Create a PHP service in Zerops

Zerops provides 2 PHP services with an included web server: PHP+Nginx and PHP+Apache. PHP runtime is highly scalable and customisable to suit both development and production.

Create PHP service using Zerops GUI

First, set up a project in Zerops GUI. Then go to the project dashboard page and choose Add new service in the left menu in the Services block. Then add a new PHP service:

Choose PHP version

Following PHP versions are currently supported:

Info

You can change the major version at any time later.

Set a hostname

Enter a unique service identifier like "app","cache", "gui" etc. Duplicate services with the same name in the same project are forbidden.

Limitations:

maximum 25 characters
must contain only lowercase ASCII letters (a-z) or numbers (0-9)

Caution

The hostname is fixed after the service is created. It can't be changed later.

Set secret environment variables

Add environment variables with sensitive data, such as password, tokens, salts, certificates etc. These will be securely saved inside Zerops and added to your runtime service upon start.

Setting the secret environment variables is optional. You can set them later in Zerops GUI.

Read more about different types of env variables in Zerops.

Configure auto scaling

Zerops automatically scales PHP services both vertically and horizontally. Configure the scaling parameters to match your application's needs and control costs.

Quick Configuration

CPU Mode: Choose between shared (cost-effective) or dedicated (consistent performance).

Resource Limits: Set minimum and maximum resources for CPU, RAM, and disk to control costs and ensure performance.

Advanced Resource Settings: Beyond the basic limits, Zerops provides additional scaling parameters for fine-tuning performance:

Start CPU cores - Allocate extra CPU power during application startup
RAM thresholds - Prevent out-of-memory crashes with custom buffer settings
CPU scaling thresholds (dedicated mode) - Control when scaling is triggered

These settings can significantly improve application performance and reliability. See the scaling guides below for detailed configuration options.

Container Limits: Configure horizontal scaling from 1 to 10 containers.

Single container (max = 1): Cost-effective for development, but no high availability
Multiple containers (max > 1): High availability for production, requires stateless application design

Learn More

For detailed scaling configuration, troubleshooting, and best practices, see:

How Zerops scales PHP - Service-specific scaling guide
Automatic Scaling and High Availability - Complete technical details
Zerops Pricing - Cost differences between CPU modes and resource usage rates

Create PHP service using zCLI

zCLI is the Zerops command-line tool. To create a new PHP service via the command-line, follow these steps:

Create a project description file

Zerops uses a yaml format to describe the project infrastructure.

Basic example:

Create a directory my-project. Create an description.yaml file inside the my-project directory with following content:

# basic project data
project:
  # project name
  name: my-project
# array of project services
services:
  - # service name
    hostname: app
    # service type and version number in php-apache@{version} or php-nginx@{version} format
    type: php-nginx@latest
    # defines the minimum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling
    minContainers: 1
    # defines the maximum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling. Max value = 6.
    maxContainers: 6
    # optional: create env variables
    envSecrets:
      S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: 'P8cX1vVVb'
      S3_ACCESS_SECRET: 'ogFthuiLYki8XoL73opSCQ'

The yaml file describes your future project infrastructure. The project will contain one PHP version 8.1 service with default auto scaling configuration. Hostname will be set to "app", the internal port(s) the service listens on will be defined later in the zerops.yaml. Following secret env variables will be configured:

S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="P8cX1vVVb"
S3_ACCESS_SECRET="ogFthuiLYki8XoL73opSCQ"

Full example:

Create a directory my-project. Create an description.yaml file inside the my-project directory with following content:

# basic project data
project:
  # project name
  name: my-project
  # optional: project description
  description: A project with a PHP and PostgreSQL database
  # optional: project tags
  tags:
    - DEMO
    - ZEROPS
# array of project services
services:
  - # service name
    hostname: app
    # service type and version number in php-apache@{version} or php-nginx@{version} format
    type: php-nginx@latest
    # optional: vertical auto scaling customization
    verticalAutoscaling:
      cpuMode: DEDICATED
      minCpu: 2
      maxCpu: 5
      minRam: 2
      maxRam: 24
      minDisk: 6
      maxDisk: 50
      startCpuCoreCount: 3
      minFreeRamGB: 0.5
      minFreeRamPercent: 20
    # defines the minimum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling. Max value = 6.
    minContainers: 2
    # defines the maximum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling. Max value = 6.
    maxContainers: 4
    # optional: create secret env variables
    envSecrets:
      S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: 'P8cX1vVVb'
      S3_ACCESS_SECRET: 'ogFthuiLYki8XoL73opSCQ'
  - # second service hostname
    hostname: db
    # service type and version number in postgresql@{version} format
    type: postgresql@12
    # mode of operation "HA"/"non_HA"
    mode: NON_HA

The yaml file describes your future project infrastructure. The project will contain a PHP service and a PostgreSQL service.

