Re: Process control of fast-cgi applications

Mark Brown (mbrown@OpenMarket.com)
Tue, 28 May 1996 09:53:06 -0400 

Message-Id: <199605281353.JAA26851@breckenridge.openmarket.com>
To: Stefan Farestam <stefan@igis.se>
Subject: Re: Process control of fast-cgi applications 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 28 May 1996 13:47:31 +0200."
             <31AAE7D3.15FB@igis.se> 
Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 09:53:06 -0400
From: Mark Brown <mbrown@OpenMarket.com>


    I am trying to run the fcgi scripts and the web server on two
    different hosts, and have a few questions:

    a) The only method I found to start up the applications on the
       remote server was using cgi-fcgi. Is this the recommended
       way? In particular this doesn't give me any security if the
       processes die (i.e. no new ones are started up). 

In the case of remote applications, cgi-fcgi is the way that's
available now.  You are correct that cgi-fcgi does not provide
any process management.

    b) The number of fcgi processes that run seems to be static. It
       would be nice if the number of processes used could depend on
       the actual load, i.e. similar to the way the apache server
       runs already.

The protocol imposes no limits in this area.  It is just easier to
implement static process allocation than dynamic.  It is pretty easy
to implement a dynamic scheme that's unstable or makes performance
worse.  The lack of efficient communication between the various
processes that make up a typical Web server adds to the difficulty
of dynamic schemes.

    c) How about using a "fake" apache server running on the cgi-script
       machine to achieve process control? has anyone done this?

That wouldn't help because the mod_fastcgi code only does Unix domain
communication.  You could extract the process management part of
mod_fastcgi and modify it to meet your needs.

    d) How do I tell apache to use a fcgi script on a remote machine
       instead of locally. The syntax desrcibed only seems to
       support local mode. I guess I've missed something.

That's not supported by mod_fastcgi.  Remote communication with FastCGI
apps is supported by cgi-fcgi and by the Open Market WebServer.

    e) What is the timeschedule for supporting the netsite server?

I am not aware of any announcements regarding FastCGI on Netscape
servers.  I hope somebody does it.

    --mark