Add info about optimized realpath_cache_settings

src/cloud/project/magento-app-php-application.md

@@ -41,96 +41,19 @@ php -m
 
 For details about a specific PHP extension, see the [PHP Extension List](https://www.php.net/manual/en/extensions.alphabetical.php).
 
-{{site.data.var.ece}} supports the following extensions:
+The following table show the supported PHP extensions when deploying {{site.data.var.ee}} on the Cloud platform.
 
--  Default extensions:
-   -  `bcmath`
-   -  `bz2`
-   -  `calendar`
-   -  `exif`
-   -  `gd`
-   -  `gettext`
-   -  `intl`
-   -  `mysqli`
-   -  `pcntl`
-   -  `pdo_mysql`
-   -  `soap`
-   -  `sockets`
-   -  `sysvmsg`
-   -  `sysvsem`
-   -  `sysvshm`
-   -  `opcache`
-   -  `zip`
+- **Default extensions** are the default extensions available with the PHP application.
+- **Required extensions** are installed automatically and cannot be removed
+- **Optional extensions**–You can install and remove these extensions as needed
 
--  Extensions that are installed and cannot be uninstalled:
-   -  `ctype`
-   -  `curl`
-   -  `date`
-   -  `dom`
-   -  `fileinfo`
-   -  `filter`
-   -  `ftp`
-   -  `hash`
-   -  `iconv`
-   -  `json`
-   -  `mbstring`
-   -  `mysqlnd`
-   -  `openssl`
-   -  `pcre`
-   -  `pdo`
-   -  `pdo_sqlite`
-   -  `phar`
-   -  `posix`
-   -  `readline`
-   -  `session`
-   -  `sqlite3`
-   -  `tokenizer`
-   -  `xml`
-   -  `xmlreader`
-   -  `xmlwriter`
-
--  Extensions that can be installed and uninstalled as needed:
-   -  `bcmath`
-   -  `bz2`
-   -  `calendar`
-   -  `exif`
-   -  `gd`
-   -  `geoip`
-   -  `gettext`
-   -  `gmp`
-   -  `igbinary`
-   -  `imagick`
-   -  `imap`
-   -  `intl`
-   -  `ioncube`
-   -  `ldap`
-   -  `mailparse`
-   -  `mcrypt`
-   -  `msgpack`
-   -  `mysqli`
-   -  `oauth`
-   -  `opcache`
-   -  `pdo_mysql`
-   -  `propro`
-   -  `pspell`
-   -  `raphf`
-   -  `recode`
-   -  `redis`
-   -  `shmop`
-   -  `soap`
-   -  `sockets`
-   -  `sodium`
-   -  `ssh2`
-   -  `sysvmsg`
-   -  `sysvsem`
-   -  `sysvshm`
-   -  `tidy`
-   -  `xdebug`
-   -  `xmlrpc`
-   -  `xsl`
-   -  `yaml`
-   -  `zip`
-   -  `pcntl`
+| Default extensions | Required extensions | Optional extensions |
+|--------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
+| `ctype`<br> `curl`<br> `date`<br> `dom`<br> `fileinfo`<br> `filter`<br> `ftp`<br> `hash`<br> `iconv`<br> `json`<br> `mbstring`<br> `mysqlnd`<br>  `openssl`<br> `pcre`<br> `pdo`<br> `pdo_sqlite`<br> `phar`<br> `posix`<br> `readline`<br> `session`<br> `sqlite3`<br> `tokenizer`<br> `xml`<br> `xmlreader`<br> `xmlwriter`<br> | `ctype`<br> `curl`<br> `date`<br> `dom`<br> `fileinfo`<br> `filter`<br> `ftp`<br> `hash`<br> `iconv`<br> `json`<br> `mbstring`<br> `mysqlnd`<br> `openssl`<br> `pcre`<br> `pdo`<br> `pdo_sqlite`<br> `phar`<br> `posix`<br> `readline`<br> `session`<br> `sqlite3`<br> `tokenizer`<br> `xml`<br> `xmlreader`<br> `xmlwriter`<br> | `bcmath`<br> `bz2`<br> `calendar`<br> `exif`<br> `gd`<br> `geoip`<br> `gettext`<br> `gmp`<br> `igbinary`<br> `imagick`<br> `imap`<br> `intl`<br> `ioncube`<br> `ldap`<br> `mailparse`<br> `mcrypt`<br> `msgpack`<br> `mysqli`<br> `oauth`<br> `opcache`<br> `pdo_mysql`<br> `propro`<br> `pspell`<br> `raphf`<br> `recode`<br> `redis`<br> `shmop`<br> `soap`<br> `sockets`<br> `sodium`<br> `ssh2`<br> `sysvmsg`<br> `sysvsem`<br> `sysvshm`<br> `tidy`<br> `xdebug`<br> `xmlrpc`<br> `xsl`<br> `yaml`<br> `zip`<br> `pcntl`<br> |
 
 {:.bs-callout-warning}
 PHP compiled with debug is not supported and the Probe may conflict with XDebug or XHProf. Disable those extensions when enabling the Probe. The Probe conflicts with some PHP extensions like Pinba or IonCube.
+
+### Custom PHP configuration
+
+You can customize the PHP settings for a Cloud environment by adding a `php.ini` file to your project. See [Customize PHP.INI]({{ site.baseurl }}/cloud/project/magento-app-php-ini.html).

src/cloud/project/magento-app-php-ini.md

@@ -6,22 +6,46 @@ functional_areas:
   - Setup
   - Application
 ---
-You can also create and push a `php.ini` file that is appended to the configuration maintained by {{site.data.var.ee}}.
 