PHP service with "app" hostname, the internal port(s) the service listens on will be defined later in the zerops.yaml. PHP service will run on version 8.1 with a custom vertical and horizontal scaling. Following secret env variables will be configured:

S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="P8cX1vVVb"
S3_ACCESS_SECRET="ogFthuiLYki8XoL73opSCQ"

The hostname of the PostgreSQL service will be set to "db". The single container(/features/scaling#deployment-modes-databases-and-shared-storage) mode will be chosen and the default auto scaling configuration will be set.

Description of description.yaml parameters

The project: section is required. Only one project can be defined.

Parameter	Description	Limitations
name	The name of the new project. Duplicates are allowed.
description	Optional. Description of the new project.	Maximum 255 characters.
tags	Optional. One or more string tags. Tags do not have a functional meaning, they only provide better orientation in projects.

At least one service in services: section is required. You can create a project with multiple services. The example above contains PHP and PostgreSQL services but you can create a description.yaml with your own combination of services.

Parameter	Description
hostname	The unique service identifier. The hostname of the new service will be set to the `hostname` value. Limitations: duplicate services with the same name in the same project are forbidden maximum 25 characters must contain only lowercase ASCII letters (a-z) or numbers (0-9)
type	Specifies the service type and version. See what PHP service types are currently supported.
verticalAutoscaling	Optional. Defines custom vertical auto scaling parameters. All verticalAutoscaling attributes are optional. Not specified attributes will be set to their default values.
- cpuMode	Optional. Accepts `SHARED`, `DEDICATED` values. Default is `SHARED`
- minCpu/maxCpu	Optional. Set the minCpu or maxCpu in CPU cores (integer).
- minRam/maxRam	Optional. Set the minRam or maxRam in GB (float).
- minDisk/maxDisk	Optional. Set the minDisk or maxDisk in GB (float).
minContainers	Optional. Default = 1. Defines the minimum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling. Limitations: Current maximum value = 10.
maxContainers	Defines the maximum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling. Limitations: Current maximum value = 10.
envSecrets	Optional. Defines one or more secret env variables as a key value map. See env variable restrictions.

Create a project based on the description.yaml

When you have your description.yaml ready, use the zcli project project-import command to create a new project and the service infrastructure.

Usage:
  zcli project project-import importYamlPath [flags]

Flags:
  -h, --help                Help for the project import command.
      --org-id string        If you have access to more than one organization, you must specify the org ID for which the
                            project is to be created.
      --working-dir string   Sets a custom working directory. Default working directory is the current directory. (default "./")

Zerops will create a project and one or more services based on the description.yaml content.

Maximum size of the description.yaml file is 100 kB.

You don't specify the project name in the zcli project project-import command, because the project name is defined in the description.yaml.

If you have access to more than one client, you must specify the client ID for which the project is to be created. The clientID is located in the Zerops GUI under the client name on the project dashboard page.

Add PHP service to an existing project

Example:

Create a directory my-project if it doesn't exist. Create an import.yaml file inside the my-project directory with following content:

# basic project data
project:
  # project name
  name: my-project
# array of project services
services:
  - # service name
    hostname: app
    # service type and version number in php-apache@{version} or php-nginx@{version} format
    type: php-nginx@latest
    # defines the minimum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling
    minContainers: 1
    # defines the maximum number of containers for horizontal autoscaling. Max value = 6.
    maxContainers: 6
    # optional: create env variables
    envSecrets:
      S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID: 'P8cX1vVVb'
      S3_ACCESS_SECRET: 'ogFthuiLYki8XoL73opSCQ'

The yaml file describes the list of one or more services that you want to add to your existing project. In the example above, one PHP service version 8.1 with default auto scaling configuration will be added to your project. Hostname of the new service will be set to app. Following secret env variables will be configured:

S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID="P8cX1vVVb"
S3_ACCESS_SECRET="ogFthuiLYki8XoL73opSCQ"

The content of the services: section of import.yaml is identical to the project description file. The import.yaml never contains the project: section because the project already exists.

When you have your import.yaml ready, use the zcli project service-import command to add one or more services to your existing Zerops project.

Usage:
  zcli project service-import importYamlPath [flags]

Flags:
  -h, --help                Help for the project service import command.
  -P, --project-id string   If you have access to more than one project, you must specify the project ID for which the
                           command is to be executed.

zCLI commands are interactive, when you press enter after zcli project service-import importYamlPath, you will be given a list of your projects to choose from.

Maximum size of the import.yaml file is 100 kB.

PHP

Upgrade PHP service

Create PHP service using Zerops GUI​

Choose PHP version​

Set a hostname​

Limitations:​

Set secret environment variables​

Configure auto scaling​

Quick Configuration​

Create PHP service using zCLI​

Create a project description file​

Basic example:​

Full example:​

Description of description.yaml parameters​

Create a project based on the description.yaml​

Add PHP service to an existing project​

Example:​