Over the last few months, I have experimented with different hosting arrangements, WordPress, and Hugo CMS configurations. Now it’s time to start creating content to see if I can create a viable site. To that end, I want to start by writing about my efforts to create a local website development environment on my Mac.
As a foundation, I have chosen Homebrew to install most of the software that I am using. Please go to their site for installation instructions. It’s not the only game in town. Apple does provide a web development environment, but their software may be (slightly) out-of-date or hard to configure. MacPorts is another good option. After trying out both, I had a hard time deciding, but finally chose Homebrew for it’s popularity and ease of use.
This post is just about Apache and PHP; I wrote about MySQL in a separate post. I originally wrote this post for macOS Catalina, but I just updated it for macOS Big Sur. In this post, I also describe some tools that I wrote to manage Apache and PHP processes.
Using the Apache Event Module
There are multiple sites that describe how to install Apache and PHP on a Mac using Homebrew. But most of them describe using Apache with the pre-fork Multi-Processing Module (MPM). That’s understandable since Homebrew installs Apache with the pre-fork module active. But in the Linux world, the current, default module is the event module. This allows you to run PHP as a separate process, which is called on as needed. With the pre-fork module, PHP is built in (with mod_php) and is executed all the time even if PHP is not required to fulfill the request.
Running Apache with the pre-fork module is probably just fine while working with a local development environment. But I wanted to learn how to use it with the event module, running PHP as a separate process. By the way, you should check out “macOS 12.0 Monterey Apache Setup: Multiple PHP Versions.” This is one of the best posts that I have seen about setting up a local website development environment. It has inspired much of what I have done to setup my local development environment. It also uses Homebrew to install most of the software.
Install Apache with the brew command
Let’s get started; the first step is to install Apache, using Homebrew. Please install Homebrew and verify your installation if you haven’t done so.
$ brew doctor
Your system is ready to brew.
$ brew install httpd
$ which -a httpd
/usr/local/bin/httpd
/usr/sbin/httpd
$ httpd -v
Server version: Apache/2.4.47 (Unix)
Server built: May 12 2021 11:12:57
$ httpd -V | grep MPM
Server MPM: prefork
Code language: Shell Session (shell)First, we verified that Homebrew is ready to go. Next, we installed Apache (and a number of dependencies). Finally, we ran a couple of commands to check the installation.
The last command shows that Apache was installed with the prefork module enabled.
Great. Now, let’s start it up and test it with Safari:
$ brew services start httpd
==> Tapping homebrew/services
Cloning into '/usr/local/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-services'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 1188, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (67/67), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (56/56), done.
remote: Total 1188 (delta 22), reused 18 (delta 10), pack-reused 1121
Receiving objects: 100% (1188/1188), 352.17 KiB | 3.67 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (498/498), done.
Tapped 1 command (43 files, 449KB).
==> Successfully started `httpd` (label: homebrew.mxcl.httpd)
Code language: Shell Session (shell)(The first time you run the brew services command, it will add the Homebrew-services tap.) Click on: http://localhost:8080 to test that Apache is running. You should see It Works! in your Safari browser.
If you don’t see “It Works!“, then you need to do some troubleshooting. Make sure that httpd is actually running. I have seen cases where the brew services command said that it started, but it either didn’t start or died right away (later on I will describe my a2ctl tool for starting and stopping httpd; it does additional error checking). Let’s verify that the httpd processes are running:
$ ps -x | egrep httpd | sed '/grep/d'
6791 ?? 0:00.05 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6802 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6803 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6804 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6805 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6806 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6967 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
6975 ?? 0:00.00 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
Code language: Shell Session (shell)If you do not see a list of httpd processes, or you are still having issues, please check the Apache error log file.
$ tail -f /usr/local/var/log/httpd/error_log
Code language: Shell Session (shell)It will usually show what went wrong.
As you may have guessed, this is how we stop Apache:
$ brew services stop httpd
Stopping `httpd`... (might take a while)
==> Successfully stopped `httpd` (label: homebrew.mxcl.httpd)
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Switching Apache to the event module and port 80
Using port 80
Next, I want to change my Apache configuration to use the event module and port 80. To start and stop Apache when using privilege ports, sudo has to be used. Homebrew is designed to not use sudo. You will see examples of it being used, but in my experience, the brew services … command does not play nicely with sudo. Therefore, I wrote my own shell script to start and stop Apache.
