Posting to an Application from a PHP script on another server

Question

Whats the best method for posting some data from a server side script, to a PHP web app on another server?

I have control over both ends, but I need to keep it as clean as possible.

I'm hoping people don't mistake this as a request for code, I'm not after anything like that, just a suitable method, even the name of a technology is good enough for me. (FYI the recipient web app will be built in Yii which supports REST if that matters).

Answer 1

Use cURL: http://curl.haxx.se

If you're calling from a PHP script, you can use PHP:cURL https://php.net/curl

Probably best to do it over SSL, if you want to keep the info safe.

Answer 2

You can access your REST API with PHPs cURL Extension .

You will find examples here .

Answer 3

If you use a framework, some have alternatives to cURL, which are easier to handle (like Zend http client).

Or for very simple purposes (and if php-settings allow this), you could use file_get_contents().

Answer 4

Most of the answers here mention cURL, which is fine for smaller use-cases. However if you have more complex and/or growing needs, or plan to open up access to other servers in the future, you might want to consider creating and consuming a web service.

This article makes a somewhat compelling argument for RESTful web services over SOAP-based , but depending on who will be consuming the service, a SOAP-based web service can be both simple to consume ( How to easily consume a web service from PHP ) and set up ( php web service example ). Consuming a RESTful web service is easily done via cURL ( Call a REST API in PHP ).

The choice really comes down to scope and your consuming audience.