[mapguide-users] Server Error, unable to connect to fastcgi server. [No Viruses detected]

Thu Nov 16 13:34:12 EST 2006

Hi Chris,

Nope.  The isapi_fcgi.dll manages the connectivity between IIS and
php-cgi.  If you remap to php-cgi.exe, then PHP will be running as a
regular CGI app.

However, there are other implementations of FastCGI for IIS.  In fact,
Microsoft has just gotten on board and intends to officially support
FastCGI.  It was just released as a technical preview.
http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=1000051.  I haven't tried it yet
but it would be worthwhile to investigate.

Thanks,
Trevor      

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Gountanis [mailto:cgountanis at mpower-tech.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 8:33 AM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Server Error, unable to connect to fastcgi
server. [No Viruses detected]

So, I could set php-cgi.exe over isapi_fcgi.dll as the default PHP
handler in IIS Application Mapping under the MapGuide virtual directory
and get the same FastCGI effect? 

--
Chris Gountanis
Programmer/Analyst - Network Administrator cgountanis at mpower-tech.com
T: 877-269-6971 | T: 920-830-4053 | F: 920-832-0736

MPOWER TECHNOLOGIES
501 S Nicolet Road Appleton, WI 54914
www.mpower-tech.com

Making complex information more accessible.

-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Nesom [mailto:kidsmake6 at msn.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 8:15 PM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Server Error, unable to connect to fastcgi
server. [No Viruses detected]

No, no,
We want more...

Hi Chris, Hi Tom,

MapAgent.exe and php-cgi.exe are both CGI and FastCGI applications.
They can be configured to function as standalone CGI apps or as longer
lifetime FastCGI apps.  As part of the performance optimization for
MapGuide we chose to use FastCGI.

When configured as regular CGI apps, process loading and initialization
becomes a significant part of the execution time.  For PHP, the entire
API definition of approximately 130 classes and 1400 methods has to be
registered with the PHP runtime.  This is lot of memory allocation and
initialization.  The Mapagent loads/initializes faster but it still
takes time.  Incurring 200+ milliseconds of overhead for a 10
millisecond HTTP request was very performance restrictive.

Mapagent.exe and php-cgi.exe also connect to MapGuide Server through
TCP/IP.
When run as regular CGI's, these processes can exhaust the ephemeral
ports on both Windows and Linux.  From what I remember, the default port
pool on Windows is around 3000 ports and they stay in a TIME_WAIT state
for 4 minutes after they are closed.  A request rate of around 12
requests per second for 4 minutes is sufficient to completely exhaust
the ephemeral ports on the server.  Once this happens, no new TCP/IP
connections will be accepted for any process running on the machine.
Under some of our internal load tests, I could force this condition in
about 30 seconds.  When run as FastCGI apps, the Mapagent and php-cgi
reuse existing connections to the server which completely avoids this
problem.

Isapi_fcgi.dll is an IIS extension for handling FastCGI applications.
With the default setups, both Mapagent.exe and php-cgi.exe run under
this IIS extension.  The Mapagent.fcgi file is just a placeholder.  It
makes it easier to configure either a FastCGI or regular CGI Mapagent
without having to change any URLs.  For FastCGI, Mapagent.fcgi redirects
to isapi_fcgi.dll which then calls a running mapagent.exe process.  For
regular cgi mapagent.fcgi just redirects to mapagent.exe.

It is possible to configure the Mapagent and php-cgi.exe as regular CGI
apps.  Initially, MapGuide was configured that way.  But there will be a
performance hit and the default settings for TCP/IP may need to be
adjusted to avoid ephemeral port exhaustion.

Thanks (for reading all this),

Trevor

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Gountanis [mailto:cgountanis at mpower-tech.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 10:50 AM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-users] Server Error, unable to connect to fastcgi
server. [No Viruses detected]

With that being said is there a better way to setup the IIS/PHP config
in IIS. I was told be a few people that they had to change the PHP and
FCGI handlers manually after the fact. Why are PHP pages handled with
the isapi_fcgi.dll file and not the php-cgi.exe file? What is the big
diff from using mapagent.fcgi or using MapAgent.exe directly. What is
the fcgi file actually redirecting to?

--
Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Chadwin [mailto:tom.chadwin at nnpa.org.uk]
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 11:37 AM
To: users at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: [mapguide-users] Server Error, unable to connect to fastcgi
server.
[No Viruses detected]

Hello all

I get the following error message intermittently in my W2K3/IIS/PHP
application:

Server Error, unable to connect to fastcgi server.

A refresh often gets rid of the problem. I can't find anything in the
Windows event logs. Can anyone point me towards finding the cause of
this problem?

Thanks

Tom

Tom Chadwin
ICT & Web Development Officer
Telephone: 01434 611530
Mobile:
Fax: 01434 611677
Email: tom.chadwin at nnpa.org.uk
Web : www.Northumberland-national-park.org.uk
<http://www.Northumberland-national-park.org.uk>

<http://www.northumberland-national-park.org.uk/>

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