Upgrading PHP 5.3.29 to PHP 7 on Centos 6.8 Using Rackspace IUS Repo

These instructions only apply in specific cases. Specifically CentOS machines, running in the Rackspace Cloud, IUS the Rackspace provided repo, provides several things not usually available within the CentOS repo, without you manually compiling more recent versions. One of them is the latest version of PHP7.0 and PHP7.1.

I wanted to quickly document the process, since it is a relatively simple process, and, can actually be done without any maintenance window, if you know what your doing, with very minimal, (if any) disruption to running sites. an apachectl graceful, actually, should be enough. Since apachectl gracefully restarts apache httpd, the downtime you’ll see will be super minimal. Expect nobody to notice you upgraded to PHP7 if you do this right.

If you do this incorrectly, you will break the PHP installation, and worse, break all of the sites using mod_php. Lets take a look at the steps:

Step 1. Check available PHP modules provided by presently configured REPO

root@server3 ~]# yum search php7
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, versionlock
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
drivesrvr                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 2.2 kB     00:00
============================================================================================================================= N/S Matched: php7 ==============================================================================================================================
php70u-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u
php70u-ioncube-loader-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-ioncube-loader
php70u-pecl-amqp-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-amqp
php70u-pecl-apcu-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-apcu
php70u-pecl-igbinary-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-igbinary
php70u-pecl-imagick-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-imagick
php70u-pecl-redis-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-redis
php70u-pecl-smbclient-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-smbclient
php70u-pecl-xdebug-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php70u-pecl-xdebug
php71u-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php71u
php71u-pecl-apcu-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php71u-pecl-apcu
php71u-pecl-igbinary-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php71u-pecl-igbinary
php71u-pecl-redis-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php71u-pecl-redis
php71u-pecl-xdebug-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package php71u-pecl-xdebug
sclo-php70-php-pecl-propro-devel.x86_64 : sclo-php70-php-pecl-propro developer files (header)
sclo-php70-php-pecl-raphf-devel.x86_64 : sclo-php70-php-pecl-raphf developer files (header)
uwsgi-plugin-php70u-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package uwsgi-plugin-php70u
mod_php70u.x86_64 : PHP module for the Apache HTTP Server
mod_php71u.x86_64 : PHP module for the Apache HTTP Server
php70u-bcmath.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the bcmath library
php70u-cli.x86_64 : Command-line interface for PHP
php70u-common.x86_64 : Common files for PHP
php70u-dba.x86_64 : A database abstraction layer module for PHP applications
php70u-dbg.x86_64 : The interactive PHP debugger
php70u-devel.x86_64 : Files needed for building PHP extensions
php70u-embedded.x86_64 : PHP library for embedding in applications
php70u-enchant.x86_64 : Enchant spelling extension for PHP applications
php70u-fpm.x86_64 : PHP FastCGI Process Manager
php70u-fpm-httpd.noarch : Apache HTTP Server configuration for PHP-FPM
php70u-fpm-nginx.noarch : Nginx configuration for PHP-FPM
php70u-gd.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the gd graphics library
php70u-gmp.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the GNU MP library
php70u-imap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use IMAP
php70u-interbase.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use Interbase/Firebird databases
php70u-intl.x86_64 : Internationalization extension for PHP applications
php70u-ioncube-loader.x86_64 : IonCube Loader provides PHP Modules to read IonCube Encoded Files
php70u-json.x86_64 : JavaScript Object Notation extension for PHP
php70u-ldap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use LDAP
php70u-mbstring.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications which need multi-byte string handling
php70u-mcrypt.x86_64 : Standard PHP module provides mcrypt library support
php70u-mysqlnd.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use MySQL databases
php70u-odbc.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use ODBC databases
php70u-opcache.x86_64 : The Zend OPcache
php70u-pdo.x86_64 : A database access abstraction module for PHP applications
php70u-pdo-dblib.x86_64 : PDO driver Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases
php70u-pear.noarch : PHP Extension and Application Repository framework
php70u-pecl-amqp.x86_64 : Communicate with any AMQP compliant server
php70u-pecl-apcu.x86_64 : APC User Cache
php70u-pecl-apcu-devel.x86_64 : APCu developer files (header)
php70u-pecl-apcu-panel.noarch : APCu control panel
php70u-pecl-igbinary.x86_64 : Replacement for the standard PHP serializer
