authcache vs. cache control module? [#1448062]

Hello,

I plan a (small) community website with blog, forum ... and thinking about caching for authenticated users...

Found some nice modules (authcache, cache control, varnish,...), but don't know which module may be the "best" one. I know it's depended on the sites features and traffic, but which is a simple and good solution to improve the auth user performance?

Pros / contras with additional modules with authcache or cache control? Which one should be work without many problems or needed changes to the website?

Maybe someone could give me a short compare of the two modules pros and contras?

I'll do some more tests soon, but would like to hear some other opinions ;)

Comments

Comment #1

eme CreditAttribution: eme commented 16 March 2012 at 11:00

Well, Varnish is the best (far above the others), but I would say it is not worth implementing it if you do not know the matter well for a small community website. Authcache should be easier.

Comment #2

JohnnyX CreditAttribution: JohnnyX commented 16 March 2012 at 13:18

Varnish config is really heavy at beginning... I tested some configurations with guest and also members caching... With a small site caching all the sites per user should be ok, but if the site grows up it should be a problem.

Auth Cache seems the better way (maybe combined with varnish), but at the moment it's a D7 dev release only with some issues.

I build up the site without and take a look at authcache after a (beta?) release published.
May cache control an alternative with a good module compatibility?

Comment #3

Janne Salo CreditAttribution: Janne Salo commented 30 March 2012 at 14:25

Assigned:	Unassigned	» Janne Salo
Priority:	Normal	» Minor

I'm not too familiar with Authcache, but from what I could gather, there at least the following differences:
-Authcache uses Drupal's cache API to store cached content, which means serving the initial pageload still involves some (though very little) Drupal bootstrapping.
-Cache Control seems to be more flexible in what kind of sites can use it. In theory, there's no limit what kind and how much of user-specific content Cache Control can handle. With sites that have very little user-specific content and moderate traffic, Authcache may actually be a better, or at least very good alternative.

Hope this helped. I hope to be able to take a closer look at authcache at some point in the future to give more comprehensive answers.

Comment #4

JohnnyX CreditAttribution: JohnnyX commented 8 April 2012 at 04:08

Thank's. I'll keep an eye on both modules.

In order to make best use of this module, you need to write some custom code. In other words, this is a module for advanced use and cannot be considered a component that will make your site perform better just by being enabled.

Could you explain me what it means? Custom code for some modules are is it needed at all? Some examples?

Comment #5

Janne Salo CreditAttribution: Janne Salo commented 13 April 2012 at 14:42

By custom code, we mean invoking the hook_cache_control() to find out if the current pageload is being cached and reacting accordingly (when generating output for the page, that is). There are examples of this in README.txt and cache_control_examples.module (you would probably find yourself writing code similar to that in function cache_control_examples_get_page_controls()).

The experimental block support introduced in the 7.x version of the module somewhat reduces the need to write custom code and we have similar support for views on the roadmap.