-In your repository, the `php.ini` file should be added to the root of the application (the repository root).
+You can customize the PHP settings for your environment using a `php.ini` file that is appended to the configuration maintained by {{site.data.var.ee}}.
+
+In your repository, add the `php.ini` file to the root of the application (the repository root).
 
 {:.bs-callout-info}
 Configuring PHP settings improperly can cause issues. We recommend only advanced administrators set these options.
 
-For example, if you need to increase the PHP memory limit:
+## Increase PHP memory limit
 
-```bash
+To increase the PHP memory limit, add the following setting to the php.ini file:
+
+```php
 memory_limit = 756M
 ```
 
-For a list of recommended PHP configuration settings, see [Required PHP settings]({{ site.baseurl }}/guides/v2.3/install-gde/prereq/php-settings.html).
+## Optimize realpath_cache configuration
+
+Set the following `realpath_cache` settings to improve Magento performance.
+
+```php
+;
+; Increase realpath cache size
+;
+realpath_cache_size = 1M
+
+;
+; Increase realpath cache ttl
+;
+realpath_cache_ttl = 7200
+```
+
+These settings allow PHP processes to cache paths to files instead of looking them up each time a page loads. See [Performance Tuning](https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php) in the PHP documentation.
+
+{:.bs-callout-info}
+For a list of recommended PHP configuration settings, see [Required PHP settings]({{ site.baseurl }}/guides/v2.4/install-gde/prereq/php-settings.html).
+
+## Check custom php.ini settings
 
-After pushing your file, you can check that the custom PHP configuration has been added to your environment by [creating an SSH tunnel]({{ site.baseurl }}/cloud/env/environments-start.html#env-start-tunn) to your environment and entering:
+After pushing the `php.ini` changes to your Cloud environment, you can check that the custom PHP configuration has been added to your environment by [creating an SSH tunnel]({{ site.baseurl }}/cloud/env/environments-start.html#env-start-tunn) to your environment and entering:
 
 ```bash
 cat /etc/php5/fpm/php.ini

src/guides/v2.4/install-gde/prereq/php-settings.md

@@ -73,14 +73,23 @@ PHP Warning:  date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings.
       -  Installing and updating Magento components from Magento Marketplace, `2G`
       -  Testing, `~3-4G`
 
+-  Increase the values for the PHP `realpath_cache_size` and `realpath_cache_ttl` to recommended settings:
+
+   ```conf
+   realpath_cache_size=1M
+   realpath_cache_ttl=7200
+   ```
+
+   These settings allow PHP processes to cache paths to files instead of looking them up each time a page loads. See [Performance Tuning](https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php) in the PHP documentation.
+
 -  Enable [`opcache.save_comments`](https://www.php.net/manual/en/opcache.configuration.php#ini.opcache.save-comments){:target="_blank"}, which is required for Magento 2.1 and later.
 
    We recommend you enable the [PHP OPcache](https://www.php.net/manual/en/book.opcache.php){:target="_blank"} for performance reasons. The OPcache is enabled in many PHP distributions.
 
    Magento 2.1 and later use PHP code comments for code generation.
 
 {:.bs-callout-info}
-To avoid issues during installation and upgrade, we strongly recommend you apply the same PHP settings to both the PHP command-line configuration and the PHP web server plug-in's configuration. For more information, see the next section.
+To avoid issues during installation and upgrade, we strongly recommend you apply the same PHP settings to both the PHP command-line configuration and the PHP web server plug-in configuration. For more information, see the next section.
 
 ## Step 1: Find PHP configuration files {#php-required-find}
 
@@ -136,6 +145,7 @@ To set PHP options:
    ```
 
 1. Add the time zone setting you found in step 2.
+
 1. Change the value of `memory_limit` to one of the values at the beginning of this section.
 
    For example,
@@ -144,7 +154,22 @@ To set PHP options:
    memory_limit=2G
    ```
 
+1. Add or update the `realpath_cache` configuration to match the following values:
+
+   ```conf
+   ;
+   ; Increase realpath cache size
+   ;
+   realpath_cache_size = 1M
+
+   ;
+   ; Increase realpath cache ttl
+   ;
+   realpath_cache_ttl = 7200
+   ```
+
 1. Save your changes and exit the text editor.
+
 1. Open the other `php.ini` (if they are different) and make the same changes in it.
 
 ## Step 3: Set OPcache options {#php-required-opcache}

src/guides/v2.4/performance-best-practices/software.md

@@ -60,6 +60,15 @@ To guarantee successful execution of all Magento instances without dumping data
 
 `memory_limit=768MB`
 
+#### Realpath_cache configuration
+
+To improve Magento performance, add or update the following recommended `realpath_cache` settings in the `php.ini` file. This configuration allows PHP processes to cache paths to files instead of looking them up each time a page loads. See [Performance Tuning](https://www.php.net/manual/en/ini.core.php) in the PHP documentation.
+
+```bash
+realpath_cache_size=1M
+realpath_cache_ttl=7200
+```
+
 #### ByteCode
 
 To get maximum speed out of Magento 2 on PHP 7, you must activate the OpCache module and properly configure it. These settings are recommended for the module: