SearchVarnish Cache Plus
The Akamai Connector for Varnish allows for the integration of data and configuration between an origin Varnish server and Akamai’s CDN network.
The latest version of the Akamai Connector is 1.0.7.
In order to install the Akamai Connector for Varnish, you first need to setup access to the connector repo. If you have not already done so, please contact support at support@varnish-software.com to get assistance with repo setup.
To install:
> apt-get install varnish-plus-akamai-connector
To install:
> yum install varnish-plus-akamai-connector
The following configuration steps are required to get the Akamai Connector running within your Varnish setup.
include "akamai_41_auto.vcl";
This will automatically hook Akamai request and response logic into
the appropriate vcl_* subroutines. All Connector functionality
is enabled and no further configuration is required.
Note that this examples assumes VCL version 4.1 (there is a vcl 4.1 line
in your VCL configuration). If you are using VCL version 4.0 you need to
include “akamai_auto.vcl” instead of “akamai_41_auto.vcl”.
If you would like to synchronize purge requests on this host to
the Akamai network, the following Akamai CCU API fields need to be
configured within the akamai-connector.conf file:
Omitting these fields or removing this configuration file will cause the Akamai purge functionality to be skipped entirely.
You can also point Varnish Cache to an alternate configuration path
by setting VMOD_AKAMAI_CONFIG_FILE to the alternate path. For example:
export VMOD_AKAMAI_CONFIG_FILE=/opt/akamai/.ac.conf
Starting in version 1.0.7, the connector supports purge by cache tag and CP Code.
To selectively choose which features of the Connector you wish to use,
you can use the following vcl subroutines (via akamai.vcl):
Each subroutines need to be called in the appropriate vcl_* subroutine
as specified in the 2nd part of the name. For example,
akamai_deliver_edge_control needs to be called in vcl_deliver. If multiple
subroutines have the same functionality label, as specified by the 3rd part of the
name, each one needs to be invoked. For example, both akamai_recv_esi and
akamai_deliver_esi need to be called to integrate ESI with Akamai.
include "akamai.vcl";
sub vcl_init {
call akamai_init_sureroute;
}
sub vcl_recv {
call akamai_recv_sureroute;
}
If you have unused subroutines, you can disable Varnish Cache from reporting
this as an error by adding the following startup parameter to varnishd:
-p vcc_err_unref=false
This example will show how to override the akamai_auto.vcl to use a different
purging call to Akamai to purge by cache tags. Additionally this will show you how to
use ykey purging at the same time as Akamai purging. Akamai assigns cache tags to an
object through the response header Edge-Cache-Tag
include "akamai_auto.vcl";
sub vcl_recv {
if (req.method == "PURGE") {
# Purge Varnish and Akamai with tags
set req.http.ykey_purges = ykey.purge(req.http.tags);
akamai.purge_cachetag(req.http.tags);
return (synth(941, "Purged"));
}
}
# Add information about ykey purge to synthetic return
sub vcl_synth {
if (resp.status == 941) {
set resp.http.ykey_purges = req.http.ykey_purges;
}
# Output from Akamai purge automatically added from
# akamai_auto.vcl
}
sub vcl_backend_response {
# Align ykey keys with Akamai cache tags
ykey.add_key(beresp.http.Edge-Cache-Tag);
}
The Akamai Connector requires no additional changes to your Akamai configuration and is designed to operate with your current Akamai environment as-is.
For best results, ensure that your Akamai configuration classifies requests as cacheable by default and excludes those requests that are not cacheable. While the Connector, using VCL will correctly define the cacheability status and appropriate TTLs, the early classification will ensure that the Akamai Intelligent Platform will use SureRoute and Tiered Distribution for non cacheable and cacheable content respectfully.
To utilize Device Characteristics in Varnish you will need to enable the behavior for Device Characteristics on your Configuration.
The Akamai Connector for Varnish offers the following functionality.
The Varnish Cache internal value of beresp.ttl, beresp.grace, and
beresp.uncacheable will be synchronized with the Akamai CDN on each request.
These values will supersede the Cache-Control header.
In your Luna Property Configuration for Akamai, set your caching behavior to honor origin cache control and expires.
When a purge request is handled by Varnish Cache, the Connector will
synchronize the invalidation request against the Akamai CDN.
The Connector will use the value of req.url and
req.http.Host for invalidation.
The akamai-connector.conf needs to have all of the purge_* fields
filled in, otherwise purge synchronization is skipped on this host.
