Simply follow along to get a good clean install of the latest APC version. All of these commands are run from SSH as the root or super user.

# cd /usr/src
# wget http://pecl.php.net/get/APC-3.1.3p1.tgz
# gzip -d APC-*
# tar -xf APC-*
# cd APC-*
# which php
# phpize
# ./configure –enable-apc –enable-apc-mmap –with-apxs –with-php-config=/usr/local/bin/php-config
# make
#make install

Line 1. Changes you to the /usr/src directory. {optional}
Line 2. Gets the latest APC version
Line 3. Unpacks the version
Line 4. Unpacks the download
Line 5. Moves you to the APC folder
Line 6. Lets you know where PHP is, should be something like ‘/usr/local/bin/php’
Line 7. Creates configuration files
Line 8. Configures APC cache with the predefined options
Line 9. Makes the install files
Line 10. Installs APC to your system

Lastly we need to edit the php.ini file

# locate php.ini
# nano /location/of/php.ini

Search for ‘extension_dir’ and below that place

extension="apc.so"
apc.enabled=1
apc.shm_segments=1
apc.shm_size=128
apc.ttl=7200
apc.user_ttl=7200
apc.num_files_hint=1024
apc.mmap_file_mask=/tmp/apc.XXXXXX
apc.enable_cli=1

Finally restart apache

# service httpd restart

Alternative PHP Cache (APC) is now installed to your system. You can tweak the settings by editing the lines above in your php.ini file. (Don’t forget to restart every time). If you want to check if APC is working, simply create a php info page, and look for the section on APC. There is also an “apc.php” file inside your /usr/src/APC-* folder, you can move to a public location and view it from the internet for stats.

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wget http://xcache.lighttpd.net/pub/Releases/1.2.2/xcache-1.2.2.tar.gz
tar -zxf xcac-*.tar.gz
cd xcache
phpize
./configure --enable-xcache
make
make install
cat xcache.ini >> /etc/php.ini

Line 1. This gets the xcache files needed for install. Currently at version 1.2.2
Line 2. This untars the package
Line 3. Switches you to the xCache directory
Line 4. Lets you install xCache without recompiling php
Line 5. Sets configuration options
Line 6. Prepares it for install
Line 7. Installs
Line 8. Adds the default xCache configuration options to your php.ini file. (Note: If your php.ini file is in a different location do a ‘locate php.ini’ to find it)

After you’ve installed it you’ll need to change php.ini to ensure everything is okay.

nano /etc/php.ini

Make sure that ‘zend_extension=../../xcache.so’ appears before all other ‘zend_extension=….’ or else you’ll have problems.

Just for good measure, restart php and apache to ensure nothing fails. Enjoy your new optimized caching server!

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