php70u-pecl-igbinary-devel.x86_64 : Igbinary developer files (header)
php70u-pecl-imagick.x86_64 : Provides a wrapper to the ImageMagick library
php70u-pecl-redis.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
php70u-pecl-smbclient.x86_64 : PHP wrapper for libsmbclient
php70u-pecl-xdebug.x86_64 : PECL package for debugging PHP scripts
php70u-pgsql.x86_64 : A PostgreSQL database module for PHP
php70u-process.x86_64 : Modules for PHP script using system process interfaces
php70u-pspell.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using pspell interfaces
php70u-recode.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the recode library
php70u-snmp.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that query SNMP-managed devices
php70u-soap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use the SOAP protocol
php70u-tidy.x86_64 : Standard PHP module provides tidy library support
php70u-xml.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications which use XML
php70u-xmlrpc.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications which use the XML-RPC protocol
php71u-bcmath.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the bcmath library
php71u-cli.x86_64 : Command-line interface for PHP
php71u-common.x86_64 : Common files for PHP
php71u-dba.x86_64 : A database abstraction layer module for PHP applications
php71u-dbg.x86_64 : The interactive PHP debugger
php71u-devel.x86_64 : Files needed for building PHP extensions
php71u-embedded.x86_64 : PHP library for embedding in applications
php71u-enchant.x86_64 : Enchant spelling extension for PHP applications
php71u-fpm.x86_64 : PHP FastCGI Process Manager
php71u-fpm-httpd.noarch : Apache HTTP Server configuration for PHP-FPM
php71u-fpm-nginx.noarch : Nginx configuration for PHP-FPM
php71u-gd.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the gd graphics library
php71u-gmp.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the GNU MP library
php71u-imap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use IMAP
php71u-interbase.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use Interbase/Firebird databases
php71u-intl.x86_64 : Internationalization extension for PHP applications
php71u-json.x86_64 : JavaScript Object Notation extension for PHP
php71u-ldap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use LDAP
php71u-mbstring.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications which need multi-byte string handling
php71u-mcrypt.x86_64 : Standard PHP module provides mcrypt library support
php71u-mysqlnd.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use MySQL databases
php71u-odbc.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use ODBC databases
php71u-opcache.x86_64 : The Zend OPcache
php71u-pdo.x86_64 : A database access abstraction module for PHP applications
php71u-pdo-dblib.x86_64 : PDO driver Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase databases
php71u-pecl-apcu.x86_64 : APC User Cache
php71u-pecl-apcu-devel.x86_64 : APCu developer files (header)
php71u-pecl-apcu-panel.noarch : APCu control panel
php71u-pecl-igbinary.x86_64 : Replacement for the standard PHP serializer
php71u-pecl-igbinary-devel.x86_64 : Igbinary developer files (header)
php71u-pecl-redis.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
php71u-pecl-xdebug.x86_64 : PECL package for debugging PHP scripts
php71u-pgsql.x86_64 : A PostgreSQL database module for PHP
php71u-process.x86_64 : Modules for PHP script using system process interfaces
php71u-pspell.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using pspell interfaces
php71u-recode.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications for using the recode library
php71u-snmp.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that query SNMP-managed devices
php71u-soap.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications that use the SOAP protocol
php71u-tidy.x86_64 : Standard PHP module provides tidy library support
php71u-xml.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications which use XML
php71u-xmlrpc.x86_64 : A module for PHP applications which use the XML-RPC protocol
sclo-php70-php-pecl-apcu.x86_64 : APC User Cache
sclo-php70-php-pecl-apcu-bc.x86_64 : APCu Backwards Compatibility Module
sclo-php70-php-pecl-apcu-devel.x86_64 : APCu developer files (header)
sclo-php70-php-pecl-apfd.x86_64 : Always Populate Form Data
sclo-php70-php-pecl-http.x86_64 : Extended HTTP support
sclo-php70-php-pecl-http-devel.x86_64 : Extended HTTP support developer files (header)
sclo-php70-php-pecl-lzf.x86_64 : Extension to handle LZF de/compression
sclo-php70-php-pecl-mongodb.x86_64 : MongoDB driver for PHP
sclo-php70-php-pecl-propro.x86_64 : Property proxy
sclo-php70-php-pecl-raphf.x86_64 : Resource and persistent handles factory
sclo-php70-php-pecl-selinux.x86_64 : SELinux binding for PHP scripting language
sclo-php70-php-pecl-solr2.x86_64 : Object oriented API to Apache Solr
sclo-php70-php-pecl-uploadprogress.x86_64 : An extension to track progress of a file upload
sclo-php70-php-pecl-uuid.x86_64 : Universally Unique Identifier extension for PHP
sclo-php70-php-pecl-xattr.x86_64 : Extended attributes
sclo-php70-php-pecl-xdebug.x86_64 : PECL package for debugging PHP scripts
uwsgi-plugin-php70u.x86_64 : uWSGI - Plugin for PHP support

  Name and summary matches only, use "search all" for everything.

