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How to add a custom PHP version in Plesk for Linux?

Question

How to add a custom PHP version in Plesk for Linux?

Answer

Warning: All the instructions below are to be performed at own will and risk. These steps are provided for demonstration purposes only and not supported by Plesk. Depending on the operating system and the desired configuration, installation steps might differ significantly. When installing an additional PHP version on the server, read the official PHP documentation on installation. It's recommended to perform the installation on a test environment before modifying the production environment.

On Linux systems, you can install any PHP version you need and then make it available in Plesk by registering it with the plesk bin php_handler command-line utility.

Click on a section to expand

1- Install the custom PHP version

Install the desired PHP version on the server. For installation guidelines, refer to the official PHP documentation available at http://php.net/manual/en/install.php. In brief, the installation includes the following main steps.

Connect to the server via SSH
Install C compiler and XML library with the following commands:
- RHEL based OSes:
  
  # yum install gcc -y && yum install libxml2-devel -y
- Debian based OSes:
  
  # apt-get install build-essential && apt-get install libxml2-dev
Download the PHP source you need from the official website (http://php.net/downloads.php or http://php.net/releases/) to the server and unpack it:

# gunzip php-NN.tar.gz

# tar -xf php-NN.tar
Configure and build PHP:

Note: In this step, it's possible to customize PHP with various options, such as specifying which extensions will be enabled in the compiled PHP version. Run ./configure --help to see a list of the available options.

# cd ../php-NN

# ./configure --prefix /usr/local/phpNN --enable-fpm --with-fpm-group=www-data

# make

# make install
Set up the php.ini:

Note: Edit the .ini file to set the desired PHP options. If it's required to configure the php.ini file in another location, run the configure utility with the option --with-config-file-path=/some/path in the previous step.

# cp php.ini-development /usr/local/lib/php.ini

2- Register the custom PHP version in Plesk

Connect to the server via SSH
Register the new PHP version in Plesk:

Note: More information can be found with the following command: plesk bin php_handler --help

2.1- CGI/FastCGI example:

# plesk bin php_handler --add -displayname <NN> -path <path to php-cgi binary> -phpini <path to php.ini> -type <php handler> -id <NN-custom> -clipath <path to php cli>

Where:
- -displayname <NN>: It's the PHP version name that will be shown in the Plesk UI. It's recommended to include the version number in the displayname, for example: 7.4.5-custom
- -path <path to php-cgi binary>: It's the location of the PHP CGI binary file. The location is shown…