Zend Server User Guide > Concepts > Guard Loader

Guard Loader

The Zend Guard Loader is a PHP extension that runs PHP scripts encoded by Zend Guard, which provides an easy way to encode, obfuscate and license PHP code via an Eclipse-based interface or from the command line.

The Guard Loader extension must be installed on each Web server that runs files that were encoded with, or use, Zend Guard licenses.

Note:

You can also use the Zend Optimizer that also includes the Guard Loader extension for code written in PHP 5.2. The Zend Optimizer is available as a free download from www.zend.com.

The Zend Guard Loader translates encoded files to a format that can be parsed by the Zend Engine. This runtime process uses the Zend engine as a trigger to start the Zend Guard Loader component.

Zend Guard

Zend Guard is a separate product available from Zend that provides an easy way to encode, obfuscate and license PHP code via an Eclipse-based interface or from the command line.

To view the API, click Zend Guard Loader.

For additional information on using Zend Guard, see the Zend Guard User Guide, available here<" target="_blank">here

	Read Also
	Working with the Guard Loader
	Zend Guard Loader - Configuration Directives
	Zend Guard Loader - PHP API
	here<" target="_blank">Zend Guard Online Help