How to use Nginx for dynamic content caching

How to use Nginx for dynamic content caching

Nginx is a high-performance web server and reverse proxy server that is widely used to build high-performance websites and applications. In addition to being a server, Nginx can also be used as a cache server to cache static and dynamic content. This article will introduce how to use Nginx to cache dynamic content and improve website performance and user experience.

Nginx uses the proxy_cache module to implement the caching function. The following is a simple example configuration file:

http {
  proxy_cache_path /path/to/cache keys_zone=my_cache:10m;

  server {
    listen 80;
    server_name example.com;

    location / {
      proxy_pass http://backend;
      proxy_cache my_cache;
      proxy_cache_key $scheme$host$request_uri;
      proxy_cache_valid 200 302 10m;
      proxy_cache_valid 404 1m;
    }
  }

  upstream backend {
    server backend.example.com;
  }
}

In the above configuration file, we define a cache directory /path/to/cache and assign it a file named my_cachekeys_zone, so that Nginx can save the cache content to this directory. Then, we enable proxy mode in the location in the server block and forward the request to the backend server backend.example.com.

In the proxy_cache related configuration, we use the proxy_cache_key directive to define the cache key. Here we use the requested scheme, host and request_uri as the cache key. This ensures that the same request will be cached and avoids sending the same request to the backend server multiple times.

We also use the proxy_cache_valid directive to define the cache validity time. For responses with return codes 200 and 302, we set the validity time to 10 minutes; for responses with return code 404, we set the validity time to 1 minute. In this way, different cache times can be set based on different return codes.

After the configuration is completed, save the file and reload the Nginx configuration. Next, when a request arrives, Nginx will first check whether there is a cache. If there is, it will directly return the cache content. If not, it will forward the request to the backend server and save the response in the cache.

It is worth noting that Nginx’s cache is file-based, which means that the cache of dynamic content is usually saved as a static file. Therefore, if dynamic content changes frequently, or content needs to be returned based on user-specific information, you need to pay attention to the cache update strategy.

By using Nginx for dynamic content caching, the performance and user experience of the website can be greatly improved. When the cache hits, it can avoid repeated processing of requests and reduce the load on the back-end server. At the same time, because static files are transmitted faster, the page loading time can also be shortened and the user's access experience can be improved.

I hope this article can help everyone understand how to use Nginx for dynamic content caching. If you have any questions, please leave a message for discussion.

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