Enabling Apache Caching on Koha ILS 

Just like Memcached, enabling Apache Caching will increase your Koha web server’s speed and reduce the overall load on your server.

1. Install Apache Cache

sudo apt update

sudo apt install apache2-utils

2. Enable Apache cache modules

sudo a2enmod cache

sudo a2enmod cache_disk

sudo a2enmod expires

sudo a2enmod headers

3. Restart Apache Web Server

sudo systemctl restart apache2

4. Update Koha’s Virtual Hosts Configuration

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/library.conf

Scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following lines just before line </VirtualHost> in both your OPAC and staff virtual host sections.
CacheQuickHandler off
CacheLock on

CacheLockPath /tmp/mod_cache-lock

CacheLockMaxAge 5

CacheIgnoreHeaders Set-Cookie

CacheEnable disk
CacheHeader on
CacheDefaultExpire 800

CacheMaxExpire 64000

CacheIgnoreNoLastMod On

ExpiresActive on

ExpiresDefault A300

Save and Exit the file.

Note: You can set the CacheQuickHandler on or off. If it is set to on, then when requests are made to the server, the cache will be checked first without consulting Apache. This will make your server faster but it’s a bad idea if you need users to be logged in or authenticated first before they can access data (which I assume will be the case for most libraries). I recommend setting it to ‘off’ so that Apache can still authenticate users before serving content.

5. Test Apache Configuration

Test Apache configuration to check that there are no errors.

sudo apachectl configtest

6. Restart Apache Web Server

If there are no errors, restart Apache web server to enable cache.

sudo systemctl restart apache2

7. Test Apache Cache

You can test if the Apache cache is working by viewing the contents of directory where the cache is stored. The size of these directories and the number of files in them will grow with with time.

ls -la /var/cache/apache2/mod_cache_disk/

Tweaking Your Koha Library Server

Pro Tip: You should regularly check Koha’s Home > About Koha page. It gives you a quick overview of your server information. If there are any errors, missing applications or dependencies that might be slowing down your server, they will show up here. Now, read on to find out how to make the most of Koha library system.

Follow to get the latest posts!

[et_social_follow icon_style=”slide” icon_shape=”circle” icons_location=”top” col_number=”auto” outer_color=”dark”]