Nginx, Wordpress Network, and Fastcgi Cache: The Ultimate Guide.

Update: new sections in the nginx config for handling the wordpress admin section!

Update: new upstart script.
Update Feb 9, 2016 No longer need ngx_cache_purge compiled in, Ubuntu 14.04+ specific.

In honor of Antirez’ fantastic post here: On the web server scalability and speed are almost the same thing, I’m sharing my Nginx configuration for WordPress Network (previously WordPress-Mu).

I’m assuming you are running ubuntu and you know the basics of system administration. I’m also assuming you’re using some sort of fastcgi backend. I suggest this excellent howto from interfacelab as an excellent starting point.

First, go get the nginx mainline PPA. Might need to install common-software-properties first.

sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common
apt-add-repository -y ppa:nginx/development
apt-get update && apt-get install -y nginx-extras

sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common

apt-add-repository -y ppa:nginx/development

apt-get update && apt-get install -y nginx-extras

Next,in your nginx.conf, add this line in the http section:

http {
...
#this bit here keeps filesystem stats down to a minimum
# at the expense of some ram.
open_file_cache          max=5000  inactive=20s;
open_file_cache_valid    30s;
open_file_cache_min_uses 2;
open_file_cache_errors   on;

#ramming speed!
fastcgi_cache_path  /dev/shm/nginx  levels=1:2 keys_zone=WORDPRESS:32m inactive=64m;

...
}

http {

...

#this bit here keeps filesystem stats down to a minimum

# at the expense of some ram.

open_file_cache max=5000 inactive=20s;

open_file_cache_valid 30s;

open_file_cache_min_uses 2;

open_file_cache_errors on;

#ramming speed!

fastcgi_cache_path /dev/shm/nginx levels=1:2 keys_zone=WORDPRESS:32m inactive=64m;

...

}

This creates a cache of 64MB. It’s stored in memory, so be sure you’ve got overhead. If you’re running a blog, unless you’ve got HUGE files, it’s unlikely you’ll need this much cache, and you can probably safely pare this down further to save memory.

And the final piece, the server configuration for nginx. Note the usage of the variable $nocache, and also the purge location.

server {
    listen [::]:80; # both ipv4 and ipv6!
    server_name     .example.com; # if you are using subdomains

    gzip    on;
    gzip_http_version 1.1;
    gzip_vary on;
    gzip_comp_level 9;
    gzip_proxied any;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/x-javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;
    gzip_buffers 16 8k;
    gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6].(?!.*SV1)";

    client_max_body_size 8M;
    client_body_buffer_size 128k;

    access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log;
    keepalive_timeout 10;

    root     /var/www/wordpress;
    index    index.php;

    #on server block
    ##necessary if using a multi-site plugin
    server_name_in_redirect off;
    ##necessary if running Nginx behind a reverse-proxy
    # port_in_redirect off;
        
        #this is if you use w3total-cache and want to use it's minification
        #features with rewrites instead of get variables for a cdn.
        location ~* \.(css|js) {
         if (!-f $request_filename) {
           rewrite ^/wp-content/w3tc(.*?)/min/w3tc_rewrite_test$ /wp-content/w3tc$1/min/index.php?w3tc_rewrite_test=1 last;
           rewrite ^/wp-content/w3tc(.*?)/min/(.+\.+.(css|js))$ /wp-content/w3tc$1/min/index.php?file=$2 last;
           rewrite ^/wp-content/w3tc(.*?)/min/(.+\.(css|js))$ /wp-content/w3tc$1/min/index.php?file=$2 last;
           expires 365d;
         }
      }
# handle static files.
        location / {
                try_files $uri @wordpress;
                if_modified_since before; #keeps it new for the user
                expires 30d; # client side caching
       }

