Re: Why MP2

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On Wed, 15 Dec 2004, Render Web wrote:

> Randy Kobes wrote:
>
> > I've helped developed mp2 for Win32, and on that platform
> > there's an enormous gain compared to mp1 - mp1 is
> > essentially single threaded, which prevents parallel
> > processing of requests, whereas mp2 is multi-threaded. Above
> > that, Apache2 on Win32 also has significant performance
> > gains, compared to Apache1.
>
> This alone makes MP a winner against IIS.
> I have had MP2 up and running for ~1 year (with some hand holding)
> on live systems under win32. The number of IIS related attacks
> on the boxes running AP2/MP2 is just scary.

:)

> Apart from some of the nasties that appeared on the list a day after
> my client (or I) spotted them, all has gone well :-)
>
> My problems with MP2 under win32 are;
> 1) the install procedure
>     Projects such as openSA help enourmously because you can give
>     an "MS head" a single .msi file and *know* they can install
>     Apache+MP+perl+... via an understood interface.

Installing Apache/Perl via an .msi is certainly nice, but
once these are installed, mp2 can be installed via the ppm
tool - this also makes it easier to manage and upgrade.

> 2) Any dependencies upon ASperl.
>     Activestate (perl support) is fast becoming a joke. Perl support
>     appears to sporadic or non existant and 5.8.4 is simply not stable
>     (ithreads under Win32 - io handle leaks etc)
>     The only way I can safely use MP2 under win32 is to roll my own
>     which causes its own problems.

Issues such as these would probably be more of interest to
the perl5 developers, as opposed to ActiveState; ActiveState
just uses the CPAN perl sources for their build (perhaps, at
times, with some registered patches, and also with some
ActiveState-specific stuff related to supplying the build
information). If there's problems with ithreads, leaking
handles, etc. under Win32 ActivePerl, then the same problems
would arise with the equivalent perl sources on CPAN.

> 3) interactions with win AV/firewall products (an AP2 problem)
>     I have noticed that AP2/MP2 has problems when ran on systems
>     that have some firewalls/AV software. Panda is one of the culprits.
>     The explanation is that PAV does not provide a "full API" and
>     this causes problems with apache but I have seen non technical
>     clients blame AP2 as PAV is a commercial product so AP2 must be
>     to blame. :-(
>
>     Finding any of the above (apart from 1) can be time consuming
>     for non developers who want to try out MP2. Adding stuff like
>     this to a win32 FAQ would help a lot (IMHO).

There is a Win32 faq for mod_perl available at
  http://perl.apache.org/docs/general/os/win32/faq.html
and we'd certainly welcome suggestions for any additions. As
you say, the problem with AP2 and firewalls is a general
one, not specific to mod_perl, but we could certainly add to
the faq an external reference to somewhere that discusses
this issue.

        -- 
        best regards,
randy


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