Confused with eaccelerator

[Elijah]

I have read some threads that it shouldn't be a problem and quick to setup eaccelerator via ticket request.

But support tells me:
"Eaccelerator once enabled, is enabled for the whole server. This will require your server be switched to DSO which will require permission changes as write permission for dso will be attained using 777 for folders and 666 for files. We recommend installing memcache as this will work with your current suphp set server and require no changes to users account. Memcache install would be $35. Please let us know if you have any questions or issues."

Which is it exactly, am I required to update ALL permissions to all my scripts to 666? all folders to 777? isn't this unsafe?

Suppose if my scripts are at 755, so eaccelerator won't work then on that particular script? or will eaccelerator prevent that script from running?

The last time I used eaccelerator on a local server it didn't require any of these changes.. but that was a long time ago and I've forgotten the details.

[c3mtech]

You will only need to change the permissions for files and folders that php will need to write to.

For example: I have APC running on my vps and all my sites run WordPress so when I need to update a plugin via automatic update I have to manually change the wp-content/uploads and wp/content/plugins directories to 777 then I change them back to 755 when I am done with the update.

You can rebuild Apache via easy apache and select eAccelerator as an add on option to save yourself the $35 bucks.

I found better performance using APC.

[Elijah]

@permissions: hmm, might be a problem for my other scripts that writes to text files, config files, xml files, etc.. that might break a few things... ?

I understand most scripts or cms write to some config file, might this be a problem? I don't think my users will like changing permissions each time.

I wonder if there are other alternatives for speeding up the server?

[c3mtech]

eAccelerator will work with Apache as mod_fcgid and suexec enabled but YMMV

Originally Posted by GatorAJones

If you are concerned about running PHP as a DSO under the Apache user, I would recommend using EasyApache to recompile/reconfigure the PHP loader to use FastCGI with EAccelerator enabled. It will run the PHP application as the file's owner while still providing caching. I have personally reconfigured customer's servers and seen the load drop from 50+ under suPHP to about 4 under FastCGI + EAccelerator.