How to set up caching in Apache web server

Caching, when properly configured, can instruct user's browsers to locally store and reuse previously fetched resources. This ensures faster page loads for returning users, as their browsers can retrieve resources from the local cache instead of making repeated requests to the server.

Most modern websites and web applications use browser caching to enhance the user experience. In Apache, this can be achieved using specific headers that direct the user's browser on what content should be cached and for how long. Caching in Apache can be implemented using different mechanisms such as mod_cache, mod_cache_disk, mod_mem_cache and mod_socache_shmcb, depending on the requirements and available resources.

Configuring caching in Apache involves understanding the nature of your web content, determining what content should be cached, and configuring the relevant caching directives. This may include setting expiration dates, cache size, and other parameters related to caching behavior.

1. Install the necessary caching modules for Apache.

   $ sudo a2enmod socache_shmcb expires
   Enabling module socache_shmcb.
   Enabling module expires.
   To activate the new configuration, you need to run:
     systemctl restart apache2

   Distribution with a2enmod support can simply run the command above without having to manually enable the required modules.

   Related: How to enable or disable Apache modules

2. Open the Apache configuration file using your preferred text editor.

   $ sudo vi /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

   Related: Location for Apache configuration

3. Add the following lines to configure the cache settings according to your needs.

   <IfModule mod_cache_socache.c>
       CacheEnable socache /
       CacheSocache shmcb
       CacheSocacheMaxSize 512000
       CacheDefaultExpire 3600
       # Other directives as necessary
   </IfModule>

   Directive	Description
   CacheEnable	This directive defines the storage type and the URL space for the cache. Example: CacheEnable socache / enables memory-based caching (using shared object cache) for all URLs.
   CacheSocache	Defines the shared object cache provider to use for caching. In this case, shmcb indicates using a shared memory mechanism for storage.
   CacheSocacheMaxSize	Sets the maximum amount of shared memory storage in bytes. In this example, 512000 bytes (or 0.5MB) is allocated for the cache storage.
   CacheDefaultExpire	Determines the default expiration time in seconds for cached content. If no expiration time is specified in the HTTP headers, this value is used. Example: 3600 sets a default expiration time of one hour.

4. Set up cache control headers in your htaccess or virtual host file for more granular control.

   <FilesMatch ".(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|js|css)$">
     ExpiresActive On
     ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 month"
   </FilesMatch>

5. Restart Apache to apply the changes.

   $ sudo systemctl restart apache2 # Ubuntu and Debian
   $ sudo systemctl restart httpd # CentOS and Red Hat

   Related: How to manage the Apache web server service

6. Verify that caching is working by inspecting the HTTP headers of a cached resource.

   $ curl -I https://www.example.com/image.png
   HTTP/1.1 200 OK
   Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2023 09:13:40 GMT
   Server: Apache/2.4.55 (Ubuntu)
   Last-Modified: Fri, 25 Aug 2023 08:57:56 GMT
   ETag: "1f61-603bb8a696d78"
   Accept-Ranges: bytes
   Content-Length: 8033
   Cache-Control: max-age=2592000
   Expires: Sun, 24 Sep 2023 09:13:40 GMT
   Content-Type: image/png

   Look for headers like Cache-Control and ETag in the response to confirm caching.