fcgi vs mod_fastcgi on apache server
apache, c++, cgi, fastcgi, web-services
Solution
Indeed, `mod_fastcgi` does not support multiplexing. I suppose this is because the Apache web server handles concurrent processing itself. You've probably dealt with it's various Multi-Processing-Models (MPMs) already...
Apache is highly optimized around the several (request) phases provided. The various modules can hook in where-ever you like, which makes the Apache an excellent server to directly integrate high performance and/or really complex applications (e.g. with custom modules in `c`, `mod_perl` and so on) as modules themselves. But both, `mod_fastcgi` and `cgi-fcgi`, are IMHO only used to provide response and/or filter handler. Thus; many of the great features (configuration, mapping, post-request logging & cleanup...) provided with Apache are just not used in such a setup.
Thus; if your application is built on top of FGCI, I'd rather not recommend using Apache. Especially for high performance applications under high load; One may prefer a more lightweight but fast HTTP daemon. There are plenty of alternatives like `nginx` or `lighttpd`. Usually one would use them as proxies/balancer to the FCGI processes, cache, SSL handler and logging provider. Of course, Apache is also capable of these tasks, but it's somehow like using a helicopter to direct the traffic at the intersection...
Cheers!
Problem
I have an apache server in which I am setting up `fcgi`. I was contemplating if I've to setup the tailor made `mod_fastcgi` or the plain old `cgi-fcgi`. `mod-fastcgi` doesn't seem to support the "multiplexing" features of `fcgi`, and the web service I am building is a very high traffic service with several thousand calls per minute and I want them to be processed as quick as possible. Any suggestions or advice??