    # ugly but necessary regex.
    location @wordpress {
        rewrite ^.*/files/(.*) /wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1;
         if (!-e $request_filename) {
          rewrite ^.+/?(/wp-.*) $1 last;
            rewrite ^.+/?(/.*\.php)$ $1 last;
            rewrite ^(.+)$ /index.php?q=$1 last;
        }
        # use browser side caching for these
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control private;
    }

    # enable purging of stale content.
    # see this plugin:
    # http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nginx-proxy-cache-purge/
    # activate it network wide

    location ~ /purge(/.*) {
      fastcgi_cache_purge WORDPRESS $host$1$request_method;
        allow SOME.IP.ADD.RESS;
        deny all;
    } 

    location ~ \.php$ {
        # Zero-day exploit defense
        # http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,88845,page=3
        # Won't work properly (404 error) if the file is not stored on this
        #server, which is entirely possible with php-fpm/php-fcgi.
        # Comment the 'try_files' line out if you set up php-fpm/php-fcgi on
        #another machine.  And then cross your fingers that you won't get hacked.
        try_files $uri =404;

        # checks to see if the visitor is logged in, a commenter,
        # or some other user who should bypass cache
        set $nocache "";
        if ($http_cookie ~ (comment_author_.*|wordpress_logged_in.*|wp-postpass_.*)) {
          set $nocache "Y";
        }

        #the usual fastcgi pass, I like unix sockets, less resource contention
        fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
        fastcgi_param    REMOTE_ADDR  $http_client_ip;
        fastcgi_index    index.php;
        fastcgi_param    SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
        fastcgi_pass     unix:/tmp/php5-fastcgi.socket;
        # here is the fastcgi caching magic:

        # bypass cache if logged in.
        # Be sure that this is above all other fastcgi_cache directives
        fastcgi_no_cache $nocache;
        fastcgi_cache_bypass $nocache;

        # use stale cache if the backend fails.
        fastcgi_cache_use_stale error timeout invalid_header http_500;

        # cache key is based on the host and the uri, you could add other
        # key variables here as it suites your needs
        fastcgi_cache_key $host$request_uri$request_method;
        fastcgi_cache    WORDPRESS;

        # what to cache, and for how long
        fastcgi_cache_valid  200 302 10m;
        fastcgi_cache_valid  301 1h;
        fastcgi_cache_valid  any 1m;

    }

    location /nginx_status {
        # copied from http://blog.kovyrin.net/2006/04/29/monitoring-nginx-with-rrdtool/
        stub_status on;
        access_log   off;
        allow SOME.IP.ADD.RESS;
        deny all;
    }
}

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server {

listen [::]:80; # both ipv4 and ipv6!

server_name .example.com; # if you are using subdomains

gzip on;

gzip_http_version 1.1;

gzip_vary on;

gzip_comp_level 9;

gzip_proxied any;

gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/x-javascript text/xml application/xml application/xml+rss text/javascript;

gzip_buffers 16 8k;

gzip_disable "MSIE [1-6].(?!.*SV1)";

client_max_body_size 8M;

client_body_buffer_size 128k;

access_log /var/log/nginx/access.log;

keepalive_timeout 10;

root /var/www/wordpress;

index index.php;

#on server block

##necessary if using a multi-site plugin

server_name_in_redirect off;

##necessary if running Nginx behind a reverse-proxy

# port_in_redirect off;

#this is if you use w3total-cache and want to use it's minification

#features with rewrites instead of get variables for a cdn.

location ~* \.(css|js) {

if (!-f $request_filename) {

rewrite ^/wp-content/w3tc(.*?)/min/w3tc_rewrite_test$ /wp-content/w3tc$1/min/index.php?w3tc_rewrite_test=1 last;

rewrite ^/wp-content/w3tc(.*?)/min/(.+\.+.(css|js))$ /wp-content/w3tc$1/min/index.php?file=$2 last;

rewrite ^/wp-content/w3tc(.*?)/min/(.+\.(css|js))$ /wp-content/w3tc$1/min/index.php?file=$2 last;

expires 365d;

