If you're looking for a way to improve site caching, speed up site load times and still protect your site from attacks, try our new WEDOS Protection service.
In this article you will learn:
- How Web Hosting Content Caching Works
- How to optimize page load speed
- Common problems
- Frequently Asked Questions
Caching content on a proxy server
The web hosting includes a caching reverse HTTP/S proxy. This powerful server handles all traffic and stores (caches) static web content such as static pages, images, CSS, JavaScript, etc. Repeated requests for the same document are then handled directly by the proxy server instead of the web server itself. The proxy server thus saves webserver performance while providing content much faster. You will especially feel the difference when you have high traffic to your website. The performance of the proxy is not limited in any way for the Webhosting service, which significantly increases the possible web traffic compared to a solution without a proxy.
For WMS, the number of queries is limited to 5 million. You can add additional requests through the Increase Number of Requests Handled by Proxy add-on service.
Optimising website speed
To speed up the loading of web pages, ensure:
- Enable caching of static content on the site (enabled by default);
- caching in the web application itself (for example, our WordPress plugin ⧉);
- using WEDOS Protection micro CDN ⧉.
Dynamic web content may slow down the proxy server slightly, but the delay is usually imperceptible. The proxy server is fully transparent and the page looks and behaves identically to the visitor as without the proxy. Similarly, from the web application's perspective, nothing changes and you don't have to make any changes to the site, except for the aforementioned caching of the page content.
Common problems
Common cache problems include:
No changes to the site
Problem: When we are debugging the site, we are getting the old version.
Cause: the old version may be cached in the browser or elsewhere.
Solution: First, check that the content is not cached in the browser. Check if the content is not present, and then reload the page using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + R.
If that doesn't help, the changes have probably been cached by the proxy server. You can disable this cache by editing the .htaccess file according to the Webhosting - .htaccess file instructions.
After you have finished editing, we recommend turning the proxy cache back on so that repeated queries do not unnecessarily burden the webserver and slow down your site.
Slow WordPress
Problem: After deploying caching plugins on WordPress, the website loads slowly or with errors.
Solution: Use only one caching plugin. If you can't disable plugins in the administration due to errors, disable them via FTP using the WordPress Community Guide - Broken site ⧉.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I activate Redis or Memcached for web hosting?
Neither Webhosting nor WMS use Redis or Memcached caching solutions. Therefore, they cannot be activated.