PHP: APC Configuration and Usage Tips and Tricks - Comment Page: 1
PHP APC (Alternative PHP Cache / Opcode Cache) is framework that optimizes PHP intermediate code and caches data and compiled code from the PHP bytecode compiler in shared memory. APC Opcode Cache is quickly becoming the de-facto standard PHP caching mechanism.
[inttf_post_ad1]
PHP APC installation is very easy, example with Fedora / CentOS / Red Hat (RHEL) you can check following guides to see howto install it:
Install Nginx/PHP-FPM on Fedora/CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL)
Install Apache/PHP on Fedora/CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL)
This PHP APC guide is divided on four different section:
1. PHP APC Configuration
2. Enable PHP APC Statistics
3. Howto Use PHP APC User Cache
4. PHP APC...
[…] More info about PHP APC from PHP APC Configuration and Usage Tips and Tricks. […]
[…] More info about PHP APC from PHP APC Configuration and Usage Tips and Tricks […]
The best thing with learning PHP programming is having a lot of people who are always willing to share their knowledge. One of the best tips on APC configuration is this one that you have made.
I disagree with this:
“Normally it’s wise cache only “small†files and this value is good to set example to default 1 Mb.”
Why did you say that? Caching large files is also good because you are avoiding parsing these files.
Anyway thanks for the tips :)
Hi Luis,
Some cases it might be good increase apc.max_file_size value. But…
Let’s think very normal example, VPS servers (512Mb, 1Gb, 2Gb) where you have to limit amount of APC memory (e.g. 32Mb, 64Mb 128Mb, 256Mb), and you have hundreds of files, a lot of small files (less than 1Mb) and a few large files (like 25Mb).
Okay, you cache all files ignoring the size (set very high apc.max_file_size value), then the cache will reach maximum capacity almost constantly and it clean forcefully any entries that haven’t been accessed in the last apc.ttl seconds. This is situation where you use APC, but finally your scripts are loading much slower than without any cache, because you end up the situation where load files from disk, add files to cache and delete files from cache. Which is much heavier than just load files from disk.
The optimal situation is a situation where your cache is almost fully used, but newer reach maximum capacity (Cache full count number is always zero) and almost all incoming requests are hits (not misses).
But, if you have enough memory to get all your files cached, then it’s okay to set very high apc.max_file_size and cache everything. :)
I installed APC on a Debian server using apt-get.
I can’t find the apc.php file in the location you mentioned where else is this file located ?
Hi A.Jesin,
On Debian check /usr/share/doc/php-apc/ path or try following (as root):
Hello JR,
I tried everything and still I couldn’t find apc.php. I even tried
find / -name apc.phpSo finally I downloaded the APC archive from PECL’s website and used the apc.php from it.
I have uploaded a copy of it to my blog at http://jesin.tk/apc-php-download/ for people who have installed it from the repository.
Hi again A.Jesin,
Strange that Debian doesn’t include apc.php at all, but nice to hear that you got it working and even write helpful post to other Debian users who can’t get apc.php file from Debian’s on pakcages. Thanks!
It’s in /etc/php5/conf.d/20-apc.ini
Thanks Henrik!
TY for Share
Hi. I am coming from windows and am on fedora 18. What do I use for domain-name here? domainname command states there is no domain name set. i.e. none
Hi Chandan Pednekar,
Do you mean APC statistics url?
Just came across your useful article while trying to resolve an APC problem.
It seems a little odd and I’m wondering if you or anybody here has come across this. I’ve got APC Opcode cache installed fine on a VPS and I can check its working with apc.php. However if I use a local php.ini file for a vhost APC stops running altogether no matter the contents of the php.ini file (even if blank).
Any idea what would be causing this and how to resolve it ?
Hi Nic,
Based on this information, my guess is that you are not enabled php apc at all when you are using local php.ini. What if you check your phpinfo is APC module loaded at all, when you use local php.ini? Or what if you use your global php.ini as your local config, is it working then?
