LSCache + Joomla Configuration

LSCache, similar to Varnish cache, is a simpler and more efficient page caching solution built-in to LiteSpeed Web Server. When used in conjunction with Joomla, you can expect significant performance gains with a quick and easy setup. Cache management is also made significantly easier and more flexible. While Litespeed cache plugin for Joomla is still in development, user has the ability to use rewrite rules to customize LSCache's behavior.

Below are some recommended configurations to enable LSCache and get it working with your Joomla site(s).

Server/VirtualHost level cache storage needs to be configured properly for your environment. Select your server setup from the Web Server Configuration section of our LiteSpeed Cache Installation Guide and follow the instructions in the Set Server/VirtualHost Level Cache Root and cache policy section of your respective guide.

In your .htaccess file, located in the document root of your website, add rewrite rules right before the line:

## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.

########## Begin - Litespeed cache
<IfModule LiteSpeed>
  RewriteEngine On
  CacheDisable public /
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} ^HEAD|GET$
  RewriteCond %{ORG_REQ_URI} !/administrator
  RewriteRule .* - [E=Cache-Control:max-age=120]
</IfModule>
########## End - Litespeed cache

Note: “CacheDisable public /” directive is optional. It is to prevent any global cache enabling mistake. Normally you should check server global settings to avoid any global cache enabling. Do not use “CacheEnable public /” here since it will enable cache for all URLs of this virtual host, instead, rewrite rules will enable the cache for you.

########## Begin - Litespeed cache
<IfModule LiteSpeed>
  RewriteEngine On
  CacheEnable public /
  RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} ^HEAD|GET$
  RewriteCond %{ORG_REQ_URI} /administrator/
  RewriteRule .* - [E=Cache-Control:no-cache]
</IfModule>
########## End - Litespeed cache

########## Begin - Litespeed cache
<IfModule LiteSpeed>
 RewriteEngine On
 RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} ^HEAD|GET$
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com [NC] [OR]
 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain.com [NC]
 RewriteCond %{ORG_REQ_URI} !/administrator
 RewriteRule .* - [E=Cache-Control:max-age=120]
</IfModule>

Note: We recommend using a different domain for your backend so that you can add/edit/preview a website's content through the admin domain without worrying about these changes being cached and seen by visitors. For example: admin.domain.com for admin user, domain.com, and www.domain.com for general public. You can specify which domain to be cached, such as domain.com and www.domain.com, then admin.domain.com won't be cached.

You should see “X-LiteSpeed-Cache: hit” in your URL. If you see “X-LiteSpeed-Cache: miss”, reload the page again.

Set cron job to clear out old cache files that are past the set Time To Live (TTL).

To do this, you should run the crontab either by root user or shared hosting account user. Shared hosting account user can manage cache by himself.

crontab -e

Normally /virtualhost/cache/root/directory/ is at /home/$USER/lscache for shared hosting user or simply as /tmp/diskspace for dedicated server.

*/10 * * * * root find /virtualhost/cache/root/directory/ -type f -mmin +8 -delete 2>/dev/null

Note1: This cron job deletes cached files that are more than 8 minutes old every 10 minutes. Since the cache TTL is set at 120 seconds (2 minutes), it is safe to delete these files that are way passed TTL.

Note2: This is optional since lsws will delete expried cache automatically. This cron job can ensure cache work as expected. For example, due to some wrong configurations, some pages may have been set very long expiration time. The cron job above will ensure old cache deleted.