☣️Install Edgeport WP Plugin
Enhance Your WordPress Experience with Edgeport's Automated Cache Clearance
The Edgeport plugin for WordPress is specifically designed to automate cache clearance on Edgeport CDN servers under various scenarios, such as when a post is created or updated, the theme is changed, or WooCommerce shopping activities are conducted within your WordPress site. Herewith, when changes are made to posts or WooCommerce activities, only the cache of the associated pages and categories is cleared. For all other updates, the entire site’s cached data is purged.
Additionally, the plugin offers the capability to manually flush your entire site's cache directly from the WordPress admin panel, thereby eliminating the need to access the Edgeport dashboard, and enables the configuration of static assets to be served via CDN rather than ADN, accelerating their delivery time.
Altogether, this ensures:
Fresh Content Delivery: Websites are often updated with new content, and if a user's cache holds old data, they might not be able to see the latest version of the site. Automatic cache clearance ensures that after updates, users are served the most recent content.
Improved Speed and Efficiency: For dynamic websites (like those often managed through WordPress), clearing the cache after updates can prevent the server from becoming overloaded with outdated cached content. This leads to reduced loading times and more efficient server performance.
Scalability and Resource Optimization: Efficient management of server resources is particularly important for sites with fluctuating traffic, ensuring consistent performance during high-demand periods.
So, let's walk through the simple steps to integrate the Edgeport plugin into your WordPress installation and configure it:
Get the Edgeport WordPress Plugin Package
To obtain the Edgeport WP plugin, follow the next steps:
Log in to your Edgeport account at app.edgeport.com. Select the required WP-based project from within the list of your services.
It’s important that you’ve chosen the appropriate WordPress Application Type during adding this service to the platform.
While inside the Service Menu, switch to the Settings > Service subsection.
In case you’ve chosen the proper application (i.e., WordPress-based), the direct download link for the plugin will be available on this page, as highlighted in the image above.
Click on it and choose the desired location on your machine to store the appropriate .zip archive.
Install the Plugin
Now, switch to the WordPress admin panel of your project and log in with your credentials.
When inside, locate the Plugins option in the menu to the left and click on it.
In case you don’t see the mentioned menu section, it’s likely that your WP user account lacks the necessary rights to perform such operations, so you should contact your site administrator to request access or the appropriate level of privileges.
Within this section, select the Add New button above the list of installed plugins.
In the opened frame, click on Upload Plugin.
The frame for the .zip file choosing will be revealed.
Click on Choose File and locate the archive package you downloaded during the Get the Edgeport WP Plugin Package instruction steps above.
Once the package is uploaded, click on the activated Install Now button to the right.
The installation will be performed automatically.
When this process is finished, click on Activate Plugin.
You will notice a new Edgeport option appearing in the left-hand menu, giving you access to the plugin settings.
Configure the Plugin
In order to interconnect the installed WP Edgeport plugin with the actual service handled within your account in the Edgeport platform, select Edgeport in the left-hand menu.
Here, within the General tab, you need to specify the appropriate API token that is associated with your service on the Edgeport platform.
To find it, log in to your Edgeport account, choose the required project, and navigate to the Settings > Service menu section.
Copy the corresponding token from the API Token field, switch back to the WP admin panel, and paste it into the appropriate field.
Click the Save Changes button below.
From this point, all post updates and theme changes in your WordPress installation will automatically reset the application’s cache on Edgeport’s CDNs.
Additional Features
Beyond the core functionality of automatic cache clearance, triggered whenever any changes occur within your WordPress application, this plugin also offers two additional features designed to further optimize your website's efficiency. These include the option for manual cache purge directly from the WP admin panel, and the ability to configure static assets to be delivered through a CDN rather than an ADN.
Let’s consider both of them in more detail:
Manual Cache Purge
Upon necessity, you are provided with the ability to wipe the entire website’s cache manually directly from your WordPress admin panel. It is particularly useful in scenarios where immediate cache clearance is required, bypassing the automatic triggers.