Make sure that you have stopped Apache with the above brew services command. I wrote a shell script called a2ctl to start, stop, or restart Apache:
#!/bin/zsh
# Usage: a2ctl start|stop|restart|status
error_exit()
{
echo -e "$1" 1>&2
exit 1
}
# Usage
if [[ ! $# -eq 1 || ! ($1 == "start" || $1 == "stop" || $1 == "restart" || $1 == "status") ]]
then
error_exit "Usage: a2ctl start|stop|restart|status"
else
action="$1"
fi
pwait()
{
process=$1
action=$2
count=0
if [[ $action == "stop" ]]
then
until ! pgrep -q $process || [[ $count -gt 5 ]]
do
echo "waiting for $process to stop $count ..."
sleep 1
((count++))
done
if ! pgrep -q $process; then
echo "$process stopped OK ..."
else
error_exit "$process failed to stop"
fi
else
# action is start
sleep 1 # give process time to die for configuration file errors ...
until pgrep -q $process || [[ $count -gt 5 ]]
do
echo "waiting for $process to start $count ..."
sleep 1
((count++))
done
if pgrep -q $process; then
echo "$process started OK ..."
else
error_exit "$process failed to start"
fi
fi
}
a2start()
{
if pgrep -q httpd; then
echo "Apache is already started ..."
exit 0
fi
if [ ! -f "/usr/local/opt/httpd/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist" ]; then
error_exit "Cannot start Apache -- homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist is missing ..."
fi
sudo cp /usr/local/opt/httpd/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
error_exit "homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist copy failed ..."
fi
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait httpd start
}
a2stop()
{
# if ! pgrep -q httpd; then
# echo "Apache is already stopped ..."
# exit 0
# fi
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait httpd stop
# Don't start automatically
sudo rm -f /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist
}
a2restart()
{
# First, stop Apache ...
# if ! pgrep -q httpd; then
# echo "Apache is already stopped, so just start it up ..."
# a2start
# exit 0
# fi
# sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
# pwait httpd stop
# Then, start Apache ...
# sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.httpd.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
# pwait httpd start
a2stop
a2start
}
a2status()
{
# Get status about running httpd processes
ps -axo user,pid,start,etime,time,nice,vsz,rss,command |
egrep '^USER|httpd' | sed '/grep/d'
}
case $action in
"start")
a2start
;;
"stop")
a2stop
;;
"restart")
a2restart
;;
"status")
a2status
;;
*)
# Should never happen ...
error_exit "Invalid action ..."
;;
esac
exit 0
Code language: Bash (bash)As noted by the Usage comment, it is very easy to use. Once started, Apache will start automatically when the macOS system is restarted. If stopped, Apache will not start when the system restarts. If stopped or running, restart will (re)start Apache. Now that we have our new Apache start/stop script, lets update our Apache configuration to use port 80:
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd
$ mkdir -p ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd
$ cp httpd.conf ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd
# Use your favorite text editor ...
$ vi httpd.conf
$ diff ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf .
52c52
< Listen 8080
> ServerName localhost
$ a2ctl start
Password:
httpd started OK ...
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Now, go to http://localhost (dropping the 8080) and you should see It Works! again.
It seems that on macOS Big Sur, the brew services command will still run httpd ok after changing to port 80. I am not sure if that’s always the case. I am sticking with using sudo in a2ctl to stay consistent with my Linux experience. Feel free to experiment for yourself. BTW, you can use a2ctl to check the status of your running httpd processes:
$ a2ctl status
USER PID STARTED ELAPSED TIME NI VSZ RSS COMMAND
root 7939 12:20PM 00:06 0:00.02 0 4431348 4404 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
_www 7941 12:20PM 00:06 0:00.00 0 4310480 1076 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
_www 7942 12:20PM 00:06 0:00.00 0 4310480 1088 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
_www 7943 12:20PM 00:06 0:00.00 0 4302288 1076 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
_www 7944 12:20PM 00:06 0:00.00 0 4302288 1092 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
_www 7945 12:20PM 00:06 0:00.00 0 4326864 1100 /usr/local/opt/httpd/bin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Switching to the event module
Make the following changes to switch Apache to the event module:
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd
$ vi httpd.conf
$ diff ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf .
o o o
66,67c66,67
< #LoadModule mpm_event_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_mpm_event.so
< LoadModule mpm_prefork_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_mpm_prefork.so
> Include /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-mpm.conf
$ a2ctl restart
Password:
httpd stopped OK ...
httpd started OK ...
