PHP-FPM Settings for Better Optimization

After enabling PHP-FPM (PHP-FastCGI Process Manager) on your VPS, you’ll need to know how to restart the PHP-FPM service and modify its settings. Below we cover how to adjust PHP-FPM settings according to traffic load per cPanel account.

1. Login WHM as Root.
2. From the menu, search and select MulitiPHPManager.

3. 

   Select Turn on to enable PHP-FPM for all cPanel accounts. Alternatively, you can select the checkbox beside specific domains at the bottom, choose On from the dropdown menu beside PHP-FPM, and select Apply.
   You can also change the PHP version here instead of in cPanel.

4. Select Pool Options beside the specified domain.

5. 

   Modify PHP-FPM settings for the domain. Below are commonly successful changes according to amount of traffic your VPS receives.

   Traffic Load	Average	Heavy
   Max Children	25-35	40-60
   Process Idle Timeout	100	100-150
   Max Requests	200-350	400-600

Edit Default PHP-FPM Settings

If you have many cPanel accounts, you may prefer to change the default settings for newly created cPanel accounts.

1. As root, SSH into your server or launch WHM terminal.
2. Create a system_pool_defaults.yaml file in the /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM directory. To do this using nano, type the following:
   nano /var/cpanel/ApachePHPFPM/system_pool_defaults.yamlAdd the following to the new file:php_value_error_reporting: 'E_ALL'
pm_max_children: 500
pm_max_requests: 2000
pm_min_spare_servers: 1
pm_max_spare_servers: 25
pm_process_idle_timeout: 150
php_value_disable_functions: 0
   pm_max_children: Max number of child processes
   pm_max_requests: Number of requests a child process executes before respawning.
   pm_min_spare_servers: Minimum idle server processes
   pm_max_spare_servers: Maximum idle server processes
   pm_process_idle_timeout: Time until an idle process is killed in s(econds), m(inutes), m(inutes), h(ours), or d(ays).
   php_value_disable_functions: Functions to disable. This doesn’t overwrite php.ini settings.
3. Save and exit the file. Using nano, press Control and x for the save prompt before exiting. Press y, then Enter ⤶ to save the file.
4. Rebuild PHP-FPM using the following command:
   /scripts/php_fpm_config --rebuild
5. Restart PHP-FPM using the following command:
   /scripts/restartsrv_apache_php_fpm

   Note:You can also restart PHP-FPM from WHM.

These adjustments should help you make the most out of your VPS optimization and PHP hosting. You can learn more configuration options for PHP-FPM with official cPanel documentation. You can read more about the benefits of PHP-FPM in our in-depth article.