Question

I am currently working on my WordPress blog, which is hosted on a VPS.NET VPS with Nginx as front end to Apache to serve static files, while Apache takes care of the PHP in FastCGI. This seems to be working great, however I haven’t yet managed to have Nginx serve WP-SuperCache files as well, which I would like for maximum performance (I am not planning to completely replace Apache with Nginx right now because I’ve got a Virtualmin license and it does not support Nginx).
I have tried a lot of rules found here and there but in the end none worked for me or I am missing something.
If Apache is stopped, in fact, I can still get images, stylesheets and javascript delivered to the browser by Nginx directly.
But if I try to surf the blog (with pages cached for sure by WP-SuperCache) with Apache stopped, all I get from Nginx is a “502 bad gateway”.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Nginx can handle your fastCGI. Bundled with Nginx, generally, all Apache does is cost you resources.

Regarding WP Super Cache, if you create a new file and paste this, it’ll give you both that and, while we’re about it, FURLs…

# if the requested file exists, return it immediately
if (-f $request_filename) {
break;
}

set $supercache_file '';
set $supercache_uri $request_uri;

if ($request_method = POST) {
set $supercache_uri '';
}

# Using pretty permalinks, so bypass the cache for any query string
if ($query_string) {
set $supercache_uri '';
}

if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author_|wordpress|wp-postpass_" ) {
set $supercache_uri '';
}

# if we haven't bypassed the cache, specify our supercache file
if ($supercache_uri ~ ^(.+)$) {
set $supercache_file /wp-content/cache/supercache/$http_host/$1index.html;
}

# only rewrite to the supercache file if it actually exists
if (-f $document_root$supercache_file) {
rewrite ^(.*)$ $supercache_file break;
}

# all other requests go to WordPress
if (!-e $request_filename) {
rewrite . /index.php last;
}

Now, goto your virtual host file, or nginx.conf if you bundle your sites, and add a line like ..

# WordPress WP Super Cache plugin and permalinks.
include /usr/local/nginx/conf/wordpress_params.super_cache;

.. where wordpress_params.super_cache is what you called the file we created, and given a path relative to that I’ve shown.

Then restart Nginx and turn on WP Super Cache plugin and, for the pretty links, add a permalink structure.

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Fact is, there’s a lot to know about to get the Nginx install right, especially with WordPress and to configure fastCGI. If you like, this would be a good start for you…

.. Setup WordPress on NGINX (FURLs & Cache) – VPS Bible Pt 13

Re. Virtualmin .. I understand you want a CP, but truth is, the resource cost is greater than the cost of the software .. plus it takes way longer to do stuff with a CP.

I’m currently publishing a 21 part VPS Admin series which addresses the lack of an Nginx CP .. that’ll be all you need, frankly.

Given a week or two, I challenge you to tell me it’s quicker or otherwise better to use a CP 🙂