What is FastCGI?
FastCGI is a protocol for communication between web servers and web applications running underneath. By utilizing FastCGI, we can route requests to back-end applications seamlessly and significantly increase the efficiency and speed of processing. Simply put, FastCGI allows the server to handle a large number of requests simultaneously without the need for the application to be re-invoked each time.
Module ngx_http_fastcgi_module
The ngx_http_fastcgi_module in Nginx enables us to manage FastCGI requests. This module allows Nginx to connect to FastCGI applications and efficiently handle them. Particularly, when working with languages such as PHP, this module plays a very important role.
Field fastcgi_index
The fastcgi_index field specifies which file is sent as the default file when a request is received for a directory in the FastCGI request. Typically, when Nginx receives a request for a directory, it may want to use a specific file, such as index.php or index.py.
Configuring fastcgi_index in Nginx
To do this, we can use fastcgi_index, which requires a default file. Below is an example of Nginx configurations that can set fastcgi_index.
server {
listen 80;
server_name example.com;
location / {
root /var/www/html;
index index.php index.html;
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
location ~ \.php$ {
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
}
}
Code Explanation
server {
This directive specifies that the server settings are contained within this block.
listen 80;
The server listens on port 80, meaning it handles HTTP requests.
server_name example.com;
This specifies the domain name that the server responds to.
location / {
This includes the settings related to the main request path.
root /var/www/html;
This specifies the root directory of the site.
index index.php index.html;
This specifies the default files to be returned when a directory is requested.
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
This attempts to find a file or directory and returns a 404 error if not found.
location ~ \.php$ {
This directive handles PHP files.
include fastcgi_params;
This includes FastCGI parameters.
fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
This directs FastCGI requests to the specified application server.
fastcgi_index index.php;
This specifies the default file for processing directory requests.
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
This specifies the script path for FastCGI.
}
This closes the PHP-related settings block.
}
This closes the server settings block.