The online stores yearn for faster speed and blemish-free performance from their CMS. Magento provides them both with the help of its multiple caches and its cache management system. Businesses often hire magento developer to optimize the performance of their store but Magento is by default a high-performing CMS. Let us see the importance of caching in improving the memory usage and execution time of a Magento store.
Caching
Caching is an effective method of enhancing the speed of the website. It stores the content fetched in response to a prior request made by a client machine. So, when the client request for content, it is fetched from the cache instead of the server. It saves the time of the server and makes effective use of the bandwidth. Magento supports around fourteen different types of caches including page cache which allows full page caching.
Full Page Caching
Caching of partial pages can lead to lazy loading of the webpage. This can disrupt the shopper’s user experience, and increase the bounce rate. Magento includes full-page caching which stores the complete output of a webpage in the cache. It alleviates the burden of the server involved in succeeding page loads to a reasonable extent. Full-page caching is essential in high-traffic scenarios and to avoid downtime to a minimum during peak hours. It further reduces the waiting time of shoppers to less than a second and perks up the conversion rate. Managing the cache is an inseparable part of the Magento store optimization strategy, even if the businesses hire best magento developer for the same. One can manage multiple caches with the help of the Magento Cache Management System feature on the admin dashboard.
Magento Cache Management System
The Magento Cache Management System displays the status of all the fourteen primary cache types. The status of the cache can be either of the three – enabled, disabled, or invalidated. The enabled or disabled state shows whether the particular type of cache is enabled or not. On the other hand, the invalidated state highlights that the cache needs to be refreshed. Let us have a look at some of the major cache types and what do they store?
- Configuration Cache: All the configuration files merged in a single file and the store-specific settings.
- Layout Cache: Compiled layouts of web pages and other components.
- Collections Cache: The result of all the database queries.
- DDL Cache: The database schema.
- Page Cache: Generated HTML pages.
- Customer Notification Cache: Temporary notifications displayed to the customers.
Depending on the status of the cache in the Magento Cache Management System, the most common action taken for store optimization is either refreshing the cache or flushing the cache.
Refreshing the Cache
Whenever, any kind of changes are done to a static asset like a script file, an HTML page, a CSS file, etc., the particular cache type is refreshed to reflect the changes on the storefront. The Magento Cache Management System can also be checked for the cache needing a refresh (the cache with invalidated status). The Cache refresh is a must for taking full advantage of the caching benefits. However, it is suggested to refresh the caches during low-traffic hours.
Flushing the Cache
Businesses often resort to flushing the cache whenever any sort of changes made are not visible on the store as expected. But, this may often cause side-effects fettering the performance of the website limiting your revenues. Non-technical admin users need not worry about flushing the cache as Magento automatically clears major caches whenever necessary. This includes Collections Cache, DDL Cache, as well as Page cache. A word of caution is in order here as Magento cannot clear the cache data generated due to third-party apps and custom modules. In these cases, the user needs to take care of it on its own.
Final Thoughts
Having a dawdling website impacts the conversion rate negatively, as the shoppers are in a state of dismay due to its sluggishness. Caching in Magento relieves the server and enhances the response time. The store owners should ensure that the relevant caches are enabled and are managed properly with the help of the Magento Cache Management System. The caching advances the loading speed and enables rapid access to the storefront. To conclude, caching not only ensures that your website is stable, but also makes sure that it is robust enough to handle heavy user load.
