Managedserver.it

MSCache Varnish Purge helps WordPress administrators purge the Varnish cache for sites running behind a Varnish HTTP reverse proxy. It is developed by <a href="https://managedserver.it" rel="nofollow ugc">Managed Server S.r.l.</a> and provides settings for configuring the Varnish connection, automatic cache invalidation when content changes, and manual purge tools available from the WordPress admin area.
This plugin is useful when your WordPress site sits behind Varnish and you need cached pages to be invalidated after content is published or updated, or on demand. It requires a reachable Varnish instance whose VCL is configured to accept PURGE requests from the WordPress server (see the FAQ for a reference VCL).
The settings page is available at Settings → MSCache Varnish Purge. On WordPress Multisite, shared connection settings are configured at Network Admin → Settings → MSCache Network, while each site keeps its own purge options.
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Asynchronous raw socket PURGE — sends PURGE requests via a direct TCP socket (fsockopen) without waiting for the Varnish response, so the purge request does not block the WordPress request.</li>
<li>Automatic purge on content changes — when a post, page, or custom post type is published, updated, trashed, or deleted, the plugin automatically purges the affected URLs including the post itself, home page, categories, tags, author archives, and date archives.</li>
<li>Full cache purge — supports multiple methods for purging the entire cache: PURGE wildcard, PURGE custom path, or BAN with configurable header.</li>
<li>Additional URLs — define a list of extra paths to purge alongside content changes or on demand.</li>
<li>Exclusion patterns — define glob or regex patterns for URLs that should be excluded from caching. Matching requests receive the <code>ms-cache: excluded</code> HTTP header, which can be used by Varnish to skip caching.</li>
<li>Admin bar integration — quick-access purge buttons in the WordPress admin bar: Purge All, Purge Home, Purge Current Page.</li>
<li>Bulk and row actions — purge cache for selected posts/pages directly from the list table.</li>
<li>Debug logging — optional logging of all purge operations to a protected log directory.</li>
<li>PHP 7 and PHP 8 compatible — works on PHP 7.0 through PHP 8.x without deprecation warnings.</li>
</ul>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
The plugin opens a raw TCP socket to your Varnish server and sends an HTTP PURGE request with the appropriate Host header. The socket is closed immediately after writing the request — the plugin does not wait for Varnish to respond. This “fire and forget” approach is designed to avoid blocking the WordPress request while the purge is processed.
<h4>External Services</h4>
This plugin optionally connects to the following external services when configured by the administrator:
Cloudflare API — When the Cloudflare integration is enabled, the plugin sends cache purge requests to the Cloudflare API v4 (<code>https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/</code>) to synchronize Varnish cache invalidation with Cloudflare CDN edge cache. This requires a Cloudflare account, a Zone ID, and an API Token with “Zone.Cache Purge” permission. No personal data or visitor information is transmitted — only URL paths and authentication credentials are sent.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.cloudflare.com/terms/" rel="nofollow ugc">Cloudflare Terms of Service</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/" rel="nofollow ugc">Cloudflare Privacy Policy</a></li>
</ul>
