I am sure this is a question many beginner sysadmins like me have, and many more advanced people have already put this in place:

CURRENT PLATFORM:
Nginx proxying to Apache, which manages PHP (Prefork), along with httpasswd (folder authentication), mod_security, mod_geoip, mod_dosevasive, mod_bwunlimited. Most are Wordpress domains, but one heavily customized rewriterule domain.

DESIRED PLATFORM:
Nginx with PHP-FPM (and maybe "modules" to do all of the above)


Some years ago we installed Nginx 1.0.8 using a script called nginxcp, but I now want more control over our install for easier upgrades in the future without worrying about conf files etc.

Questions.

1. How to manually install Nginx + PHP-FPM, and set it for a high traffic server? Many instructions online just rehash the same apt-get or yum instructions. I am looking for high traffic configurations of these two, and the instructions to compile them together from source.


2. We have Zend OpCache and Zend LoadGuard installed too. Will they work? Will they be needed? OpCache really helps us right now.

3. Mod_Security is important for us too. Many "XSS" injections etc. I notice the OWASP has a WAF for Nginx now too. Is there any battle-tested real world experience of this WAF though -- does it significantly slow down Nginx?

4. Is it possible to run a Nginx + PHP-FPM together on the same server with a test domain using the right Vhost definition for the test domain that does not proxy to Apache as the main production domains do? Or will Nginx be confused?

5. Will an Nginx+PHP-FPM system work well with Wordpress sites given how rooted Wordpress' RewriteRules are into the Apache world?


Sorry for the mouthful of questions. Much appreciate any real world direction. Thanks!