Which file do I edit?
You want to change something about how your site behaves, and the first question is always the same: which file do I put that in? This page is the quick answer. Find the thing you want to change in the table below, and it tells you the one file to edit and points you to the page with the full instructions.
The good news is that from your own shell you only ever edit two kinds of file, and they're both small, well-commented text files that live inside folders you already own.
Your two files
boa_site_control.ini— changes one site. It lives in that site's folder:sites/<your-domain>/modules/boa_site_control.ini(for examplesites/foo.com/modules/boa_site_control.ini).boa_platform_control.ini— changes every site on one platform at once. It lives in the platform's shared folder:sites/all/modules/boa_platform_control.ini.
Neither file exists until you create it. BOA ships a fully commented template for each
(named default.boa_site_control.ini and default.boa_platform_control.ini); you copy
the template, remove the ; from the one or two lines you want, and save it under the
name above. The step-by-step of that routine is on
The two control files — this page is just about
picking the right one.
When both files set the same thing, the site file wins. Think of the platform file as the shared default for all its sites, and the site file as the override for one of them. That's the whole precedence rule you need as a tenant.
The files you cannot edit
BOA also has server-wide configuration files whose names end in .cnf (like
.barracuda.cnf). Those are not yours. They belong to your host, they live in the
part of the server you don't have access to, and nothing on this page ever asks you to
touch them. If a change you need can only be made in one of those files, that's a job
for your host — see When it's not yours to change
below.
I want to change X → edit this file
| I want to… | Edit / do this | Full instructions |
|---|---|---|
| Change one site's PHP version | A PHP-version control file (fpm.info), not an INI file |
Choosing your PHP version |
| Give different sites on one instance different PHP versions | The multi-fpm.info control file |
Choosing your PHP version |
| Change the PHP version your shell / Drush uses | The cli.info control file |
Choosing your PHP version |
| Change how long anonymous visitors see a cached page (one site) | boa_site_control.ini (speed_booster_anon_cache_ttl) |
Per-site settings |
| Change how long login sessions / cookies last (one site) | boa_site_control.ini (session_cookie_ttl, session_gc_eol) |
Per-site settings |
| Adjust Redis / Valkey cache behaviour for a site | boa_site_control.ini (the redis_* settings) |
Per-site settings |
| Relax registration or admin/anonymous access protection (one site) | boa_site_control.ini (e.g. ignore_user_register_protection, disable_admin_dos_protection) |
Per-site settings |
| Turn on Solr search for a site | boa_site_control.ini (solr_integration_module) |
Per-site settings |
| Enable private-file downloads, or point a site at New Relic | boa_site_control.ini (allow_private_file_downloads, enable_newrelic_integration) |
Per-site settings |
| Apply any of the above as a default for every site on a platform | boa_platform_control.ini (same setting names) |
Per-platform settings |
| Skip BOA's daily file-permissions fix on a Git-managed platform | boa_platform_control.ini (fix_files_permissions_daily) |
Per-platform settings |
| Stop BOA re-enabling a module it manages | Usually your host's call — see Modules BOA manages | Modules BOA manages |
| Change a PHP memory limit, add a Redis/Solr service, tune Nginx workers | Not yours — ask your host | Below |
Note the top three rows. PHP version is the one common change that is not an INI setting — you don't put a version number in
boa_site_control.ini. Instead you create a tiny control file calledfpm.info(and friends) in your instance'sstatic/control/folder. It's just as easy, but it's a different file, so it has its own page: Choosing your PHP version.
Where these files live in your account
Everything above sits inside directories you already reach over your shell and SFTP:
- Per-site INI: inside each site's own folder, at
sites/<your-domain>/modules/boa_site_control.ini. - Per-platform INI: inside the platform's shared code, at
sites/all/modules/boa_platform_control.ini. - PHP-version control files: in your instance's control folder,
static/control/(for examplestatic/control/fpm.info).
You don't need to know the full server path — from your shell, your platforms and sites are under your home directory, and these are the folders you'd browse into to add a site's module or theme. If you're not sure how to reach them, see Connecting with shell & SFTP.
Making a change take effect
For the INI files, there's nothing to click and no task to launch — BOA reads the
file on its own. Just save it and wait: because your PHP code is cached for speed, a
change can take up to about 60 seconds to show up. If a site's name contains
.dev. or .devel., that cache is skipped and the change is live immediately, which
makes such a site handy for testing a setting before you apply it to the real one.
For the PHP-version control files, a small agent checks for them every few minutes and switches the version for you — the full behaviour is on Choosing your PHP version.
If a change doesn't seem to apply, run Verify Site. Any time you want the control panel to re-read a site and rebuild its configuration to match, run the Verify Site task from the site's page in the web interface. It's the standard "make it so" action and it never hurts to run it. (For a routine INI edit you usually won't need it — the 60-second wait is enough — but it's the first thing to try if something looks stuck.)
When it's not yours to change
The two INI files (and the PHP-version control files) cover everything that's safe for you to adjust from your own account. Some settings live on the server itself and are deliberately out of your reach — PHP memory limits, how much RAM a site's PHP pool may use, Nginx worker tuning, or standing up a Solr or Redis service that isn't already running.
If you think one of those needs changing for your site, don't go looking for a file to edit — it's something your host or operator does on the server. Open a support request, describe what your site needs, and let them make the change.
Where to go next
- The two control files — the copy-and-uncomment routine in full, plus every tenant-editable setting grouped by what you'd want to do.
- Choosing your PHP version — the
fpm.info/multi-fpm.info/cli.infocontrol files and how the instant switch works. - Modules BOA manages — which modules BOA force-enables or disables, and what to do when it keeps overriding yours.
- Every setting name is also collected in the shared Reference for quick lookup.