== link:index.html[Index] -> link:modules.html[Modules] -> link:modules_handlers.html[Handlers]

Handler: FastCGI
----------------

The fcgi handler makes queries to *FastCGI* servers, such as PHP, Ruby
on Rails or Django in order to get the request response. FastCGI is
scalable and language independent enhancement to CGI that provides
high performance without limitations of server specific APIs and
reduced overhead. It is basically the same thing as CGI but *much
faster*.

This module accepts all the general
link:modules_handlers_cgi.html[CGI] parameters. It needs a balancer to
be configured besides that. It is the piece of configuration that
points to the handler where to find the FastCGI servers.

For most of the cases there will be only one FastCGI server though. In
that scenario the way to go would be to configure the handler to use a
link:modules_balancers_round_robin.html[Round Robin] balancer and configure
a single host or interpreter (it has no performance penalty).


[[parameters]]
Parameters
~~~~~~~~~~

To set up the general gateway options, read about the common
parameters shared with the link:modules_handlers_cgi.html[Common CGI
options] handler. All of them apply with the exception of `Check
file`, which will only be present if the manager is handling an
extension. Be sure to understand what that parameter does. It is
link:modules_handlers_cgi.html#check_file_warning[explained in detail]
among the rest of CGI options, and depending of how you are using
FastCGI it can make all the difference between succeeding and failing
to run your application.

To set up the FastCGI specifics, read the
link:modules_balancers.html[Balancers] section for general information
and the link:config_info_sources.html[information sources] section for
more details.


[[examples]]
Examples
~~~~~~~~
Refer to the link:cookbook.html[Cookbook] if you want specific
examples on how to configure this
handler. The recipe about link:cookbook_php.html[setting up PHP] is a
good starting point.

.FastCGI Interface
image::media/images/admin_handler_fastcgi1.png[FastCGI]