Apache Web Server Cache Frequently Used Files To Improve Performance

Posted by Vivek Gite [Last updated: June 30, 2008]

This FAQ is part 3 of 3 in the series Apache

Q. I'd like to cache few static pages or files that are viewed frequently such as index.html or order.html and so on. How do I cache files under Apache with using proxy solution?

A. You need to use mod_file_cache which can cache frequently requested files that change very infrequently is a technique for reducing server load. mod_file_cache provides two techniques for caching frequently requested static files. These techniques reduce server load when processing requests for these files by doing part of the work (specifically, the file I/O) for serving the file when the server is started rather than during each request.

Warning examples may crash your computer

WARNING! You cannot use this moule for speeding up CGI / php / perl / python dynamic programs. It can only be used for regular files which are usually served by the Apache core content handler.

How do I configure mod_file_cache?

Open your httpd.conf file, enter:
# vi httpd.conf
To cache index.html and faqs.html, enter:
MMapFile /var/www/domain.com/index.html MMapFile /var/www/domain.com/faqs.html

How do I cache all static files in a directory called /kb/?

Try the following code to get listing of all files:
# find /var/www/domain.com/kb/ -type f -print | sed -e 's/.*/mmapfile &/' > /etc/httpd/conf.d/mmap.conf
Now open httpd.conf file, using the Include directive:
Include /etc/httpd/conf.d/mmap.conf
Save and close the file. Restart httpd:
# service httpd restart