In today’s times, a website needs to be fast. Online users have a low tolerance for slow-loading sites. Also, search engines offer a higher rank to faster sites. While choosing the right web hosting plan is important in ensuring high loading times, many other tools can help you boost the site speed. Caching tools are one such set of tools that can help boost the speed and performance of your site. Whether you opt for shared hosting, Cloud Hosting, VPS hosting, or dedicated hosting, caching tools can help improve site speed to a great extent. Today, we will talk about Varnish Cache, a caching tool, and look at how it works and impacts your site’s performance.
What is Varnish Cache?
To understand Varnish Cache, let’s look at some basics:
- Reverse Proxy – A reverse proxy is a server that sits between a web server and the user’s device. It filters the requests received by the server based on preset rules. It offers many benefits, including caching.
- Caching – Caching is the process of storing site data in a temporary place for future use. When you use a reverse proxy, the caching process involves storing site data and processing requests using the cached data without querying the server.
- Varnish Cache – This is an HTTP Reverse Proxy Server that caches both static and dynamic site content.
Know more about Varnish Cache in this video:
How does Varnish Cache Work?
- When a user visits the website, the request is received by Varnish Cache.
- If the requested data is available in its cache, then the request is processed directly without sending any query to the web server.
- If the data is not available, the request is forwarded to the server, and the retrieved data is forwarded to the user’s device.
- The cached data can be refreshed at any frequency you like. You can use the Varnish Configuration Language (VCL) to configure and set rules and policies for the tool.
How can you use Varnish Cache on your website?
Most cloud hosting providers offer Varnish Cache as a part of the hosting package. If you opt for a cloud server hosting plan, you might want to check if the company is offering the service and install it as per the guidelines specified by the host. You can also purchase Varnish Cache separately and install it on your web server. The process requires some amount of technical expertise, so seek professional help if needed.
Summing Up
Caching is an effective way to boost the speed and performance of a website. With tools like Varnish Cache, site owners can ensure that the visitors have a seamless experience and the SEO rankings improve. An SSD cloud hosting plan offers an optimally performing server that can help improve loading times. If you opt for a cloud hosting service, then using Varnish Cache can boost your site speed by up to 1000x! Ensure that before you buy cloud hosting, you check with the provider about the caching solution offered. Good Luck!