The 2026 Magento Server Stack: PHP, OpenSearch, Valkey, Varnish

The Magento server stack changed more between 2025 and 2026 than in the several years before. Redis gave way to Valkey, OpenSearch 3 became the search engine of record, ActiveMQ Artemis arrived as an alternative to RabbitMQ, and 2.4.9 moved to PHP 8.5. If you run Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce on your own infrastructure, your upgrade plan now includes the platform underneath the application.

This article summarizes the official requirements for 2.4.9 and the latest 2.4.8 patch, explains what changed, and sets out how to design and size the stack without guessing.

Release context

According to Adobe’s lifecycle policy, Adobe Commerce 2.4.9 was released on May 12, 2026, with support running to May 31, 2029. Adobe Commerce 2.4.8 was released on April 8, 2025, with support to May 31, 2028. Patch releases (for example 2.4.8-p5) also update their tested dependency versions, so always check the row for the exact patch you plan to run.

Adobe is strict about this. Its system requirements page states that Adobe supports only the listed combinations, and gives the example that 2.4.9 is tested with MariaDB 12.3, so you should upgrade MariaDB before upgrading to 2.4.9.

Official requirements: 2.4.9 vs 2.4.8-p5 (on-premises)

The table below reflects Adobe’s on-premises system requirements page as last updated on September 18, 2026.

On Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure, the cloud template for 2.4.9 lists MariaDB 12.3 (recommended) or 11.8, and no Varnish row because the CDN layer is Fastly. Cloud service versions can differ from on-premises, so cloud projects should follow the cloud table and services.yaml.

What changed, component by component

PHP 8.5

The 2.4.9 release notes state that PHP 8.5 is fully supported, PHP 8.4 is allowed for upgrade purposes only and is not recommended for production, and PHP 8.2 and 8.3 are no longer supported. That makes the PHP upgrade part of the 2.4.9 project. Check every third-party extension against PHP 8.5 as well as against the Magento version.

Adobe’s software recommendations still apply: enable OPcache, limit PHP extensions to the ones Magento requires, and avoid debug extensions in production. Adobe’s suggested OPcache values for its own testing are:

opcache.memory_consumption=512
opcache.max_accelerated_files=60000
opcache.consistency_checks=0
opcache.validate_timestamps=0
opcache.enable_cli=1
realpath_cache_size=10M
realpath_cache_ttl=7200

Valkey replaces Redis

Redis no longer appears in the requirements for current patch releases. The 2.4.9 release notes say Valkey 9.x support was introduced, driven by Redis 7.2 end of support and licensing changes, with CLI parity with Redis. Adobe’s Valkey cache documentation also states that Valkey is required for cache configuration from 2.4.9, and from patch releases later than 2.4.5-p16, 2.4.6-p14, 2.4.7-p9 and 2.4.8-p4.

Starting with 2.4.9, the CLI uses valkey as the backend name. On 2.4.8 and earlier you point the existing Redis options at a Valkey server, since Valkey is protocol-compatible.

# 2.4.9: default cache, page cache (if not using Varnish) and sessions on separate DBs
bin/magento setup:config:set --cache-backend=valkey \
  --cache-backend-valkey-server=127.0.0.1 --cache-backend-valkey-db=0
bin/magento setup:config:set --page-cache=valkey \
  --page-cache-valkey-server=127.0.0.1 --page-cache-valkey-db=1
bin/magento setup:config:set --session-save=valkey \
  --session-save-valkey-host=127.0.0.1 --session-save-valkey-db=2

# 2.4.8 and earlier: same Redis options, Valkey server
bin/magento setup:config:set --session-save=redis \
  --session-save-redis-host=127.0.0.1 --session-save-redis-db=2

In 2.4.9, the cache layer also moved from Zend Cache to Symfony Cache, according to both the release notes and the Valkey documentation. Custom code that talks to the cache backend directly needs testing.

OpenSearch 3

OpenSearch 3 is the listed search engine for both 2.4.9 and current 2.4.8 patches. Elasticsearch 8 remains listed only for 2.4.8. Adobe’s page also notes that Elasticsearch 7.17 reached end of support on January 15, 2026. If you still run Elasticsearch, plan the move to OpenSearch before or together with your next upgrade.

Database: MariaDB or MySQL 8.4

For 2.4.9, the tested versions are MariaDB 12.3 and MySQL 8.4. Adobe notes MySQL 8.0 reached end of support on April 30, 2026, and advises customers on 2.4.4 to 2.4.7 to move to a compatible MariaDB version. On AWS, Aurora MySQL is listed as 8.0.mysql_aurora.3.12 or the latest available.

Message queues: RabbitMQ and ActiveMQ Artemis

Both RabbitMQ 4.3 and ActiveMQ Artemis 2 are listed for 2.4.9. The release notes describe Apache ActiveMQ Artemis as the recommended long-term message broker, citing end-of-support risks around RabbitMQ 4.1. If you run RabbitMQ today, upgrading it within the supported versions is the short-term path; for new builds, evaluate Artemis. Either way, run consumers under a process manager or via cron rather than leaving them to start on demand.

