How to boost/speed up your TYPO3 website with nginx.
NOTICE. New version available. Now you can use evo_nginx_boost without nginx. You need ony TYPO3 and memcache. New manual of evo_nginx_boost – http://techblog.evo.pl/en/evo_nginx_boost-extension/
TYPO3 cache
The TYPO3 performance issue is often a subject of discussion. I found a number of various tricks, which can speed up the page generation time, including nc_staticfilecache and dmc_highperformance modules. The latest alpha version of TYPO3 contains radical changes in the caching mechanism, enabling us to choose from various support functions, such as file, memcache, database or apc.
Problem
All of the above solutions, with the exception of nc_staticfilecache, have one thing in common: in order to read cache, one has to invoke a php process, read and parse the cached data, and then send the information to the browser.
Let’s perform a simple test using the ab tool. We will check the number of queries per second for a complex Web site.
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Server Software: Apache/2.2.6
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Server Hostname: localhost
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Server Port: 80
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Total transferred: 5064709 bytes
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HTML transferred: 5031914 bytes
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Requests per second: 1.02 [#/sec] (mean)
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Time per request: 976.265 [ms] (mean)
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Time per request: 976.265 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
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Transfer rate: 50.66 [Kbytes/sec] received
The number of request per second amounts to 1.02!
What if our site has to support a thousand of such queries every second? Even with the most efficient caching mechanism, each PHP parser call will result in very heavy server load.
Nginx
The NGINX proxy server can help us with this problem. While not a completely new solution, a clever combination of this proxy and TYPO3 can result in a two hundred-fold performance increase! The solution I’m describing will support traffic for logged in and guest users, can take into account any Web site changes implemented upon user login, as well as support various TYPO3 cache settings.
This is how it looks on diagram:
Nginx Typo3 and Memcache
The user requests a page. Nginx checks the user’s cookie. If we set a cookie named nginx_boost_noCache, the query is sent directly to the Apache server and then to TYPO3, bypassing the memchache entirely. Thus, the cookie allows for easy control of memcache caching mechanism, providing the ability to turn the mechanism off unconditionally in specific situations. This can be implemented in any plugin present in our system. An excerpt from the nginx config file used to support this situation is presented below.
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{
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proxy_pass http://domain;
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break;
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}
If nginx cannot find the nginx_boost_noCache cookie, it will check for a cached page in memcache. $request_uri is used as a search key.
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set $memcached_key $request_uri;
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# Check if local memcached server can answer this request
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default_type text/html;
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memcached_pass 192.168.168.3:11211;
If our page is not present in the memcache, nginx will again send a query to the Apache server. Apache, in turn, invokes TYPO3, generates the page, and evo_nginx_boost writes this page to the memcache, using the requested url for the memcache_key.
$memcache_key = “domain/about-us”
Each subseqent request for this page will be sent directly from the memcache, without the need to run the PHP process again.
Our plug-in fully supports TYPO3 caching times for each party, as well as the cache_period value. If the caching time value is not set in TYPO3, we will be using a default value set in the plug-in’s configuration file.
What if the user logs in?
It all depends on what we do. Using nginx and evo_nxginx_boost, we can completely disable caching for logged in users. However, while analysing our needs and web page statistics, we have come to the conclusion that logged in users often read – and return to – the same pages. A change must be made when the user sends a POST request, i.e.: writes a comment or a blog article. In this situation, will be using the hook in the class.tslib_fe.php – initFEuser class.
If the user logs in, we set the nginx_boost_fe_user cookie to the value of the fe_typo_user cookie.
$memcache_key = “domain/blogs/us1b27c2c23bdb600912561e08a7e4886b”
Upon receiving a POST or another operation which requires content refresh, we add versions to this value. The evon_nginx_boost plugin then writes a new version of the page to the memcache.
$memcache_key = “domain/blogs/us1b27c2c23bdb600912561e08a7e4886b_1″
After a five minute period, this version of the page will expire and nginx will send a new request to Apache and Typo3. If another user adds a comment to the blog at this time, we will see it in 5 minutes.
