Ubuntu Configure Nginx with Multiple PHP Versions

1- Install Nginx to install nginx

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx

make sure that you dont have anything running on port 80, otherwise you will need to either configure nginx to another port b4 running or disable any active app server running on port 80 to disable apache2 for example

sudo systemctl disable apache2

enable nginx to be started automatically

sudo systemctl enable nginx

start nginx and check its status

sudo systemctl start nginx
systemctl status nginx

if status shows that nginx is running then your good to go


2- Install PHP Versions

the defualt version of php is always the newest and you can install it by running the below command:

sudo apt-get install php php-fpm

for older versions you can get it from: A: old version rebositoy to add and install using apt-get

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install php5.6 php5.6-fpm

B: install fro source downloaded from php.net archive "google it (:"


3- Configure Hosts for each php version

sudo nano /etc/hosts

add multiple hosts each one will point to a version of php, below is a example

4- Configure PHP-FPM for each version open the config file for fpm

/etc/php/{version-number}/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

for php 7.1 it would be

/etc/php/7.1/fpm/pool.d/www.conf

now find the line where it has

listen = /run/php/php{php-version}-fpm.sock

comment it out by a hash and enter this line below

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000

Note: the ip address must match the /etc/hosts input you did earlier for the desired host now do the same to all php version you want to run and keep note of all the input, at the end you should have a list of php-fpms addreses like this for example:

listen = 127.0.0.1:9000 for php 7.1 | matching host php-7-1.co
listen = 127.0.0.2:9000 for php 7.0 | matching host php-7-0.co
listen = 127.0.0.3:9000 for php 5.6 | matching host php-5-6.co
listen = 127.0.0.4:9000 for php 4.6 | matching host php-4-6.co

5- Configure Nginx

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

- uncomment the block that start with:

location ~ \.php$ {

- comment out the line that start with:

fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/;

- un comment or add this line inside "location ~ \.php$"

fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;

- copy and past the server{} code for as many as php version you have - change each server block config following detail to match your php-fpm and host config

- listen {ip}:{port} default_server
- server_name {ip} {domain}
- fastcgi_pass {ip}:{port}

6- Restart All Services

sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart php{vrsion}-fpm ( repeat for all versions)

Done!