PHP version and related settings

PHP version and related settings

Each hosting runs in an environment built from a specific PHP image. You can change the PHP version for the whole hosting, restart PHP, clear OPcache, and – where your plan allows it – set a different PHP version for a single directory or subdomain, all from the hosting's page in the panel.

Changing the PHP version for the whole hosting

Open https://panel.cloudweb.sk, pick the hosting, and go to its Advanced tab. In the "PHP version" section you'll see the current version and a dropdown listing the versions your plan allows.

1. Pick the target PHP version from the dropdown.
2. Click the switch button.
3. Confirm in the dialog.

The hosting switches to the new version by being reconfigured in the background, the same mechanism used for other configuration changes. Files, databases, e-mail and DNS records are untouched; the site can be briefly unreachable for a few seconds while the hosting restarts.

This section only appears if your plan includes at least one PHP image – the static "Vizitka" (business-card website) plan has no PHP image and never shows it.

Available versions

The currently active PHP versions are 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 and 8.4, each available as an Nginx + PHP-FPM build and an Apache build. New hostings default to the Nginx + PHP-FPM build. The line-up can change over time; the dropdown in the panel always shows the current list, limited to what your plan allows.

Restarting PHP and clearing OPcache

The same tab has two quick actions:

• Restart PHP – restarts the PHP-FPM process on your hosting. In-flight requests are interrupted for a few seconds.
• Clear OPcache – forces PHP files to be reloaded without interrupting in-flight requests (a graceful reload). Use this after deploying new code if you don't see the change immediately. If the graceful reload fails, the system falls back to a full PHP-FPM restart.

Both actions act on the PHP-FPM process running on your hosting.

A different PHP version for one directory or subdomain

You can run a sub-folder of the site (for example /legacy, see changing the document root), or a subdomain created in the folder-based subdomain mode, on a different PHP version than the rest of the hosting. This lives on the Domains tab, under the Subdomains sub-tab, in the "PHP version per directory" section.

This is a plan-level feature and is not enabled by default on any plan. If you need it, contact support – they can turn it on for your plan and set how many such exceptions you're allowed.

Once enabled, adding an exception works like this:

1. Pick the type – Directory (a path relative to the document root, e.g. legacy) or Subdomain (a subdomain name).
2. Pick the target PHP version – only active versions other than the hosting's own version are offered.
3. Click Add and reprovision.

Each added version runs as its own php-fpm process next to the hosting's main process and shares its files. Adding or removing an exception reconfigures the hosting in the background, which restarts the web server for a few seconds. A subdomain target only works in the folder-based (or mixed) subdomain mode – it can't be picked otherwise.