To enable server-side caching with Nginx for improved performance, follow the steps below:
Install Nginx: Firstly, make sure that Nginx is installed on your server. You can typically install Nginx using the package manager of your operating system. For example, on Ubuntu, you can run sudo apt install nginx to install Nginx.
Configure Cache Directory: Now, you need to specify a directory where the cache will be stored. Open the Nginx configuration file by running sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf. Find the http block and add the following line inside it:
proxy_cache_path /path/to/cache_directory levels=1:2 keys_zone=my_cache:10m inactive=60m;
Replace /path/to/cache_directory with the location where you want to store the cache.
Configure Cache Settings: Under the server block in the Nginx configuration file, you need to define caching rules. Add the following lines inside the server block:
proxy_cache my_cache;
proxy_cache_valid 200 302 10m;
proxy_cache_valid 404 1m;
Here, my_cache is the name of the cache zone, and proxy_cache_valid specifies the duration for which the cache will be considered valid. You can modify these values according to your requirements.
Enable Caching: To enable caching for a specific location or URL, add the following lines within the appropriate location block in the Nginx configuration file:
proxy_cache_bypass $http_cache_control;
proxy_no_cache $http_cache_control;
proxy_cache_lock on;
proxy_cache_key $scheme$proxy_host$request_uri;
proxy_cache_use_stale error timeout updating http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
proxy_cache_revalidate on;
These directives ensure that caching is enabled and handle cache-related headers appropriately.
Restart Nginx: Once you have made these changes, save the Nginx configuration file and exit your text editor. Then, restart Nginx using the command sudo service nginx restart (or sudo systemctl restart nginx on newer distributions).
After following these steps, Nginx is configured to cache responses from the backend server. Cached responses will be served to subsequent client requests, reducing the load on the backend server and improving overall performance.