Caching Craziness

  • I have a client with a site hosted at Earthlink. Very recently, possibly after the last WordPress update, the site started acting oddly; not accepting the password on password protected pages or showing content without a password, sometimes displaying the admin bar when I am logged in, sometimes not, showing my cookie-acceptance banner even after cookies are accepted. Force refreshing shows the updated page but must be done every time. This is true for multiple people on multiple devices, so it’s not browser cache.

    I have seen this behavior before on different hosts and I recognized it as server caching. There is no documentation about server caching on Earthlink’s website and nothing in their Control Panel to manage it. I called tech support who denies that there is server caching or CDN in use.

    I am not running any plug-ins that cache. There are no dropins or MUs. In fact, I deactivated all plug-ins, deleted a few, re-saved permalinks, re-installed my core, logged in with ftp to make sure there are no hidden cache stashes, tried adding some code to disable Apache caching just in case.

    What else could be causing this? I would love to hear anyone’s suggestions. The most critical part of this breakage is the password protected content. Thank you.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • My only suggestion then is to add a cache plugin which would then make it the ‘final authority’ on what get’s cached and what doesn’t… It will then also do it’s best to flush and refresh any caches between the host and the visitor’s machine including any proxy boxen sitting between.

    I often use KeyCDN’s Cache Enabler plugin if I don’t need a full cache plugin like W3 Total Cache.

    Most CDNs are not caches either or cache only the content they serve from their own endpoints. If there is a cache then the plugin on your WordPress will usually exert itself over anyone else.

    I didn’t see Jetpack in your plugin’s list but sometimes turning Jetpack off for a time can flush some cache detritus from their sources if you are relying on their image CDN or optimization services.

    Again, the cache plugin should exert itself over that proxy but their CDN is probably outside of your control.

    Thread Starter lazykins

    (@lazykins)

    Thank you for the reply. I did use WPFastestCache for some time on this site but it was causing its own issues. I will try your suggested pick.

    No, I don’t think I’ve ever used JetPack on this particular site but good to know that—I do have clients who use it.

    You seem pretty knowledgable on the topic. Is it possible that Earthlink farms out their hosting service to some company who uses a CDN? I should check their Privacy Policy.

    I was very unfamiliar with Earthlink and did check on their hosting… it may be farmed out for all that… I can’t remember who came up as the IP address owner but I don’t think it was Earthlink.

    The last time I remember hearing about Earthlink was way back in the early days… I was still working with BBS systems back then.

    Nowadays, a lot of hosts don’t run their own servers or run on diverse clusters. It’s a product more than a single box anymore. For practical purposes just consider it a box like any other and don’t worry too much about the hardware or virtualization doing the job.

    Again, CDN service shouldn’t be a problem but caching might be the problem. Running a cache plugin of your own will usually override or else provide the cache-control headers. If there should happen to be a reverse proxy or a cache downstream then it should help it behave.

    If that doesn’t help then the next step would be to call the host back… I never call hosts anymore but sometimes if the support person doesn’t give you the answers you need then calling back sometimes helps or else escalate the issue to second level support or management.

    Thread Starter lazykins

    (@lazykins)

    Well after working on it for another day, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not me.

    I’ve tried nearly everything, multiple times. I tried a few different caching plug-ins to see if I could override whatever caching was going on with no luck. Their phpAdmin tool no longer works, so I am severely handicapped anyway.

    There seems to be an (exactly) 30 min cache that I am unable to bypass. I suppose I will try the host again until I get someone who doesn’t tell me…

    “ma’am, have you tried calling the Word Press?”

    Ack. But I wanted to thank you for your ideas and insight.

    I am not using WordPress. I did a Google search for the problem I am having on two websites that are hosted with Earlink and are on the same account, and found this forum. Beginning on May 14th, I began experiencing a 30-minute delay before any edit on a web page was available on the Internet. After much experimenting I also learned there was a 30-minute cycle associated with it. That is, if I created a test page and uploaded it, then accessed via my browser, it showed up. Cycle now starting. Make another edit, upload that; it won’t show for 30 minutes. I contacted Earthlink and had the tech support guy log into my Control Panel and use Earthlink’s HTML editor. So he was making the change, uploading it, accessing in his browser and he saw the problem. Told me the “back-end team” would investigate. Then they get back to me and say the back-end team reported there was no issue. So I call them again, get a different agent, and go through the entire episode all over again. It is not a browser caching issue. Also, if you view the recently edited page on a different device, it will show up because that device has now entered the 30-minute cycle. Make another edit, upload that, refresh the page on the new device . . . doesn’t show up. Wait 30 minutes, refresh page, there it is.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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