How to set "Expires" header in Nginx and OpenLiteSpeed

Introduction

In the world of web hosting and server management, optimizing your server's performance is crucial. One effective way to improve website loading times and reduce server load is by setting the "Expires" header for static files in your web server configuration. In this blog post, we will walk you through the process of setting the "Expires" header in Nginx and OpenLiteSpeed when using RunCloud.

Understanding the "Expires" Header

Before we dive into the technical details, let's briefly understand what the "Expires" header does. When a user's browser requests a file from your web server, the "Expires" header tells the browser how long it can cache and reuse that file without needing to re-download it. This header helps reduce server load and speeds up website loading times for returning visitors.

Prerequisites

Before we proceed, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

A server running Nginx or OpenLiteSpeed managed by RunCloud.

Configuring the "Expires" Header in Nginx

To set the "Expires" header in Nginx, follow these steps:

1. Access Your Nginx Configuration

Log in to your server and navigate to the webapplication where your Extra Nginx configuration files can be added in "Nginx Config" option.

2. Add Your Nginx Configuration

Create a new Nginx config in "Nginx Config" option and select the type as "Headers".

3. Add the "Expires" Header Rule

Inside the Config content, add the following Nginx rule:nginx


  location ~* \.(|ico|css|gif|jpe?g|png|gz|zip|flv|rar|wmv|avi|css|js|swf|png|htc|mpeg|mpg|txt|otf|ttf|eot|woff|svg|html)$ {
  expires 365d; 
  add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";
  }

This rule specifies that certain file types should have an expiration date set to 365 days (1 year) from the time of access. It also adds the "Cache-Control" header to instruct browsers to cache the files publicly without any transformation. Please make the changes according to the your requirements.

4. Save and Exit

Save your Nginx configuration file and exit your text editor.

Configuring the "Expires" Header in OpenLiteSpeed

If you are using OpenLiteSpeed with RunCloud, the process to set the "Expires" header is slightly different. Here's how to do it:

1. Access Web application LiteSpeed configuration.

Log in to your RunCloud panel, navigate to the server you want to configure, and click on the Webapp having issue and select the LiteSpeed config from left side.

2. Locate the expires header

You can find expires header already added in last section of configuration. Please see an example below


expires {  enableExpires           1  
expiresDefault          A31557600
expiresByType           image/*=A43200,text/css=A43200,application/x-javascript=A43200,application/javascript=A43200,font/*=A43200,application/x-font-ttf=A43200
}

In this configuration:

enableExpires: Set this to 1 to enable the "Expires" header.

expiresDefault: This directive specifies the default expiration time for files that don't match any specific type. The value A31557600 represents one year in seconds, but you can change it to your desired time frame.

expiresByType: This directive allows you to set different expiration times for specific file types. In the example above, we have set specific times (in seconds) for various file types such as images, CSS, JavaScript, fonts, etc. You can adjust these values to meet your requirements.

You can change the values according to the requirements.

Conclusion

Setting the "Expires" header in Nginx and OpenLiteSpeed can significantly improve your website's performance by reducing server load and enhancing user experience. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily configure this header for static files on your server, whether you're using Nginx or OpenLiteSpeed with RunCloud. This optimization is a small but essential step towards a faster and more efficient web server.

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