Added a new article about applications with multiple kernels

Author: javiereguiluz

request/multiple_kernels.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+.. index::
+   single: kernel, performance
+
+How To Create Symfony Applications with Multiple Kernels
+========================================================
+
+In most Symfony applications, incoming requests are processed by the
+``web/app.php`` front controller, which instantiates the ``app/AppKernel.php``
+class to create the application kernel that loads the bundles and generates the
+response.
+
+This single kernel approach is a convenient default provided by the Symfony
+Standard edition, but Symfony applications can define any number of kernels.
+This is useful to execute the same application using a different configuration
+and a different set of bundles for each kernel:
+
+* An application that defines an API could create an ``ApiKernel`` to not have
+  to load all the bundles enabled in the regular web application. This will
+  improve the API performance;
+* A bundle that doesn't allow multiple instances can define multiple
+  configurations in different files loaded by each kernel.
+
+Adding a new Kernel to the Application
+--------------------------------------
+
+Creating a new kernel in a Symfony application is a three-step process:
+
+1. Create a new front controller to load the new kernel;
+2. Create the new kernel class;
+3. Define the configuration loaded by the new kernel.
+
+The following example shows how to create a new kernel for the API of a given
+Symfony application.
+
+Step 1) Create a new Front Controller
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Instead of creating the new front controller from scratch, it's recommended to
+duplicate the existing ``web/app_dev.php`` and ``web/app.php`` files. For
+example, you can create ``web/api_dev.php`` and ``web/api.php`` (or
+``web/api/app_dev.php`` and ``web/api/app.php`` depending on your server
+configuration).
+
+Then, update the code of the new front controllers to instantiate the new kernel
+class instead of the usual ``AppKernel`` class:
+
+    // web/api.php
+    // ...
+    $kernel = new ApiKernel('prod', true);
+    // ...
+
+    // web/api_dev.php
+    // ...
+    $kernel = new ApiKernel('dev', true);
+    // ...
+
+Step 2) Create the new Kernel Class
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Now you need to define the ``ApiKernel`` class used by the new front controller.
+The recommendation again is to duplicate the existing ``app/AppKernel.php`` file
+and make the needed changes.
+
+In this example, the changes of the new ``ApiKernel`` would be to load less
+bundles than ``AppKernel`` and to change the location of the cache, logs and
+config files to not mess with the regular application:
+
+    // app/ApiKernel.php
+    <?php
+
+    use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Kernel;
+    use Symfony\Component\Config\Loader\LoaderInterface;
+
+    class ApiKernel extends Kernel
+    {
+        public function registerBundles()
+        {
+            // load only the bundles strictly needed for the API...
+        }
+
+        public function getCacheDir()
+        {
+            return dirname(__DIR__).'/var/cache/api/'.$this->getEnvironment();
+        }
+
+        public function getLogDir()
+        {
+            return dirname(__DIR__).'/var/logs/api';
+        }
+
+        public function registerContainerConfiguration(LoaderInterface $loader)
+        {
+            $loader->load($this->getRootDir().'/config/api/config_'.$this->getEnvironment().'.yml');
+        }
+    }
+
+Step 3) Define the Kernel Configuration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Finally, define the configuration used by the application when it executes the
+new API kernel. According to the previous code, this config must be defined in
+the ``app/config/api/`` directory.
+
+The new configuration can be created from scratch when you load just a few
+bundles, because it it will be very simple. Otherwise, duplicate the existing
+config files or better, import them and override the needed options:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+    # app/config/api/config_dev.yml
+    imports:
+        - { resource: ../config_dev.yml }
+
+    # override option values ...
+
+Adding more Kernels to the Application
+--------------------------------------
+
+If your application is very complex and you create several kernels, it's better
+to store them on their own directories instead of messing with lots of files in
+the default ``app/`` directory:
+
+.. code-block:: text
+
+    project/
+    ├─ app/
+    │  ├─ ...
+    │  ├─ config/
+    │  └─ AppKernel.php
+    ├─ api/
+    │  ├─ ...
+    │  ├─ config/
+    │  └─ ApiKernel.php
+    ├─ ...
+    └─ web/
+        ├─ ...
+        ├─ app.php
+        ├─ app_dev.php
+        ├─ api.php
+        └─ api_dev.php