🐺🌐 WolfServe

Overview

WolfServe is a high-performance web server written in Rust that serves PHP applications via FastCGI with native SSL/TLS support and Apache configuration compatibility. It's a drop-in replacement for Apache2 — just point it at your existing Apache vhost configs and go.

© 2026 Wolf Software Systems Ltd — GitHub Repository

Requirements

• Linux with systemd
• Rust 1.70+ (for building from source)
• PHP 7.4+ with php-fpm

Quick Start

Option 1: Install from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/wolfsoftwaresystemsltd/wolfserve.git
cd wolfserve

# Run the installer (requires root)
sudo ./install.sh

# Start the server
./run.sh

Option 2: Install Precompiled Binaries

# Download the release package
tar -xzf wolfserve-x86_64-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz
cd wolfserve-x86_64-YYYYMMDD

# Run the installer (requires root)
sudo ./install_precompiled.sh

Option 3: Install as a Service

# Build and install as systemd service
sudo ./install_service.sh

# The server will start automatically
systemctl status wolfserve

Configuration

Edit wolfserve.toml:

[server]
host = "0.0.0.0"
port = 3000

[php]
fpm_address = "127.0.0.1:9993"
session_save_path = "/var/lib/php/sessions"

[apache]
# Load existing Apache vhost configs
# Debian/Ubuntu: "/etc/apache2"
# Fedora/RHEL:   "/etc/httpd"
config_dir = "/etc/apache2"

Admin Dashboard

WolfServe includes a built-in admin dashboard at http://your-server:5000/ for monitoring and statistics.

Features

• Real-time statistics: Total requests, response codes (2xx/3xx/4xx/5xx), avg response time, requests/sec
• Request logging: Last 50 requests with method, path, status, duration, client IP, and host
• Uptime tracking: Server uptime displayed in days, hours, minutes, seconds
• Auto-refresh: Dashboard updates every 5 seconds
• Secure authentication: Session-based login with bcrypt password hashing

Default Credentials

Multi-Server PHP Sessions

WolfServe supports shared PHP sessions across multiple servers, enabling seamless load balancing without sticky sessions.

Configuration

Set session_save_path in wolfserve.toml to a shared network location:

[php]
fpm_address = "127.0.0.1:9993"
session_save_path = "/mnt/shared/wolfserve/sessions"

How It Works

1. User logs in on Server A → session file created at /mnt/shared/wolfserve/sessions/sess_abc123
2. Next request routed to Server B → reads the same session file from shared storage
3. User stays logged in seamlessly across all servers

Requirements

• All servers must mount the same shared storage (NFS, GlusterFS, Ceph, etc.)
• Clocks should be synchronized (NTP) for consistent session expiry
• The installer automatically sets correct permissions (chmod 1733 with sticky bit)

Interactive Installation

sudo ./install_service.sh

📝 Configuration Options (press Enter to accept defaults)
Server bind address [0.0.0.0]:
Server port [3000]:
PHP-FPM port [9993]:
PHP session save path [/var/lib/php/sessions]: /mnt/shared/wolfserve/sessions
Apache config directory [/etc/apache2]:

Non-Interactive Installation

Use environment variables for automated deployments:

sudo WOLFSERVE_SESSION_PATH="/mnt/shared/wolfserve/sessions" \
     WOLFSERVE_PORT="3000" \
     ./install_service.sh -y

PHP FFI Integration

WolfServe includes libwolflib.so, a Rust library that can be called directly from PHP using FFI:

<?php
$ffi = FFI::cdef("
    int wolf_add(int a, int b);
    char* wolf_greet(const char* name);
    void wolf_free_string(char* s);
", "/opt/wolfserve/libwolflib.so");

// Call Rust from PHP!
$result = $ffi->wolf_add(10, 32);     // Returns 42
$greeting = $ffi->wolf_greet("World");
echo FFI::string($greeting);          // "Hello, World from Rust!"
$ffi->wolf_free_string($greeting);

Migration from Apache

Switching from Apache to WolfServe:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo systemctl stop apache2 && sudo systemctl disable apache2

# Fedora/RHEL
sudo systemctl stop httpd && sudo systemctl disable httpd

# Install & start WolfServe
sudo ./install_service.sh
sudo systemctl enable wolfserve

WolfServe reads your existing Apache vhost configurations from /etc/apache2/ (or /etc/httpd/ on RHEL) — no config changes needed.

Service Management

# Start / stop / restart
sudo systemctl start wolfserve
sudo systemctl stop wolfserve
sudo systemctl restart wolfserve

# Enable on boot
sudo systemctl enable wolfserve

# Check status
sudo systemctl status wolfserve

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u wolfserve -f

Project Structure

wolfserve/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs              # Main server code
│   ├── apache.rs            # Apache config parser
│   └── admin.rs             # Admin dashboard & authentication
├── wolflib/                 # Rust library for PHP FFI
│   └── src/lib.rs
├── public/                  # Web root directory
│   ├── index.php
│   └── rust.php             # PHP FFI example
├── install.sh               # Source installation script
├── install_service.sh       # Systemd service installer
├── install_precompiled.sh   # Precompiled binary installer
└── wolfserve.toml           # Server configuration