It would also be advisable to set short caching times to pages with quickly-chanigng content. In a social website under a heavy load, we remove the page from cache in 1 to 5 minutes, which gives us the ability to support heavy traffic.
Now to perform ab tests of the above solution.
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Server Software: nginx/0.6.35
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Server Hostname: localhost
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Server Port: 80
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Total transferred: 10103800 bytes
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HTML transferred: 10089200 bytes
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Requests per second: 400.05 [#/sec] (mean)
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Time per request: 2.500 [ms] (mean)
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Time per request: 2.500 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
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Transfer rate: 39468.58 [Kbytes/sec] received
The number of request per second is 400.05!
evo_nginx_boost configuration description
| Property: | Data type: | Description: | Default: |
|---|---|---|---|
| enable | string | enable disable memcaching | 1 |
| forceTimeoutToAllPages | int | set default memcache expiration time (has priority over TYPO3 setting) | 0 |
| disableCacheForLoogedUsers | int | enable/disable memcaching for logged users | 0 |
| cleanOnClearAllCache | int | if set, memcache is cleared when backend user click clear cache | |
| setPageCacheTimeout OverrideAllTypoSettings | int | if you enable this option, you can override all expires time from your user_int extension, fg if you have page with four extensions and each extension calls static function:
if (method_exists(’tx_evo_nginx_boost’, ’setPageCacheTimeout’) evo_nginx_boost set expire time to the lowest value set in all 4 plugins |
1 |
| _mainServerIP | string | memcache server ip | |
| _mainServerPort | string | memcache server port | |
| _mainServerPersistent | int | enable persistant connection | 1 |
| _mainServerTimeout | string | memcache server connection timeout | 1 |
| memcacheSignature | int | add signature to end o pages | 1 |
| memcacheSignatureText | string | text of signature fg “CACHED BY ME  ”. If you set memcacheSignature = 1 time of expiration is added to the end of memcacheSignatureText |
1 |
| excludedUrls | array | Set in ext_localconf. This is array of urls which should be excluded from memcaching. Let say you have confirmation message after successfuly saving post in user’s blog. Page with message “your post was saved” will be memcached. You can add parameter message=1 and put this in array. Evo_nginx_boost exclude this url from memcaching. | 1 |
The plugin is also equipped with a BE module, which allows us to monitor all parameters related to the memcache server. The cachedump option allows for viewing saved web pages and their assigned memcache keys:
Backend module
The solution was tested on a very complex Web site with a large number of USER and USER_INT extensions. Comments are suggestions are very welcome.
Download files:
- nginx configuration file nginx.conf
- typo3 extension evo_ngix_boost
- the nginx server can be downloaded at http://nginx.net/
Please note:
The versions of nginx available through apt-get in Ubuntu 8.04.1 exhibits an error.
Bugfix: a segmentation fault occurred in worker process, if the “memcached_pass” and “if” directives were used in the same location.
If nginx and apache are run on separate machines, remember to match their date/time values.
Witam,
literówka -> przyspieszyć, nie przyśpieszyć
pzdr,
PKo
Bartosz, thanks for the interesting writeup;
I’d be interested in how the performance of your nginx-memcached setup compares
with a setup we’re running using squid as reverse proxy and typo3s cache-headers. IMHO the squid setup is easier as it wont need memcached as squid keeps cached pages in memory and on disk. (memcached however would offer better scalability).
regards georg
Hi Georg, I do not have lot of experience with squid. I can tell what you can do with nginx and memacache. You can very flexible controle what is memcached and how. You can memcache user_int extension. You can flexible clear memcache after various user actions. You can set different memcache timeout within your extension. With upcoming version you can clear memcache of page, tree, user (all pages where particular user make some actions). We developed this extension for community website where content change every miniute. We found that lot of very high traffic website use memcache. Please find very intresting article about memcache and facebook http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=23844338919.
Hi Bartosz,
this sounds very interesting.
What version of Typo3 is required for this extension?
Best Regards,
Rainer
4.2.X and higher
We are going to publish new version next week.
New version will work in two modes: with nginx and standalone (with small odifications of index.php)
Ah, OK.