Varnish Cache — The plugin opens raw TCP socket connections to a Varnish server at a user-configured IP address and port (default: 127.0.0.1:80). This is typically a localhost connection to infrastructure managed by the site administrator. No external third-party service is contacted for this functionality.
<h4>Data Handling & Logging</h4>
When debug mode is enabled by the administrator, the plugin logs technical data (URL paths, timestamps, socket connection status, purge results) to files in <code>wp-content/uploads/mscache-logs/</code>. Log files are protected with <code>.htaccess</code> rules, obfuscated filenames, and an <code>index.php</code> guard. No personally identifiable information (PII) or visitor data is collected, stored, or transmitted. Purge statistics (success/failure counts, recent activity) are stored in the WordPress options table and are visible only to administrators.
<h3>Configuration</h3>
<h4>General Settings</h4>
<ul>
<li>Enable Plugin — master switch for all purge functionality.</li>
<li>Varnish IP — the IP address of your Varnish server (default: 127.0.0.1).</li>
<li>Varnish Port — the port Varnish listens on (default: 80).</li>
<li>Custom Host Header — override the Host header sent with purge requests. Leave empty to use your WordPress site URL.</li>
<li>Socket Timeout — connection timeout in seconds (default: 5).</li>
</ul>
<h4>Automatic Purge</h4>
Choose which content changes trigger automatic cache purge:
<ul>
<li>Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types</li>
<li>Home page</li>
<li>Category, tag, author, and date archives</li>
</ul>
<h4>Full Cache Purge</h4>
Three methods are available:
<ul>
<li>PURGE /.* — sends a PURGE request with a wildcard path. Requires Varnish VCL to handle regex/wildcard PURGE.</li>
<li>PURGE custom path — sends PURGE to a specific path (e.g., <code>/purge-all</code>). Useful when your VCL maps a special path to a full ban.</li>
<li>BAN with custom header — sends a BAN request with a configurable header name and value. The most flexible option but requires matching VCL configuration.</li>
</ul>
Important: The actual behavior of a full purge depends entirely on your Varnish VCL configuration. The plugin only sends the request — it is your VCL that decides what gets purged.
<h4>Additional URLs</h4>
Enter one URL per line (absolute or relative paths). These URLs can be purged:
<ul>
<li>Automatically alongside post/page saves (if the option is enabled)</li>
<li>Manually via the “Purge Additional URLs” button</li>
</ul>
<h4>Exclusions</h4>
Define patterns (one per line) for URLs that should be excluded from caching. Two matching modes:
<ul>
<li>Glob (default) — supports <code>*</code> (any characters) and <code>?</code> (single character). Example: <code>/wp-admin/*</code>, <code>/cart*</code>, <code>*.xml</code></li>
<li>Regex (advanced) — full regular expression support. Use with caution.</li>
</ul>
When a frontend request matches an exclusion pattern, the plugin sends the HTTP header <code>ms-cache: excluded</code>. Your Varnish VCL can check for this header and bypass caching accordingly.
Lines starting with <code>#</code> are treated as comments and ignored.
Matching is performed on the request path only, ignoring the query string.
<h3>Disclaimer</h3>
This plugin is provided “as is” under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2 or later. MANAGED SERVER S.R.L. does not warrant that the plugin will function correctly on hosting environments, servers, or Varnish configurations not directly managed by the company. The plugin has been tested and validated exclusively on the Managed Server hosting infrastructure. Use on third-party environments is at the user’s sole risk and responsibility. In no event shall MANAGED SERVER S.R.L. be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from the use of this plugin outside of the Managed Server infrastructure.