$ httpd -V | grep MPM
Server MPM: event
Code language: Shell Session (shell)We commented out the prefork module and uncommitted the event module. Uncommenting the Include httpd-mpm.conf file is optional, but it allows updating the number of httpd event servers, etc. This is the default event MPM configuration defined in this file:
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra
$ cat httpd-mpm.conf
o o o
# event MPM
# StartServers: initial number of server processes to start
# MinSpareThreads: minimum number of worker threads which are kept spare
# MaxSpareThreads: maximum number of worker threads which are kept spare
# ThreadsPerChild: constant number of worker threads in each server process
# MaxRequestWorkers: maximum number of worker threads
# MaxConnectionsPerChild: maximum number of connections a server process serves
# before terminating
<IfModule mpm_event_module>
StartServers 3
MinSpareThreads 75
MaxSpareThreads 250
ThreadsPerChild 25
MaxRequestWorkers 400
MaxConnectionsPerChild 0
</IfModule>
o o o
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Change Document Root to the Local User
Because we are setting up a Development environment (don’t do this on a production system), we will move our Document Root to our local user Sites directory. Make the following changes to httpd.conf (changing user to your local user):
# Set local user ...
193,194c193,194
< User _www
< Group _www
> DocumentRoot /Users/user/Sites
> <Directory /Users/user/Sites>
269c269
< AllowOverride None
> LoadModule proxy_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy.so
135c135
< #LoadModule proxy_fcgi_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy_fcgi.so
> DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
# and add this block right after the dir_module block ...
# Run php-fpm via proxy_fcgi
<IfModule proxy_fcgi_module>
<FilesMatch ".php$">
SetHandler "proxy:unix:/usr/local/var/run/php-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost"
</FilesMatch>
</IfModule>
Code language: Apache (apache)Restart Apache with the above changes:
$ a2ctl restart
Password:
httpd stopped OK ...
httpd started OK ...
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Check the Apache error log if it doesn’t start up OK. At this point Apache is ready to run PHP. We don’t have to touch it again. We can install PHP, change PHP versions, etc., and Apache will keep talking to the currently running PHP version. So let’s move on to our PHP install.
Setting up PHP-FPM to work with Apache
As of this writing, the newest version of PHP is version 8.1. However, my Pair Networks shared host is using version 7.4. The following instructions will describe how to install and configure PHP version 7.4 as the default version of PHP. I will also install version 8.1. We could use the brew services command to start and stop the PHP-FPM service. But I opted to write a shell script to start and stop PHP-FPM. I can also easily switch PHP versions with my shell script. I will also update the PHP-FPM configuration file to use a Unix socket to talk to Apache (which is ready to go on the Apache side). The PHP brew installation defaults to using a TCP/IP socket, but the Unix socket approach has less overhead. You can read about what’s the difference between a Unix socket and a TCP/IP socket.
Let’s frist install PHP versions 7.4 and 8.1:
$ brew install php@7.4
$ brew install php
# Set the active version of PHP to version 7.4
$ brew unlink php && brew link --overwrite --force php@7.4
# You may need to restart your terminal session ...
$ php -v
PHP 7.4.19 (cli) (built: May 13 2021 06:28:47) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.19, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
$ brew services start php@7.4
==> Successfully started `php@7.4` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php@7.3)
Code language: Shell Session (shell)The first brew command installed PHP version 7.4 and a bunch of dependencies. The second install command installed the latest production version of PHP, which is currently version 8.1. Finally, the third brew command switched the default version of PHP to version 7.4.
Starting and Stopping PHP-FPM
You can continue using the brew services command to start and stop PHP-FPM. I prefer having a little more control for starting and stopping, including verifying that PHP-FPM actually did start. I have seen cases where the brew services command will report a successful start, but PHP-FPM did not start (or died immediately). I also wanted to implement a convenient way to switch PHP versions. Therefore, I wrote a shell script called phpctl to start, stop, and restart PHP-FPM. I also included an status action to get information about the running PHP-FPM processes. But before we get into the details about phpctl, let’s update the PHP-FPM configuration for Apache (and some additional tweaks).
