Boost Cloud Sites Performance With PHP 5.4 And .NET 4.5 Upgrades

Filed in Product & Development by Tarun Bhatti | December 19, 2012 9:00 am

We’re upgrading Rackspace Cloud Sites[1] to PHP 5.4 and .NET 4.5, which should boost performance of the php sites[2] and .NET sites[3] you host on Cloud Sites.

The upgrades are among some new and upcoming features[4] we highlighted for customers in August, and follow the November launch of WordPress one-click install[5], a great addition to our WordPress hosting[6].

A list of the latest versions of all software currently supported by Cloud Sites is available here[7].

Boost Performance On Your PHP Sites With PHP 5.4

Key Benefits Of PHP 5.4

PHP 5.4 introduces a number of new features that make your PHP sites perform up to 50 percent faster compared to PHP 5.3[8].  Some of the key features include:

Other features include always on short tags (<?), the ability to represent integers in binary and support for callable type hint. PHP 5.4 is also deprecating register_globals[13], magic_quotes[14] and safe mode[15].

See the PHP 5.4 Release Announcement[16] for more details.

Migrating To PHP 5.4

You are welcome to migrate your site to PHP 5.4 at any time, just please ensure that your application is compatible with version 5.4 prior to your update.   We intend to support both PHP 5.3 and 5.4, and we do not have plans to require customers to upgrade from PHP 5.3 to 5.4 at this time. Click here[17] to learn how to migrate.

Improve Performance On Your .NET Sites With .NET 4.5

Key Benefits Of .NET 4.5

The new features available in .NET 4.5 can help you achieve a significant performance boost for web-server workloads. This includes a reduction (up to 35 percent) in both startup time and in the memory footprint of web hosting sites that use ASP.NET. Some of the various performance improvements for web hosting include:

See the Microsoft ASP 4.5 documentation[18] for more details.

Migrating To .NET 4.5

You are welcome to migrate your .NET site to .NET 4.5 at any time, just please ensure that your application is compatible with version 4.5 prior to your update.   We do not have plans to require customers to upgrade from .NET 4.0 to 4.5 at this time. Click here[19] to learn how to migrate.

Enjoy!

Previous Cloud Sites Product Updates
WordPress one-click install[5]
Upgrade to MySQL 5.1[20]
Upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2012[21]
Upgrade to PHP 5.3 and .NET 4.0 and more[22]

As always, we welcome your feedback on Cloud Sites and your experience with these and other features on our product feedback site[23].

Do you love Rackspace Cloud Sites? Share why. Click Here[24]

[25]

Endnotes:
  1. Rackspace Cloud Sites: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/public/sites/
  2. php sites: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/sites/web-hosting/php/
  3. .NET sites: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/sites/web-hosting/dotnet/
  4. new and upcoming features: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/rackspace-cloud-sites-whats-new-whats-to-come/
  5. WordPress one-click install: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/install-wordpress-on-cloud-sites/
  6. WordPress hosting: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/sites/web-hosting/wordpress/
  7. here: http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/content/server-technologies-supported-cloud-sites
  8. 50 percent faster compared to PHP 5.3: http://news.php.net/php.internals/57760
  9. Traits: http://php.net/traits
  10. shortened array syntax: http://docs.php.net/manual/language.types.array.php
  11. more: http://docs.php.net/manual/migration54.new-features.php
  12. $this can now be used in anonymous functions: http://php.net/manual/en/functions.anonymous.php
  13. register_globals: http://php.net/manual/en/security.globals.php
  14. magic_quotes: http://php.net/manual/en/security.magicquotes.php
  15. safe mode: http://php.net/manual/en/features.safe-mode.php
  16. PHP 5.4 Release Announcement: http://us.php.net/releases/5_4_0.php
  17. Click here: http://bit.ly/RCpvGY
  18. Microsoft ASP 4.5 documentation: http://www.asp.net/vnext/overview/aspnet/whats-new
  19. Click here: http://bit.ly/V3wbZf
  20. Upgrade to MySQL 5.1: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/rackspace-cloud-sites-upgrades-to-mysql-5-1/
  21. Upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2012: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/rackspace-cloud-sites-upgrades-to-microsoft-sql-server-2012/
  22. Upgrade to PHP 5.3 and .NET 4.0 and more: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/rackspace-cloud-sites-update-adds-new-features/
  23. product feedback site: http://feedback.rackspacecloud.com/forums/71021-product-feedback/category/23181-cloud-load-balancers
  24. Click Here: http://www.rackspace.com/information/refer/
  25. [Image]: http://www.rackspace.com/information/refer/

Source URL: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/boost-cloud-sites-performance-with-php-5-4-and-net-4-5-upgrades/

Copyright ©2013 The Official Rackspace Blog unless otherwise noted.