Thanks for the info!
Any news on this?
Sorry for getting back to you on this and taking you on your word, but I find your project interesting.
Best Regards,
Rainer
Hi Rainer
)
I try to upload new version till sunday. (till monday, edited on sunday
I’m using Nginx on one of our servers for Magento, but recently thought about using it for TYPO3, too.
Will try this out anytime soon. Thanks for the nice write-up!
There is a new version available. I will add new manual tomorrow. We’ve added lots of new features.
I wonder why you are still using Apache and do not run typo3 directly on nginx…any reason for that?
That’s depends on your architecture. I use nginx with 3 backend server, so Nginx works like load balancer. We had previous setup with apache so it was easer for us to add nginx as frontend server. I have also lower load with apache+mod_php5 than nginx+fastcgi or apacha+fastcgi. Anyway you can use nginx+memcache+fastcgi if you want.
First of all thank you for this really interesting article. I’m running a lot of Typo3-Sites on my server. Is there a way to have one nginx.conf which work for all my sites or is one config for each Typo3-Site a must have?
You can have one config for all your site. That is no problem.
Maybe you have some hints for me? I’ve configured nginx, memcached and apache so far, that one page works find. What must be done to have your config working for all my domains? Are there some kind of variables for the domainname? I’m a little bit confused at the moment.
I wrote an extension to add auto clearing of the cache if BE users make any changes on pages or content elements. If you are interested in embedding this functionality in your extension then please contact me. It is done with hooks. Additionally I found a small bug in the default mode of the module. Thanks for your great work. It is milestone for TYPO3 performance and quite easy to configure!
Hi Alexander. Thanks for comments.
Can you open bug report on Forge ?
http://forge.typo3.org/projects/show/extension-evo_nginx_boost
Hi, I made a patch that fixes issues with php5-memcache-3.x (e.g. debian lenny)
— class.tx_evo_nginx_boost.php.old 2009-08-12 06:58:55.000000000 +0200
+++ class.tx_evo_nginx_boost.php 2009-08-12 07:05:00.000000000 +0200
@@ -239,7 +239,19 @@
*/
public function getServersStatistics($type = null, $slabid = null, $limit = 100)
{
- return $this->connected>0 ? $this->memcache->getExtendedStats($type, $slabid, $limit) : false;
+ /* patch (c) 2009 by Veit Nachtmann, veit@nachtmann.it
+ *
+ * $type cannot be null or the lib (>3.x) will throw an error. simple workaround.
+ */
+ if ($this->connected > 0) {
+ if (is_null($type)) {
+ return $this->memcache->getExtendedStats();
+ } else {
+ return $this->memcache->getExtendedStats($type, $slabid, $limit);
+ }
+ } else {
+ return false;
+ }
}
/**
Thanks for the path.
We will put it soon.
I’m having trouble with this, everything misses the memcache (using nginx), and with the php-approach, every page stays blank…
any hints?
Do you have any record in CacheDump section?
Hi, great work!
It’s very interesting and I tried nginx to serve the TYPO3 rendered pages. It gives me 50% more speed (while no load). Parsing time is about 35ms instead of 70ms.
But what I wonder is what port to you bind apache to? You write nothing about that, and is there no conflict, if apache and nginx listen to Port80?
Thank you
Greetings
Feelx
You can setup apache to listen on 127.0.0.1 port 82 and proxy nginx to mentioned port. Nginx is great tool to make load ballancer.
I have big doubts if you can reduce time by 50% with nginx+php. Plase check this benchmark http://blog.a2o.si/2009/06/24/apache-mod_php-compared-to-nginx-php-fpm/
Nginx+php+memcached this is the best way:)
hey, nevermind, I fixed it.
I was using the wrong cache-key with nginx -.-, php failed for some other reason, now it works perfectly.
I also use nginx to punch out static files, works IMHO much better than relying on apache to do the job (I have both on the same machine).
Thanks you your work!
