Cpanel/apache users: get nginx plugin!

[Peter Parker]

Is your board slow? Mine was.

I just switched to a new VPS that has SSD storage (this is a must have even if you don't use nginx). I installed the cpnginx plugin for cpanel, and now my board is faster than it ever has been. I have 4GB of ram at my disposal, which before I installed the nginx plugin I was almost maxing that out. Now I am only using on average 20% of that.

I am thoroughly impressed. I am sure there is more i can do to optimize my page load though.

[Makoto]

It almost sounds like your previous server was pushing itself to the point of using swap, which can be extremely detrimental to your servers performance. (To the point of even causing it to crash if you have enough traffic)

NGiNX is a light-weight memory efficient web server, so your results aren't surprising. Apache with mod_php especially is notoriously memory inefficient. Many PHP and even Apache developers I've talked to don't like it. (And to be fair, you can use PHP-FPM with Apache as well), but nginx is really overall a great solution if you're running a memory constrained server.

It can take longer to learn and really set up properly, but that's not a bad thing, you just have to be willing to put the time into it.

I'm not sure how your plugin works, but I've also published a guide on setting up IP.Board with NGiNX a while back if you want to check it out :tongue:

[Peter Parker]

Basically the plugin allows nginx to listen on port 80 and handle all requests for static content. apache still listens on 443.

I would like to switch entirely over to nginx, and abandon apache, in the very near future. But I definitely need to learn how to use it first lol. Where's your guide? I would love to read it!

[Dmacleo]

even better, if on cpanel, use cpXstack and run nginx fully instead of proxy to apache. its free where cpnginx isn't.

if you do decide to just use it as proxy Nginx Admin is the same thing as cpnginx except its free.

[Peter Parker]

the only reason why i went with the plugin is because they offer 24 7 support. I figured it was a good insurance policy since I am still a newbie. They are quick to respond too, very good support.

thanks for the pointers, I am absorbing as much as I can now that I am out there on my own from under managed hosting.

[Dmacleo]

yeah their support is good until you ask them a question about compiling with another module then suddenly they don't understand english or never answer the ticket.

I needed to add realip module for cloudlare and had to argue for days just to get answer on where I needed to add the --with statement

I am testing the cloudflare cpanel integration and am having issues getting ip's to log correctly.
this thread touches on it
http://www.webhostin...754#post8096754

and cloudflare says to use this method:
http://support.cloud...odule-for-nginx

however when I add anything to the cpnginx conf file it won't restart or rebuild vhosts, buttons actually do nothing.
I suspect I need to put info into the rpaf conf file but am not sure how this plugin handles that.
does it use HttpRealipModule or is it not using this and fully dependent on rpaf?
any advice would be appreciated, I made cloudflare worh with unixyvarnish by adding line to the vcl. it also uses rpaf so I would think I should be able to add something to nginc.conf also.

thanks

We won't provide any type of customizations in cpnginx. Please contact your server support for assistance.

I am my server support.
so you're saying adding a common http directive to the conf file causing the plugin buttons to not work is ok?
adding those lines to nginxadmin (the free plugin) works fine, adding it to your product does not.
they both use mod_rpaf so I am trying to see why adding a line to your conf file breaks the plugin.

this is why I had initially canceled my subscription to this but thought I had found the fix so repurchased today, but if adding a common directive breaks the system I would like to know why.
and if you don't support any customizations to this may want to removed this damned line
Edit cPanel Nginx Configuration
Note: You can customize the vhost configuration here. This will help your server to tune it perfectly
that specifically says customize.

so tell me why a standard http line breaks your product.

they will happily support taking your money though.

[Makoto]

Do you really need cPanel though?

You can save money, resources and security by simply dropping it and setting up everything yourself.

If you're just running a single forum on your server especially, you don't really need cPanel.

Edit: I missed your reply, sorry, here's the guide I wrote a while back,

http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/384522-how-to-set-up-a-secure-ipboard-installation-with-nginx-and-php-fpm/

[Peter Parker]

I dont NEED cpanel, i just like it because its easy

[Ae9803]

I agree I definately like cpanel, and I dont mind paying the extra money for it.

