Title: Firewall & php handler change
Last modified: September 1, 2016

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# Firewall & php handler change

 *  Resolved [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * (@bulewold)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/)
 * So, I have site running WF firewall since it first came out using fCGI handler
   setting.
 * Over the weekend due to new fcgi packaging with EA4, i had to go with suphp for
   now for its handler.
 * Do i need to rest firewall back to learning mode or can I leave it as is in ‘
   enabled and protecting’ mode and it’ll catch up on its own?
 * Thank you.
 * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordfence/)

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/)
 * (@wfalaa)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7469946)
 * Hi bulewold,
    You can keep the Firewall Status set to “Enabled and Protecting”
   but you will need to re-configure Wordfence Web Application Firewall again, the
   simplest way to do that is by deleting `# Wordfence WAF` section in your server.
   htaccess file.
 * Now, you can go to (Wordfence > Firewall) and press “Click here to configure.”
   button on the warning message at the top of the page, make sure to choose “Apache
   + suPHP” option there and you should be done now.
 * Let me know how it goes,
    Thanks.
 *  Thread Starter [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * (@bulewold)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7469947)
 * Thanks. What’s the possible issue if I do not go through that process. Just wondering…
   since it is a lot of work to do it for each site… lol
 *  [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/)
 * (@wfalaa)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470007)
 * After talking with one of the dev team, he mentioned that it may work as-is depending
   on how the suPHP environment is set up, but this doesn’t apply on all cases.
 * I recommend re-configure Wordfence Web Application Firewall on your websites 
   with this new PHP handler settings.
 * Good luck!
 *  Thread Starter [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * (@bulewold)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470010)
 * What about change from
    PHP5.6 FCGI to PHP7 FPM (which is only way to get fcgi)
 * My sites are currently on suphp and I’m trying to move them to FPM in next couple
   days.
 *  [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/)
 * (@wfalaa)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470036)
 * Actually, from PHP5.6 FCGI to PHP7 FPM there shouldn’t be any change in the Wordfence
   WAF configuration, you need to choose “Apache + CGI/FastCGI” option in both cases.
 * As you mentioned you are currently using `suPHP` and will move to “PHP-FPM”, 
   then you may need to know that the only difference between these configurations
   is this line in .htaccess file:
 *     ```
       <IfModule mod_suphp.c>
       	suPHP_ConfigPath 'some_path_here'
       </IfModule>
       ```
   
 * This will not be applied if you don’t have mod.suphp loaded, so there shouldn’t
   be any problem to keep the configuration as it’s in this case.
 * Thanks.
 *  Thread Starter [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * (@bulewold)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470042)
 * Awesome. I had php56 fcgi before, and when upgrading to php7, fpm module was 
   unavialable, so I’m trying to find a way to keep fcgi…
 * suphp is default as a temp solution… but I wanted to ask anyway to be sure.
 * Thank you!
 *  Thread Starter [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * (@bulewold)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470050)
 * Wfalaa,
 * I had another question. What’s the worst that can happen if I keep it enabled
   based on previous fcgi setting after server changed handler to suphp?
 * Would it just make firewall less effective? or has potential to lock me out or
   something?
 *  [wfalaa](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wfalaa/)
 * (@wfalaa)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470056)
 * There is no risk of being locked out here, upon discussion with developers team,
   keep choosing “Apache + CGI/FastCGI” as your firewall configuration and changing
   the PHP handler to suPHP shouldn’t affect your firewall behavior, everything 
   will be working fine with this scenario.
 * Thanks.
 *  Thread Starter [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * (@bulewold)
 * [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470061)
 * that’s good to know. Thank you!!!
 * If that’s the case, I’ll keep it as suphp until build 58 is available with FPM
   selector. 🙂
 * Thanks for your help and answering all the questions for me.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

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 * 9 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [bulewold](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bulewold/)
 * Last activity: [10 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/firewall-php-handler-change/#post-7470061)
 * Status: resolved