Site changes take site down with Proxy Cache Purge plugin enabled

For the last 5+ months, any time a change is made to my site (a new post, modifying a post, a visitor leaving a comment, me moderating a comment), the site will become unresponsive

I suppose the ‘good’ news is that your issues are unrelated to anything we’ve recently done at DreamHost… It looks like you’re using CloudFlare, and I wonder if that’s actually the crux of the issue. I’ve been seeing Cloudflare hanging (and in some cases timing out) recently.

Weirdly when I built out a test site with CloudFlare, I didn’t have any issues, but that was a pretty small site with basic data. It suggests to me that the timeout is due to how many related posts you have. That is, the plugin checks and flushes all ‘related’ pages (like archives and RSS and so on) when something is updated.

Would it be possible for you to try with Cloudflare disabled?

Thanks for the quick reply, Mika!

I disabled CloudFlare for my site (and deactivated the CloudFlare plugin as well for good measure), but the problem is unfortunately still present. Page updates are currently taking 27-48 seconds, about the same as with CloudFlare enabled. As soon as I disable Proxy Cache Purge, updates go back to taking 1-2 seconds, whether CloudFlare is enabled or disabled.

I’ll keep banging on this. ‘Something’ isn’t right with Cloudflare and it’s maddening ??

I really appreciate you looking into it. Please let me know if I can offer any more information or troubleshooting – I’m happy to help in whatever way I can!

Okay! So it’s CloudFlare and it’s APO!

I looked at your server error log from when you had the CF plugin disabled and PCP active:

Got error 'PHP message: [Cloudflare] ERROR: [CLIENT API] Array\n(\n [type] => request\n [path] => https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/ZONE-INFO/settings/automatic_platform_optimization?action=cloudflare_proxy\n [timeout] => 30\n [method] => PATCH\n [headers] => Array\n (\n [Content-Type] => application/json\n [Authorization] => REDACTED\n )\n\n [body] => {"value":{"enabled":false,"cf":true,"wordpress":true,"wp_plugin":true,"hostnames":["www.example.com","example.com"],"cache_by_device_type":false}}\n)\n PHP message: [Cloudflare] ERROR: [CLIENT API] Array\n(\n [type] => response\n [reason] => Bad Request\n [code] => 400\n)\n PHP message: [Cloudflare] ERROR: Bad Request ', referer: https://www.example.com/wp-admin/options-general.php?page=cloudflare

I removed all identifying information from there.

But now I have a lead! I'm going to contact Cloudflare and see if I can sort this out.

Nice – I’ll wait to hear from you; thank you!

I’ve opened a ticket with Cloudflare and fingers crossed they have any help for me on this.

Right now I would recommend disabling APO. Which is a horrible thing to say, but looking into other people having similar issues, it seems like maybe it’s not the best combination with proxy based caches on your server as well as via CloudFlare ??

That said, we’re rolling out some server updates and they appear to be helping other things so … I’m hoping.

I actually don’t have APO purchased or enabled for my Cloudflare account – would it still be returning the errors you posted given that fact?

… Well I’d think so?

The error on your server literally contains “https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/ZONE-INFO/settings/automatic_platform_optimization?action=cloudflare_proxy”

So if that’s NOT APO, then they have something really screwed up on their end.

That’s very weird! I just double-checked, and the APO section of my Cloudflare account has a Purchase button and ends with:

“To enable Automatic Platform Optimization for WordPress, purchase the subscription or upgrade to the Pro plan.”

The Cloudflare plugin interface on my site also has a Purchase button, so it doesn’t seem to just be a misbehaving plugin.

I’ll open a ticket with Cloudflare about this and will let you know what they say in case its relevant to what you’re investigating.

Thanks again!

Meanwhile… We’ve done some updates at DreamHost that seem to have resolved a lot of Cloudflare issues with most users (someone else said it went from 30 seconds to 3 for a post save).

Can you check if this is still as bad?

Based on my tests since your last reply, the problem does indeed seem to be resolved! I’m now getting 2-4 second response times when modifying posts on my site.

Many thanks to you and DreamHost for all your work diagnosing and fixing this – running my site will be much, much easier!

One quick question:

I see that in Proxy Cache Purge’s settings, the custom IP has changed to a DreamHost IP rather than localhost (which DreamHost support had previously advised).

My site is working, but should I keep that custom IP in place, or should I change it back to localhost? I’m not sure what the best practice is after the DreamHost updates you mentioned, and I’m hesitant to change it since it seems to have changed on its own.

Thank you!

but should I keep that custom IP in place, or should I change it back to localhost?

Keep it set to the IP ??

Thank you for letting me know it’s working better! We’re going to see if we can speed that up even more and reduce the delay on the CF checks, but right now CF keeps closing the ticket with a reply of “A developer will contact you in 48 hours” but that never happens :sigh:

Sounds great. I’m very happy the plugin problem has been fixed, but I certainly wouldn’t complain about the site being faster. Fingers crossed that Cloudflare actually gets back to you soon, and thanks again!