This document summarizes techniques for scaling PHP applications. It discusses using the latest PHP version and disabling unnecessary extensions to reduce memory usage. It also covers tuning php.ini settings, using PHP accelerators like APC and OPcache, sharing session data across servers, caching with Memcache, and reverse proxying with Nginx. The presenters are Lucas Arruda and Handrus Nogueira, software architects with experience optimizing PHP applications.

1. Scaling PHP
Lucas Arruda
lucas@ciandt.com
@lunascarruda
Handrus Nogueira
handrus@taller.net.br
@handrus

2. Lucas Arruda
Software Architect @ CI&T
Open-Source enthusiast
~10 yrs on the road
Based on Campinas-SP
Zend Certified Engineer PHP 5.3
Drupaler for 4 yrs
Google Cloud Platform Qualified Dev.

3. Handrus
Software Architect / Dev @ Taller
Open-Source and Agile
~10 yrs on the road
Based on Bauru-SP/Florianópolis-SC
Drupaler for 3 yrs

4. The Basics

5. Use the latest PHP stable version

6. Use the latest PHP stable version

7. Disable unnecessary PHP extensions and web-server modules
● PHP extensions consume memory heap
● Some badly written can cause memory leaks
● The same applies for web-server modules
● Disable if you don’t need them!

8. Fine tune your php.ini!
● memory_limit
memory_get_usage() / memory_get_peak_usage()
● realpath_cache_size
realpath_cache_get()
● realpath_cache_ttl
Max execution per thread - will affect memory usage!

9. mod_php
vs.
FastCGI
vs.
PHP-FPM

10. ob_flush()
flush()
?

11. PHP ACCELERATORS

12. Alternative PHP Cache (APC)
Zend OPcache
XCache

13. apc.shm_size
apc.ttl
apc.num_files_hint
apc.gc_ttl
apc.max_file_size
apc.stat
APC OPcache
opcache.revalidate_freq
opcache.validate_timestamps
opcache.max_accelerated_files
opcache.memory_consumption
opcache.interned_strings_buffer
opcache.fast_shutdown
XCache
xcache.size
xcache.count
xcache.slots
xcache.ttl
xcache.gc_interval
xcache.cacher
xcache.stat
xcache.var_size
xcache.var_count
xcache.var_slots
xcache.var_ttl
xcache.var_maxttl
xcache.var_gc_interval

15. Zephir

16. Scaling PHP
Horizontally

17. Does your app use
session data?
No: you’re good to go!
Yes: then you’ll need to
manage this data across
multiple servers.

18. Sharing session data
Fault tolerant
No bottleneck
Cheaper
buut… it needs architecure changes!
Persistent load balancing
Sharing session data
PHP Session
Management
Persistent load balacing
Single point of failure
Bottleneck
Expensive

19. Options
Shared file-system
Database
Memcache / Redis
session.name
session.save_handler
session.save_path
Sharing
session data
Handlers
files
user
memcache

20. Avoid database specific
queries.
Good libraries can help
(Doctrine FTW!)
If not possible
Document like any
Technical Debt!

21. And choose well
your database!!
● MySQL
● MariaDB
● PerconaDB
Version?!

23. How dependent of your actual
environment are you?
timezonepaths connection string
limits
timeouts
Number of triesAPI Keys

24. Caching Mechanisms

25. APC
for caching user data
Memcache
for key/value storage (URI/HTML?)
tmpfs/ramfs
for all file-based caching

26. Reverse proxying
Nginx Varnish

28. ...

29. Q&A
ciandt.com
Presentation Deck
http://goo.gl/0cV1KT

30. THANKS
FOR
BEING
HERE!
Please evaluate this presentation!
http://goo.gl/P8ZDfc
(3 questions only)

31. @lunascarruda
lunascar@gmail.com
google.com/+LucasArruda
fb.com/lucasnarruda
linkedin.com/in/larruda
github.com/larruda
coderbits.com/larruda
@handrus
handrus@gmail.com
google.com/+HandrusNogueira
fb.com/handrus
linkedin.com/in/handrus
github.com/handrus
coderbits.com/handrus