So I guess that you are missing following, when you use your local php.ini:
Yes JR, as I’m running a VPS I have a core php.ini and a php.ini for each vhost and I’d assumed that the contents (of a local php.ini) would just override individual parts of the core php.ini. Turns out that the existence of a local php.ini overrides all server php.ini settings and I needed to reinclude the apc module. Thanks for taking the time to answer this and everybody elses questions.
Hi Nic,
Create a phpinfo() file in your document root and have a look at it.
The first section of the file will give you information on the location of the php.ini file that is being used.
Take a look at the sections “Loaded Configuration File” and “Scan this dir for additional .ini files”
You are welcome! :) Yes, it’s true that local php.ini overrides all server php.ini settings. So do you get it fully working as you wished?
Yes, I just pulled over the core ini and modified specific settings and all is well :-)
Excellent! :)
Hi,
Thanks for the tutorial, apc installed without any trouble.
But 2 issues –
1. Upon visiting apc stats, only one file has been cached which is apc.php itself, total free memory 30m and ignore rest of the php files. Any reason?
2. Couldn’t find apc.ini, tried many times to locate but no such php5 or php.d directory under /etc/
I’m running CentOS 6
Thanks
Hi Harry,
First run (as root):
Could you then post output of following commands:
Many thanks for quick response: Following are the results:
1. locate apc
/etc/selinux/targeted/modules/active/modules/apcupsd.pp
/home/cpeasyapache/src/libxml2-2.9.0/doc/tutorial/apc.html
/home/cpeasyapache/src/php-5.3.26/scripts/apache/apconf-conv.sh
/home/kashmird/public_html/administrator/components/com_mobilejoomla/cachestorage/apc.php
/home/kashmird/public_html/libraries/joomla/cache/storage/apc.php
/home/kashmird/public_html/libraries/joomla/session/storage/apc.php
/opt/xml2/share/doc/libxml2-2.9.0/html/tutorial/apc.html
/usr/local/cpanel/base/3rdparty/phpMyAdmin/libraries/import/upload/apc.php
/usr/local/cpanel/base/horde/lib/Horde/Cache/apc.php
/usr/local/cpanel/whostmgr/docroot/templates/dbmapcopyaccount.tmpl
/usr/local/include/php/ext/apc
/usr/local/include/php/ext/apc/apc_serializer.h
/usr/local/lib/php/apc.php
/usr/local/lib/php/.registry/.channel.pecl.php.net/apc.reg
/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/apc.so
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc53_001.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc53_002.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc53_003.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc53_004.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc53_005.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_001.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_002.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_003.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_004.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_005.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_006.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_007.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_008.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_009.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_010.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_011.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_012.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_013.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_014.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_015.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_016.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_017.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_018.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_019.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_020.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_021.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_bug62699.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_bug62699_2.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_error_010.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc54_error_010_2.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_001.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_002.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_003.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_003b.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_004.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_005.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_006.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_007.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_008.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_009.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_010.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_bin_001.phpt
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_bin_002-1.inc
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_bin_002-2.inc
/usr/local/lib/php/tests/APC/tests/apc_bin_002.phpt
/usr/share/doc/libxml2-devel-2.7.6/tutorial/apc.html
/usr/share/man/man2/swapcontext.2.gz
/usr/share/man/man3/swapcontext.3.gz
/usr/share/man/man3p/swapcontext.3p.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/apcupsd_selinux.8.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/httpd_apcupsd_cgi_script_selinux.8.gz
/usr/share/selinux/devel/include/services/apcupsd.if
/usr/share/selinux/targeted/apcupsd.pp.bz2
/usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/ldapconf.vim
2. php -i |grep apc
apc
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
3. rpm -qa \*apc\* —– nothing appeared / no result
4. uname -a
Linux kd.teckbucket.co.uk 2.6.32-358.11.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Jun 12 03:34:52 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Thanks
Harry
Thanks for this info, how and where is your php installed?
You could create apc.ini or alternatively add your configuration to php.ini. Your php apc module is currently enabled with default config.
Thanks for the response.
PHP was pre-installed on the server. I guess it’s under /usr/local/lib/php (not sure, but seems to be).
Yes, php apc module is enabled, ain’t suppose to cache php files even with default config ?
Can I create apc.ini at the same location as php.in ? if not where should I create and how do I relate it to php.ini.
