With XsOnline web hosting, PHP can be used in different modes. Below we show a short description of each mode.
mod_php (DSO)
DSO (which is short for Dynamic Shared Object) or mod_php is the oldest and, some would say, the fastest PHP handler available. It essentially makes PHP a part of Apache. This is also the easiest to configure.
CGI
Instead of running the PHP code within Apache it is now run as a CGI process. That is, in a program outside of your Apache server.
suPHP
suPHP executes outside of the Apache script as CGI. But scripts will be executed as another user than the Apache user (presumably the user that owns the files).
This means that you can upload files from within your web application using suPHP. In addition, because your PHP is being run as a different user any vulnerability in your site can be restricted to only a few files.
FastCGI
FastCGI is the last major PHP handler. It offers the security benefits of suPHP by executing files as the owner of the file. This uses more memory than suPHP, but it's also a lot faster.
