Optimize PHP Performance using Xcache on Ubuntu 16.04

By | October 29, 2016

Introduction

Running PHP can slow down the performance of the Apache web server. In order to optimize website performance, you will need to improve PHP performance. There are many opcode caches available such as APC, eAccelerator, Memcached, and XCache. XCache is easy to install and use in various operating systems. XCache is an open-source, fast, and stable opcode cacher for PHP. It is used to improve the performance of PHP script execution.

It provides improvements to performance by eliminating the compilation time of PHP code for subsequent requests. After an initial request is made, XCache will cache the compiled PHP code into memory and then start using the compiled version of the code from the cache. This will accelerate the page response time and reduce the server load.

In this tutorial, we will learn how to configure and integrate XCache into PHP on Ubuntu 16.04.

Requirements

  • Ubuntu 16.04 server with Apache and PHP installed.
  • Non-root user account with sudo privileges.

Getting Started

Let’s start making sure that your Ubuntu 16.04 server is fully up to date.

You can update your server by running the following command:

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Installing XCache

By default, XCache is available in the Ubuntu 16.04 repository. Therefore, you can install XCache package by simply running the following command:

sudo apt-get install php5-xcache

Now, you can verify that the extension is available by running the following command:

sudo php -m | grep -i XCache

If everything is fine, you should see the following output:

XCache
XCache Cacher
XCache Coverager
XCache Optimizer
XCache
XCache Cacher
XCache Coverager
XCache Optimizer

Configure XCache for PHP

The XCache configuration file comes with lots of settings to play with. You can find detailed information on XCache configuration settings at INI settings for XCache. Fortunately, the default configuration settings are quite good.

XCache configuration file is located at /etc/php5/mods-available/xcache.ini.

Change the XCache configuration as per your needs. When you are finished, restart Apache service by running the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Once you have started the Apache service, you can check the version of XCache along with PHP by running the following command:

sudo php -v

You should see the following output:

PHP 5.5.9-1ubuntu4.19 (cli) (built: Jul 28 2016 19:31:33)
Copyright (c) 1997-2014 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.5.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2014 Zend Technologies
with XCache v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 2005-2013, by mOo
with Zend OPcache v7.0.3, Copyright (c) 1999-2014, by Zend Technologies
with XCache Optimizer v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 2005-2013, by mOo
with XCache Cacher v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 2005-2013, by mOo
with XCache Coverager v3.1.0, Copyright (c) 2005-2013, by mOo

Enable XCache Admin Control Panel

XCache provides a built-in web based control panel. You will need to need to generate an md5-encrypted password in order to be able to access it.

You can do this by running the following command:

echo -n "password" | md5sum

Output:

5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99

Replace “password” with the password you’d like to use.

Now, open the xcache.ini file and add the generated md5 password to file:

sudo nano /etc/php5/mods-available/xcache.ini

Edit the following line:

[xcache.admin]
xcache.admin.enable_auth = On
; Configure this to use admin pages
 xcache.admin.user = "mOo"
; xcache.admin.pass = md5($your_password)
 xcache.admin.pass = "5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99"

When you are finished, restart the Apache service by running the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Next, copy htdocs directory located at /usr/share/xcache/ to your Web root directory:

sudo cp -r /usr/share/xcache/htdocs /var/www/html/xcache/

Now, open your favorite web browser and type the URL http://server-ip-address/xcache, a http-auth login prompt window will pop-up. Enter your username and password, you should see the Xcache Admin Panel as follows:

XCache Admin Panel

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