First, change directory to /usr/local/etc/php/PHP_VERSION/php-fpm.d. The default PHP-FPM configuration is in www.conf. You will want to save a copy of that file in a safe place because it has a lot of useful comments in it, but we are going to filter out all the commented lines and make our Unix proxy changes and point to our local user (which you need to update):
$ cd /usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php-fpm.d
$ pwd
/usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php-fpm.d
$ mkdir -p ~/orig/usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php-fpm.d
$ cp www.conf ~/orig/usr/local/etc/php/7.4/php-fpm.d
# Strip out all the comments ...
$ cat www.conf | egrep -v "^;" | egrep -v "^$" > tmpfile
$ mv tmpfile www.conf
$ cat www.conf
[www]
user = _www
group = _www
listen = 127.0.0.1:9000
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 5
pm.start_servers = 2
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 3
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Update the user, group, and listen directives in the www.conf file to use the local user and a Unix socket.
$ vi www.conf
$ cat www.conf
[www]
user = user
group = staff
listen = /usr/local/var/run/php-fpm.sock
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 5
pm.start_servers = 2
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 3
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Now we are ready to test that PHP-FPM is working with Apache. You will need to first stop (if not stopped already) and then start PHP-FPM with the brew services command. Next, we will create a simple info.php PHP script to test that everything is working:
$ brew services stop php@7.4
Stopping `php@7.4`... (might take a while)
==> Successfully stopped `php@7.4` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php@7.4)
$ brew services start php@7.4
==> Successfully started `php@7.4` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php@7.4)
$ cd ~/Sites
$ vi info.php
$ cat info.php
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Go to http://localhost/info.php. You should see the PHP info screen with lots and lots of information about your running PHP installation. Note that the Server API shows FPM/FastCGI. If all is good, then we are about done with the exception of optionally using my p7ctl PHP control script. Also, don’t forget to make the same www.conf changes for PHP-FPM 8.1.
$ brew services stop php@7.4
Stopping `php@7.4`... (might take a while)
==> Successfully stopped `php@7.4` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php@7.4)
$ cd ../../8.1/php-fpm.d
$ php -v
PHP 7.4.32 (cli) (built: Sep 29 2022 11:05:47) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.32, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
$ brew unlink php && brew link --force --overwrite php@8.1
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php/8.1.11... 0 symlinks removed.
Unlinking /usr/local/Cellar/php@7.4/7.4.32... 25 symlinks removed.
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/php/8.1.11... 24 symlinks created.
$ php -v
PHP 8.1.11 (cli) (built: Sep 29 2022 20:04:17) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.1.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.1.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
# Update www.conf like we did for version 7.4:
$ cat www.conf
[www]
user = user
group = staff
listen = /usr/local/var/run/php-fpm.sock
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 5
pm.start_servers = 2
pm.min_spare_servers = 1
pm.max_spare_servers = 3
$ brew services start php@8.1
==> Successfully started `php` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php)
# Again, run the info.php script in Safari:
# http://localhost/info.php
$ brew services stop php@8.1
Stopping `php`... (might take a while)
==> Successfully stopped `php` (label: homebrew.mxcl.php)
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Go to http://localhost/info.php to test. I showed how you can manually switch PHP-FPM services. You can start different PHP-FPM versions without doing the unlink and link commands. But I prefer keeping the Command Line Version of PHP (php -v) in sync with the PHP-FPM version. Also, I don’t know if there could be other side affects from not unlinking and linking.
Using phpctl instead of the brew services command
I wrote a shell script, phpctl, to have a little finer control for stopping and starting PHP-FPM. I can use it to switch the running version of PHP-FPM (currently, version 7.4 or 8.1). You simply stop the running version and start the new version. Here is my phpctl shell script:
#!/bin/zsh
# Usage: phpctl start [7.4|8.0|8.1] -- starts 7.4, 8.0, or 8.1
# (defaults to currently linked version)
# phpctl restart -- restarts the currently linked version
# phpctl stop -- stops the currently linked and running version
# phpctl status -- get info about running php-fpm processes
#
# The start action will unlink the current version and link
# the requested version if different from the linked version.
# The restart and stop actions only work with the
# currently linked version.
error_exit()
{
echo -e "$1" 1>&2
exit 1
}
# Get the currently linked PHP version ...
linked="php@$(/usr/local/bin/php -v | grep ^PHP | cut -d' ' -f2 | cut -d'.' -f1,2)"
# Get command parameters ...
if [[ ! $# -ge 1 || ! ($1 == "start" || $1 == "stop" || $1 == "restart" || $1 == "status" ) ]]; then
error_exit "Usage:tphpctl start [7.4|8.0|8.1]ntphpctl restartntphpctl stopntphpctl status"
else
action="$1"
if [[ -z $2 ]]; then
# Default to the linked version
version=${linked}
elif [[ ! ($2 == "7.4" || $2 == "8.0" || $2 == "8.1" ) ]]; then
error_exit "Version $2 is not supported."
