> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.alphavps.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How to install Varnish Cache on NGINX or Apache - URL: https://blog.alphavps.com/how-to-install-varnish-cache-on-nginx-or-apache/ - Published: 2025-11-20T12:19:02.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-20T12:19:02.000Z - Author: Asen Velchov - Tags: Tutorials, Web Servers # What is Varnish Cache? This guide will walk you through installing and configuring **Varnish Cache** as a reverse proxy in front of **NGINX** or **Apache** on a **Debian or Ubuntu-based server**. Varnish Cache runs perfectly on the latest Linux distributions, including **Ubuntu 24.04 LTS**, **Ubuntu 22.04 LTS**, and **Debian 12**, providing long-term stability and compatibility with modern web stacks. For the best performance, it is recommended to host Varnish on a VPS with fast NVMe storage and strong CPU performance. Our [**AlphaVPS High-Performance VPS**](https://alphavps.com/high-performance-vps.html?ref=blog.alphavps.com) and [**Ryzen VPS**](https://alphavps.com/ryzen-vps.html?ref=blog.alphavps.com) plans are excellent choices for caching-heavy workloads. Both offer dedicated KVM virtualization, full root access, and high I/O performance, ensuring fast and stable delivery for content-heavy environments. ## Prerequisites Before you begin, make sure the following requirements are met: - **Operating System:** This guide is written for Debian and Ubuntu-based systems. It has been tested on **Ubuntu 24.04 LTS**, **Ubuntu 22.04 LTS**, and **Debian 12**. The commands below use `apt`, `systemctl`, and `nano`. - **Privileges:** You will need root or sudo access on your VPS or server. - **Networking:** Ensure that ports **80** and **8080** are available and not in use by other services. - **Software:** - NGINX or Apache2 - Varnish - Common Linux tools such as `netstat`, `curl`, and `nano` - **Server environment:** For best results, use a VPS with fast NVMe storage and strong CPU performance. [**AlphaVPS High-Performance VPS**](https://alphavps.com/high-performance-vps.html?ref=blog.alphavps.com) or [**Ryzen VPS**](https://alphavps.com/ryzen-vps.html?ref=blog.alphavps.com) plans are ideal for hosting Varnish, offering dedicated KVM virtualization, full root access, and high I/O performance. # How does Varnish Cache work? Varnish handles all requests coming in before they reach the backend of your web server. All web traffic flows through its cache, which refreshes every two minutes by default. After caching the requests, they are stored in the memory and can easily be fetched and served to the customers. Varnish uses a language called VCL to describe configurations, cache logic, and other rules (Varnish Configuration Language). This language can be used in different ways which are different from the previous one for each request made. For example, some requests might be routed to a specific backend or some actions might be ordered to Varnish depending on what the request is about or what results it provides. One more wonderful feature of Varnish is backend polling, which is a kind of feature that prevents web servers from being completely offline because they are not accessible. If Varnish recognizes a failure, it will continue to serve cached content for a period called grace time. This time is also adjustable and likely adjustable for the backend polling. Varnish Cache supports both NGINX and Apache. This guide will cover both types of configuration. Now let's get that thing set. # Option 1: Installing NGINX Before we start we need to have NGINX installed. If you already have NGINX installed skip to the next part ## Installing NGINX - `sudo apt update` - `sudo apt install nginx -y` After the installation has been completed start and enable NGINX so that we won't need to start it every time after reboot. - `systemctl start nginx` - `systemctl enable nginx` ## Configuring port We won't be able to use port 80 for NGINX as this is where Varnish will be so we will change NGINX to the unconventional HTTP port 8080 To do that we will execute the following commands: - `nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default` And here change the listen value to 8080 Then check for errors using - `nginx -t` - `systemctl restart nginx` To verify that everything is working correctly use netstat to see if NGINX is operating on port 8080 - `netstat -plntu` # Option 1.1: Installing Varnish Cache with NGINX Install