As we can see php7 is there. Great. But what about the php packages they have already? That’s coming up next.

Step 2. Check presence of plugin replace, we’ll use this to upgrade to mod_php70 once we’re ready

# Locate plugin replace is available
yum search yum-plugin-replace
# Install yum plugin replace if available (otherwise this will not work for you as easily)
yum install yum-plugin-replace

Step 3. Run a mock yum replace

# yum replace php53u --replace-with mod_php70u.x86_64
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, replace, versionlock
Replacing packages takes time, please be patient...
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
drivesrvr                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 2.2 kB     00:00
Error: No Package Matching mod_php70u.x86_64
[root@server3 ~]# yum replace php53u --replace-with mod_php70u
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, replace, versionlock
Replacing packages takes time, please be patient...
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
drivesrvr                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | 2.2 kB     00:00

WARNING: Unable to resolve all providers: ['config(php53u-common)', 'curl.so()(64bit)', 'fileinfo.so()(64bit)', 'json.so()(64bit)', 'phar.so()(64bit)', 'php-api', 'php-pecl(Fileinfo)', 'php-pecl(phar)', 'php-pecl(zip)', 'php-pecl-Fileinfo', 'php-pecl-phar', 'php-pecl-zip', 'php-zend-abi', 'php53(api)', 'php53(language)', 'php53(zend-abi)', 'php53-api', 'php53-bz2', 'php53-calendar', 'php53-common', 'php53-ctype', 'php53-curl', 'php53-date', 'php53-exif', 'php53-filter', 'php53-ftp', 'php53-gettext', 'php53-gmp', 'php53-hash', 'php53-iconv', 'php53-json', 'php53-libxml', 'php53-openssl', 'php53-pcre', 'php53-pecl(Fileinfo)', 'php53-pecl(json)', 'php53-pecl(phar)', 'php53-pecl(zip)', 'php53-pecl-Fileinfo', 'php53-pecl-json', 'php53-pecl-phar', 'php53-pecl-zip', 'php53-posix', 'php53-reflection', 'php53-session', 'php53-shmop', 'php53-simplexml', 'php53-sockets', 'php53-spl', 'php53-sqlite3', 'php53-sysvmsg', 'php53-sysvsem', 'php53-sysvshm', 'php53-tokenizer', 'php53-wddx', 'php53-zend-abi', 'php53-zip', 'php53-zlib', 'php53u(api)', 'php53u(language)', 'php53u(zend-abi)', 'php53u-api', 'php53u-bz2', 'php53u-calendar', 'php53u-ctype', 'php53u-curl', 'php53u-date', 'php53u-exif', 'php53u-fileinfo', 'php53u-filter', 'php53u-ftp', 'php53u-gettext', 'php53u-gmp', 'php53u-hash', 'php53u-iconv', 'php53u-json', 'php53u-libxml', 'php53u-openssl', 'php53u-pcre', 'php53u-pecl(Fileinfo)', 'php53u-pecl(json)', 'php53u-pecl(phar)', 'php53u-pecl(zip)', 'php53u-pecl-Fileinfo', 'php53u-pecl-json', 'php53u-pecl-phar', 'php53u-pecl-zip', 'php53u-posix', 'php53u-reflection', 'php53u-session', 'php53u-shmop', 'php53u-simplexml', 'php53u-sockets', 'php53u-spl', 'php53u-sqlite3', 'php53u-sysvmsg', 'php53u-sysvsem', 'php53u-sysvshm', 'php53u-tokenizer', 'php53u-wddx', 'php53u-zend-abi', 'php53u-zip', 'php53u-zlib', 'zip.so()(64bit)', 'php53u-common', 'php53u-common(x86-64)', 'php53-cgi', 'php53-cli', 'php53-pcntl', 'php53-readline', 'php53u-cgi', 'php53u-pcntl', 'php53u-readline', 'php53u-cli', 'php53u-cli(x86-64)', 'config(php53u-pdo)', 'pdo.so()(64bit)', 'pdo_sqlite.so()(64bit)', 'php53-pdo', 'php53-pdo-abi', 'php53-pdo_sqlite', 'php53u-pdo-abi', 'php53u-pdo', 'php53u-pdo(x86-64)', 'config(php53u-mysql)', 'mysql.so()(64bit)', 'mysqli.so()(64bit)', 'pdo_mysql.so()(64bit)', 'php-mysql', 'php53-mysql', 'php53-mysqli', 'php53u-mysqli', 'php53u-mysql', 'php53u-mysql(x86-64)', 'config(php53u)', 'libphp5.so()(64bit)', 'mod_php53u', 'php53', 'php53u', 'php53u(x86-64)', 'libphp5.so()(64bit)', 'php53-zts', 'php53u-zts', 'php53u-zts(x86-64)']

