Memcache module with Drupal 6.20 in a socket situation at WebFaction, and NGINX

From previous posting to this group the Special Olympics of Northern California and Nevada decided to try Webfaction for several reasons, but two of there were

a) that I was told it had memcache that we could use and also was
b) told that the nginx server would help with serving static files.

Well neither seems possible, unless someone can help. All help is appreciated by myself and the Special Olympics.

First, the memcache issue. I was instructed by WebFaction that we we share memcache with others of the same server, so IP access is a security risk to data stored in memcache. So they instructed me to create a SOCKET in the Drupal directory - memcache(d).sock. So I did that.

The problem is, when I installed the Drupal memcache module, it absolutely demands a port number, and doesn't accept port zero (0) or the non-passing of a port number. Apparently this may be my PECL version and inability to patch it without creating my own php stack and manging that?

Here's my server config line:

'memcache_servers' => array('/home/soncnv/memcached.sock' => 'default')

This is the code that the error refers to:

// Link all the servers to this cluster.
foreach ($memcache_servers as $s => $c) {
if ($c == $cluster) {
list($host, $port) = explode(':', $s);

      // This is a server that belongs to this cluster.
      if (!class_exists('Memcached') && !$init) {
        // If using PECL memcache extension, use ->connect for first server
        <b>if ($memcache->connect($host, $port)) {</b>
          $init = TRUE;
        }
      }
      else {
        if ($memcache->addServer($host, $port) && !$init) {
          $init = TRUE;
        }
      }
    }
  }

So the offended line is:

if ($memcache->connect($host, $port)) {

I tried hardwiring in port zero and removing the port argument here and in the recipient callede function code but it didn't help.

The error when I add a port zero (0):

Warning: Memcache::connect() expects parameter 2 to be long, string given in /home/soncnv/webapps/dru6/sites/all/modules/memcache/dmemcache.inc on line 309 Warning: Memcache::connect() expects parameter 2 to be long, string given in /home/soncnv/webapps/dru6/sites/all/modules/memcache/dmemcache.inc on line 309

Here's the error when I remove the port:

Warning: Memcache::connect() [memcache.connect]: Can't connect to /home/soncnv/memcached.sock:0, Failed to parse address "/home/soncnv/memcached.sock" (0) in/home/soncnv/webapps/dru6/sites/all/modules/memcache/dmemcache.inc on line 309 Warning: Memcache::connect() [memcache.connect]: Can't connect to /home/soncnv/memcached.sock:0, Failed to parse address "/home/soncnv/memcached.sock" (0) in/home/soncnv/webapps/dru6/sites/all/modules/memcache/dmemcache.inc on line 309

I saw online that Bob Vincent had solved this:

On 04/10/11 13:21, miko@mikosweb.com wrote:

pillarsdotnet,

Miko. (http://drupal.org/user/1153870) has sent you a message via your contact form (http://drupal.org/user/36148/contact) at drupal.org.

If you don't want to receive such e-mails, you can change your settings at http://drupal.org/user/36148.

Message:

Hi, I saw that you posted that you are connecting to memcache using memcached.sock with a PORT of "0". I am totally not able to connect this way! On my server, memcached.sock doesn't accept a port specification, I don't think. I will be in a state of shock if you're able to connect this wy! But maybe you can provide me some help somehow. Did you modify dmemcache.inc?

Bob's reply:
I modified both dmemcache.inc and the memcached library that the PHP extension is based on.

Links:

http://drupal.org/node/538426

http://drupal.org/files/issues/socket-connection-dmemcache.inc_.patch

http://pecl.php.net/package-changelog.php?package=memcached&release=2.0.0b1

https://bugs.launchpad.net/libmemcached/+bug/738208

-- Bob Vincent

The problem is that we're at the wrong memcache version I guess. Per WebFaction:

"Our core memcached installation is v1.2.6."

Our PHP memcache PECL extension is v2.2.4. That's http://pecl.php.net/package/memcache
and not http://pecl.php.net/package/memcached.

We've no plans to patch or upgrade any of those components at this time, so if
you need something that's provided by a newer version then you're back to
needing to build a private PHP stack (so that you can install the updated
PECL modules)."

Is anyone familiar with this issue? Is this going to be resolved if I build my own php stack? Or maybe there's a module that works at my level, working around the port issue? Has anyone gotten memcached to work with Drupal, via any module, using a SOCKET with no port, or with a port of ZERO?

If I have to build my own php stack, how do I install memcache into that?

NOW, REGARDING NGINX:

Well that was supposed to work also at Webfaction, but when I set up a symlink to a static-only app and add it as an "app" that functions to replaces "sites/default/files", we get recursion errors.

First of all, has anyone got NGINX to work with Drupal, especially at Webfaction? Or by creating your own symlinks or something? Or could i be that a module like "redirect" or "clean urls" is causing the recursion and we can configure it to avoid the issue? Or maybe even .htaccess with a REWRITE?

Meanwhile, the 20 year old Neerav at WebFaction, smart but oh so young and prone to error, said to me that we need to install something like the Drupal CDN module. The only problem is, even before thinking about how buggy THAT module is- the real problem is that it works with file extensions (e.g. .jpg) as the directive mechanism- but we have css and many things scattered, and really I just want to point to 5 or six FOLDERS and deliver EVERYTHING in them?

But le'ts say we use the CDN module to trick NGINX. It's not the preferred solution- but does it even work? I'm seeing a lot of issue reports tht I don'[t understand. Is there a better way?

Thanks, MIKO