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XenForo 2.2 optimisation tips

Discussion in 'Forum software usage' started by nrep, May 3, 2021.

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  1. May 3, 2021 #1
    nrep

    nrep New Member

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    I'm considering switching to CMM to run a bunch of XF 2.2 forums. I currently use IIS on a dedicated Windows server, with fairly fast pace generation times (under 0.04s).

    I'm looking at trying Vultr HF as the host, as this is a cost effective way of getting nvme drives and high freq CPU.

    However, I'm confused as to the best way to optimise XF 2.2 performance. There are lots of threads here about nginx rules, but what about the other things - is using pagespeed mod worth it, when combined with cloudflare free? What about other tweaks or tips like using redis cache etc? Is there a walkthrough anywhere on how to optimise performance on XF 2.2 specifically?

    Would love to have some feedback on there to start :).
     
  2. May 4, 2021 #2
    eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

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    The simplest config for performance for any site and XF is Centmin Mod 123.09beta01 latest LEMP stack on server + Cloudflare Pro plan as front end CDN cache proxy. If you can bump up to Cloudflare Business plan, you get guest full HTML page caching via bypass cache on cookie page rules too. Cloudflare free plan is still very beneficial too.

    The differences for Cloudflare Business vs Pro plans that are my focus include:
    1. CF Business allows full page HTML guest caching via bypass cache on cookie page rule - Caching Anonymous Page Views so think of Varnish Cache guest full HTML cache but on CF Edge servers CDN'd.
    2. Cloudflare Business has Railgun which allows accelerating non-cacheable requests like dynamic HTML generated from PHP like on this forum for logged in members.
    3. Both bypass cache on cookie + railgun combined allow Cloudflare to accelerate guest + logged in members. In terms of page load speed, this is the biggest benefit of Cloudflare Business plan, having access to bypass cache on cookie page rule and Cloudflare Railgun.
    4. Cloudflare Business also gets 50 page rules to play with for much finer grain control per url/directory/asset cache configurations
    5. Cloudflare Analytics views on Business plans can have lower periods other than 24hrs like 30min to 12hrs views.
    6. Cloudflare Business get more CF Firewall rules at 100 versus 20 for Pro and 5 for free so you can have finer grain control over your security firewall rules for your web apps i.e. specific rules for your registration/login urls etc.
    7. Cloudflare max upload file limits vary on plan too https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200172516#h_51422705-42d0-450d-8eb1-5321dcadb5bc. Business get max 200MB, Free & Pro get 100MB and Enterprise 500MB

    As to Cloudflare Pro vs Free plans, Cloudflare Pro plan is beneficial for higher quotas or page rules, firewall rules, firewall ip/rule limits, rate limiting rules, user agent blocking rules and mirage/polish webp, enhanced HTTP/2 priorization, TCP Turbo etc which free plan won't have and/or has less quota limits for :) All these additional quota/features allow you to better make use of Cloudflare for security and performance.

    More differences you can see in Cloudflare pricing plan comparison at Our Plans | Pricing which has a link to view and compare all features on that page.
     
  3. May 4, 2021 #3
    nrep

    nrep New Member

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    Thanks @eva2000!

    I'm restricted to using cloudflare free, as the sites earn so little that I can't buy the paid plans until they grow more. In was hoping to optimise on the server side as much as I can, but not sure where to start. Can pagespeed do much of this optimisation for me before it hits the free cloudflare plan? Basically I'm wondering what I can optimise on the server side.
     
  4. May 5, 2021 #4
    eva2000

    eva2000 Administrator Staff Member

    54,368
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    Ratings:
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    Local Time:
    5:05 PM
    Nginx 1.27.x
    MariaDB 10.x/11.4+
    Nginx pagespeed module is complicated for beginners as it isn't just enable/set and forget, it has to be tweaked to your specific web app usage. Cloudflare free can still help and probably better to start off with long term wise.
     
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