[Dmacleo]

I have a couple of domains and some stuff for friends on server also, they are mostly just dns, so a panel helps.

tried ispconfig on vps and just did not like it, it worked ok I just didn't like it.

used directadmin a bit and always had issues with subdomains and pointers, but it does easily allow using only ngnix and easily allows you to choose mysql versions.

so using cpanel now, with cpxstack I can run some sites off apache as needed and others of nginx as needed. right now I am just apache as I am troubleshooting a db issue thats been troubling me for a long time.

[Makoto]

Easy doesn't mean better, but it's entirely up to you what you want to use. If you really want to get the most out of your servers available resources, it's worth considering though, which is why I mentioned it.

cPanel limits what you can do, adds an additional overhead, introduces potential security vulnerabilities to your server (that doesn't mean it's insecure, but like all control panels it has been subject to many past exploits) and costs a licensing fee to use.

On the other hand learning to self-manage your server can be a very difficult undertaking initially, but once you learn how, you may never want to go back to using a web control panel again. I used to use cPanel when I first started out, but I abandoned it simply because I really wanted to learn how to self-manage my server and haven't looked back since.

But again, you have to have the patience and willingness to learn, I guess it's not for everyone, and if you don't mind paying for the service and don't want to bother wither server administration, there's nothing really wrong with using cPanel.

[Dmacleo]

my issue is the friends I host for don't want to learn and I don't want to deal with doing it for them when they make changes LOL :P

[Makoto]

my issue is the friends I host for don't want to learn and I don't want to deal with doing it for them when they make changes LOL :tongue:

I was in the same boat as you, I had a few people freeloading off my server :tongue:

One of them ended up dropping his project after enlisting in the Canadian military and the other just ran a generic Wordpress blog, so I recommended him to another host and he didn't mind making the change.

That was the only thing that had kept me using cPanel years ago. Now I don't want to have any desire to use it again.

Edit: But I meant to add in (@Peter Parker), if you're having Apache serve HTTPS connections and serve static content from NGiNX on port 80, that's honestly a little half-baked. For one, it's going to display the insecure content notice on every single page on your forum when you do that. While that's something that you'd see on any post that serves images or content linked from a non-secured source anyways, it's still not really desirable. Unless I'm reading your setup wrong?

[Nevo]

Do you really need cPanel though?

You can save money, resources and security by simply dropping it and setting up everything yourself.

If you're just running a single forum on your server especially, you don't really need cPanel.

Edit: I missed your reply, sorry, here's the guide I wrote a while back,

http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/384522-how-to-set-up-a-secure-ipboard-installation-with-nginx-and-php-fpm/

I highly doubt that dropping cPanel and setting up everything yourself will save you money, resources and security because thats what cPanel is designed to do. That being said, if one is running a single forum, then I agree, cPanel has way too many extras but it also gives peace of mind knowing its there and everything is really easy and simple to setup. It works very well and costs almost a fraction of what it used to back in the day. To continue the talk about cPanel... If you have WebHost Manager and you know how to use it correctly, everything including managing your server becomes a lot easier and more comfortable. Abandoning cPanel and not looking back... thats just silly from a professional standpoint should anything happen to your server, especially if you are starting out. There are way too many things involved in getting the server configured that cPanel not only takes of.... however offers customization to the fullest and should you need anything else, you just add it like you would with any other server. To say that cPanel limits the server is most likely based on your experience with cPanel because over the x years I've been using it, that's the last thing its going to do...

I'm also perfectly fine with letting it use as many resources as it wants because at the end of the day, it makes my job easier and mostly does everything for me. All for $25 per month (with plugins)... that's a steal! When you are managing hundreds of websites, control panels not only make sense, they are the sane choice.

[Peter Parker]

I was in the same boat as you, I had a few people freeloading off my server :tongue:

One of them ended up dropping his project after enlisting in the Canadian military and the other just ran a generic Wordpress blog, so I recommended him to another host and he didn't mind making the change.

That was the only thing that had kept me using cPanel years ago. Now I don't want to have any desire to use it again.

Edit: But I meant to add in (@Peter Parker), if you're having Apache serve HTTPS connections and serve static content from NGiNX on port 80, that's honestly a little half-baked. For one, it's going to display the insecure content notice on every single page on your forum when you do that. While that's something that you'd see on any post that serves images or content linked from a non-secured source anyways, it's still not really desirable. Unless I'm reading your setup wrong?

