Silverstripe: Dreamhost performance tips.

Silverstripe introduced static caching in version 2.3, good news for anyone who experiences speed issues with the CMS.

[The problem?]

I would say that 99% of people with speed issues are on a shared host and know of very few ways of correcting the problems.

This is an issue because the default documentation for Silverstripe makes improving performance something of a ghost hunt.

[The solution:]

I can really only present the solution I’ve found with Dreamhost.

This is a community project so the hope is that other people will share their success with other hosts and it all becomes part of the official documentation.

What you need to do:

1. Start a Dreamhost account and pay $9.95(or less) a month for hosting.

2. Sign up for the VPS service. (Do this first because it can take a few days and the mininum is $15(USD) / month)

3. Install Silverstripe. (yay!)

4. Create a ’silverstripe-cache’ directory in your root folder. (Silverstripe will try to use the /tmp folder by default and this is rarely going to work in a shared hosting environment.)

5. Configure the static publisher. (Docs can be found here: http://doc.silverstripe.com/doku.php?id=staticpublisher)

6. Wait for Dreamhost to turn your new VPS on.

7. In your VPS settings make sure you are using the following:

a) PHP 5.2.x
b) FastCGI Support
c) Use FastCGI for all PHP
d) php cache (this will enable xcache. yay!)

8. Go into the ‘configure server’ menu and monitor your usage as time goes on. (The first week is free and with the above settings you should only need the minimum 150megs of RAM/CPU @ $15(USD) per month)

9) Silverstripe is now fast, really fast. (rejoice!)

Notes:

i) The static publisher and the Silverstripe’s caching system are two different things.

ii) You are using xcache, Silverstripe caching, and the static publisher to increase performance.

iii) These things should also ensure that you stay within your $15(USD)/month resource allowance even with moderate traffic.

[rant:]

- By using this tutorial and hopefully making it a standard piece of documentation you give the Silverstripe team something to refer to.

- It should be much easier to start with something that works and modify it.

- In time it can be determined what about the above settings makes a difference and Silverstripe can be improved at the core.

- Knowing that this solution is in wide use also helps the Silverstripe team to plan for the future. (i.e. - not accidentally change something in a new release which breaks optimization for a bunch of users.)

You can read my full write up on the Dreamhost VPS here. http://www.drybydesign.com/?p=79

- Ari

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