Cloud Platform
Custom Varnish configuration
This document contains information about custom Varnish configuration for Cloud Platform Enterprise applications.
Cloud Platform installs Varnish Cache, a caching reverse proxy, in front of all Cloud Platform load balancing infrastructure. To modify the behavior of Varnish, you must create a custom Varnish configuration using Varnish’s domain-specific programming language, VCL. For more information about how Varnish caching benefits your website, visit Using Varnish.
To deploy a custom Varnish configuration, create a Support ticket. Acquia will provide you with a test balancer for one week to test your new custom VCL. However, creating and testing the custom VCL is your responsibility.
Cloud Platform Enterprise customers must create a Support ticket to request a copy of the customer-modifiable VCL, based on their contractual NDA. Acquia does not disclose the configuration of the Nginx infrastructure, as the configuration is both proprietary and subject to change without notice. Acquia Support does not provide support for specific VCL customizations.
The following is the only permitted use case for custom Varnish configurations in Cloud Platform:
Acquia deploys custom Varnish configurations on a weekly schedule.
To deploy your custom Varnish configuration:
Choose to either supply a new VCL file, or request to reinstate the default Acquia VCL, by Monday at 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) (convert to UTC).
If you choose to reinstate the default Acquia VCL, explicitly state this request in your Support ticket. You do not need to submit a VCL file in this case.
Acquia deploys a test load balancer with the new VCL no later than 17:00 Eastern (North America) Time on Tuesday.
Test that the new features work as expected.
VCL updates restart Varnish and clear Varnish cache. To minimize disruption, Acquia releases VCL files during non-peak periods, according to the following schedule:
| Region | Data centers | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Asia-Pacific and Japan * | AP-southeast-2, AP-southeast-1, AP-northeast-1 | 19:00–20:00 UTC Thursday |
| Europe and Africa | EU-central-1, EU-west-1 | 04:00–05:00 UTC Friday |
| Americas | SA-east-1, US-east-1, CA-central-1, US-west-2 | 07:00–08:00 UTC Friday |
| * Default window | ||
Custom Varnish Access Control Lists (vACLs) provided as part of a custom VCL must have the following structure:
To configure an ACL:
In the VCL file, locate the following section:
Cloud Platform########################################################### <-- keep this line
## CUSTOMIZABLE SECTION: Access Control List (ACL) ######## <-- keep this line
########################################################### <-- keep this line
# acl customername { <-- uncomment + edit
# "10.10.9.1"; /* Website developer Annie. */ <-- uncomment + edit
# "10.10.9.2"; /* Joe at Operations. */ <-- uncomment + edit
# "10.10.10.0"/24; /* Entire team of editors. */ <-- uncomment + edit
# ! "10.10.11.1"; /* Except Chris. */ <-- uncomment + edit
# } <-- uncomment
########################################################### <-- keep this lineUncomment the editable lines:
########################################################### <-- keep this line
## CUSTOMIZABLE SECTION: Access Control List (ACL) ######## <-- keep this line
########################################################### <-- keep this line
acl customername {
"10.10.9.1"; /* Website developer Annie. */
"10.10.9.2"; /* Joe at Operations. */
"10.10.10.0"/24; /* Entire team of editors. */
! "10.10.11.1"; /* Except Chris. */
}
########################################################### <-- keep this lineChange the name of the ACL:
acl MyCustomer {Replace the template IP addresses with the IPv4 addresses that you want to allow:
"233.163.58.255"; /* Office HQ */
"17.57.71.1"; /* European partner agency */
"238.243.52.0"/24; /* Address range CI tooling */In the VCL file, locate the enforcement section:
######################################################### <-- keep this line
## CUSTOMIZABLE SECTION: Access Control List (ACL) ###### <-- keep this line
######################################################### <-- keep this line
# if (!req.http.X-Acquia-Request && <-- uncomment
# std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ acquia_acls && <-- uncomment
# std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ aws_internal && <-- uncomment
# std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ customername) { <-- edit acl name
# return (synth(404, "Not Found")); <-- uncomment
# } <-- uncomment
######################################################### <-- keep this lineTo test the VCL on the test load balancer, modify the hosts file on your local machine to point to the IP address of the test load balancer.
Complete any testing and confirm your approval no later than 15:00 Eastern (North America) Time on Wednesday.
Specify your preferred window in the Support ticket for the custom VCL update.
After you test and approve the custom VCL, Acquia adds it to the tasks scheduled for that maintenance window.
Uncomment the code section:
######################################################### <-- keep this line
## CUSTOMIZABLE SECTION: Access Control List (ACL) ###### <-- keep this line
######################################################### <-- keep this line
if (!req.http.X-Acquia-Request &&
std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ acquia_acls &&
std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ aws_internal &&
std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ customername) {
return (synth(404, "Not Found"));
}
######################################################### <-- keep this linestd.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ customername) { line, replace the text customername with the ACL name that you defined earlier.If Cloud Platform uses a Custom Varnish Configuration (cVCL) file to restrict access based on IP addresses, you might experience issues with the Acquia Purge module. This occurs because purge requests originate from Web EIP addresses. By default, such requests are blocked if you do not explicitly allowlist the Web EIPs in your cVCL.
Workaround:
Contact Acquia Support to enable Web EIPs.
Update your custom VCL to allowlist the Web EIP addresses.
After adding an access control list to your Varnish configuration file, you may not be able to download database backups through the Cloud user interface. It happens because while limiting access to your sites, your access control list also limits access to your Acquia default domain, such as example.prod.acquia-sites.com, that is required for database downloads to function.
To perform database backups:
If this content did not answer your questions, try searching or contacting our support team for further assistance.
To test the VCL on the test load balancer, modify the hosts file on your local machine to point to the IP address of the test load balancer.
Complete any testing and confirm your approval no later than 15:00 Eastern (North America) Time on Wednesday.
Specify your preferred window in the Support ticket for the custom VCL update.
After you test and approve the custom VCL, Acquia adds it to the tasks scheduled for that maintenance window.
Uncomment the code section:
######################################################### <-- keep this line
## CUSTOMIZABLE SECTION: Access Control List (ACL) ###### <-- keep this line
######################################################### <-- keep this line
if (!req.http.X-Acquia-Request &&
std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ acquia_acls &&
std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ aws_internal &&
std.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ customername) {
return (synth(404, "Not Found"));
}
######################################################### <-- keep this linestd.ip(req.http.client-ip, "127.0.0.2") !~ customername) { line, replace the text customername with the ACL name that you defined earlier.If Cloud Platform uses a Custom Varnish Configuration (cVCL) file to restrict access based on IP addresses, you might experience issues with the Acquia Purge module. This occurs because purge requests originate from Web EIP addresses. By default, such requests are blocked if you do not explicitly allowlist the Web EIPs in your cVCL.
Workaround:
Contact Acquia Support to enable Web EIPs.
Update your custom VCL to allowlist the Web EIP addresses.
After adding an access control list to your Varnish configuration file, you may not be able to download database backups through the Cloud user interface. It happens because while limiting access to your sites, your access control list also limits access to your Acquia default domain, such as example.prod.acquia-sites.com, that is required for database downloads to function.
To perform database backups:
If this content did not answer your questions, try searching or contacting our support team for further assistance.