Do I need ionCube Loader, suEXEC, and suPHP to use PHP?

Question

I'm using WHM to set up a web server for the first time and there are options for ionCube Loader, suEXEC, and suPHP. My understanding is that suEXEC and suPHP are for security while ionCube Loader is for certain encrypted files? I'm the only user on the server (I'm not reselling hosting service), so do I need these services?

Answer 1

I would run PHP with either mod_php or FastCGI... not suPHP (or suExec). suPHP (and suExec) slows things down and, most importantly, doesn't work with opcode caches. You don't need ionCube... it is an old school encoder/loader/cache that is just not needed.