Using the FastCGI dispatcher

The GAS supports FastCGI. FastCGI is a protocol for interfacing the web Server and Application Server, like the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) protocol.

The main advantages of FastCGI include:

  • Independence of web server used. The web server simply needs to have a FastCGI extension.
  • Instead of creating a new process for every request (as is done with CGI), FastCGI communicates with the GAS, which handles many requests over its lifetime.
  • FastCGI can manage the GAS dispatcher process [Start, Stop, Relaunch on Failure].
FastCGI extension manages the GAS dispatcher process:
  • The web server and GAS has the same lifetime: starting the web server starts the GAS process, while stopping the web server stops the GAS dispatcher process. If the GAS dispatcher fails, the web server restarts a new GAS process.
  • The web server and GAS must be on the same computer.

GAS FastCGI support is provided by using the fastcgidispatch executable, see Dispatcher: fastcgidispatch.