If you are a developer working with PHP on a Linux server, you may be looking for ways to optimize your application’s performance. One way to achieve this is by installing and configuring OPcache, a PHP extension that stores precompiled script bytecode in shared memory. This can greatly improve your application’s performance by reducing the time it takes to execute PHP scripts.

In this article, we will discuss how to install OPcache on a Linux server for optimal PHP performance.

Step 1: Update your system
Before proceeding with the installation, it is recommended to update your system to ensure that you have the latest software packages. You can do this by running the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Step 2: Install OPcache
To install OPcache on a Linux server, you can use the package manager specific to your distribution. For example, on Ubuntu, you can install OPcache by running the following command:

sudo apt-get install php-opcache

Step 3: Configure OPcache
After installing OPcache, you will need to configure it for optimal performance. You can do this by editing the OPcache configuration file. The location of the configuration file may vary depending on your distribution, but it is commonly found at /etc/php/7.x/mods-available/opcache.ini.

Open the configuration file in a text editor and make the following changes:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.enable_cli=1
opcache.memory_consumption=128
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8
opcache.max_accelerated_files=4000
opcache.revalidate_freq=2
opcache.fast_shutdown=1

These configuration settings are just an example, and you may need to adjust them based on your server’s resources and the requirements of your application.

Step 4: Restart PHP-FPM
After configuring OPcache, you will need to restart the PHP-FPM service for the changes to take effect. You can do this by running the following command:

sudo service php7.x-fpm restart

Step 5: Verify the installation
To verify that OPcache is installed and configured correctly, you can create a PHP script with the following content:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Save the script in your web server’s document root directory and access it through a web browser. Look for the OPcache section in the PHP configuration output to confirm that OPcache is enabled and running.

By following these steps, you can install and configure OPcache on a Linux server to optimize your PHP application’s performance. OPcache can greatly improve the speed and efficiency of your application by reducing the time it takes to execute PHP scripts.