MSCache Varnish Purge

Purge Varnish cache from the WordPress admin: automatic purge on content changes, exclusions, manual tools and full cache purge.

miniOrange

<h3>Site Caching, URL Rewriting, Load Balancing, NFT Gating, DDoS prevention, and IP restriction, all in a single plugin.</h3>
Reverse Proxy boosts your site performance and protects your websites against web vulnerabilities, which provides advanced security solutions such as IP restriction, Media Restriction, URL Rewriting, Rate Limiting, File Restriction, Caching, Load Balancing, Bot Traffic Prevention, SSL Offloading, TLS Offloading, Access Control, Traffic Monitoring and Analytics, and many more.
How Reverse Proxy will work for your WordPress site? 
A Reverse Proxy takes a client’s request, forwards it to one of many other servers, and then delivers the results of the server that handled the request to the client as if the proxy server had handled it. The client only talks to the Reverse Proxy and does not know that another server processed its request.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Reverse proxy vs Forward proxy | Advantages of forward and reverse proxy" width="750" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QKYN5PqEFEg?start=3&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h3>FEATURES</h3>
Rate Limiting: Rate limiting specifies the interval between each request from each IP address and the number of requests received within a specified time. Rate limiting is used to protect the server from DoS attacks, DDoS attacks, or prevent Slowloris attacks. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/setup-rate-limiting" rel="nofollow ugc">Setup Guide</a>
CORS: The CORS feature is used to allow access to specific domains submitted by a user to make asynchronous requests to the server address. AJAX Requests to this site from another (containing an Origin header) are allowed for each domain in your multisite setup. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/setup-cors" rel="nofollow ugc">Setup Guide</a>
IP restriction/ Location restriction/Device-based restriction/ Country restriction: IP restrictions allow you to limit inbound connections from a limited IP address, and to minimize unwanted traffic. IP restriction can be used to activate network security control, limiting inbound connections to web services based on IP address, location, and device, and reducing unwanted traffic. The plugin can be useful to detect Real visitors’ IP Addresses. Location restriction allows you to block unauthorized access from specific geopolitical locations or regions to prevent access to web services and secure data. With device restrictions, only authorized devices will be allowed to access the organization’s data to prevent leaks and secure it from unauthorized access. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/setup-ip-restriction" rel="nofollow ugc">Setup Guide for IP Restriction</a>
NFT Token Gating: You can set up NFT Token Gating to provide exclusive access to just a few, select users to otherwise restricted content by granting access based on the NFT ID. This is useful if you want to restrict access to your files and folders for select users, your eCommerce site dashboard, and even for gaming communities.<a href="https://www.miniorange.com/web3/nft-based-gated-content/" rel="nofollow ugc">NFT Token gating</a>
Load Balancing: Load balancing guarantees that no server is overloaded by distributing network traffic among numerous servers. Load balancing allows network traffic to be distributed among multiple servers. When load balancing is enabled, it provides additional features, including application security. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/setup-load-balancing" rel="nofollow ugc">Setup Guide for Load Balancing</a>
Traffic Monitoring and Analytics: Monitor the network’s incoming and outgoing traffic to gather information on network traffic, speed, and classifications and generate an analysis report for traffic management. Traffic monitoring feature can help to check server health status. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/traffic-monitoring-analytics" rel="nofollow ugc">Check Website Traffic</a>
URL Rewriting: URL rewriting involves changing the structure of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) when a page is loaded to make it easier to type and more readable. URL rewriting is beneficial because it makes your URL more readable, improves security, and is SEO friendly. <a href="https://blog.miniorange.com/boost-wordpress-site-performance-with-url-rewriting" rel="nofollow ugc">URL Rewriting</a>
SSL/TLS Offloading: Enable SSL/TLS offloading in your hosting environment. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/ssl-encryption" rel="nofollow ugc">SSL/TLS Encryption</a>
Two-Factor Authentication: Sets up two-factor authentication (2FA) for WordPress. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/mfa-for-saas-applications-using-casb" rel="nofollow ugc">2FA on SaaS Apps</a>
User Authentication: User access requests are authenticated with a reverse proxy for user login and file restriction (SAML, OAuth, LDAP, Radius).
Access Control: You can only regulate priority access for authorized users or grant limited access to non-compliant guest users.
Caching and Data Compression: Cache the last copy of the resource when a client requests it, to send it the next time the user requests it. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/caching-for-secure-network" rel="nofollow ugc">Content Caching for site performance</a>
Bot Traffic Prevention: Block Bad Bots and Stop Bad Bots Crawlers, Spiders, and Anti Spam Protection. <a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/caching-for-secure-network" rel="nofollow ugc">Block traffic bots</a>
Media and Content Restriction: Control user access to content based on WordPress user role and access level. You can also set additional use restrictions such as IP, device-based, location, and country restrictions.
Enable Limit Login Attempts: Limit the number of retries when logging in (per IP). This is fully customizable. Adds another captcha verification. Useful for slowing down brute force attacks. The plugin redirects to the home page when an abnormal request is received. Informs the user about the remaining retries or lock time on the login page.
