Updated Magento 2 Varnish 6 VCL, in cooperation with Varnish Software

varnish6.vcl

# A number of these changes come form the following PR's; , combines changes in https://github.com/magento/magento2/pull/29360, https://github.com/magento/magento2/pull/28944 and https://github.com/magento/magento2/pull/28894, https://github.com/magento/magento2/pull/35228, https://github.com/magento/magento2/pull/36524, https://github.com/magento/magento2/pull/34323
# VCL version 5.0 is not supported so it should be 4.0 even though actually used Varnish version is 6
vcl 4.1;

import std;
# The minimal Varnish version is 6.0
# For SSL offloading, pass the following header in your proxy server or load balancer: '/* {{ ssl_offloaded_header }} */: https'

backend default {
    .host = "/* {{ host }} */";
    .port = "/* {{ port }} */";
    .first_byte_timeout = 600s;
    .probe = {
        .url = "/health_check.php";
        .timeout = 2s;
        .interval = 5s;
        .window = 10;
        .threshold = 5;
   }
}

acl purge {
/* {{ ips }} */
}

sub vcl_recv {
    # Add support for Prismic preview functionality
    if (req.http.Cookie ~ "io.prismic.preview") {
        return (pass);
    }

    # Remove empty query string parameters
    # e.g.: www.example.com/index.html?    
    if (req.url ~ "\?$") {
        set req.url = regsub(req.url, "\?$", "");
    }

    # Remove port number from host header
    set req.http.Host = regsub(req.http.Host, ":[0-9]+", "");
    
    # Sorts query string parameters alphabetically for cache normalization purposes    
    set req.url = std.querysort(req.url);
    
    # Remove the proxy header to mitigate the httpoxy vulnerability
    # See https://httpoxy.org/    
    unset req.http.proxy;
    
    # Add X-Forwarded-Proto header when using https
    if (!req.http.X-Forwarded-Proto && (std.port(server.ip) == 443 || std.port(server.ip) == 8443)) {
        set req.http.X-Forwarded-Proto = "https";
    }
    
    # Reduce grace to the configured setting if the backend is healthy
    # In case of an unhealthy backend, the original grace is used
    if (std.healthy(req.backend_hint)) {
        set req.grace = /* {{ grace_period }} */s;
    }
    
    if (req.method == "PURGE") {
        if (client.ip !~ purge) {
            return (synth(405, "Method not allowed"));
        }
        # To use the X-Pool header for purging varnish during automated deployments, make sure the X-Pool header
        # has been added to the response in your backend server config. This is used, for example, by the
        # capistrano-magento2 gem for purging old content from varnish during it's deploy routine.
        if (!req.http.X-Magento-Tags-Pattern && !req.http.X-Pool) {
            return (purge);
        }
        if (req.http.X-Magento-Tags-Pattern) {
          ban("obj.http.X-Magento-Tags ~ " + req.http.X-Magento-Tags-Pattern);
        }
        if (req.http.X-Pool) {
          ban("obj.http.X-Pool ~ " + req.http.X-Pool);
        }
        return (synth(200, "Purged"));
    }

    if (req.method != "GET" &&
        req.method != "HEAD" &&
        req.method != "PUT" &&
        req.method != "POST" &&
        req.method != "PATCH" &&
        req.method != "TRACE" &&
        req.method != "OPTIONS" &&
        req.method != "DELETE") {
          return (pipe);
    }

    # We only deal with GET and HEAD by default
    if (req.method != "GET" && req.method != "HEAD") {
        return (pass);
    }