I'm not running ssl on IPB. I have several webstores on the server, and they are all doing great. Have banked over $300 today already and the night is just getting started! No SSL issues at all, since nginx is on port 80, and apache is on 443. SSL is not being served through nginx, only apache.

I agree it's a hybrid, but it is working better than just using apache. I think its a good start in the right direction. I am reading everything I can right now trying to educate myself, because I would like to use nginx without apache in the future. I won't mess with it on my live websites but I will probably get another server to play around with a random domain.

I am happy with what I have going on right now though. It's so much better than using only apache.

[Makoto]

I highly doubt that dropping cPanel and setting up everything yourself will save you money, resources and security because thats what cPanel is designed to do. That being said, if one is running a single forum, then I agree, cPanel has way too many extras but it also gives peace of mind knowing its there and everything is really easy and simple to setup.

Again, just because it's easy doesn't mean it's better. It's simply not better in any way for dedicated web application on a single server. The only thing it's useful for is making it easier for the common user to manage. If you're not the common user and know what you're doing, you're better off not using it. I did say repeatedly that it would be a hard undertaking and it would be something you would have to be willing to dedicate time into learning. But I assume too many people are like me and actually enjoy learning these things, I know most people here only run forums as a small hobby and probably don't care.

But for those who are like me, who have some amount of experience in administering Linux based systems and are willing to learn, it's a completely viable option to drop cPanel.

It works very well and costs almost a fraction of what it used to back in the day. To continue the talk about cPanel... If you have WebHost Manager and you know how to use it correctly, everything including managing your server becomes a lot easier and more comfortable.

Not at all true for me or anyone else I personally know, and I know admins that run servers processing millions of visitors a day. Not a single one of them use cPanel, and there are good reasons for that, many of which I outlined above. I don't need to be tied down by a web control panel to do anything. I can go in, modify a few configuration files and update whatever I need in no time at all.

Abandoning cPanel and not looking back... thats just silly from a professional standpoint should anything happen to your server

Like your server being compromised by a new cPanel exploit :smile:

A vulnerability you introduce by giving any application (in this case, cPanel) on your server root access. That's one of the most basic security practices when it comes to server administration, never give anything root access unless it absolutely needs it. cPanel obviously has to have root access to run, because it has to be able to manage all of your systems services. You're entrusting the entirety of your server to one piece of software. Apache doesn't run under root, MySQL doesn't run as root, PHP-FPM shouldn't ever run as root, only cPanel runs as root. Using any web control panel like cPanel introduces potential security vulnerabilities into your system. It seems silly to me to willingly install a potential security vulnerability that requires root access onto my system when I don't need it, and I don't need it. It's not at all silly from a professional standpoint to not use cPanel when you know what you're doing.

There are way too many things involved in getting the server configured that cPanel not only takes of.... however offers customization to the fullest and should you need anything else, you just add it like you would with any other server. To say that cPanel limits the server is most likely based on your experience with cPanel because over the x years I've been using it, that's the last thing its going to do...

No matter how you look at it, you are limited to using what cPanel gives you. Sure, cPanel may give you all that you specifically need, but for people like me who have more complex requirements, cPanel simply doesn't make the cut. But you're right, for most people, I'm sure cPanel does everything most people need and more. I also haven't used it in years, so I'm sure it's improved over time, but that still doesn't change anything.

I'm also perfectly fine with letting it use as many resources as it wants because at the end of the day, it makes my job easier and mostly does everything for me. All for $25 per month (with plugins)... that's a steal! When you are managing hundreds of websites, control panels not only make sense, they are the sane choice.

If you're just running a single forum on your server especially, you don't really need cPanel.

I'm not running ssl on IPB. I have several webstores on the server, and they are all doing great. Have banked over $300 today already and the night is just getting started! No SSL issues at all, since nginx is on port 80, and apache is on 443. SSL is not being served through nginx, only apache.

Oh, okay, I think I see now. You're still processing everything except pages that explicitly need HTTPS through NGiNX, yes? I read that as you were serving all static content through your site under port 80 and processing PHP entirely through Apache. (Don't ask why I read it that way, I've seen plenty of people do some crazy things)

[Peter Parker]

I just uninstalled cpnginx and installed nginx admin (nginxcp) it is the same thing lol. guess i will use the free one.