Looking for advice on the best way to set things up for Joomla 1.5.x sites. I found on another forum a discussion which seems to match the kind of problems I have had with file/directory ownership + permissions:
Problem: ...whatever I install through the Joomla Admin defaults to apache as the owner. Because Joomla installs of various components requires lots of housekeeping as orchestrated via the installed package's xml file Answer (Joe): In either case, you'll want to switch your system over to executing PHP using mod_fcgid and suexec--then all files will be owned by, and all scripts will execute as, the user that owns the account. This can be found in "Website Options" in the "Server Configuration" menu for each of your virtual servers. You'll also want to make this the default in your Server Template(s). - The best option is FCGId (run as virtual server owner). This choice is fast (roughly the same as mod_php), and secure as it runs under suexec, and scripts won't mess up permissions and ownership the way mod_php scripts can).Not an expert in configuration, but I am working with hosting service which can. On a previous server I used they setup suphp. What is the difference between this and fcgid? One hosting service which serves Joomla sites uses suphp:
Rochen provide the best hosting environment for your Joomla website. Through their experience hosting the Official Joomla Websites they've gained much experience in the area. Their server are setup in such a way that permission problems, that often result in Joomla Extension installation headaches are a thing of the past. They run suphp which if you read the blog posts above are almost mandatory on a shared server environment.Basically, I am looking for a clean solution to install Joomla without hassles.
Thanks much!
Howdy,
The suphp tool could be compared moreso to suexec. Both provide a means of having Apache run code for websites as the website owner's user, rather than the user Apache is running as, making things more secure.
Virtualmin is able to configure suexec -- plus, suexec can run all apps as the Virtual Server owner, rather than just PHP.
For your PHP execution mode, your choices are mod_php, fastcgi (fcgid), and cgi.
Getting into the nitty gritty of each of them would make for a hugely long post, but the summary is that CGI is the slowest. FastCGI and mod_php are comparable speed-wise, but FastCGI plays nice with suexec.
So what should you use?
There's a ton of configurations that could work :-) You could certainly use suphp if you wanted to.
But Virtualmin makes it easy to use suexec and FastCGI, you just have to select a few radio buttons -- and that'll run Joomla just fine, and do so as the Virtual Server owner.
-Eric
Sounds like you tip your hat to FastCGI. I am using Virtualmin gpl -- where and how do I control this?
Howdy,
In System Settings -> Server Templates -> Apache Website are a bunch of options relating to this.
You'll probably want to enable "Automatically add appropriate SuExec directive", as well as setting "Default PHP execution mode" to FastCGI.
That only applies to new Virtual Servers, for existing ones, you can enable FastCGI/suexec in Server Configuration -> Website Options.
-Eric
However using the GPL version you would set this up manually which is described here
http://www.virtualmin.com/forums/virtualmin/convert-php-sites-to-use-mod...