Header-Based Authentication: Set Header-based authentication which allows the users who use an on-premise application to log in through a reverse proxy. Enable header-based authentication to log in to applications using the contents of the URL header. Header-based authentication is a method by which users are authenticated to access back-end applications based on the user information sent through the HTTP headers. In the URL, the HTTP header section contains authentication parameters that can be configured to specify header-based authentication for on-premise applications. 
<a href="https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/header-based-authentication" rel="nofollow ugc">Header-based Authentication</a>
<h3>Benefits of Reverse proxy</h3>
Resource sharing between websites: The CORS feature in Reverse Proxy is a method that allows HTTP requests, while the Same Origin Policy (or SOP) shares resources between different websites but prevents reading HTTP response information.
Modern Browser Support: The CORS function in the reverse proxy is supported by almost all modern browsers, unlike JSONP.
Support for Legacy Applications: Header-based authentication allows users to log in to existing on-premises applications using the contents of the HTTP URL header. Header Based Authentication provides easy SSO login to legacy applications using a reverse proxy.
Prevention of Resource Starvation: The most typical purpose of rate limiting is to limit the API rate to minimize resource starvation, which improves the availability of API-based applications.
Controlling flow: You can use Rate Limiting to control data and message flows in complicated, networked systems that handle large volumes of data and messages, whether you’re aggregating many data streams into a single service or distributing a single workstream to a large number of workers. Rate Limiting’s solution is scalable and can be easily deployed.
Keeping expenses down: Reverse Proxy can be used by an organization to prevent research from getting out of hand and incurring huge expenses when searching for the best security solutions such as IP Restriction, Location Restriction, Country Restriction, Device Restriction, Header Based Authentication, Media Restriction, 2FA, MFA, URL rewriting, file restriction, rate limiting, caching load balancing, bot traffic prevention, authentication (SAML, OAuth, LDAP, Radius), SSL offloading, TLS offloading, access control, traffic monitoring, and analysis, and more.
Improved WordPress Site Performance: Reverse Proxy reduces the additional load on a server and ensures smooth operation and responses. With solutions such as load balancing to shift the data load to the web servers and with traffic monitoring and analytics to check incoming traffic and user actions, a better experience is created for customers.
Reduced Downtime: Failed and underperforming components can be replaced immediately with no or minimal downtime while providing information on which devices need maintenance. This can be monitored with the traffic monitoring and analysis solution to monitor incoming traffic and verify each user action performed.
Protection: Reverse Proxy adds an extra layer of security to your website and applications without requiring any changes, with advanced security solutions such as IP restriction, location restriction, device restriction, country restriction, header-based authentication, media restriction, authentication (SAML, OAuth, LDAP, Radius), 2FA, MFA, URL rewriting, file restriction, rate limiting, caching, load balancing, bot traffic prevention, SSL offloading, TLS offloading, access control, traffic monitoring and analysis, and more.
Scalability: Reverse Proxy, allows you to deploy additional servers to improve performance when a server is under heavy load, using solutions such as load balancing to support high traffic loads. With Traffic Monitoring and Analytics, you can monitor the traffic and user actions of each user.
Protection: Reverse proxy can be used to restrict IP addresses from a specific range to improve security using IP restriction. IP restriction prevents unauthorized access to your applications based on IP addresses. File restriction prevents unwanted access to WP files and folders.
Increased flexibility: The number of IP addresses you can use is unlimited. You can also set access control restrictions such as IP restriction, location restriction, device restriction, country restriction, file restriction, and more.
Manage Site and Network Traffic: Reverse Proxy can help to manage and minimize unwanted traffic. With Traffic Monitoring and Analytics users can monitor the traffic and user actions performed on their website.
Accuracy: All Reverse Proxy features are synchronized so that the authorization is highly accurate and Security is enhanced with advanced security solutions like IP Restriction, Location Restriction, Device Restriction, Country Restriction, Header Based Authentication, Media Restriction, Authentication(SAML, OAuth, LDAP, Radius), 2FA, MFA, URL Rewriting, Rate Limiting, Caching, Load Balancing, Bot traffic Prevention, SSL offloading, TLS offloading, Access Control, File Restriction, Traffic Monitoring and Analytics, and many more.
Easy Installation: Reverse Proxy solution is easier to implement and install for your cloud applications and also supports multiple security solutions integrations such as IP restriction, Location restriction, Device Restriction, Country Restriction, Header Based Authentication, Media Restriction, 2FA, MFA, URL Rewriting, Rate Limiting, Authentication (SAML, OAuth, LDAP, Radius), Caching, Load Balancing, Bot Traffic Prevention, SSL offloading, TLS offloading, Access Control, File Restriction, Traffic monitoring and Analytics, and many more.
To learn more read our Page https://www.miniorange.com/reverse-proxy/.

Boost site performance with Reverse Proxy

Boost site speed and security with URL Rewriting, Content Caching, Load Balancing, CORS, NFT Login, Rate Limiting, IP/Country Restriction, and more.

MSCache Varnish Purge vs Boost site performance with Reverse Proxy