}

# handle static files.

location / {

try_files $uri @wordpress;

if_modified_since before; #keeps it new for the user

expires 30d; # client side caching

}

# ugly but necessary regex.

location @wordpress {

rewrite ^.*/files/(.*) /wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$1;

if (!-e $request_filename) {

rewrite ^.+/?(/wp-.*) $1 last;

rewrite ^.+/?(/.*\.php)$ $1 last;

rewrite ^(.+)$ /index.php?q=$1 last;

}

# use browser side caching for these

expires 30d;

add_header Cache-Control private;

}

# enable purging of stale content.

# see this plugin:

# http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nginx-proxy-cache-purge/

# activate it network wide

location ~ /purge(/.*) {

fastcgi_cache_purge WORDPRESS $host$1$request_method;

allow SOME.IP.ADD.RESS;

deny all;

}

location ~ \.php$ {

# Zero-day exploit defense

# http://forum.nginx.org/read.php?2,88845,page=3

# Won't work properly (404 error) if the file is not stored on this

#server, which is entirely possible with php-fpm/php-fcgi.

# Comment the 'try_files' line out if you set up php-fpm/php-fcgi on

#another machine. And then cross your fingers that you won't get hacked.

try_files $uri =404;

# checks to see if the visitor is logged in, a commenter,

# or some other user who should bypass cache

set $nocache "";

if ($http_cookie ~ (comment_author_.*|wordpress_logged_in.*|wp-postpass_.*)) {

set $nocache "Y";

}

#the usual fastcgi pass, I like unix sockets, less resource contention

fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;

fastcgi_param REMOTE_ADDR $http_client_ip;

fastcgi_index index.php;

fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

include fastcgi_params;

fastcgi_pass unix:/tmp/php5-fastcgi.socket;

# here is the fastcgi caching magic:

# bypass cache if logged in.

# Be sure that this is above all other fastcgi_cache directives

fastcgi_no_cache $nocache;

fastcgi_cache_bypass $nocache;

# use stale cache if the backend fails.

fastcgi_cache_use_stale error timeout invalid_header http_500;

# cache key is based on the host and the uri, you could add other

# key variables here as it suites your needs

fastcgi_cache_key $host$request_uri$request_method;

fastcgi_cache WORDPRESS;

# what to cache, and for how long

fastcgi_cache_valid 200 302 10m;

fastcgi_cache_valid 301 1h;

fastcgi_cache_valid any 1m;

}

location /nginx_status {

# copied from http://blog.kovyrin.net/2006/04/29/monitoring-nginx-with-rrdtool/

stub_status on;

access_log off;

allow SOME.IP.ADD.RESS;

deny all;

}

Be sure to install the nginx_proxy_cache_purge plugin, and activate it network wide. And that’s it!

Just for kicks, try:

ab -c 1000 -n 10000 http://yourdomainhere.com/

1	ab -c 1000 -n 10000 http://yourdomainhere.com/

Post your results in the comments!

If you happen to be using a recent ubuntu, try this out for your upstart script

description "nginx http daemon"
author "George Shammas "

start on (filesystem and net-device-up IFACE=lo)
stop on runlevel [!2345]

env DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/nginx
env PID=/var/run/nginx.pid

expect fork
respawn

pre-start script
$DAEMON -t
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then exit $?
fi
end script

post-stop script
start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile $PID --name nginx --exec $DAEMON --signal TERM
end script

exec $DAEMON

description "nginx http daemon"

author "George Shammas "

start on (filesystem and net-device-up IFACE=lo)

stop on runlevel [!2345]

env DAEMON=/usr/local/bin/nginx

env PID=/var/run/nginx.pid

expect fork

respawn

pre-start script

$DAEMON -t

if [ $? -ne 0 ]

then exit $?

end script

post-stop script

start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile $PID --name nginx --exec $DAEMON --signal TERM

end script

exec $DAEMON

Alchemist

Nginx, WordPress Network, and Fastcgi Cache: The Ultimate Guide.

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