else
version="php@$2"
fi
fi
# plist file name format can change (e.g., php vs php@7.4)
plfile=$(find /usr/local/opt/${linked}/homebrew.mxcl.php*.plist)
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
error_exit "Did not find linked ${linked} plist file ..."
fi
pwait()
{
process=$1
action=$2
count=0
if [[ $action == "stop" ]]
then
until ! pgrep -q $process || [[ $count -gt 5 ]]
do
echo "waiting for $process to stop $count ..."
sleep 1
((count++))
done
if ! pgrep -q $process; then
echo "$process stopped OK ..."
else
error_exit "$process failed to stop"
fi
else
# action is start
sleep 1 # give process time to die for configuration file errors ...
until pgrep -q $process || [[ $count -gt 5 ]]
do
echo "waiting for $process to start $count ..."
sleep 1
((count++))
done
if pgrep -q $process; then
echo "$process started OK ..."
else
error_exit "$process failed to start"
fi
fi
}
php_start()
{
if pgrep -q php-fpm; then
echo "${linked} is already started."
exit 0
fi
if [[ ${linked} != ${version} ]]; then
brew unlink ${linked} > /dev/null 2>&1 &&
brew link --force --overwrite ${version} > /dev/null 2>&1
linked=${version}
plfile=$(find /usr/local/opt/${linked}/homebrew.mxcl.php*.plist)
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
error_exit "Did not find linked ${linked} plist file ..."
fi
fi
cp ${plfile} ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
error_exit "${plfile} copy failed ..."
fi
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(basename ${plfile}) > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait php-fpm start
}
php_stop()
{
if ! pgrep -q php-fpm; then
echo "${linked} is already stopped ..."
exit 0
fi
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(basename ${plfile}) > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait php-fpm stop
# Don't start automatically
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(basename ${plfile})
}
php_restart()
{
# First, stop PHP ...
if ! pgrep -q php-fpm; then
echo "${linked} is already stopped, so just start it up ..."
# Always restart the linked version
if [[ ${version} != ${linked} ]]; then
version=${linked}
fi
php_start
exit 0
fi
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(basename ${plfile}) > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait php-fom stop
# Then, start PHP ...
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/$(basename ${plfile}) > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait php-fpm start
}
php_status()
{
ps -axo user,pid,start,etime,time,nice,vsz,rss,command |
egrep '^USER|php-fpm' | sed '/grep/d'
}
case $action in
"start")
php_start
;;
"stop")
php_stop
;;
"restart")
php_restart
;;
"status")
php_status
;;
*)
# Should never happen ...
error_exit "Invalid action ..."
;;
esac
exit 0
Code language: Bash (bash)Here are some examples of how to use it (first, be sure to run brew services stop php@8.1 if you previously started PHP-FPM with the brew services start command):
# The currently linked version of PHP
$ php -v
PHP 8.1.11 (cli) (built: Sep 29 2022 20:04:17) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.1.11, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v8.1.11, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
# Start the currently linked version of PHP-FPM
$ phpctl start
php-fpm started OK ...
# Trying to start again ...
$ phpctl start
php@8.1 is already started.
# Get info about our running PHP-FPM processes
$ phpctl status
USER PID STARTED ELAPSED TIME NI VSZ RSS COMMAND
george 17673 3:57PM 00:19 0:00.04 0 4624776 14396 php-fpm: master process (/usr/local/etc/php/8.1/php-fpm.conf)
george 17675 3:57PM 00:19 0:00.00 0 4632712 732 php-fpm: pool www
george 17676 3:57PM 00:19 0:00.00 0 4632712 732 php-fpm: pool www
# Stop the running version
$ phpctl stop
php-fpm stopped OK ...
# Start a different version (and unlink and link)
phpctl start 7.4
php-fpm started OK ...