    # Bypass health check requests
    if (req.url ~ "^/(pub/)?(health_check.php)$") {
        return (pass);
    }

    # Collapse multiple cookie headers into one
    std.collect(req.http.Cookie);

    # Remove all marketing get parameters to minimize the cache objects
    if (req.url ~ "(\?|&)(_branch_match_id|srsltid|_bta_c|_bta_tid|_ga|_gl|_ke|_kx|campid|cof|customid|cx|dclid|dm_i|ef_id|epik|fbclid|gad_source|gbraid|gclid|gclsrc|gdffi|gdfms|gdftrk|hsa_acc|hsa_ad|hsa_cam|hsa_grp|hsa_kw|hsa_mt|hsa_net|hsa_src|hsa_tgt|hsa_ver|ie|igshid|irclickid|matomo_campaign|matomo_cid|matomo_content|matomo_group|matomo_keyword|matomo_medium|matomo_placement|matomo_source|mc_cid|mc_eid|mkcid|mkevt|mkrid|mkwid|msclkid|mtm_campaign|mtm_cid|mtm_content|mtm_group|mtm_keyword|mtm_medium|mtm_placement|mtm_source|nb_klid|ndclid|origin|pcrid|piwik_campaign|piwik_keyword|piwik_kwd|pk_campaign|pk_keyword|pk_kwd|redirect_log_mongo_id|redirect_mongo_id|rtid|sb_referer_host|ScCid|si|siteurl|s_kwcid|sms_click|sms_source|sms_uph|toolid|trk_contact|trk_module|trk_msg|trk_sid|ttclid|twclid|utm_campaign|utm_content|utm_creative_format|utm_id|utm_marketing_tactic|utm_medium|utm_source|utm_source_platform|utm_term|wbraid|yclid|zanpid|mc_[a-z]+|utm_[a-z]+|_bta_[a-z]+)=") {
        set req.url = regsuball(req.url, "(_branch_match_id|srsltid|_bta_c|_bta_tid|_ga|_gl|_ke|_kx|campid|cof|customid|cx|dclid|dm_i|ef_id|epik|fbclid|gad_source|gbraid|gclid|gclsrc|gdffi|gdfms|gdftrk|hsa_acc|hsa_ad|hsa_cam|hsa_grp|hsa_kw|hsa_mt|hsa_net|hsa_src|hsa_tgt|hsa_ver|ie|igshid|irclickid|matomo_campaign|matomo_cid|matomo_content|matomo_group|matomo_keyword|matomo_medium|matomo_placement|matomo_source|mc_cid|mc_eid|mkcid|mkevt|mkrid|mkwid|msclkid|mtm_campaign|mtm_cid|mtm_content|mtm_group|mtm_keyword|mtm_medium|mtm_placement|mtm_source|nb_klid|ndclid|origin|pcrid|piwik_campaign|piwik_keyword|piwik_kwd|pk_campaign|pk_keyword|pk_kwd|redirect_log_mongo_id|redirect_mongo_id|rtid|sb_referer_host|ScCid|si|siteurl|s_kwcid|sms_click|sms_source|sms_uph|toolid|trk_contact|trk_module|trk_msg|trk_sid|ttclid|twclid|utm_campaign|utm_content|utm_creative_format|utm_id|utm_marketing_tactic|utm_medium|utm_source|utm_source_platform|utm_term|wbraid|yclid|zanpid|mc_[a-z]+|utm_[a-z]+|_bta_[a-z]+)=[-_A-z0-9+(){}%.]+&?", "");
        set req.url = regsub(req.url, "[?|&]+$", "");
    }

    # Static files caching
    if (req.url ~ "^/(pub/)?(media|static)/") {
        # Static files should not be cached by default
        return (pass);

        # But if you use a few locales and don't use CDN you can enable caching static files by commenting previous line (#return (pass);) and uncommenting next 3 lines
        #unset req.http.Https;
        #unset req.http./* {{ ssl_offloaded_header }} */;
        #unset req.http.Cookie;
    }

    # Don't cache the authenticated GraphQL requests
    if (req.url ~ "/graphql" && req.http.Authorization ~ "^Bearer") {
        return (pass);
    }

    return (hash);
}

sub vcl_hash {
    if (req.url !~ "/graphql" && req.http.cookie ~ "X-Magento-Vary=") {
        hash_data(regsub(req.http.cookie, "^.*?X-Magento-Vary=([^;]+);*.*$", "\1"));
    }

