Zend programming tool eases PHP problems

Zend Technologies on Tuesday will release a public beta version of its Zend Server 5.0 PHP web application server, featuring Code Tracing, which the company says will slash problem resolution time by as much as 50 percent.

Developers with version 5.0 can pinpoint problems in production by viewing a "digital documentary" of the execution of their application, said Zend, which likens the capability to a black box flight recorder in an airplane.  Code Tracing can be turned on and off by the Zend Server event monitoring capability so code execution is captured only during specified events.  The trace is displayed in the Zend Server web console.

"With Zend Server 5.0, we are revolutionising how PHP developers can manage their production servers, significantly reducing the time spent on root cause analysis and resolution," said Andi Gutmans, CEO and cofounder of Zend, in a statement released by the company.

Version 5.0 also offers Joe Queue, which allows jobs to be performed asynchronously or at recurring intervals. Support is featured for PHP 5.3, letting developers more easily maintain and deploy concise code for applications with modern language features such as namespaces, Zend said.

Due in a production release by the end of the year, Zend Server 5.0, features support for IBM i systems in addition to Linux and Windows.

The server is integrated with Zend's Studio PHP IDE and Zend Framework for developing and deploying web applications.

Zend Server features a PHP stack for PCI compliance; monitoring and diagnostics; code acceleration; and page caching to boost performance. The company offers technical support, online updates, hot fixes, and security patches.