# Confirm new linked version
$ php -v
PHP 7.4.32 (cli) (built: Sep 29 2022 11:05:47) ( NTS )
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v3.4.0, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
with Zend OPcache v7.4.32, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies
# Get info about our new running PHP-FPM processes
$ phpctl status
USER PID STARTED ELAPSED TIME NI VSZ RSS COMMAND
george 18023 3:59PM 00:07 0:00.04 0 4751992 13668 /usr/local/opt/php@7.4/sbin/php-fpm --nodaemonize
george 18025 3:59PM 00:07 0:00.00 0 4759928 708 /usr/local/opt/php@7.4/sbin/php-fpm --nodaemonize
george 18026 3:59PM 00:07 0:00.00 0 4760952 712 /usr/local/opt/php@7.4/sbin/php-fpm --nodaemonize
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Setting up Virtual Hosts
At this point, Apache and PHP-FPM is working with our Mac localhost. The last item that we want to configure is our virtual hosts environment. We want to be able to create local test domains on our Mac. For example, I have created a local test domain called altoplace.tst.
For each virtual host, we need a DNS entry, so that we’re able to enter that name into our Safari (or your favorite) browser on your Mac. We could add an entry for each virtual host to our /etc/hosts file, but instead of doing that, we will install a lightweight DNS server on our Mac that will resolve any domain name ending in tst (or test, or whatever local TLD you choose). Of course, don’t pick a real TLD. Also, I understand that the current version of Google Chrome forces all .dev domains to use SSL, so .dev might not be a good choice. We are going to install and use dnsmasq, using Homebrew. Also, I will show you my shell script, dnsctl, that I use to start and stop dnsmasq. Dnsmasq requires root privileges, and as I noted before, the brew services command does not play well with the sudo command.
Using a lightweight DHCP and caching DNS server, dnsmasq
Run the following commands to install and configure dnsmasq:
$ brew install dnsmasq
$ sudo mkdir -p /etc/resolver
$ cd /usr/local/etc
$ mkdir -p ~/orig/usr/local/etc
$ cp dnsmasq.conf ~/orig/usr/local/etc
$ vi dnsmasq.conf
$ diff ~/orig/usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf .
79a80
> address=/.tst/127.0.0.1
$ sudo bash -c 'echo "nameserver 127.0.0.1" > /etc/resolver/tst'
Code language: Shell Session (shell)The last three lines creates our .tst domain. Actually, I made this a bit more complicated than needed. You could have just created a one line dnsmasq.conf file that contains address=/.tst/127.0.0.1. None of the other configuration options in this file are turned on for our simple application, but I wanted to keep the file as is in case I choose to make other configuration changes in the future.
At this point, we are ready to start the dnsmasq service. However, it needs to be started with root privileges, so I am going to again create my own shell script to start and stop dnsmasq. I called it dnsctl:
#!/bin/zsh
# Usage: dnsctl start|stop|restart|status
error_exit()
{
echo -e "$1" 1>&2
exit 1
}
# Usage
if [[ ! $# -eq 1 || ! ($1 == "start" || $1 == "stop" || $1 == "restart" || $1 == "status") ]]
then
error_exit "Usage: dnsctl start|stop|restart|status"
else
action="$1"
fi
pwait()
{
process=$1
action=$2
count=0
if [[ $action == "stop" ]]
then
until ! pgrep -q $process || [[ $count -gt 5 ]]
do
echo "waiting for $process to stop $count ..."
sleep 1
((count++))
done
if ! pgrep -q $process; then
echo "$process stopped OK ..."
else
error_exit "$process failed to stop"
fi
else
# action is start
sleep 1 # give process time to die for configuration file errors ...
until pgrep -q $process || [[ $count -gt 5 ]]
do
echo "waiting for $process to start $count ..."
sleep 1
((count++))
done
if pgrep -q $process; then
echo "$process started OK ..."
else
error_exit "$process failed to start"
fi
fi
}
dnsstart()
{
if pgrep -q dnsmasq; then
echo "dnsmasq is already started ..."
exit 0
fi
if [ ! -f "/usr/local/opt/dnsmasq/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist" ]; then
error_exit "Cannot start dnsmasq -- homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist is missing ..."
fi
sudo cp /usr/local/opt/dnsmasq/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
error_exit "homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist copy failed ..."
fi
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait dnsmasq start
}
dnsstop()
{
if ! pgrep -q dnsmasq; then
echo "dnsmasq is already stopped ..."
exit 0
fi
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait dnsmasq stop
# Don't start automatically
sudo rm -f /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist
}
dnsrestart()
{
# First, stop dnsmasq ...
if ! pgrep -q dnsmasq; then
echo "dnsmasq is already stopped, so just start it up ..."
dnsstart
exit 0
fi
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait dnsmasq stop
# Then, start dnsmasq ...
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.dnsmasq.plist > /dev/null 2>&1
pwait dnsmasq start
}
dnsstatus()
{
# Get info about running dnsmasq processes
ps -axo user,pid,start,etime,time,nice,vsz,rss,command |
egrep '^USER|dnsmasq' | sed '/grep/d'
}
case $action in
"start")
dnsstart
;;
"stop")
dnsstop
;;
"restart")
dnsrestart
;;
"status")
dnsstatus
;;
*)
# Should never happen ...
error_exit "Invalid action ..."
