# Caching needed, but makes kitty sad **URL:** \ **Category:** NGINX\ **Created:** [June 13, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/caching-needed-but-makes-kitty-sad/170168 "2009-06-13T04:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jessica\_Hawkwell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@Jessica\_Hawkwell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jessica_Hawkwell)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/caching-needed-but-makes-kitty-sad/170168/1 "2009-06-13T04:12:51Z")
Hai peeps! =^\_^= I have a system that stores a lot of images in a database. What I’m running is an avatar site, and there are times when it seems everyone has decided to update their avatars all at the same time. With nearly 70% of our non-static image requests being little 32x32 icons for all the items that can be equipped, mass amounts of icon loads sometimes makes the site run about a second or two slower than usual. I came to the obvious conclusion the best way to resolve this is to have nginx cache these little item icons. Unfortunately, I have tried and failed to make this happen. I think having nginx caching them would greatly improve performance since it would not have to access the back-end FastCGI servers to get the icons, they’d be local (which is always faster, so yay). Below is the server block in question, I apologize in advance if the regex for /avatars/ causes any negative side effects. ``` server { listen 80; server_name varusonline.com; root /usr/local/www/varusonline.com/; location / { gzip on; gzip_types image/png image/gif image/jpeg ``` text/plain text/javascript text/css; } ``` location /avatars/ { rewrite ``` ^/avatars/([-0-9]+)(|\_head|\_full).(png|gif|jpg)(?(.\*))?$ /avatar.php?u=$1&show=$2&format=$3&$5 last; } ``` location /domains/ { rewrite ``` ^/domains/([a-z]+)/([-0-9a-z.,]+)/([-0-9a-z.]+)?(?(.\*))?$ /domains.php?$1=$2&item=$3&$5 last; } ``` location /img_view/ { set $img $document_uri; rewrite ^/img_view/(avi|bod)-([0-9]+).png$ ``` /img\_view.php?subset=$1&img\_id=$2 last; set $droot /usr/local/www/caches/img\_view/; ``` proxy_store $droot${img}; if (!-f $droot${img}) { fastcgi_pass fcgi; } if (-f $droot${img}) { expires max; } } location ~ \.php$ { fastcgi_pass fcgi; } } ``` Through all of this with everything I have tried, the cache folder is still empty, which makes this little kitty sad. Is there a way to make nginx cache images from just that one script? Tanks, Jessica. =^\_^= * * * Owner, Varus Online [http://varusonline.com/](http://varusonline.com/) Member Support: 530 383 3059 — Useful Links — Frequently Asked Questions: [http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461](http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461) Newbie Guide: [http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7430](http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7430) Useful Tips: [http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6803](http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6803) When taking over the world, use zombie squirrels. Nobody will ever see it coming. \>.\> ---
**Author:** ![Jessica\_Hawkwell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@Jessica\_Hawkwell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jessica_Hawkwell)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/caching-needed-but-makes-kitty-sad/170168/2 "2009-06-20T18:54:19Z")
On Jun 12, Jessica Hawkwell wrote: > nginx cache these little item icons. Unfortunately, I have tried and > > ``` > } > > ``` > > /img\_view.php?subset=$1&img\_id=$2 last; > } > } > > ``` > location ~ \.php$ { > fastcgi_pass fcgi; > } > } > > ``` > > Through all of this with everything I have tried, the cache folder is still > empty, which makes this little kitty sad. Is there a way to make nginx > cache images from just that one script? Is your php script returning the appropriate cache control headers? ---
**Author:** ![Jessica\_Hawkwell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@Jessica\_Hawkwell](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Jessica_Hawkwell)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/caching-needed-but-makes-kitty-sad/170168/3 "2009-06-20T19:30:38Z")
Arvind Jayaprakash wrote: > > ``` > > server_name varusonline.com; > > > > ``` > > > > ^/avatars/([-0-9]+)(|\_head|\_full).(png|gif|jpg)(?(.\*))?$ > > set $img $document\_uri; > > if (-f $droot${img}) { > > empty, which makes this little kitty sad. Is there a way to make nginx > > cache images from just that one script? > > Is your php script returning the appropriate cache control headers? The PHP script returns a 60 second cache control header, which seems to have no effect on nginx. I’ve got a solution in place for the item icons (FastCGI data store). The big one now is having nginx cache the actual avatars, which proves to be difficult. * * * Owner, Varus Online [http://varusonline.com/](http://varusonline.com/) Member Support: 530 383 3059 — Useful Links — Frequently Asked Questions: [http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461](http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=461) Newbie Guide: [http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7430](http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7430) Useful Tips: [http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6803](http://varusonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6803) When taking over the world, use zombie squirrels. Nobody will ever see it coming. \>.\>