Master the Astonishing Power of Laravel Octane [Tutorial]

Laravel Octane is a high-performance server that supercharges the Laravel framework. It boosts application performance by handling multiple requests concurrently, making it highly efficient for large-scale web applications. Laravel Octane achieves this through the use of long-lived bootstrap and high-speed server software like Swoole and RoadRunner. By keeping the application bootstrapped across HTTP requests, Laravel Octane eliminates much of the overhead associated with traditional PHP web servers.

 

Installation and Configuration

Step 1: Check System Requirements

To run Laravel Octane successfully, your system should meet the following criteria:

• PHP >= 7.4
• Laravel >= 8.x

You can check your PHP version by running the following command on your terminal.

php -v

Step 2: Navigate to Laravel Project Directory

First, make sure you're in your Laravel project directory.

cd /path/to/your/laravel/project

Step 3: Install Octane via Composer

Laravel Octane uses PHP version 8.1+ and either RoadRunner or Swoole server. These are the two servers supported by Octane. They are used to maintain a long-lived version of Laravel to handle requests. Depending on which server you plan to use, you would need to install the appropriate PHP extension or binary.

composer require laravel/octane

Step 4: Publish Octane Configuration

Once installed, you can publish Octane's configuration and migration files using the following command:

php artisan octane:install

The command asks you to pick [0] RoadRunner or [1] Swoole. For example, choosing 0 installs RoadRunner as your application's server.

Next, config the server. In your project's root directory, locate the config folder and open the octane.php file in a text editor. Review and configure the Octane settings according to your application's requirements.

For example, the server option allows you to configure the underlying HTTP server used by Octane. By default, Octane uses the Swoole HTTP server, which provides high performance and scalability. However, you can customize this option to use a different server if needed.

Step 5: Choose Server Type

Edit the config/octane.php file to specify the server type. You'll see an option like:

'server' => \Laravel\Octane\Swoole\Server::class,
// or
'server' => \Laravel\Octane\RoadRunner\Server::class,

Uncomment the server class that you want to use (Swoole or RoadRunner).

Step 6: Configure Number of Workers

In the same config/octane.php file, look for the 'workers' option to specify the number of workers you want:

'workers' => env('OCTANE_WORKERS', 8),

Adjust the number according to your system's capabilities and your application's needs.

Step 7: Middleware Pre-resolving

You can enable or disable middleware pre-resolving in config/octane.php:

'pre_resolving_middlewares' => [
    // Add middleware class names here to resolve them during the application's boot
],

Step 8: Task Scheduling Configuration

If your application uses Laravel's task scheduler, you can configure it to run with Octane by specifying it in the schedule option in config/octane.php.

Step 9: Start Octane Server

Finally, you can start the Octane server with:

php artisan octane:start

This command launches the Octane server, which listens for incoming requests.

Step 10: Test the Server

Open your web browser or API testing tool. Visit your Laravel application using the Octane server's URL or send requests to the Octane server. Verify that your application is functioning correctly and that the Octane server is handling requests efficiently.

 

Core Concepts

Laravel Octane's architecture is designed to leverage high-performance servers like Swoole and RoadRunner, transforming the standard Laravel framework into a high-speed, coroutine-powered application. Laravel Octane maintains the application's bootstrap process across multiple requests, reducing the overhead associated with traditional PHP web servers.

 

1. Laravel Octane's Architecture

1.1 Swoole

Swoole is an asynchronous, coroutine-based PHP extension that allows for high-performance web server capabilities. When used with Laravel Octane, Swoole empowers Laravel applications to handle thousands of concurrent connections with low latency.

Example: Starting with Swoole is as simple as running the following command:

php artisan octane:start --server=swoole

This will bootstrap your Laravel application once, and use Swoole to handle incoming requests efficiently.

1.2 RoadRunner

RoadRunner is another high-performance PHP application server, albeit written in Go. It's simpler to set up compared to Swoole and has the advantage of not requiring a PHP extension.

Example: To use RoadRunner, use the following command:

php artisan octane:start --server=roadrunner

 

2. Long-Lived Bootstrap

One of the standout features of Laravel Octane is its long-lived bootstrap process. Unlike traditional PHP applications that bootstrap—meaning load and prepare all services—for each request, Laravel Octane bootstraps the application once and keeps it 'alive' for subsequent requests.

In traditional Laravel, a service provider might look like this:

public function boot()
{
    // Called on every single request
}

With Laravel Octane, the service provider boot method is still called but only once when the server starts, not on every request.

 

3. Request Lifecycle Changes

Laravel Octane modifies the standard request lifecycle in Laravel by reusing the application instance across multiple requests. This significantly reduces the amount of work needed to handle each request but also means you have to be cautious about state management in your services.

In traditional Laravel, a new request means a new instance of your service.

// In a Service Provider
$this->app->bind('someService', function ($app) {
    return new SomeService();  // New instance on every request
});

Here, the same service instance will be reused for subsequent requests unless explicitly cleared.

// In a Service Provider
$this->app->singleton('someService', function ($app) {
    return new SomeService();  // Same instance across multiple requests
});

 

Performance Improvements

This section provides benchmarks, comparisons, and real-world examples to showcase Octane's performance enhancements.

1. Benchmarks and Metrics

To measure the performance, benchmarks can be extremely helpful. Usually, performance metrics are focused on response time and memory usage.

You can use a tool like Apache Benchmark to test your Laravel Octane and traditional Laravel applications.