This may be normal depending on the package.  Continue? [y/N] y
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package mod_php70u.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php53u.x86_64 0:5.3.29-1.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php53u-cli.x86_64 0:5.3.29-1.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php53u-common.x86_64 0:5.3.29-1.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php53u-mysql.x86_64 0:5.3.29-1.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php53u-pdo.x86_64 0:5.3.29-1.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php53u-pear.noarch 1:1.9.4-3.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php53u-zts.x86_64 0:5.3.29-1.ius.centos6 will be erased
---> Package php70u-cli.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-common.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-gmp.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-json.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-mysqlnd.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-pdo.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-pear.noarch 1:1.10.1-2.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-process.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
---> Package php70u-xml.x86_64 0:7.0.14-3.ius.centos6 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

==============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
 Package                                                             Arch                                                        Version                                                                      Repository                                                 Size
==============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 mod_php70u                                                          x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                       2.7 M
 php70u-cli                                                          x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                       4.0 M
 php70u-common                                                       x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                       1.1 M
 php70u-gmp                                                          x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                        65 k
 php70u-json                                                         x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                        62 k
 php70u-mysqlnd                                                      x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                       221 k
 php70u-pdo                                                          x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                       115 k
 php70u-pear                                                         noarch                                                      1:1.10.1-2.ius.centos6                                                       ius                                                       362 k
 php70u-process                                                      x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                        72 k
 php70u-xml                                                          x86_64                                                      7.0.14-3.ius.centos6                                                         ius                                                       183 k
Removing:
 php53u                                                              x86_64                                                      5.3.29-1.ius.centos6                                                         @ius                                                      4.4 M
 php53u-cli                                                          x86_64                                                      5.3.29-1.ius.centos6                                                         @ius                                                      7.9 M
 php53u-common                                                       x86_64                                                      5.3.29-1.ius.centos6                                                         @ius                                                      3.4 M
 php53u-mysql                                                        x86_64                                                      5.3.29-1.ius.centos6                                                         @ius                                                      219 k
 php53u-pdo                                                          x86_64                                                      5.3.29-1.ius.centos6                                                         @ius                                                      126 k
 php53u-pear                                                         noarch                                                      1:1.9.4-3.ius.centos6                                                        @ius                                                      2.2 M
 php53u-zts                                                          x86_64                                                      5.3.29-1.ius.centos6                                                         @ius                                                      4.6 M

Transaction Summary
==============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================
Install      10 Package(s)
Remove        7 Package(s)

Total download size: 8.8 M
Is this ok [y/N]: N
Exiting on user Command
Your transaction was saved, rerun it with:
 yum load-transaction /tmp/yum_save_tx-2017-01-13-10-57L3T7JK.yumtx
You have mail in /var/spool/mail/root

Naturally, if you are satisfied that you do not need php53u-zts, the only php module which is not supported by PHP7, then you can proceed.

If you are wondering what ZTS is, The php-zts package contains a module for use with the Apache HTTP
Server which can operate under a threaded server processing model. (source pbone.net CentOS REPO)

ZTS is not required for MPM prefork, and is generally only used with MPM worker, afaik. So as long as your using prefork apache httpd your fine;

# apachectl -l
Compiled in modules:
  core.c
  prefork.c
  http_core.c
  mod_so.c

In our case prefork is being used, not worker. So I don’t think ZTS being missing is going to affect us. So we can proceed with typing ‘y’.

And’ thats pretty much how you upgrade to php7, it’s really easy with Rackspace IUS.