    # To make sure http users don't see ssl warning
    hash_data(req.http./* {{ ssl_offloaded_header }} */);

    /* {{ design_exceptions_code }} */

    if (req.url ~ "/graphql") {
        if (req.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id) {
            hash_data(req.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id);
        } else {
            # if no X-Magento-Cache-Id (which already contains Store & Currency) is not set, use the HTTP headers
            hash_data(req.http.Store);
            hash_data(req.http.Content-Currency);
        }
    }
}

sub vcl_backend_response {
	# Serve stale content for three days after object expiration
	# Perform asynchronous revalidation while stale content is served
    set beresp.grace = 3d;

    # All text-based content can be parsed as ESI
    if (beresp.http.content-type ~ "text") {
        set beresp.do_esi = true;
    }

    # Allow GZIP compression on all JavaScript files and all text-based content
    if (bereq.url ~ "\.js$" || beresp.http.content-type ~ "text") {
        set beresp.do_gzip = true;
    }
    
    # Add debug headers
    if (beresp.http.X-Magento-Debug) {
        set beresp.http.X-Magento-Cache-Control = beresp.http.Cache-Control;
    }

    # Only cache HTTP 200 and HTTP 404 responses
    if (beresp.status != 200 && beresp.status != 404) {
        set beresp.ttl = 120s;
        set beresp.uncacheable = true;
        return (deliver);
    }
    
    # Don't cache if the request cache ID doesn't match the response cache ID for graphql requests
    if (bereq.url ~ "/graphql" && bereq.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id && bereq.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id != beresp.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id) {
       set beresp.ttl = 120s;
       set beresp.uncacheable = true;
       return (deliver);
    }

    # Remove the Set-Cookie header for cacheable content
    # Only for HTTP GET & HTTP HEAD requests
    if (beresp.ttl > 0s && (bereq.method == "GET" || bereq.method == "HEAD")) {
        unset beresp.http.Set-Cookie;
    }
}

sub vcl_deliver {
    if (obj.uncacheable) {
        set resp.http.X-Magento-Cache-Debug = "UNCACHEABLE";
    } else if (obj.hits) {
        set resp.http.X-Magento-Cache-Debug = "HIT";
        set resp.http.Grace = req.http.grace;
    } else {
        set resp.http.X-Magento-Cache-Debug = "MISS";
    }

    # Not letting browser to cache non-static files.
    if (resp.http.Cache-Control !~ "private" && req.url !~ "^/(pub/)?(media|static)/") {
        set resp.http.Pragma = "no-cache";
        set resp.http.Expires = "-1";
        set resp.http.Cache-Control = "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, max-age=0";
    }

    if (!resp.http.X-Magento-Debug) {
        unset resp.http.Age;
    }
    unset resp.http.X-Magento-Debug;
    unset resp.http.X-Magento-Tags;
    unset resp.http.X-Powered-By;
    unset resp.http.Server;
    unset resp.http.X-Varnish;
    unset resp.http.Via;
    unset resp.http.Link;
}

@JeroenBoersma But that is if you use Nginx as a TLS proxy. I actually advise using Hitch as a TLS proxy:

• It's developed by Varnish Software
• It's open source
• It's a pure TLS proxy that has no HTTP awareness
• It supports both PROXY protocol version 1 & 2

See https://www.varnish-software.com/developers/tutorials/terminate-tls-varnish-hitch/ for more information about Hitch and Varnish.

@ThijsFeryn If it would be just SSL termination than that's a true point, in this case it's a combined effort for file serving and (generated) content you get a performance gain by serving the files directly from the server and using Varnish for the generated content. There is no need to cache these static files on the same server in Varnish.

rewrite /pub/health_check.php /health_check.php;

A customer notified us with a list of more marketing pixels....

I think we can include these in the list of parameters to...
https://maxchadwick.xyz/tracking-query-params-registry/ props to @mpchadwick

Source which links to the above list: https://www.rumvision.com/blog/make-sure-to-check-your-caching-rules/

A customer notified us with a list of more marketing pixels....

