WordPress is one of the most popular and powerful content management systems (CMS) in the world. It powers over 40% of all websites on the internet, including some of the most visited ones like The New York Times, Forbes, and BBC.
However, WordPress is not without its drawbacks. One of the main challenges that WordPress users face is the site speed. WordPress sites can be slow to load due to various factors, such as:
A slow WordPress site can have negative impacts on your user experience, SEO rankings, conversions, and revenue. According to Google, 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Moreover, a one-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by 7%, page views by 11%, and customer satisfaction by 16%.
Therefore, it is crucial to optimize your WordPress site for speed and performance. One of the best ways to do that is to use a web application accelerator like Varnish Cache.
In the past I have created a couple of articles about CloudPanel like: How To Install Cloudpanel, Secure CloudPanel or how to Update CloudPanel and in this article came the time to see how we can use Varnish Cache in CloudPanel to Speed Up our WordPress and reduce server load.
| Key Takeaways |
|---|
| – Varnish Cache is an open-source web application accelerator that stores copies of web pages in memory and serves them faster to users. |
| – Varnish Cache can speed up WordPress by reducing the number of requests to the web server and the database, and by delivering cached pages in milliseconds. |
| – Varnish Cache can also reduce the server load by lowering the CPU and memory usage, and by handling high traffic spikes. |
| – CloudPanel is a free and easy-to-use control panel for managing cloud servers and applications. |
| – CloudPanel has a built-in Varnish Cache configuration that optimizes the caching performance for WordPress sites. |
| – Use CLP Varnish Cache WordPress plugin to manage easily Varnish in WordPress |
Varnish Cache is an open-source web application accelerator that helps optimize web pages for faster loading times. It does this by storing copies of web pages in memory. When a user requests a webpage, they get back the cached version instead of having to wait for the original web server to generate the page from scratch.
Varnish Cache is designed to be fast and flexible. It uses a special configuration language called VCL to control how it handles HTTP requests and responses. You can customize Varnish Cache to suit your specific needs and preferences.
Varnish Cache is widely used by millions of websites, including some of the most popular ones like Wikipedia, The New York Times, and Facebook. It can improve the performance, scalability, and reliability of your web applications.
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Varnish Cache can speed up WordPress by reducing the number of requests to the web server and the database, and by delivering cached pages in milliseconds.
When a user visits your WordPress site for the first time, Varnish Cache will pass the request to the web server (such as Apache or Nginx), which will then process the PHP code and fetch the data from the database (such as MySQL or MariaDB). The web server will then send back the HTML response to Varnish Cache, which will store it in memory for future use.
The next time a user requests the same page, Varnish Cache will check if it has a valid copy of it in memory. If it does, it will serve it directly to the user without involving the web server or the database. This way, Varnish Cache can deliver cached pages in milliseconds, instead of seconds or even minutes.
By serving cached pages from memory, Varnish Cache can also reduce the server load by lowering the CPU and memory usage, and by handling high traffic spikes. This can improve the stability and availability of your WordPress site.
However, not all WordPress pages are suitable for caching. Some pages are dynamic or personalized, such as:
These pages need to be updated frequently or tailored to each user. Therefore, they should not be cached by Varnish Cache. Otherwise, they may cause errors or inconsistencies.
To avoid caching these pages, you need to configure Varnish Cache to exclude them from the caching process. You can do this by using the VCL language or by using a WordPress plugin.
CloudPanel is a free and easy-to-use control panel for managing cloud servers and applications. It supports various cloud providers, such as AWS, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, and Linode. It also supports various web applications, such as WordPress, Magento, Laravel, and Symfony.
CloudPanel has a built-in Varnish Cache configuration that optimizes the caching performance for WordPress sites. It automatically excludes the dynamic and personalized pages from caching, and it also handles the cookie and header management for WordPress.
CloudPanel uses a reverse proxy setup to enable Varnish Cache for WordPress sites. This means that Varnish Cache acts as an intermediary between the user and the web server.
When a user requests a WordPress page, the request goes to Varnish Cache first. Varnish Cache then decides whether to serve the cached page from memory or to pass the request to the web server.
The NgineX web server runs behind Varnish Cache on port 6081. The web server processes the PHP code and fetches the data from the database. The web server then sends back the HTML response to Varnish Cache, which stores it in memory for future use.
The following diagram illustrates how Varnish Cache works in CloudPanel:
| User | Varnish Cache | Web Server |
|---|---|---|
| Request page | Check cache | |
| Serve cached page | ||
| Process PHP and query database | ||
| Send back HTML response | ||
| Receive page | Store response in cache |
Images, CSS or JS scripts are not cached in Varnish in CloudPanel and they are served directly by the NginX web server as they are faster. To activate Varnish in CloudPanel you just need to go under SIte Management and enable it in Varnish Cache:
In the excludes area you can add the pages that you don’t want to be cached as the ones from a cart or checkout.
CloudPanel offers the following details and customisations for Varnish cache:
The CLP Varnish Cache WordPress plugin is a simple and lightweight plugin that helps you optimize your WordPress site for Varnish Cache. It does not have any complicated settings or options. It just does what it needs to do: enable CLP Varnish Cache for your WordPress site.
The plugin helps to control and enable Varnish Cache directly in the WordPress dashboard.
Varnish Cache is a powerful tool that can speed up your WordPress site and reduce your server load. It can deliver cached pages in milliseconds, lower your CPU and memory usage, and handle high traffic spikes.
CloudPanel makes it easy for you to use Varnish Cache with your WordPress site. It has a built-in Varnish Cache configuration that optimizes the caching performance for WordPress sites. It also provides a simple and lightweight plugin that automatically configures your WordPress site for Varnish Cache.
If you want to boost the speed and performance of your WordPress site, you should give CloudPanel and Varnish Cache a try. You will be amazed by how fast your WordPress site can be!
I hope this article meets your expectations. Please let me know if you have any feedback or questions.