Command at ROOT access

How can I run a root command (internal) by sending the variables through a PHP script. I have tried to use fsockopen(command,81,$output), system (command,$output), and exec(command) without any success. I've tried to place the file into the same group as the web server (apache), but that doesn't work either (and creates too large of a security hole). I want to avoid using a cron process (which isn't going to suit the requirement).