With Cloud Servers, it is easier to spin up a separate server to work as front end. Let us get started with Varnish Cache setup with commands. We talked about Varnish Cache before, we said that; Varnish is a web accelerator for dynamic web pages with lots of content like WordPress. Unlike other client-side proxies or servers (read what is reverse proxy), Varnish was designed from the ground up as a Web accelerator. Varnish works by handling requests before they goes to your backend, whether your backend is Apache2, Nginx – does not matter. If only it has no request cached, it will forward the request to the backend and then cache its output.
Get Started with Varnish Cache : Spin a Server
We are using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, 512 MB server will work fine for the most. First update the current packages and install Varnish :
|
1 2 |
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade apt-get install varnish |
Edit the daemon options for Varnish to instruct it to load custom configuration:
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 |
nano /etc/default/varnish # output; scroll down and you'll get ## Alternative 2, Configuration with VCL # # Listen on port 6081, administration on localhost:6082, and forward to # one content server selected by the vcl file, based on the request. Use a 1GB # fixed-size cache file. # DAEMON_OPTS="-a :6081 -T localhost:6082 -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl -S /etc/varnish/secret -s malloc,256m" # change # -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl to # -f /etc/varnish/user.vcl |
From the configuration above, we need edit the value -s malloc,256m :
|
1 2 |
-s malloc,360m # for 512mb server, approximately we should allow some RAM left! |
Copy default.vcl to your own file :
|
1 2 3 |
cd /etc/varnish && cp default.vcl user.vcl nano user.vcl # the file will open |
Get Started with Varnish Cache : Set up Backend
This is default :
|
1 2 3 4 |
backend default { .host = "127.0.0.1"; .port = "80"; } |
It is actually caching Apache which is currently on port 80 on the same server, so change accordingly the IP. You should restart Varnish :
|
1 |
service varnish restart |
Varnish runs on port 6081, we will edit the file :
|
1 2 3 4 |
sub vcl_fetch { set beresp.ttl = 2h; } |
# We should change Apache’s port, edit /etc/apache2/ports.conf :
nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf
Find NameVirtualHost *:80 and Listen 80 and change 80 in each to another port. We will change to 8080:
---
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 |
NameVirtualHost *:8080 Listen 8080 # NameVirtualHost will not be required in later versions # edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf and set virtual host to listen at : # <VirtualHost *:8080> # configure Varnish to start on port 80 : nano /etc/default/varnish # should look like this DAEMON_OPTS="-a :80 # Open /etc/varnish/user : nano /etc/varnish/user # should look like this : backend default { .host = "127.0.0.1"; .port = "8080"; } # change host! that is for single server setup # restart services service apache2 reload service varnish restart |
This is the basic setup with Varnish. It itself will give you a good polish. Get used with Varnish and tweak the performance. We could install on same server, but actually its better to use a separate server. It makes the load balance management easier.
About Abhishek Ghosh
Here’s what we’ve got for you which might like :
Additionally, performing a search on this website can help you. Also, we have YouTube Videos.
Take The Conversation Further ...
We'd love to know your thoughts on this article.
Meet the Author over on Google+ or Twitter to join the conversation right now!
If you want to Advertise on our Article or want Business Partnership, you are invited to Contact us.
Contact Us