Great that you like and it and fix your problem
hi,
after deploying it in our live-environment, I had to deactivate it again, because it slightly uses more CPU than bare typo3, so the load (which is at the edge right now), increased to 120
The problem are the cache-misses, it’s like 1:10, hit:miss. With 200 objects in the memcache. 30000 misses after 1 hour.
How could I debug that?
I guess this is a problem with cookies, aparently 90% of our users have them set, though I’m not sure. Tests with ab work perfectly, 2kreq/s at least. But on the live env, this just explodes
plz halp
nginx or php-aproach?
what you mean “…with cookies, aparently 90% of our users have them set,”?
These are logged users? If yes, please turn off memcaching for logged users and check again. I need more info about your configuration.
Is there an option that USER_INT object would not be cached AT ALL? I have some plugins on my webpage that display user’s information based on IP (in footer, so basically every page has a USER_INT objact).
No, ajax-based solution is your friend
Hello,
i wanted to try this nice extension. But when i try i get an error on my FE, it says that the tx_evo_nginx_boost_index_conf.php is not there.
I wrote in my index.php:
require_once(’typo3conf/ext/evo_nginx_boost/tx_evonginxboost_index.php’);
And then it says on line 6, the file is not there and this is the conf. file.
What should i do?
P.S.: I dont got NGINX server on my server.
@louS
After you add
require_once(’typo3conf/ext/evo_nginx_boost/tx_evonginxboost_index.php’); to inde.php go to extension manager and set extendTypo3indexphp to 1 in evo_nginx_boost configuration then press update. Required file should be created.
Hmm i did, now i get this error:
Fatal error: Class ‘Memcache’ not found in /typo3conf/ext/evo_nginx_boost/class.tx_evo_nginx_boost.php on line 17
@louS
pecl install memcache
you don’t have php-memcache
Ah ok ;D
Its hard to install on my server?
@louS
This is very simple task. Howere you must contact your server administrator to install php-memcache.
Can’t help you with that
Ok sure no prob
Do i have to do something else after i installed php memcache?
Ah i forgot to tell you, when i click on “Evo Nginx Boost” in my typo3 menu, i just see a blank site
1. install memcached server
2. install php-memcache
3. restart web serwer
4. install evo_nginx_boost
5. add require_once to index.php
6. set extendTypo3indexphp to 1 and update configuration
7. seat and watch
p.s if something go wrong, check webserver error log,
memcached server?
You sad i just need to install php memcache?
Ah never mind, i cant install php memcache
I asked already
memcached server and php-memcache
please use google
I don’t see the error reporting line in any index.php file. I see it in Typo3/init.php should I add it there? I have tried and I keep getting a fatal error:
Warning: Division by zero in /home/mosaics/public_html/typo3/init.php on line 69
Warning: require_once(php’) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/mosaics/public_html/typo3/init.php on line 69
Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required ‘php’’ (include_path=’.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php’) in /home/mosaics/public_html/typo3/init.php on line 69
Put the line in typo3/index.php at line 65 and it seem to work and is waayy fast!
lin 65 is ok too, but better at top of index.php
I am glad that you like it. Regards.
Witam,
ostatnio proboje przyspieszyc jedna strone ktora ma wg. opisu zrobiona ta konfiguracje, jednak zastanawiam sie dlaczego w katalogu typo3temp/cache_pages mam pare giga danych , a w memcached znacznie mniej.
Czy jest w ogole sens tego katalogu ?
da sie to jakos wylaczyc by siedzialo to tylko i wylacznie w memcached ?
oczywiscie mowie o typo3 4.2 , przy 4.3 to wiem jak to zrobic, jednak jest wciaz w wersji alpha.
Dziekuje z gory za odpowiedz.
nie da się wyłączyć ponieważ nasze rozwiązanie nie jest zamiennikiem, jeśli w memcached skończy się miejsce które zaplanowałeś, wtyczka będzie nadpisywać rekordy przeterminowane. O ile dobrze pamiętam w wersji 4.2 typo3 nie posiada garbage collectora i nie zajmuje się usuwaniem wyexpirowanych rekordów. Możesz to zrobić sam pisząc odpowiedni moduł albo usuwać cały cache w nocy. Oczywiście zależy to od wielu czynników.