Server requirements

This page describes required web server configuration that you need in order to install Kayako Fusion, Kayako Resolve or Kayako Engage.

Server software requirements

PHP

          PHP 5.2.8 or later is required.

The Reports features require PHP 5.3. We will be phasing out support for PHP 5.2, but for now it is possible to get by.

MySQL server

          MySQL version 5.0 or later (we recommend the very latest stable release)

PHP decoders

  Portions of the Kayako code are encoded and require a PHP decoder in order to run. There are two available, both free.

          Zend Optimizer (Supported PHP version: 5.2.x or earlier)

          OR

          ionCube Loader (Supported PHP version: 5.3.x or earlier)

 Web server

          Any web server daemon - such as Apache, nginx, IIS which is fully compatible with the required PHP configuration.

Required PHP settings

• max_execution_time: "600"
• max_input_time: "600"
• magic_quotes_gpc: "Off" (this setting is not a part of standard php.ini file supplied with PHP 5.4.x)
• memory_limit: "256M" (this will vary - if you plan on using the Kayako import tool, or if the web server is shared, a higher limit is required)
• file_uploads: "On"
• upload_max_filesize: "20M"
• max_file_uploads: "20"

PHP caches and accelerators 

Kayako accesses many scripts spread across many files for each connection. If you do not have a PHP cache, unless your web server is very finely tuned you will find the application to be less responsiveness. We strongly recommend that your web server has a PHP cache like xcache, apc or eaccelerator installed. We find that xcache is the easiest to install and most readily available, and use it ourselves.

Required Apache server settings

If you have mod_security installed on your apache web server, mod_security must be disabled or your Kayako helpdesk files whitelisted (exempt from all mod_security rules).

Required MySQL settings

• sql-mode : not strict(need to edit MySQL configuration file)

Required PHP modules

Most of these modules are included by default. However, we have compiled a list of those which are definitely required by Kayako for good measure:

• mbstring
• mcrypt
• gd with Freetype support
• curl
• mysql
• pdo
• pdo_mysql
• simplexml
• filter
• json
• imap
• sockets
• xml

Server hardware requirements

It is very difficult to quantify server hardware requirements for running Kayako. Our customers run their Kayako helpdesk on dedicated hardware, shared hardware or virtualized environments with restricted resource access.

Whichever environment you choose, assuming your database server will be run from the same hardware, Kayako will need:

• At least one gigabyte of RAM (allowing for operating system processes)

• At least around 6 gigabytes of hard disk space available for your helpdesk (realistically, you should allow more than this for future growth)

• Access to the equivalent of at least one 1 GHz CPU core

So, what's recommended?

What we use

The web application element of Kayako is platform independent, so the server requirements will remain the same for Windows as well as Unix/Linux servers. Which is best for you will depend on a variety of factors - including resources, expertise and what fits within your organization.

That said, we do have our own favourite configuration, which is in part used for our OnDemand platform:

Component	What we use	Why
Operating system	CentOS	It is well supported, secure, fast and easily configurable.
Web server	nginx (with php-fpm)	nginx is lightening fast and much more lightweight than Apache and IIS.
PHP version	PHP 5.3	PHP 5.3 is now required for the new ?Reports, and we also find PHP 5.3 to be faster than PHP 5.2.
PHP cache/accelerator	xcache	We find xcache to be lightweight and does the job very well.

What our customers use

Our customers use a huge variety of platforms and configurations, including both Linux and Windows. Here is what we have identified to be the most common web server setup: 

Component	What we use	Why
Operating system	Linux (CentOS, Red Hat Linux, Debian, Ubuntu)	Linux is free, well supported, fast and secure. That's why it is the most popular web server amongst our customers and the world.
Web server	Apache (for Linux and Windows)	Apache is the world's most popular web server, and very easy to configure. It is prepackaged into most Linux distributions, making it the quickest web server to get started with.
PHP version	PHP 5.3
PHP cache/accelerator	xcache	Most likely based on our recommendation, and also because it is fairly simple to install.

In summary, the typical LAMP server stack is most popular with our Download customers.