# Benchmarking Traditional Laravel
ab -n 1000 -c 10 http://traditional-laravel-app.test/

# Benchmarking Laravel Octane
ab -n 1000 -c 10 http://laravel-octane-app.test/

These will give you metrics like Requests per Second, which you can compare to understand the performance boost with Laravel Octane.

2. Comparisons with Traditional Laravel

Comparing with traditional Laravel applications will give you a clearer picture of the performance improvements.

Example: Loading a Model

Traditional Laravel

public function show($id)
{
    $user = User::find($id); // Each request reloads the model from the database.
    return view('user.show', ['user' => $user]);
}

Laravel Octane

public function show($id)
{
    // With Octane, consider caching frequently accessed data to avoid DB queries on each request.
    $user = Cache::remember("users:{$id}", 60, function () use ($id) {
        return User::find($id);
    });

    return view('user.show', ['user' => $user]);
}

With Laravel Octane, using caching effectively can significantly reduce database queries, thereby improving performance.

3. Example: Handling Concurrent Requests

Traditional Laravel

In traditional Laravel, handling 1000 concurrent requests can overwhelm the PHP-FPM and result in slower response times.

Laravel Octane

With Laravel Octane, the same 1000 concurrent requests can be handled much more efficiently thanks to the long-lived nature of the Octane application and the high-performance servers it utilizes.

# Starting Octane to handle high concurrency
php artisan octane:start --workers=32

 

Migrating to Laravel Octane

1. Compatibility Checklist

Before diving into the migration, make sure your environment and application are compatible with Laravel Octane's requirements.

1. PHP Version: Check if your PHP version is compatible. Laravel Octane often requires a PHP version that's the same as or newer than the Laravel framework's requirement.

php -v  # Should match Octane’s PHP version requirement

2. Server Compatibility: Ensure either Swoole or RoadRunner is installed and their versions are compatible with Laravel Octane.

php --ri swoole  # For Swoole
rr -v            # For RoadRunner

3. Package Dependencies: Check if all your package dependencies are compatible with Laravel Octane. If a package isn't compatible, you may need to look for an alternative.

2. Common Issues and Solutions

State Management: Because Laravel Octane reuses the application instance, any state stored in the services will be persisted across requests.Solution: Use middlewares to reset state or prefer stateless services.

// Middleware to reset shared state
public function handle($request, Closure $next)
{
    $response = $next($request);
    MyService::reset();  // Reset state
    return $response;
}

3. Detailed Steps to Migrate

Install Laravel Octane

composer require laravel/octane

Publish Configuration

php artisan octane:install

This will create a new configuration file located at config/octane.php.

Edit Octane ConfigurationOpen config/octane.php and set your desired server (swoole or roadrunner), number of workers, and other settings.

// config/octane.php
'server' => env('OCTANE_SERVER', 'swoole'),
'workers' => env('OCTANE_WORKERS', 4),

Test Locally

Run Octane locally to make sure everything works as expected.

php artisan octane:start

Optimize for OctaneAdapt your application code to be stateless, or use middlewares to reset the state as shown in common issues.

Deploy to Production

[Unit]
Description=Laravel Octane

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/php /path-to-your-project/artisan octane:start
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the service:

systemctl enable laravel-octane
systemctl start laravel-octane

 

Octane Features Explained

Laravel Octane offers a host of features designed to supercharge your application's performance. Let's delve into some of these features with explanations tailored for beginners, using code examples to elucidate these advanced capabilities.

1. Concurrent Task Execution

One of Laravel Octane's strengths is the ability to handle multiple tasks concurrently, thanks to its high-performance, long-lived application process.

Example: Concurrently fetching multiple HTTP APIs:

With traditional Laravel, you might use Guzzle sequentially.

$responses = [];
$responses[] = Http::get('http://api1.com/data');
$responses[] = Http::get('http://api2.com/data');

You can use Guzzle to fetch these APIs concurrently:

use Octane;

$responses = Octane::concurrently([
    fn () => Http::get('http://api1.com/data'),
    fn () => Http::get('http://api2.com/data'),
]);

2. Octane for WebSocket

Laravel Octane works seamlessly with WebSocket implementations, such as Laravel Websockets. Since Octane keeps the application alive, it's highly efficient for real-time applications.

Example: Broadcasting events using Websockets.

In a traditional Laravel setup, you'd broadcast an event like so:

broadcast(new OrderShipped($order));

Here the code stays the same, but thanks to Octane's performance, you can handle more concurrent WebSocket connections with fewer resources.

3. Middleware, Jobs, and Queues

Laravel Octane works well with the existing Laravel ecosystem, including middleware, jobs, and queues.

Example: Queuing a Job

In traditional Laravel and Laravel Octane alike, queuing a job is straightforward:

ProcessOrder::dispatch($order);

4. Server Monitoring and Management

Example: Memory Leaks

You can use Octane's inbuilt server monitoring tools to identify memory leaks. To reset your Octane server when memory usage gets too high, you can set a limit in your config/octane.php:

// config/octane.php

'memory_limit' => 128,

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Conclusion

This article aimed to provide a comprehensive guide to Laravel Octane, covering its installation, core concepts, migration steps, and key features. Through code examples and detailed explanations, we delved into how Octane supercharges Laravel applications, making them faster and more scalable.

• Laravel Octane is a game-changer for high-performance PHP applications.
• It works on top of Swoole and RoadRunner, enabling long-lived applications.
• Migrating to Octane involves a compatibility checklist and some configuration steps.
• Octane's features like concurrent task execution and WebSocket support offer significant advantages.

 

Additional Resources

• Laravel Octane Official Documentation
• Laravel Octane GitHub Repo