Drupal is a fully-featured content management system that is used by a wide variety of organizations. There is no doubt that Drupal is among the most popular Content Management Systems available today. If you want to run your site on the Drupal engine, there are a couple of things that you need to consider.
Drupal Performance Optimization
Drupal is a rather flexible solution that you can configure and set up as per your needs. And here are some of the Drupal performance optimization scenarios that you should keep in mind:
- Database optimization – Make sure your server is configured for the best performance.
- Memory optimization – If your server doesn’t have enough memory (RAM), increase the amount available. If you don’t know how much memory your server has, your web host should be able to help you.
- Cache optimization – Ensure your Drupal core installation is using a cache library that matches your server’s architecture, and that you are using the most suitable cache modules.
- Database query optimization – Use the best available database query optimizing modules.
You can use the Drupal Performance Dashboard to see how your site performs at runtime. And if anything goes wrong, you can adjust the setup to improve the situation. And the following tips will help you with that.
#1 – Install and configure database optimization
Your website’s performance will be dependent on the quality of the database you use. If you have an old and slow database, even with a fast server you might find Drupal to be very slow. Your server runs software that makes queries to your database. For small websites or even just your personal development sites, you should be using a free SQL database, such as MSSQL, PostgreSQL, or MySQL. If you are on a shared server, this may not be the case; however, it is still important to try and keep your server optimized to work best with your existing shared database.
As you are running Drupal on a shared server, you may be using a non-MySQL database, in which case you should use a shared database. Your server is made up of three main components: CPU, Memory, and Storage. Your server should have enough storage to hold the amount of data your website needs to perform.
Most shared hosting services provide storage that is sufficient for basic use. You should check your hosting account to see if the storage you are using has the capacity you need to handle your website’s traffic. If your server is running under Linux, then it is likely that it will already have a built-in PHP cache that can be configured to cache SQL queries used frequently by your site.
#2 – Enable database caching
Enable caching to store information about frequently requested pages on your web server. By storing your data on your server, you can view the cached pages much faster when you request them. This means you can stop waiting for your pages to be generated before you can see them.
If your server is running under Linux, then there is a built-in cache. In most cases, this is a compiled file that stores information about your most frequently requested pages. If your server is running under Windows, then you will need to install a program that stores cached information.
Many developers already have cache libraries that can be installed and used to store and retrieve cached pages. If you are running a large site, this might mean that there are cache libraries that are better suited for your architecture.
#3 – Enable optimized module selection
Enabling optimized module selection means that your website will use only the modules needed to display the content you want. If you do so, it means that you can quickly turn on modules that are needed to display your content and turn off any modules that are not needed.
#4 – Cache optimization
Using cache can be a great way to speed up your site. If you use a database cache, then it will store the queries that your web server needs to work with the information you request. If you are using a shared server, there is no way that you can modify your database to make it more suitable for your site.
If you have a high-traffic site, then you will be unable to make any changes to your database, so you should consider using a cache library that will help your site speed up and scale better. In case you are using Drupal on a shared server, you should always use a cache library that will scale your site. The situations may be different, and you need to find a solution that works best in your particular case.