Execute background php script with shell_exec command that works with SSH

Question

The problem I am struggling for a few hours is: I want to execute a script in background with PHP, so I'm using shell_exec() function, and I can't get it work. But is not a problem related with shell_exec function because I have tested the shell_exec('sleep 5') command and it worked. The command Im trying to execute is:

shell_exec('nohup /kunden/usr/local/bin/php5.4 /kunden/homepages/XX/dXXXXXXXX/htdocs/myproject/background_script.php > /dev/null 2>&1 & echo $!');

The script inserts one row in a MySQL database. I have tested the exact same command inside the quotes via SSH with putty and it worked perfectly, but i can't get it work from the web browser.

I don't think is important, but is a shared server with 1and1.

Answer 1

According to the original poster:

Finally I used the library phpseclib and now I have it working.

$ssh = new Net_SSH2('myhosting');
if (!$ssh->login('user', 'pass')) {
    exit('Login Failed');
}

$this->pid = $ssh->exec(sprintf(
    '%s > %s 2>&1 & echo $!',
    $this->command,
    $outputFile
));