FastCGI Cache Purge and Preload for Nginx

Yes, the plugin is completely free to use.

For anyone who wants to use server side Nginx’s built-in caching mechanism to serve cached content directly. It is particularly beneficial for those who wish to manage purge and preload actions directly from the WordPress admin dashboard, WP Cron or REST API

No, this plugin does not introduce any performance overhead to your website. It operates exclusively within the WordPress admin environment and does not affect the frontend or public-facing aspects of your site.

Sure! Works 100% with all themes.

Sure! It works 100% with all plugins.

None.

Certainly! Nginx FastCGI cache operates differently from traditional WordPress cache plugins, functioning at the server level by storing fully generated HTML pages. As such, it can be used alongside other WordPress cache plugins without any compatibility issues.

Navigate to 'Settings' -> 'FastCGI Cache Purge and Preload' in the WordPress admin dashboard or navigate to 'Admin Bar' -> 'FastCGI Cache' to configure the options and use the actions.

This plugin is compatible exclusively with Nginx web servers running on Linux-powered systems. Additionally, the shell_exec function must be enabled and unrestricted. Consequently, the plugin may not operate fully on shared hosting environments where native Linux commands are blocked from running via PHP. Moreover, a correctly configured PHP-FPM and Nginx setup is essential for the purge and preload operations to function properly. Otherwise, permission issues may arise. If warnings appear, they may indicate permission issues, an unsupported environment, or missing dependencies required for cache operations. Please follow the warnings and refer to the plugin's 'Help' tab for detailed guidance.

For the preload action to work properly, the server needs to have the wget command installed. The plugin uses wget to preload cache by fetching pages. Additionally, it's highly recommended to have the cpulimit command installed to manage server load effectively during the preload action.

Encountering a permission error when attempting to purge cache from client side in Nginx environments is a common issue, especially when two distinct users, namely the WEBSERVER-USER and PHP-FPM-USER, are involved. This occurs due to differences in permissions between these users, often leading to access restrictions when trying to manipulate cache files. For detailed guidance on resolving this issue and automating server-side tasks using a bash script, please refer to the plugin settings Help tab.

The Nginx Cache Directory option has restrictions on the paths you can use to prevent accidental deletions or harm to critical system files. By default, certain paths, like '/home' and other vital system directories, are blocked to safeguard your system's stability and prevent data loss. While this might limit your options, it ensures your system's security. Recommended directories to choose from, such as '/dev/shm/' or '/var/cache/', which are commonly used for caching purposes and are generally safer.

NPP offers a more direct solution without any external NGINX module such as Cache Purge module. This plugin directly traverses the cache directory and clears cache if PHP-FPM and WEBSERVER user permissions are adjusted properly. To automate and fix these permission issues, there is a pre-made bash script that needs to be run manually on host server under the root user. bash <(curl -Ss https://psaux-it.github.io/install.sh) Note that, NPP also supports Nginx cache preloading with a simple direct approach, with the help of wget. This feature is missing in other Nginx Cache plugins. There are many cases where the external Nginx modules works fine for cache purge operations, but integrating the module with Nginx can be challenging for non-technical or regular WordPress users. Not every Linux distro packages this module or has outdated module versions, so users may need to follow extra steps to integrate it, which becomes more complicated. Also, there are other cases where even bleeding-edge module versions are easily installed and integrated with Nginx by users, but purge operations do not work as expected.

Yes, please refer to the plugin settings Help tab.