A php execution process if its connecting DB and doing insert or just simple loop, php will make sure it is always executed under a time limit which is set in php.ini's configuration called 'max_execution_time'. This avoids unnecessary resources used by a php script when it runs for extremely long time.
Now server may have multiple php.ini
's, sometimes one for cli
and one which actually affects the web server. You can do
<?php
phpinfo();
exit;
at the start of public/index.php
once or create a public/test.php
file and add that in it(delete it once you see the data). In that you will be able to see correct location of php.ini
Also, the same phpinfo page will help you see the max_execution_time
as well. So if you have increased it correctly, it should show the updated value there.
Going one step further, increasing the value even if resolves your issue, you should spend some time why it is taking so much time. For a normal request without large file posted to server, 30-60 seconds is a pretty decent execution time limit.