Misconfigured CDN caching rules

Problem Summary

Misconfigured CDN caching rules cause the CDN to either not cache content (passing everything to origin) or serve stale content. Proper rules ensure optimal caching behavior.

Performance Impact

Origin overload: CDN passes requests to origin instead of serving
Stale content: Users see outdated pages
No cache benefit: CDN provides little value
Inconsistent performance: Cached vs uncached responses vary

How to Detect

CDN dashboard: Check cache hit ratio
Chrome DevTools: Check CF-Cache-Status header (Cloudflare)
Test from multiple locations: Inconsistent cache behavior

Solutions

1. Set Appropriate Cache Rules

Code

# Cloudflare Page Rules*.example.com/* Cache Level: Cache Everythingexample.com/index.html Edge Cache TTL: 1 hour

2. Set Cache-Control Headers

Code

<?php
add_action('send_headers', function() {  header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=86400');});

3>Configure CDN for HTML

Don’t forget to cache HTML pages, not just assets.

4. Purge on Update

Set up cache purging when content updates.