;;
esac
exit 0
Code language: Bash (bash)The following shows how to start up dnsmasq with the dnsctl shell script:
$ dnsctl
Usage: dnsctl start|stop|restart|status
$ dnsctl start
Password:
dnsmasq started OK ...
$ dnsctl status
USER PID STARTED ELAPSED TIME NI VSZ RSS COMMAND
nobody 37845 3:16PM 00:10 0:00.01 0 4427444 1060 /usr/local/opt/dnsmasq/sbin/dnsmasq --keep-in-foreground -C /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.conf -7 /usr/local/etc/dnsmasq.d,*.conf
$ ping -c1 anydoman.tst
PING anydoman.tst (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.025 ms
--- anydoman.tst ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.025/0.025/0.025/0.000 ms
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Try it out! You can ping any domain that you can dream of (if it ends in .tst). The dnsctl script doesn’t change file permissions like the sudo brew services … command will do (when using sudo). Also, dnsutl tries to verify that the service successfully started (or stopped). I have seen cases where the brew services command said that the service started, but it actually didn’t (or died right away).
Enhanced Dnsmasq Configuration
All of the above is still good. However, I learned that there are certain applications, such as the WordPress Site Health check, that do not work with the resolver that we set up at /etc/resolver/tst. The WordPress Site Health check will report critical errors that are failing with this error:
Error: cURL error 6: Could not resolve: yourdomain.tst (Domain name not found) (http_request_failed)
I learned that this error is coming from the brew-installed curl-openssl program. You may not have WordPress installed. Another way to reproduce this issue is with the built-in host command:
$ host altoplace.tst
Host altoplace.tst not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
$ ping -c1 altoplace.tst
PING altoplace.tst (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 127.0.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.021 ms
--- altoplace.tst ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.021/0.021/0.021/0.000 ms
Code language: Shell Session (shell)The host command fails, but the ping command still works. There is a simple solution. We need to update the MacOS Network DNS setting to add the dnsmasq server IP, which is 127.0.0.1. This can be done through MacOS System Preferences Network panel (click on Advanced... and then the DNS tab). However, we can use the command line to easily change the MacOS DNS setting:
networksetup -setdnsservers Ethernet 127.0.0.1 192.168.1.1
networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi 127.0.0.1 192.168.1.1
Code language: Shell Session (shell)A couple of comments. The 127.0.0.1 address must be first. The second address(es) should be a list of your current DNS addresses. You can look at the Network Panel before executing the above commands to determine what those addresses are. If the address is grayed-out, as it was in my case, it means that the DNS address was automatically setup by the DHCP service. You only need to execute the above command for the network interfaces that you are using. In my case, I have setup both Ethernet and Wi-Fi (defaults to using Ethernet).
Now, you can try the same host command and see that the issue is resolved:
$ host altoplace.tst
altoplace.tst has address 127.0.0.1
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Also, with this updated configuration, DNS queries are now being cached by dnsmasq:
$ dig +noall +stats altoplace.net
;; Query time: 53 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Thu May 13 15:31:07 CDT 2021
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 58
$ dig +noall +stats altoplace.net
;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.1#53(127.0.0.1)
;; WHEN: Thu May 13 15:31:17 CDT 2021
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 58
Code language: Shell Session (shell)Creating The First Virtual Host
You first need to make some additional changes to the Apache configuration file and restart Apache:
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd
$ vi httpd.conf
$ diff ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf .
o o o
175c175
< #LoadModule vhost_alias_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_vhost_alias.so
> LoadModule rewrite_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_rewrite.so
o o o
507c514
< #Include /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
> LoadModule socache_shmcb_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_socache_shmcb.so
o o o
150c150
< #LoadModule ssl_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_ssl.so
> Include /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
# Update extra/httpd-ssl.conf ...
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra
$ cp httpd-ssl.conf ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd/extra
$ vi httpd-ssl.conf
$ diff ~/orig/usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-ssl.conf .
