PHP and IIS, can they play well?

I am having a similar problem to the one found here:
http://groups.google.com/group/mailing.www.php-dev/browse_thread/thread/13b6dcbd9b92e8e4/af889b82868b176a?lnk=st&q=IIS+Worker+Process+error+windows+2003&rnum=2&hl=en#af889b82868b176a

But have not found a solution. Has anybody there had a site written in .Net that also uses PHP pieces? (We had an outside contractor write a component for us, and he decided to use PHP.)

I have the same server configuration as in the link.

It certainly can be done.

I built a "not exactly small" app in PHP against Oracle database at my last job, and it was running in PHP5 on IIS6. The guy setting that up did have some problems, but they were related to permissions I believe.

I have another "app" (ok, website) that mixes PHP & C#, wirelessVic (the pages are all PHP, except the coverage maps get the overlay data via AJAXy calls to some c# code. That's PHP4 on IIS5/Win2k.

Sadly I haven't used IIS myself in years (when XP home came out without IIS I switched to using Apache, then a year later I ditched Windows), so I can't offer any concrete tips beyond playing with the permissions of the PHP binaries, making sure you've got your DLLs that it needs in %windows%\system32 and registered, and um, well that's about all I can think of. It is possible though!

The site works, most of the time. Or at least most of my sites do. I have 3 sites on this box, all written mostly or completely in ASP .Net. Only one part of one app has PHP.

(The worst part is, I wrote a beautiful .Net Win Form, that I was able to drop into the page and do what this PHP thing is doing. But people need IE on Windows w/ .Net to use it, and many of our customers use Macs.)

pftqg wrote:

making sure you've got your DLLs that it needs in %windows%\system32 and registered, and um, well that's about all I can think of. It is possible though!

I'm not a huge fan of php but every time I had to write something, I would do it in IIS6. Once you get the file permissions issue worked out (which really isn't an issue) you are all set.

Also, use the ISAPI extensions and not the CGI... big performance increase and I guess there are some CGI security issues.

I used PHP and IIS for years. I don't believe I ever had any real complicated issues regarding installation. Atleast, none concerning the server-software I was using. If I could make one suggestion to you now, stop using PHP Start using ASP.NET. I spent several years using PHP, and I feel as though it was a waste of time. The only thing I got from it was a better understanding of code-patterns and practices, and that's it. All of the jobs I've looked into are seeking ASP.NET developers...not Open-source experts. If you want a high-paying job, just stop with PHP right now (although you can technically find a high-paying PHP job I'm sure). Your chances are MUCH MUCH greater of getting that high-paying position if you're an ASP.NET developer.

jsampsonPC wrote:

I used PHP and IIS for years. I don't believe I ever had any real complicated issues regarding installation. Atleast, none concerning the server-software I was using. If I could make one suggestion to you now, stop using PHP Start using ASP.NET. I spent several years using PHP, and I feel as though it was a waste of time. The only thing I got from it was a better understanding of code-patterns and practices, and that's it. All of the jobs I've looked into are seeking ASP.NET developers...not Open-source experts. If you want a high-paying job, just stop with PHP right now (although you can technically find a high-paying PHP job I'm sure). Your chances are MUCH MUCH greater of getting that high-paying position if you're an ASP.NET developer.

W3bbo wrote:



jsampsonPC wrote:I used PHP and IIS for years. I don't believe I ever had any real complicated issues regarding installation. Atleast, none concerning the server-software I was using. If I could make one suggestion to you now, stop using PHP Start using ASP.NET. I spent several years using PHP, and I feel as though it was a waste of time. The only thing I got from it was a better understanding of code-patterns and practices, and that's it. All of the jobs I've looked into are seeking ASP.NET developers...not Open-source experts. If you want a high-paying job, just stop with PHP right now (although you can technically find a high-paying PHP job I'm sure). Your chances are MUCH MUCH greater of getting that high-paying position if you're an ASP.NET developer.

I'm more concerned about security, what process does it run under? Does PHP for a website run under the identity of the website, Network Service, or IUSR? Etc.

I made a change yesterday that I think might help.

I have 3 sites on this server. The site that has the PHP part was set up on it's own worker process. I thought that would carry through to the PHP virtual folder/app. However, it didn't. So yesterday I switched that app to the site's worker process. Hopefully, it will no longer bring down the other sites.

And yes, I have dabbled in PHP, but I did not even right this app. ALL our sites are written in ASP .Net. (VB .Net) I seem to get more user support than I ever did w/ open source stuff, ironically.

This was a bug that was introduced in 5.1.3 I believe and still exists in 5.1.6.

You'll need to run 5.1.2 or 5.2.dev, or disable data execution protection for the worker process exe..

I run phpMyAdmin on my WinXP box daily to access my MySQL database, so I guess there's no problem.