How to Warmup the Cache of quic.cloud or CloudFlare CDN Nodes - Part I

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Can the cache of quic.cloud or CloudFlare CDN Nodes be warmed up?

Yes, this is technically possible, but is warming up the cache of a CDN node also meaningful? In this post, we'll explore whether it's feasible to warm up the cache for quic.cloud, CloudFlare, Hostinger, or Bunny CDN nodes, and whether the effort is worth it.

Bringing Content Closer to the User

The fundamental principle of any CDN (Content Delivery Network) is to bring content closer to the user's location. The shorter the distance between the host and the client, the faster the required resources can be loaded. However, using a CDN is not just about this. A CDN primarily aims to speed up the resolution of the host's IP address, as the time required for IP resolution often exceeds the time needed to load the actual resources. The resources to be loaded and the distance between the host and the client are almost secondary.

Basic Question: Can the Cache of a quic.cloud or CloudFlare CDN Node Be Warmed Up?

Yes, it is possible to warm up the cache of any CDN node if the IP addresses of the respective CDN nodes are known.

Does It Make Sense to Warm Up the Cache of Every quic.cloud or CloudFlare CDN Node?

It depends on how one defines "sense" and how much effort one is willing to invest. Generally speaking, warming up the cache of CDN nodes does not always make sense.

The best way to illustrate the usefulness or futility is through the example of the LiteSpeed LScache plugin for WordPress. This plugin uses the LScache engine of the LiteSpeed web server and supports so-called cache vary options. These options allow for different HTTP parameters, such as cookies, their values, IP addresses, and other HTTP parameters, to create different cache copies for a single URL. If you have enabled guest mode, WebP replacement, and mobile view in the WordPress cache plugin, each URL must be requested eight times by the built-in crawler to warm up all cache vary options.

Assuming a WordPress site has a total of 500 posts and pages, this means that a total of 4000 (500 * 8) URLs must be crawled by the built-in crawler to warm up the cache for all URLs. quic.cloud currently offers around 93 CDN nodes worldwide. Adding the origin host brings the total to 94 hosts, resulting in 94 * 8 * 500 = 376,000 requests that would need to be executed by the built-in crawler to warm up the cache of all quic.cloud nodes. Depending on whether a URL is already cached, it could take several days, if not weeks, to warm up the cache for this large number of URLs.

Given this, the question of usefulness is almost irrelevant because, firstly, it would take far too long to warm up the cache of all quic.cloud nodes, and secondly, the cache might be purged multiple times during the warmup process. As soon as the cache is purged during a warmup, the cache warmup for CDN nodes becomes pointless.

Can the Cache of quic.cloud Nodes Be Warmed Up Using the Cache Plugin for WordPress?

Setting aside the question of usefulness, the answer to whether the cache of quic.cloud nodes can be warmed up using the WordPress cache plugin is: "NO". The exception is that the cache for the origin host and the nearest CDN node can be warmed up if no specific IP address is entered in the plugin settings.

LiteSpeed has promised for several years to synchronize the cache across all quic.cloud CDN nodes. While technically possible, we at cachecrawler.com believe it is unlikely that this endeavor can be successfully achieved, as it would require unthinkable amounts of data to be transferred around the clock and nearly in real-time. Given that LiteSpeed is a small company with limited financial resources, it is improbable that they will ever fulfill this promise.

Can the Kitt Cache Crawler Warm Up the Cache of quic.cloud CDN Nodes?

Yes, Kitt can do this, or rather, it is designed for it. Kitt can not only warm up the cache of quic.cloud nodes but also allow you to choose which cache to warm up at which quic.cloud node. However, this function is available only optionally and for an additional fee. If you need this feature, please make an individual request.