varnish: - `sudo apt install varnish -y` Now start and enable it like we did with NGINX - `systemctl start varnish` - `systemctl enable varnish` By default, varnish uses ports6082 for the admin web interface and 6081 for public access To verify run the netstat command - `netstat -plntu` # Option 1.2: Configure Varnish as a reverse proxy for NGINX Varnish will be the reverse proxy for NGINX as we stated earlier so the NGINX web server will be operating on HTTP port 8080 while Varnish runs on HTTP port 80 To do that we have to edit the `default.vcl` file and make sure that the host is `127.0.0.1` and port is `8080` - `nano /etc/varnish/default.vcl` The code should resemble this ``` backend default { .host = "127.0.0.1"; .port = "8080"; } ``` Now navigate and edit the default varnish file - `nano /etc/default/varnish` Make sure the default port is 6081 and the HTTP port is 80 ``` DAEMON_OPTS="-a :80 \ -T localhost:6082 \ -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl \ -S /etc/varnish/secret \ -s malloc,256m" ``` Now we have to make sure that this settings are properly set in the service file too - `cd /lib/systemd/system` - `nano varnish.service` or you can do - `systemctl edit varnish` Make sure that the `ExecStart` command has the proper ports set in it. Find the line that begins with `-a` and change the port to 80. Next, restart the configuration of the system and restart varnish - `systemctl daemon-reload` - `systemctl restart varnish` Check again if everything is set up correctly using the `netstat` command - `netstat -plntu` With this, the varnish configuration as a reverse proxy for NGINX has been completed. # Option 2: Installing Apache2 Before we start we need to have Apache installed. If you already have Apache installed skip to the next part ## Installing Apache2 First update and upgrade the package database: - `apt update && apt upgrade` Install apache2: - `apt-get install apache2` ## Configure and start apache2 Change the default listening port from 80 to 8080: - `nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf` Find the following line and change from 80 to 8080: - `Listen 8080` We need to do the same for our default website: - `nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf` Find the following line and change from 80 to 8080: - `` Now we can enable and start apache: - `systemctl enable apache2` - `systemctl start apache2` You can check if apache is running on the correct port by running the command: - `sudo ss -tuln | grep :8080` You should get a line this ``` tcp LISTEN 0 511 *:8080 *:* ``` # Option 2.1Installing Varnish Cache with Apache Install varnish: - `apt-get install varnish` # Option2.2Configure Varnish as a reverse proxy for Apache Check if the configuration file is configured correctly: - `nano /etc/varnish/default.vcl` Specify the port on which apache is running. The config should look like this: ``` backend default { .host = "127.0.01"; .port = "8080"; } ``` Now navigate and edit the default varnish file - `nano /etc/default/varnish` Make sure the default port is 6081 and the HTTP port is 80 ``` DAEMON_OPTS="-a :80 \ -T localhost:6082 \ -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl \ -S /etc/varnish/secret \ -s malloc,256m" ``` Now you need to set port 80 as the target listening port in the varnish config: - `nano /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/varnish.service` Find the section that starts with `ExecStart=/usr/sbin/varnishd` and on the line that starts with `-a` change the port to 80 The config will look something like this ``` ExecStart=/usr/sbin/varnishd \ -j unix,user=vcache \ -F \ -a :80 \ -T localhost:6082 \ -f /etc/varnish/default.vcl \ -S /etc/varnish/secret \ -s malloc,256m ``` Reload the system configuration: - `sudo systemctl daemon-reload` Enable and start varnish: - `systemctl enable varnish && systemctl start varnish` To check if the configuration is successful you can curl the site and check for a X-Varnish header in the response - `curl -I `[http://localhost](http://localhost/?ref=blog.alphavps.com) ``` HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2024 15:02:58 GMT Server: Apache/2.4.52 (Ubuntu) Last-Modified: Thu, 14 Nov 2024 14:19:33 GMT Vary: Accept-Encoding Content-Type: text/html X-Varnish: 32773 <--------------------- Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish (Varnish/6.6) ETag: W/"29af-626e023a94fb1-gzip" Accept-Ranges: bytes Content-Length: 10671 Connection: keep-alive ```