FastCGI
– PHP 5.3.1

I've setup :
– fcgi.ini as usual with a single [PHP] section pointing on my C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe
– IIS / FCGI mapping on .php file
– PHP.ini is almost standard. Just enabled full error logging and MySQL extension.

The strangiest is the result :
– When I call my test.php in my browser it just "connecting …" for ever. No display, no error.

Even if my test.php contains no PHP !
But if I rename it test.html everything's OK !

I'm a little lost here …

Best Answer

I recently implemented a similar setup:

From my deployment notes, the install steps were:

  • Download PHP 5.3.1 zip (http://windows.php.net/download/, note the "Which version do I choose?" section)
  • Install into c:\php
  • Test php -v works on the command line (in c:\php)
  • Associate .php with FastCGI: IIS Manager -> machine -> Web Sites -> site -> right click, choose properties -> choose "Home Directory" tab, click "Configuration", Mappings tab. Config for .php looks like:

alt text

  • Configure FastCGI's config file (C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\fcgiext.ini) with at least:
    [Types]
    php=PHP

    [PHP]
    ExePath=c:\php\php-cgi.exe
  • Append/change the following to c:\php\php.ini. Without this config, my config bounces between giving blank pages and not loading at all (I guess this is your problem):
    fastcgi.impersonate = 1
    fastcgi.logging = 0
    cgi.fix_pathinfo=1
    cgi.force_redirect = 0
  • Set 
    display_errors
    on in c:\php\php.ini and uncomment extension=php_mysql.dll.
  • Restart IIS for the site (click the stop/play buttons)

In this config, you've essentially got two components, the plumbing between IIS-FastCGI-PHP, and PHP itself. I'd recommend isolating which of these isn't working:

  • Temporarily edit fcgiext.ini and point the PHP ExePath to something different, e.g. c:\php\nothere.exe. If the server starts returning "The FastCGI executable could not be found" for PHP requests, then I'd FastCGI was working correctly, and PHP is at fault.
  • Run PHP with its default config, the fastcgi/cgi changes above and display_errors on. You'll need to restart IIS (and possibly kill off any php-cgi processes) for the site you're restarting for the changes to be recognised.
  • Run PHP on the command line with a simple phpinfo(); script, to check basic operation, and note where the loaded php.ini is. This checks a rogue config file (e.g. in c:\, c:\windows etc) is not being used.

These steps confirm (at least) the PHP executable is being invoked, with the most basic config.

hope this helps,

Lockie

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