Nginx Cache in WordPress sites

WordPress sites can be configured with server side cache. All new installations have this cache configured by default. Our cache TTL (time to live) defaults to 7 days and this can be configured separately for each site.

What is Nginx Cache?

Without cache every page needs to be "collected" from the database and the page needs to be built. If cache is in use, the HTML document of the page will be saved and next page loads can use that saved version of the page. This way the page load is almost instant because no Database connections or PHP functions need to be performed. This will greatly increase the speed of the site.

Problems may occur when site content is updated. Although we use a plugin for automatic flushing of the cache upon content updates, that automation might fail and those content updates may not become visible for logged out users. In this case manual purging of the cache is needed.

Note: Cache is omitted from the admin users, so if you're logged in your page loads will bypass the cache. Use browser’s private mode or log out to test the cached version of the page.

Clearing the Cache

In case the automatic cache flushing fails for some reason when you update content, you can manually clear the cache by accessing the Nginx Cache plugin admin page and clicking on "Purge Cache" in the top bar.