I think we can include these in the list of parameters to... https://maxchadwick.xyz/tracking-query-params-registry/ props to @mpchadwick

Source which links to the above list: https://www.rumvision.com/blog/make-sure-to-check-your-caching-rules/

@JeroenBoersma: here's the updated VCL:

    if (req.url ~ "(\?|&)(_branch_match_id|_bta_[a-z]+|campid|customid|_ga|gclid|gclsrc|gdf[a-z]+|cx|dm_i|ef_id|epik|ie|igshid|cof|hsa_[a-z]+|_ke|mk[a-z]{3}|msclkid|(mtm|matomo)_[a-z]+|pcrid|p(iwi)?k_[a-z]+|redirect(_log)?_mongo_id|siteurl|s_kwcid|sb_referer_host|si|trk_[a-z]+|zanpid|origin|fbclid|mc_[a-z]+|utm_[a-z]+|_bta_[a-z]+)=") {
        set req.url = regsuball(req.url, "(_branch_match_id|_bta_[a-z]+|campid|customid|_ga|gclid|gclsrc|cx|dm_i|ef_id|epik|ie|igshid|cof|hsa_[a-z]+|_ke|mk[a-z]{3}|msclkid|(mtm|matomo)_[a-z]+|pcrid|p(iwi)?k_[a-z]+|redirect(_log)?_mongo_id|siteurl|s_kwcid|sb_referer_host|si|trk_[a-z]+|zanpid|origin|fbclid|mc_[a-z]+|utm_[a-z]+|_bta_[a-z]+)=[-_A-z0-9+()%.]+&?", "");
        set req.url = regsub(req.url, "[?|&]+$", "");
    }

@peterjaap and @ThijsFeryn magento/magento2#37524

These marketing pixels should be ignored when hitting graphql otherwise you'll endup regsub way more than you expect. Sometimes, likely unexpectedly, there's a relative URL (with query params) hidden inside the URL.

You have an error on line 44, the close bracket before the || needs removing.

@chrisastley thanks!

Can we add the "gad_source" parameter?
Source: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13327296?hl=en & https://www.rumvision.com/use-cases/making-sure-paid-traffic-has-the-best-page-speed-possible/

@Melleschepers added!

sub process_graphql_headers {
if (req.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id) {
hash_data(req.http.X-Magento-Cache-Id);

    # When the frontend stops sending the auth token, make sure users stop getting results cached for logged-in users
    if (req.http.Authorization ~ "^Bearer") {
        hash_data("Authorized");
    }
}

hash_data(req.http.Store);

hash_data(req.http.Content-Currency);

}
Can we remove Authorization token from frontend as ‘X-Magento-Cache-Id’ already there which provide Authorization so no need of bearer token?

Hello @peterjaap

Could you add nb_klid in marketing parameters ?
klaviyo is adding like below;
?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Flash%20Sale%20%7C%20BOGO50%20%7C%20Panther%20Bracelets&nb_klid=01GYYXF9WQJE9K5KMWHXCCJ2EJ&_kx=149hMbYs3n64hbonnZsQJb9Bbn2cWv9qxmrHmgLSqLA.YwSEB3

And I wonder can GA4 follow links even after removing UTM and marketing tags by varnish.vcl?

@eneskirca I've added nb_klid to the list.

The VCL only strips off these parameters for internal usage. This is done so Varnish can calculate the hash correctly, thereby increasing the hit rate. The actual parameter stays in the GET URL, so Javascript based tools like GA4 can still read out the parameter from the GET querystring.

@peterjaap

• Can I use this file for Varnish 7 as well?
• These placeholder, f. ex. {{ host }}, do I need to replace them manually or can I somehow insert the proper values?

@codedge

• I'm not sure, but if it compiles it should work
• You need to generate the VCL from the Magento backend

@codedge

• I'm not sure, but if it compiles it should work
• You need to generate the VCL from the Magento backend

@codedge @peterjaap Compatibility shouldn't be a problem at all.

The Varnish version doesn't really matter that much difference, it's the VCL version you're using that is important. And vcl 4.1; is the right version marker to stay compatible.

Can we add the "gbraid" parameter? :)
Source: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/11367152?hl=en

@Melleschepers done!