Varnish 8

Varnish 8 is listed for 2.4.9 and 2.4.8-p5 (earlier 2.4.8 patches listed 7.6 or 7.7). Adobe’s performance documentation recommends Varnish for production full page caching. Export the VCL from the Admin, set the purge ACL to your Magento hosts, and register Varnish hosts for purging:

bin/magento config:set --scope=default --scope-code=0 system/full_page_cache/caching_application 2
bin/magento setup:config:set --http-cache-hosts=10.0.0.21:6081,10.0.0.22:6081

Web server: nginx

nginx 1.30 is the listed web server for 2.4.9 and 2.4.8-p5. Apache 2.4 appeared in the on-premises tables for earlier releases, but it is not listed for 2.4.8-p3 and later, nor for 2.4.9. Magento still ships nginx.conf.sample, which is the sensible starting point. Run PHP through PHP-FPM.

Composer 2.10

Composer 2.10 is listed for 2.4.9 and 2.4.8-p5. Pin the Composer version in your CI image so builds are reproducible.

Recommended architecture

For a production store that expects growth, Adobe’s software recommendations describe a baseline: nginx and PHP-FPM, a database, OpenSearch, Varnish, a cache instance for sessions, and a separate instance for the default cache that is not shared with the page cache. A typical layout:

• Edge: CDN and TLS termination in front of Varnish.
• Cache tier: Varnish for full page cache, with enough memory to hold your most-visited pages.
• Application tier: one or more nginx + PHP-FPM nodes, stateless, with shared media storage (NFS or object storage such as S3, which Adobe lists for AWS).
• Admin and cron: on larger stores, a separate node for Admin traffic, cron and queue consumers keeps background work away from shopper requests.
• Data tier: MariaDB or MySQL (managed or self-hosted), OpenSearch, Valkey for cache, Valkey for sessions, and RabbitMQ or ActiveMQ Artemis.

A single-server setup is fine for small catalogs and low traffic, as long as the same services run on it. The split matters when one workload (indexing, imports, cron) starts competing with checkout for CPU.

Sizing principles (without invented benchmarks)

Adobe publishes rules of thumb instead of fixed server sizes, which is the right approach because every store differs. From Adobe’s hardware recommendations:

• CPU: one core can serve around two (sometimes up to four) uncached Commerce requests. Adobe’s formula is N[Cores] = (N[Expected Requests] / 2) + N[Expected Cron Processes]. Only uncached requests count, so your cache hit rate directly drives the number of cores you need.
• PHP memory: about 256 MB for storefront-only web nodes, 1 GB for Admin with a large catalog, and 2 GB on a single-server store or a build server.
• Database memory: available memory should be at least close to half the size of the data in the database.
• Varnish: enough memory to hold your most popular pages.
• Cache memory: enough to hold all non-page caches. The block cache is the main driver and grows with SKUs multiplied by store views.
• Sessions: size the session instance based on how long sessions should persist and your cart abandonment strategy.
• Network: ensure enough bandwidth between web nodes and remote cache servers, because Magento talks to the cache constantly.

To apply these, pull peak uncached requests per second from your access logs or APM, measure your current database and cache sizes, and load test a staging copy before major sales events. Real numbers from your own store beat any vendor table.

Upgrade order

1. Check every extension for 2.4.9 and PHP 8.5 compatibility.
2. Upgrade services that both versions support first: OpenSearch 3, Valkey, Varnish 8, RabbitMQ 4.3, nginx 1.30, Composer 2.10.
3. Move the database to MariaDB 12.3 or MySQL 8.4 on a staging copy and test.
4. Switch PHP to 8.5 together with the Magento 2.4.9 code upgrade, and run the full regression suite.
5. Reindex, warm caches and monitor error logs closely after go-live.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep running Redis with Magento 2.4.9?

Redis is not listed in the 2.4.9 requirements, and Adobe supports only the listed combinations. Valkey is designed to be compatible, so migrating is usually a service swap plus configuration changes, but test it on staging.

Is Apache still supported?

Apache 2.4 appears in Adobe’s tables for older releases, but it is not listed for 2.4.8-p3 and later or for 2.4.9. For a supported configuration on current releases, use nginx.

Can I run 2.4.9 on PHP 8.4?

Adobe’s release notes allow PHP 8.4 for upgrade purposes only and do not recommend it for production. Plan to run PHP 8.5.

Do I need ActiveMQ Artemis?

Not immediately. RabbitMQ 4.3 is listed for 2.4.9. Adobe describes Artemis as the recommended long-term broker, so it is worth considering for new infrastructure.

Sources

• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/installation-guide/system-requirements
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/notes/adobe-commerce/2-4-9
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/planning/lifecycle-policy
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/configuration-guide/cache/valkey/valkey-pg-cache
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/configuration-guide/cache/valkey/valkey-session
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/performance-best-practices/hardware
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/performance-best-practices/software
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/configuration-guide/cache/varnish/configure-varnish-commerce
• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/configuration-guide/cache/varnish/use-varnish-cache