FastCGIbased

FastCGIbased describes software architectures and deployments that use the FastCGI protocol to communicate between a web server and an external application process or pool. In a FastCGIbased setup, the web server forwards requests to a FastCGI process manager, which runs long-lived application processes and responds with dynamic content, avoiding the overhead of starting a new process for every request as with traditional CGI.

In typical FastCGIbased architectures, the web server acts as a front-end and connects to one or more FastCGI processes over a persistent channel. Applications can be written in multiple languages with FastCGI bindings or wrappers. Common implementations include PHP with PHP-FPM, as well as adapters for Python, Ruby, and other languages. Web servers such as Nginx and Apache (via mod_fastcgi or mod_fcgid) support FastCGI, enabling flexible routing of requests to application backends.

Performance and operation: By reusing worker processes and maintaining application state between requests, FastCGIbased configurations can achieve higher throughput and lower latency than standard CGI. They provide better resource control and scalability, with options to pool and monitor processes. However, they introduce additional complexity in deployment, configuration, and debugging, and require careful management of process pools, timeouts, and concurrency.

Security and maintenance: Isolation between the web server and application layer can improve stability and security. Updates to application code or runtimes can be deployed independently from the web server. Tradeoffs include the need for separate process management, logging integration, and potential compatibility considerations with evolving web standards or development workflows.