Server Configuration

Anonymous

#56700

Update I decided to remove memcached and W3 Total Cache.

Will keep researching.. People are talking about Redis with Nginx.

Trevor

#56835

Curiously, more esoteric things will have the bigger impact, in the actual hardware. W3TotalCache is pretty much undeveloped for a long time (there is an article about it on WPTavern).

On newer versions of PHP (5.6 and 7) do not use memcache or memcached. You can use Zend OpCache instead. But, if you use a modern cache plugin like CometCache, it will be better.

I have cPanel (58) on my dedicated server, and switching to EasyApache 4 made a noticeable speed improvement. I also use MariaDB 10.1 instead of MySQL.

The big difference was getting a new server with pure SSD drives and a 10gb uplink port with very low contention (others using it).

WordPress is database heavy, and this hammers the drives on the server. With SSD drives this is not so big an issue. With my server having a lot of RAM, I can also give a lot to WordPress to use for its cache.

Nginx, for me and others I know, is a nightmare to set up for WordPress and needs constant care and attention by a good techie.

cPanel requires Centos, and I use Centos 7 64 bit.

Most users make a basic mistake when choosing their host, and from then onwards things go downhill. There ARE some good hosts out there, but a lot of bad ones, including a LOT of the BIG names.

‘There be sharks in them thar waters.’ Don’t get bitten.

Anonymous

#58510

Unfortunately for me I am using Nginx + Mysql + Php-fpm 7 and will also install Redis Object caching once I figure out all the caching bits with Nginx. Not very straightforward but I think I am getting there.

Also using WP-Rocket which prove to be very good so far. Running dedicated droplet, 2GB RAM and 40GB SSD on Digital Ocean. That works well for now.

Trevor

#58532

How much do you pay for that? $20/mo. Cloudways do a Dedicated Cloud Server (you get one dedicated IP address) using the DO droplet of 2GB, 2 CPU cores, 40GB storage and 3TB transfer for $30/mo.

For that extra $10/mo, you get all their support (it is fast and good, but their documents are very good also), full management, setup etc. And their ‘Thunderstack’ server stack (Apache, Nginx, MySQL, MariaDB, Varnish, Memcache, Redis). It IS fast.

So much so that I am, this weekend, after trialing it for a while, switching my sites over to it (and then using mailcheap.co for shared email hosting at just $0.99/mo – having domain email on the same server as your site is not a good idea [and Cloudways do not allow it], and for outgoing mails from WordPress I use Gmail via the Postman plugin).

You can use their WP migration plugin (fill in the destination details and one click migrate – it uses BlogVault). And you get a great Control Panel (they call it platform) …….

It has a free 14 day trial and 20% off the first month right now with code ECOMM20.

The only thing I don’t like is that their Application install of WP includes W3TotalCache, which takes a bit of editing to get rid of, where I use CometCache. But a good thing is that they also install WordFence. Another plugin (you would need to buy as it is not free) that you might find very useful is Gonzales.

They have tons of other tools, like 1-Click Cloning of the server, 1-Click Backup & Restore, 1-Click Scaling, Team working tools (collaboration and projects), Staging Area & URLs, 1-Click Domain Mapping, Git deployment, Server Settings Console, Platform Level Firewalls, SSH & SFTP Access, Real-time Monitoring, 1-Click SSL (free using Let’s Encrypt). You can choose between multiple versions of PHP, MariaDB, and MySQL. Two-Factor Authentication for login, HTTP/2.

Got to be said, for the extra few dollars …. a no brainer.

Anonymous

#58565

wow ! that looks like a deal i can’t refuse, even after dedicating myself to learning so much about servers! Well I guess, that will make me actually focus on the real web development.

I will take you up on this offer. Thanks so much for sharing. If you have any referral codes, I would be happy to use them 🙂

Anonymous

#58567

I just discovered the postmarkapp for wordpress. Check that for your wordpress notifications! It has a lot of featured, DKIM, SPF and first 25,000 emails are free. Very reliable and easy to use.

I agree that emails should be separated from server. Using google apps ($5pm and also has DKIM, SPF and a lot of other things)

Trevor

#58569

I am going to give redis a go on this new server to see if it makes a difference. They have instructions on doing it.

Anonymous

#58571

There are some people complaining about Cloudways here http://do.co/2cek4ch
but i think it’s because they are not willing to go up to 2GB RAM to see the actual results

Trevor

#58573

Yes, but it is an old article.

A lot has changed since then. A LOT. I went with just the 1GB droplet version at $15. Why? It is easily big enough for ALL my sites. WordPress really doesn’t need more than 128M at most, and even under extremes no more than 256M. WordPress is not multi-threaded, so one CPU core is enough. If I look at the stats from my old server with just under 10 domains, this is confirmed.

So, even if I needed to go bigger and had multiple domains, I would actually get 2 x 1GB servers, as it is the same price as 1 x 2GB but has more storage and bandwidth!! Then I would have some sites on one, and some on the other. As it is scalable anyway, why buy more unless you have to?

Trevor

#58575

OK, so, I have now gone and made the changes I would to any site in PHP (increased memory, upload times, max_input_vars, timezones etc), switched to MariaDB, installed Redis, added Nginx Helper (set to redis) and Redis Object cache and enabled Cometcache. Cleared the caches. Loaded the test site from a privacy page (so that CometCache caches the page) then ran the site speed tests again. It now has Time to First Byte 3 times faster again than without these changes (65ms – that’s well over ten times faster than my old server) and the page loads bonkers fast, over ten times faster than my old server.

Given that the server is in London and the free Pingdom test doesn’t have London, I tested it from new York, with the likely delays and hit on the score. Performance A (98) and 72% faster than sites tested. At this stage I still haven’t optimized the images or minified/combined the css/js files!!

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