36c36
< Listen 8443
> <VirtualHost _default_:443>
124,125c124,125
< DocumentRoot "/usr/local/var/www"
< ServerName www.example.com:8443
> SSLCertificateFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/localhost+2.pem"
154c154
< SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/server.key"
---
> SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/localhost+2-key.pem"
Code language: Shell Session (shell)We just uncommented two LoadModule lines to enable SSL. We also uncommented and updated the httpd-ssl.conf include file (don’t try to restart Apache yet). We changed the Homebrew defined SSL port number (8443) back to the default SSL port number (443). We still need to create the SSL certificate and key files before restarting Apache.
Updating our Virtual Hosts to use SSL
We need to update our Virtual Hosts configuration to add SSL-enabled virtual hosts to our Apache configuration:
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra
$ vi httpd-vhosts.conf
# Add the following ...
<VirtualHost *:443>
DocumentRoot "/Users/george/Sites"
ServerName localhost
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/localhost+2.pem"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/localhost+2-key.pem"
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
DocumentRoot "/Users/george/Sites"
ServerName imac1.local
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/imac1.local.pem"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/imac1.local-key.pem"
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
DocumentRoot "/Users/george/Sites/altoplace.tst"
ServerName altoplace.tst
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/altoplace.tst.pem"
SSLCertificateKeyFile "/usr/local/etc/httpd/ssl/altoplace.tst-key.pem"
</VirtualHost>
Code language: Apache (apache)Again, we still are not ready to restart Apache. We will now create the local SSL certificate and key files referenced in the httpd-vhosts.conf and extra/httpd-ssl.conf files.
Creating the local SSL certificates and keys
We could use OpenSSL to create a self-signed certificate. But instead, we are going to use mkcert to create our SSL certificates. It is very easy to use to create locally trusted development certificates. We can use Homebrew to install mkcert. Here’s how to install and use mkcert:
$ brew install mkcert nss
$ mkcert -install
Created a new local CA 💥
Sudo password:
The local CA is now installed in the system trust store! ⚡️
The local CA is now installed in the Firefox trust store (requires browser restart)! 🦊
$ cd /usr/local/etc/httpd
$ mkdir ssl
$ cd ssl
$ mkcert localhost 127.0.0.1 ::1
Created a new certificate valid for the following names 📜
- "localhost"
- "127.0.0.1"
- "::1"
The certificate is at "./localhost+2.pem" and the key at "./localhost+2-key.pem" ✅
It will expire on 13 August 2023 🗓
$ mkcert altoplace.tst
Created a new certificate valid for the following names 📜
- "altoplace.tst"
The certificate is at "./altoplace.tst.pem" and the key at "./altoplace.tst-key.pem" ✅
It will expire on 13 August 2023 🗓
$ mkcert imac1.local
Created a new certificate valid for the following names 📜
- "imac1.local"
The certificate is at "./imac1.local.pem" and the key at "./imac1.local-key.pem" ✅
It will expire on 13 August 2023 🗓
Code language: Shell Session (shell)The nss formal provides libraries that Firefox needs for using SSL. We ran mkcert -install one time to install a locally trusted certificate in our system trust store. Then we created a certificate for localhost. The last two examples shows how easy it is to create additional certificates for locally hosted domains. Of course, you will use your own local development domains. At this point, you are ready to restart Apache and test your newly SSL-enabled domains. I would suggest running the Apache configuration test first just to verify that you didn’t make any configuration errors. I certainly did find errors the first time around:
$ apachectl configtest
Syntax OK
$ a2ctl restart
Password:
httpd stopped OK ...
httpd started OK ...
# Now test your SSL URLs:
# https://localhost
# https://imac1.local
# https://altoplace.tst
Code language: Shell Session (shell)We ran the Apache configuration test, restarted Apache, and for good measure, we verified that our httpd processes were running (and had just started). If you encounter any errors, be sure to check your Apache error log (_/usr/local/var/log/httpd/error_log_).
Final Thoughts
At this point, you should have a basic Apache/PHP-FPM working environment, supporting SSL-enabled virtual hosts. You can start testing website environments, such as Grav or Hugo, that don’t require a MySQL database. I will write a different post about setting up MySQL to complete our local development LAMP stack (but for the Mac instead of Linux) environment. Then I will write about how I installed WordPress using WP-CLI. All coming later. Please stay tuned …