To accomplish this, you need to switch to the Edgeport section in the left-hand menu and select Purge Cache within the Purge All section (circled in the image below) inside the General plugin settings tab.
Following this action, the "Cache purged successfully" message will appear at the top of the page, indicating that the operation has been completed successfully.
CDN Settings
In addition to cache management, the plugin facilitates the configuration of your static assets to be served via a Content Delivery Network (CDN) instead of the default Application Delivery Network (ADN) approach.
The Strategic Advantage of CDN for Static Asset Delivery
Typically, both dynamic and static assets of your WordPress application are served through an Application Delivery Network (ADN), which is instrumental in accelerating the delivery of the main domain and enhancing site performance. The ADN is specifically tasked with handling dynamic requests, including database-driven information, user login procedures, and backend management, offering the capability to cache such requests on the edge to enhance delivery efficiency.
Edgeport distinguishes itself by offering a dual delivery approach that incorporates a Content Delivery Network (CDN) alongside the traditional ADN. This innovative setup is tailored to significantly improve the performance of static assets. Through the CDN, Edgeport ensures the accelerated delivery of static content — like images, stylesheets, videos, PDFs, JavaScript files, etc — thereby making your application not only faster but also more responsive. The inclusion of parallelized downloads through the CDN markedly elevates application performance by minimizing the time required for web pages to reach full interactivity.
Adopting Edgeport's dual ADN and CDN configuration empowers you with advanced management and monitoring capabilities. This method facilitates a clear distinction between dynamic and static requests, fostering a more cost-efficient distribution strategy and bolstering overall management efficiency. Such an arrangement not only streamlines web performance but also notably elevates the user experience by guaranteeing swift and consistent access to both dynamic and static content.
Additionally, this approach enhances Logs analysis capabilities. Users can select and view data specific to either the ADN or CDN by clicking on the project’s domain list located in the upper dashboard area:
This functionality provides improved monitoring and log visibility by allowing for the separate review of requests served by the ADN (dynamic assets) and CDN (static assets).
Setting CDN to Serve Static Assets
So, to take advantage of this configuration, navigate to the Edgeport section in the left-hand menu and switch to the CND Settings tab within the plugin settings:
Before proceeding, please make sure you’ve completed all the necessary preliminary configurations for your project on the Edgeport platform, namely:
Your project has been fully propagated following its creation.
An SSL certificate for your project has been issued, deployed, and fully propagated across all regions and PoPs (note that this process can take up to 6 hours).
If you intend to use a custom domain for your CDN server, it is essential to configure it via the Settings > CNAME section beforehand. Allow time for this change to propagate, which may take up to 60 minutes, and remember to adjust the DNS settings and the list of domains covered by the SSL certificate accordingly.
After ensuring all the necessary configurations are in place, let’s explore the options provided within the CDN Settings plugin section one by one:
Enable CDN: Activate the delivery of static assets via CDN by toggling on this switch.
CDN Hostname: Enter your custom CDN domain name in the provided field, if you've configured one, or paste the {random_identifier}.cdn.edgeport.net CDN CNAME that the Edgeport platform generated and assigned to your project at its inception (you can find it within the Settings > CNAME section of your project on the Edgeport dashboard).
CDN Inclusions: This list allows you to determine which file types should be delivered via CDN by entering the relevant extensions. By default, it encompasses a broad range of the primary file types commonly used within WordPress applications. Feel free to adjust this list by either removing existing extensions or adding new ones to meet your specific needs.
CDN Exclusions: In this field, you can indicate which particular files should not be served by the CDN, ensuring they are always delivered via ADN.
Once all the settings are defined, click the Save Changes button below. The new configuration will take effect immediately.
Should you need further assistance or encounter any issues, please contact the Edgeport support team at support@edgeport.com for guidance. Enjoy the enhanced capabilities of your WordPress site!
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