We just upgrqded to a new dedicated server running Windows 2003. We had vbulletin running on the old server, but we had lots of slowdown issues. Trying to get it running on the new server made us realize the cause of the slowdown problems was php.
I called vbulletin's tech support and they recommended fastcgi. I installed it, and now I can't load a php page at all.
How can I install php on a windows server without slowing down the site? Is fastcgi a problem, or maybe I have it configured wrong? I'm running php 5.2
I suggest you continue in a support ticket or post at Server Configuration (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=14).
I use XMAPP
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
XAMPP for Windows
The distribution for Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP and Vista. This version contains: Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, Ming, JpGraph, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.
XAMPP might be usefull on a local test installation, it is mostly not used on servers. ;)
Install PHP as an ISAPI module in IIS. I experience no problems with this setup. Search the internet for info on how to do this.
Installing PHP as FastCGI is much faster on IIS. Also, I believe the ISAPI module has been discontinued.
The isapi module will be available until php 6 and Windows Server 2008 becomes mainstream. 2008 has fastcgi wrapper and cache system for php and perl and that is what will eventually take the place of isapi.
For anyone that runs Windows servers you're in for a real treat as far as performance goes when you upgrade to 2008. If your host offers it as an upgrade you should do it.