Create a phpinfo file in your document root and access it via web browser.
Search for the option which says “Scan this dir for additional .ini files†this contains a directory location inside which config files of various PHP modules exist.
No ini files.
Scan this dir for additional .ini files – (none)
Additional .ini files parsed – (none)
Hi Harry,
I’m using apc on Debian and the apc.ini file is named as 20-apc.ini which is located inside
/etc/php5/conf.d/20-apc.iniso try usingfind /etc -name *apc.inito locate the file.Hi Jesin,
Thanks for the response.
1. I did checked many times under /etc/. Unfortunately, no such directory php or php5 found.
2. Tried – find /etc -name *apc.ini
– no result appeared
Thanks
Harry
Thanks for the great tutorial.. I have installed successfully in my server :)
Dear A.Jesin ,
use SSH find command is too usefu1
for example :
find -name / apc.php900d 1u(k
Hey JR please guide on Centos.
Here is My Centos Config of APCU.ini
; Enable APCu extension module
extension = apcu.so
; This can be set to 0 to disable APCu
apc.enabled=1
; Setting this enables APCu for the CLI version of PHP
; (Mostly for testing and debugging).
;apc.enable_cli=0
; Sets the path to text files containing caches to load from disk upon
; initialization of APCu. preload_path should be a directory where each
; file follows $key.data where $key should be used as the entry name
; and the contents of the file contains serialized data to use as the value
; of the entry.
;apc.preload_path=
; The size of each shared memory segment, with M/G suffixe
;apc.shm_size=32M
; The number of seconds a cache entry is allowed to idle in a slot in case
; this cache entry slot is needed by another entry.
;apc.ttl=0
; The number of seconds that a cache entry may remain on the
; garbage-collection list.
;apc.gc_ttl=3600
; If you begin to get low on resources, an expunge of the cache
; is performed if it is less than half full. This is not always
; a suitable way of determining if an expunge of the cache
; should be per apc.smart allows you to set a runtime configuration
; value which is used to determine if an expunge should be run
; if (available_size < apc.smart * requested_size)
;apc.smart=0
; A "hint" about the number variables expected in the cache.
; Set to zero or omit if you are not sure;
;apc.entries_hint=4096
; The mktemp-style file_mask to pass to the mmap module
apc.mmap_file_mask=/tmp/apc.XXXXXX
; On very busy servers whenever you start the server or
; modify files you can create a race of many processes
; all trying to cache the same data at the same time.
; By default, APCu attempts to prevent "slamming" of a key.
; A key is considered "slammed" if it was the last key set,
; and a context other than the current one set it ( ie. it
; was set by another process or thread )
;apc.slam_defense=1
; Defines which serializer should be used
; Default is the standard PHP serializer.
;apc.serializer='default'
; use the SAPI request start time for TTL
;apc.use_request_time=1
; Enables APCu handling of signals, such as SIGSEGV, that write core files
; when signaled. APCu will attempt to unmap the shared memory segment in
; order to exclude it from the core file
;apc.coredump_unmap=0
; RFC1867 File Upload Progress hook handler
;apc.rfc1867=0
;apc.rfc1867_prefix =upload_
;apc.rfc1867_name=APC_UPLOAD_PROGRESS
;apc.rfc1867_freq=0
;apc.rfc1867_ttl=3600
Hi tom,
Are looking user cache, opcode cache or both?
With PHP 5.5, APCu is just user cache and PHP 5.5 have own module OPCache for opcode caching.
I’m not upgrading this guide, because there is a lot of users using still PHP 5.4/5.3/5.2 with APC. but I have planned to write totally new guide to PHP 5.5 users.
Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.
Hi,
I installed PHP APC on my server, and tried the test. Here’s my result.
screenshot: http://prntscr.com/4na4kh
Is my APC really working on my server?
TIA
Hi clefor jhon operiano,
Looks like it’s working, you can of course enable apc.php and check it too.
i have error PHP: syntax error, unexpected TC_CONSTANT in /etc/php5/cgi/conf.d/20-apc.ini on line 5
Hello,
Could you post content of 20-apc.ini file? Or at least line 5?