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I have my own server that is running: php (5.3.3), centos (6.5 final) & parallels plesk panel (11.5.30 Update #47).

This server has customers with subscriptions in plesk and their domains set up. With tight integration with roundcube mail, mysql and phpmyadmin etc. I do not use any site builder things because all sites are Drupal.

There is a Drupal module (PHP) I need to run that depends on version 5.3.9+ of PHP.

However I can't help but worry that if I try some of the examples for updating php, that it may break the Parallels functionality I rely on. Is it safe to update the version of PHP?

If it is safe, is there is a recommended way of doing it for people with my set up?

HopelessN00b
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gMaximus
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  • From which to which version? – Christopher Perrin Oct 11 '14 at 12:17
  • from 5.3.3 to 5.3.9 ... I guess sticking to php 5.3 is advisable vs 5.4+ ... – gMaximus Oct 11 '14 at 12:23
  • Updating a minor version should not be a problem, but you can never be totally sure. The update itself can fail and cause trouble. So you have to try. Maybe try replicating the setup if you can. – Christopher Perrin Oct 11 '14 at 12:25
  • Is there a safe recommended way of doing it? – gMaximus Oct 11 '14 at 12:36
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    Through your package manager. Try to be up-to-date with your current distribution's packages. They Should be safe. If you need a version that is not in your distribution's repos you are getting into dangerous waters. Then it's trail and error. – Christopher Perrin Oct 11 '14 at 12:39
  • [Administration panels are off topic](http://serverfault.com/help/on-topic). [Even the presence of an administration panel on a system,](http://meta.serverfault.com/q/6538/118258) because they [take over the systems in strange and non-standard ways, making it difficult or even impossible for actual system administrators to manage the servers normally](http://meta.serverfault.com/a/3924/118258), and tend to indicate low-quality questions from *users* with insufficient knowledge for this site. – HopelessN00b Feb 25 '15 at 07:51

1 Answers1

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As Christopher Perrin said "If you need a version that is not in your distribution's repos you are getting into dangerous waters." - this confirmed my suspicion that unless you seriously know what your doing, it should be left well alone.

Also that a minor release shouldn't be a issue. This made me search for information about updating minor versions when I stumbled into this http://forum.sp.parallels.com/threads/php-panda-multi-php-installer-for-plesk.293750/

The page describes PHP Panda, a Multi-PHP installer for Plesk. By installing it you can run different domains with different versions of PHP. Whilst not interfering with the default install of PHP.

It adds this ability to Plesk via a dropdown in the "Website scripting and security" page for each domain.

The commands I used to install it were:

1) Set up the atomic yum repository

wget -q -O - http://www.atomicorp.com/installers/atomic |sh

2) Install the Panda

yum install plesk-php-panda

That was it for me. The page also mentioned a 3rd step for Nucleus subscribers

yum install plesk-php53-panda

For me it said there was no package available but it is all working as described.

I feel really happy with this solution. Now I can run this new app without effecting anything else.

gMaximus
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  • I followed your advice and installed PHP Panda on our server (Centos 6.4 Final). We're also using Plesk 11.0.9 so I followed Plesk's KB and added a wrapper to the specific domain, but I'm keep getting error 500 and the error_log (of the specific domain) provides only the following error messages: `[Tue Nov 25 11:36:46 2014] [warn] [client X.X.X.X] (104)Connection reset by peer: mod_fcgid: error reading data from FastCGI server [Tue Nov 25 11:36:46 2014] [error] [client X.X.X.X] Premature end of script headers: test.php` . Any way to debug the problem? – Rotem Dec 02 '14 at 10:52
  • I'm really not sure to be honest. Everything went smoothly for me. My first port of call would be that forum post I linked to above. The person who wrote it may be able to help. Failing that try asking the question to the wider community on here. The reason I went for it is exactly because I'm not confident in this area. Sorry I couldn't be of any further help. – gMaximus Dec 02 '14 at 15:32