If purge synchronization is configured, Varnish Cache will relay the Akamai CCU API response as its purge response.
CCU API credentials need to be generated via the Luna Control Center.
The Varnish Cache value of req.http.True-Client-IP will always
contain the True Client IP of the requestor.
In Luna, make sure the header used is True-Client-IP.
The Connector will respond to requests for /akamai/testobject.html
with a native SureRoute response.
The response size is configured via sureroute_resp_bytes in
akamai-connector.conf.
In Luna, make sure the SureRoute test object path is /akamai/testobject.html.
ESI processing in Varnish Cache is deferred to Akamai when requests originate from the Akamai CDN.
In Luna, make sure the ESI processor is enabled.
Each characteristic in the X-Akamai-Device-Characteristics field
will be put into its own header. The header name is X-ADC-[characteristic]
where [characteristic] is the characteristic name. For example, the
value of is_mobile will be put into the X-ADC-is_mobile header.
Connections between Akamai CDN and Varnish Cache will be held open for 301 seconds.
The connector supports Akamai calls to purge by cache tag and CP Code.
These functions require the akamai-connector.conf to be configured with
the appropriate Akamai CCU API values for purge_host, purge_client_token,
purge_client_secret, and purge_access_token. The connector will automatically
sign the request using the configured Akamai credentials in akamai-connector.conf.
If the akamai-connector.conf is not configured, this call does nothing.
VOID parse_adc_params(STRING params)
Parse the Akamai Device Characteristics header string. Each value gets
put into its own request header with an X-ADC- prefix. Expects the format to be
param=value with semicolon separating pairs and optional spaces in between.
Arguments
STRING params - Parameters to set to request headers.Returns
Nothing.
VOID purge(STRING url, STRING hostname = "", BOOL delete = false, STRING delims = "")
Send a purge request to the Akamai CCU API.
Arguments
STRING url - URL to purge.STRING hostname - optional
Hostname of the Purge request.BOOL delete - optional
If true use the delete URL. Otherwise use the purge URL.STRING delims - optional
Deliminator of the Purge request.Returns
Nothing.
VOID purge_cachetag(STRING tags, BOOL delete = false, STRING delims = " ,")
Send a cache tag purge request to the Akamai CCU API.
Arguments
STRING tags - List of tags to purge.BOOL delete - optional
If true use the delete URL. Otherwise use the purge URL.STRING delims - optional
Deliminator of the tags.Returns
Nothing.
VOID purge_cpcode(STRING cpcodes, BOOL delete = false, STRING delims = " ,")
Send a cpcode tag purge request to the Akamai CCU API.
Arguments
STRING cpcodes - List of cpcodes to purge.BOOL delete - optional
If true use the delete URL. Otherwise use the purge URL.STRING delims - optional
Deliminator of the tags.Returns
Nothing.
VOID api(STRING method, STRING url, STRING json)
Send an Akamai CCU v3 API call.
Arguments
STRING method - Method of the HTTP request.STRING url - URL of the HTTP request.STRING json - Body of the HTTP request.Returns
Nothing.
INT get_resp_code()
Get the response code from the last invocation of purge(), purge_cache_tag(),
purge_cpcode() or api().
Arguments
None.
Returns
The response code from the last call to Akamai. If none were called, return 0.
INT get_resp_body()
Get the response body from the last invocation of purge(), purge_cache_tag(),
purge_cpcode() or api().
Arguments
None.
Returns
The response body from the last call to Akamai. If none were called, return an empty string.
INT get_resp_reason()
Get the response respon from the last invocation of purge(), purge_cache_tag(),
purge_cpcode() or api().
Arguments
None.
Returns
The response reason from the last call to Akamai. If none were called, return an empty string.
Run the following curl command:
curl -I http://[host]/akamai/testobject.html \
-H "Via: akamai.net(ghost) (AkamaiGHost)"
Substitute [host] with the name or IP address of the Varnish server
running the Akamai Connector. You should see the following response:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 20480
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2017 23:19:41 GMT
X-Varnish: 2
Edge-Control: max-age=130
Cache-Control: post-check=120
Via: 1.1 varnish-v4, Akamai Connector/[version]
X-varnish-hits: 0
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Connection: keep-alive
In particular, verify you have a successful 200 response code or that
the Via header states Akamai Connector.
The connector only supports Varnish Cache Plus 6.0.
For general questions, please contact akamai-connector@varnish-software.com.