Updated the tracking parameters list to match https://github.com/mpchadwick/tracking-query-params-registry/blob/master/_data/params.csv

@Melleschepers

Notable differences

1. VCL Version and Compatibility

• Magento VCL: Uses vcl 4.0 for compatibility, even though Varnish version 6 or 7 is used.
• Optimized VCL: Uses vcl 4.1—a more current version—while still maintaining compatibility with Varnish 6 and 7.

2. Request Handling (sub vcl_recv)

• Magento VCL: Focuses on request normalization (removing marketing parameters, handling cache control for specific URL paths) but lacks improvements like query parameter sorting or more sophisticated request cleaning.
• Optimized VCL:
  • Query String Optimization: Sorts query parameters using std.querysort() to improve cache efficiency.
  • Empty Query Parameter Removal: Eliminates empty query strings for normalization.
  • Host Header Cleanup: Removes port numbers from the Host header for better cache key normalization.
  • Httpoxy Vulnerability Mitigation: Unsets the proxy header to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
  • Grace Period for Healthy Backend: Dynamically adjusts the grace period based on backend health.
  • Advanced Query Param Removal: Removes more marketing-related query parameters compared to the original Magento VCL, optimizing cache objects even further.

3. Cookie and Header Management

• Magento VCL: Uses std.collect() on cookies but doesn't perform additional cookie header collapsing or aggressive cleanup of unnecessary headers.
• Optimized VCL: Collapses multiple Cookie headers and removes headers like proxy for more efficient processing and enhanced security.

4. Cache Key Generation (sub vcl_hash)

• Magento VCL: Hashes certain request headers and applies logic for GraphQL and Magento's X-Magento-Vary cookies, but has room for better structure and logic consolidation.
• Optimized VCL:
  • Consolidation: Handles GraphQL requests and Magento cache ID more elegantly by ensuring either the X-Magento-Cache-Id or fallback headers (Store, Content-Currency) are used for hashing.
  • General Security: Adds more structured logic for SSL offloading, improving HTTPS handling and hash key integrity.

5. Backend Response Handling (sub vcl_backend_response)

• Magento VCL:
  • Basic TTL Control: Caches 200 and 404 responses but unsets cookies in a less optimized way.
  • Hit-For-Pass: Implements a basic Hit-For-Pass strategy when responses are uncachable.
• Optimized VCL:
  • Grace and Stale Content: Keeps stale content for up to 3 days, using asynchronous revalidation to refresh the cache while still serving expired content.
  • Set-Cookie Header: Proactively unsets Set-Cookie for cacheable content (GET and HEAD requests) to improve cache hit rates.
  • Strict TTL Control: Sets a short (120s) TTL for uncacheable content and mismatched GraphQL cache IDs to avoid excessive pass-throughs.

6. Header Management on Delivery (sub vcl_deliver)

• Magento VCL: Unsets a range of headers such as X-Magento-Tags, X-Powered-By, and Server, but includes debugging information in a basic form.
• Optimized VCL:
  • Improved Debugging: Adds more specific debugging headers (X-Magento-Cache-Debug), including detailed cache hit/miss reporting.
  • More Aggressive Header Cleanup: Unsets additional headers like X-Varnish, Via, and Link to streamline responses and reduce unnecessary data sent to clients.

7. Security Enhancements

• Magento VCL: Implements basic security by removing sensitive headers but lacks more advanced threat mitigations.
• Optimized VCL: Includes explicit X-Forwarded-Proto logic for HTTPS, better security header management (e.g., removing proxy headers), and optimizations like the removal of the HTTPoxy vulnerability.

8. GraphQL Request Handling

• Magento VCL: Caches only authorized GraphQL requests with appropriate X-Magento-Cache-Id headers, but with slightly less efficient logic for hashing and caching.
• Optimized VCL: More streamlined and optimized logic for handling GraphQL cache keys, including fallback mechanisms to ensure cache key integrity even if X-Magento-Cache-Id is not set.

9. Simplified Logic and Performance Improvements

• The Optimized VCL is much cleaner, with more consolidated logic, fewer repetitive conditions, and more robust performance enhancements (e.g., cookie collapsing, better query handling, etc.). It also introduces enhanced debugging features and more granular cache control based on real-time conditions such as backend health and dynamic grace periods.