FastCGI

FastCGI is a binary protocol for interfacing interactive programs with a web server. It is a more efficient alternative to the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), addressing the performance shortcomings of CGI by providing a persistent and reusable process environment for handling web requests.

Instead of creating a new process for each request like CGI, FastCGI keeps the application processes running in the background. When a request arrives, the web server forwards it to one of these processes, which processes the request and sends the response back to the server. The application process remains active and ready to handle subsequent requests without needing to be initialized again.

This persistent process approach significantly reduces the overhead associated with process creation and termination, resulting in improved performance, lower server load, and faster response times, especially for applications requiring database connections or complex logic.

Key benefits of FastCGI include:

• Performance: Reduced overhead compared to CGI.
• Scalability: Supports multiple application processes, enabling distribution of workload.
• Language independence: Can be used with various programming languages, including PHP, Python, Perl, and C++.
• Resource efficiency: Fewer system resources consumed due to persistent processes.
• Security: Allows running application processes under different user accounts for improved security.

FastCGI is commonly used in conjunction with web servers like Apache, Nginx, and IIS.