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tokar93
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tokar93

Configure Varnish with Apache on Ubuntu 14.04

November 13, 2014 25.2k views

Hi

How can i install and configure Varnish to work whit Apache on Ubuntu 14.04?

1 comment
  • chavab1 July 3, 2016

    I followed these instructions and my site is being served however I'm not seeing any varnish headers. Am I missing a step?

    Thanx

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4 Answers
asb MOD November 13, 2014

Configuring Varnish to work with Apache on Ubuntu 14.04 is largely similar to this article covering 12.04.

I just ran through a basic set up on 14.04. The first step is to install Apache and Varnish:

sudo apt-get install varnish apache2

Then we need to configure Varnish to listen on port 80. Edit the file /etc/default/varnish Find the section begin with "Alternative 2, Configuration with VCL" Make sure it's uncommented and update the port:

DAEMON_OPTS="-a :80 \
             -T localhost:6082 \
             -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl \
             -S /etc/varnish/secret \
             -s malloc,256m"

Next we need to adjust Apache to listen on port 8080. Edit /etc/apache2/ports.conf and change Listen 80 to Listen 8080 Then edit /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf and change <VirtualHost *:80> to <VirtualHost *:8080>

Finally, restart Varnish and Apache with:

sudo service apache2 restart
sudo service varnish restart

Varnish is now sitting in front of Apache and serving cached content.

How To Install and Configure Varnish with Apache on Ubuntu 12.04
by Etel Sverdlov
Varnish is an HTTP accelerator and a useful tool for speeding up a server, especially during a times when there is high traffic to a site. It works by redirecting visitors to static pages whenever possible and only drawing on the virtual private server itself if there is a need for an active process. This tutorial covers setting up Varnish with Apache on Ubuntu 12.04.
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  • tokar93 November 13, 2014

    Nice. Should it be any performance increase to run varnish on a separate VPS?

    Like this guide?

    https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-configure-varnish-cache-4-0-with-ssl-termination-on-ubuntu-14-04

    How To Configure Varnish Cache 4.0 with SSL Termination on Ubuntu 14.04
    Varnish Cache is a caching HTTP reverse proxy, or HTTP accelerator, which reduces the time it takes to serve content to a user. In this tutorial, we will cover how to use Varnish Cache 4.0 to improve the performance of your existing web server. We will also show you a way to add HTTPS support to Varnish, with Nginx performing the SSL termination.
  • asb MOD November 13, 2014

    It really depends on your needs. As Varnish caches content in memory, the main consideration for whether or not to split it out onto another server would be memory usage.

  • tokar93 November 13, 2014

    How should i know how match memory i need?

  • emshidiq February 27, 2015

    how about if I have multiple virtual host / domain?
    for the example I have an IP : 111.111.111.111 , then i have domain.com , domain2.com, sub.domain.com, sub.domain2.com . is configuration still same?

  • saulpublic April 11, 2016

    I have run up a 1404 droplet with Magento using SSL. Should I change the 'magneto-ssl.conf' from 443 to 8080? I feel like I need to leave it at 443 for ssl to work properly.

    • asb MOD April 11, 2016

      @saulpublic HTTPS traffic needs to be on port 443. Generally, you'll want to set up Apache or Nginx to listen on 443 for SSL termination with a proxy back to Varnish on localhost. This article uses Nginx, but explains the concepts:

      You could accomplish something similar with Apache using:

      <VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName www.example.com

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:80/
    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Port "443"
    RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https"

    SSLEngine On
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/example.com.key
    SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl/example.com.chain
</VirtualHost>

      This way, Apache deals with the SSL while Varnish is still serving cached content.

      How To Configure Varnish Cache 4.0 with SSL Termination on Ubuntu 14.04
      Varnish Cache is a caching HTTP reverse proxy, or HTTP accelerator, which reduces the time it takes to serve content to a user. In this tutorial, we will cover how to use Varnish Cache 4.0 to improve the performance of your existing web server. We will also show you a way to add HTTPS support to Varnish, with Nginx performing the SSL termination.
joshlsullivan March 27, 2015

@emshidiq I run multiple sites under one VPS and would like to know the answer too. Thanks for asking.

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elroychew July 9, 2015

For Varnish to work on Ubuntu 15.04.

First grep:
```sudo grep -R 'ExecStart=/usr/sbin/varnishd' /etc/


If result is "/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/varnish.service"
```sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/varnish.service

Change the ExecStart to this only.
```ExecStart=/usr/sbin/varnishd -a :80 -T localhost:6082 -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl -S /etc/varnish/secret -s malloc,256m


Save and exit, restart Varnish. 
```systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart varnish.service
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igorcost01 February 1, 2017

I'm using ubuntu 16 , and having link problems:

http://example.com/test is redirecting to http://example.com:8080/test and returning error :|

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