painfully slow 301 redirect from .htaccess (trailing slash)

  • Resolved Andrew Mills

    (@andrewmills)


    11 years, 7 months ago

    Hi, everyone

    I’ve been wrestling with a slow loading WordPress multisite. I’ve installed and configured W3T Cache . . . and although that has helped somewhat, the real culprit seems to be the 301 redirect in the .htaccess file that adds the trailing slash to a URL. It’s adding anywhere from 8 to 12 seconds to the download time before any output gets sent to the client’s browser.

    I could be wrong, but I’m basing that opinion on the two pingdom tests on the same URL, both with and without the trailing slash. See below for links:

    1st theme, with W3T cache & cloudflare, with trailing slash:
    http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/OaJoO3725/http://gnswebsvcs.com/1sttheme/

    1st theme, with W3T cache & cloudflare, no trailing slash:
    http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/#!/98Drbm9J/http://gnswebsvcs.com/1sttheme

    I’ve tried discussing with the webhost provider, and their suggestion was to activate CloudFlare. Now I’m a big fan of CloudFlare and use it on other sites, but that doesn’t seem to be addressing the real problem in this particular instance, as far as I can tell.

    Is there a trick to optimizing .htaccess files that I’m not aware of? Or can they be cached somehow for faster performance? Or do I have conflicting/redundant settings that I can/should remove?

    Here’s a copy of my .htaccess (sorry about the length):

    # Use PHP5 Single php.ini as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5s .php

# BEGIN GZIP
<ifmodule mod_deflate.c>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/text text/html text/plain text/xml text/css application/x-javascript application/javascript
</ifmodule>
# END GZIP

# BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache
<IfModule mod_mime.c>
    AddType text/css .css
    AddType application/x-javascript .js
    AddType text/x-component .htc
    AddType text/html .html .htm
    AddType text/richtext .rtf .rtx
    AddType image/svg+xml .svg .svgz
    AddType text/plain .txt
    AddType text/xsd .xsd
    AddType text/xsl .xsl
    AddType text/xml .xml
    AddType video/asf .asf .asx .wax .wmv .wmx
    AddType video/avi .avi
    AddType image/bmp .bmp
    AddType application/java .class
    AddType video/divx .divx
    AddType application/msword .doc .docx
    AddType application/vnd.ms-fontobject .eot
    AddType application/x-msdownload .exe
    AddType image/gif .gif
    AddType application/x-gzip .gz .gzip
    AddType image/x-icon .ico
    AddType image/jpeg .jpg .jpeg .jpe
    AddType application/vnd.ms-access .mdb
    AddType audio/midi .mid .midi
    AddType video/quicktime .mov .qt
    AddType audio/mpeg .mp3 .m4a
    AddType video/mp4 .mp4 .m4v
    AddType video/mpeg .mpeg .mpg .mpe
    AddType application/vnd.ms-project .mpp
    AddType application/x-font-otf .otf
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.database .odb
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.chart .odc
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.formula .odf
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics .odg
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation .odp
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet .ods
    AddType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text .odt
    AddType audio/ogg .ogg
    AddType application/pdf .pdf
    AddType image/png .png
    AddType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint .pot .pps .ppt .pptx
    AddType audio/x-realaudio .ra .ram
    AddType application/x-shockwave-flash .swf
    AddType application/x-tar .tar
    AddType image/tiff .tif .tiff
    AddType application/x-font-ttf .ttf .ttc
    AddType audio/wav .wav
    AddType audio/wma .wma
    AddType application/vnd.ms-write .wri
    AddType application/vnd.ms-excel .xla .xls .xlsx .xlt .xlw
    AddType application/zip .zip
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
    ExpiresActive On
    ExpiresByType text/css A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-javascript A691200
    ExpiresByType text/x-component A691200
    ExpiresByType text/html A691200
    ExpiresByType text/richtext A691200
    ExpiresByType image/svg+xml A691200
    ExpiresByType text/plain A691200
    ExpiresByType text/xsd A691200
    ExpiresByType text/xsl A691200
    ExpiresByType text/xml A691200
    ExpiresByType video/asf A691200
    ExpiresByType video/avi A691200
    ExpiresByType image/bmp A691200
    ExpiresByType application/java A691200
    ExpiresByType video/divx A691200
    ExpiresByType application/msword A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-fontobject A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-msdownload A691200
    ExpiresByType image/gif A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-gzip A691200
    ExpiresByType image/x-icon A691200
    ExpiresByType image/jpeg A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-access A691200
    ExpiresByType audio/midi A691200
    ExpiresByType video/quicktime A691200
    ExpiresByType audio/mpeg A691200
    ExpiresByType video/mp4 A691200
    ExpiresByType video/mpeg A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-project A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-font-otf A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.database A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.chart A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.formula A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text A691200
    ExpiresByType audio/ogg A691200
    ExpiresByType application/pdf A691200
    ExpiresByType image/png A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-powerpoint A691200
    ExpiresByType audio/x-realaudio A691200
    ExpiresByType image/svg+xml A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-tar A691200
    ExpiresByType image/tiff A691200
    ExpiresByType application/x-font-ttf A691200
    ExpiresByType audio/wav A691200
    ExpiresByType audio/wma A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-write A691200
    ExpiresByType application/vnd.ms-excel A691200
    ExpiresByType application/zip A691200
</IfModule>
<IfModule mod_deflate.c>
    <IfModule mod_setenvif.c>
        BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
        BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
        BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
        BrowserMatch \bMSI[E] !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
    </IfModule>
    <IfModule mod_headers.c>
        Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary
    </IfModule>
    <IfModule mod_filter.c>
        AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css application/x-javascript text/x-component text/html text/richtext image/svg+xml text/plain text/xsd text/xsl text/xml image/x-icon
    </IfModule>
</IfModule>
<FilesMatch "\.(css|js|htc|CSS|JS|HTC)$">
    FileETag None
    <IfModule mod_headers.c>
         Header set X-Powered-By "W3 Total Cache/0.9.2.4"
    </IfModule>
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch "\.(html|htm|rtf|rtx|svg|svgz|txt|xsd|xsl|xml|HTML|HTM|RTF|RTX|SVG|SVGZ|TXT|XSD|XSL|XML)$">
    FileETag None
    <IfModule mod_headers.c>
         Header set X-Powered-By "W3 Total Cache/0.9.2.4"
    </IfModule>
</FilesMatch>
<FilesMatch "\.(asf|asx|wax|wmv|wmx|avi|bmp|class|divx|doc|docx|eot|exe|gif|gz|gzip|ico|jpg|jpeg|jpe|mdb|mid|midi|mov|qt|mp3|m4a|mp4|m4v|mpeg|mpg|mpe|mpp|otf|odb|odc|odf|odg|odp|ods|odt|ogg|pdf|png|pot|pps|ppt|pptx|ra|ram|svg|svgz|swf|tar|tif|tiff|ttf|ttc|wav|wma|wri|xla|xls|xlsx|xlt|xlw|zip|ASF|ASX|WAX|WMV|WMX|AVI|BMP|CLASS|DIVX|DOC|DOCX|EOT|EXE|GIF|GZ|GZIP|ICO|JPG|JPEG|JPE|MDB|MID|MIDI|MOV|QT|MP3|M4A|MP4|M4V|MPEG|MPG|MPE|MPP|OTF|ODB|ODC|ODF|ODG|ODP|ODS|ODT|OGG|PDF|PNG|POT|PPS|PPT|PPTX|RA|RAM|SVG|SVGZ|SWF|TAR|TIF|TIFF|TTF|TTC|WAV|WMA|WRI|XLA|XLS|XLSX|XLT|XLW|ZIP)$">
    FileETag None
    <IfModule mod_headers.c>
         Header set X-Powered-By "W3 Total Cache/0.9.2.4"
    </IfModule>
</FilesMatch>
# END W3TC Browser Cache
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteRule ^(.*\/)?w3tc_rewrite_test$ $1?w3tc_rewrite_test=1 [L]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?([a-z0-9\-\.]+\.[a-z]+)\.?(:[0-9]+)?$
    RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_DOMAIN:%2]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(test-league|jc|testdomain|groupnet|jcollins|collins|preset-2|preset-3|pwpolicy|pwpolicy2|pwpolicy4|pwpolicy3|jaron|gnswebdemo|demo|3rdtheme|2ndtheme|1sttheme|jaroncollins|melodytess|gnslite|fasa|webdemo|fasareplica|gnslitereplica|greencardc|roletest|fasa2|example|siteadmin|admintest|troubleshooting|gnslite2|testone|testtwo|testthree|pizazz|text|1stthemereplica|greencardc2|greencardc3)/
    RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_BLOGNAME:%1.]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Accept-Encoding} gzip
    RewriteRule .* - [E=W3TC_ENC:_gzip]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} =""
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} =gnswebsvcs.com
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \/$ [OR]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (sitemap(_index)?\.xml(\.gz)?|[a-z0-9_\-]+-sitemap([0-9]+)?\.xml(\.gz)?) [NC]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(\/wp-admin\/|\/xmlrpc.php|\/wp-(app|cron|login|register|mail)\.php|\/feed\/|wp-.*\.php|index\.php) [NC,OR]
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (wp-comments-popup\.php|wp-links-opml\.php|wp-locations\.php) [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !(comment_author|wp-postpass|wordpress_\[a-f0-9\]\+|wordpress_logged_in) [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} !(W3\ Total\ Cache/0\.9\.2\.4) [NC]
    RewriteCond "%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/w3tc-%{ENV:W3TC_BLOGNAME}%{ENV:W3TC_DOMAIN}/pgcache/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_UA}%{ENV:W3TC_REF}%{ENV:W3TC_SSL}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}" -f
    RewriteRule .* "/wp-content/w3tc-%{ENV:W3TC_BLOGNAME}%{ENV:W3TC_DOMAIN}/pgcache/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index%{ENV:W3TC_UA}%{ENV:W3TC_REF}%{ENV:W3TC_SSL}.html%{ENV:W3TC_ENC}" [L]
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Page Cache core

# BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule  ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L]
RewriteRule  ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(.*\.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
# END WordPress

    Thanks in advance for any insights.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    11 years, 7 months ago

    It shouldn’t be taking 8-12 seconds to parse the / – That should be near instantaneous.

    Your site is incredibly slow either way, though.

    W3TC isn’t turned on. If it was, it would have some diagnostics in the source code.

    Thread Starter Andrew Mills

    (@andrewmills)

    11 years, 7 months ago

    Hi, Ipstenu. Thank you for the reply.

    > W3TC isn’t turned on. If it was, it would have some diagnostics in the source code.

    I could easily be doing something wrong, but the plugin says it’s enabled in green letters on the General Settings tab.

    Is there a parking brake I need to release somewhere? 😉

    Kidding aside– I’ll go back and take a second look at the installation instructions. Maybe I missed a checkbox or something.

    > It shouldn’t be taking 8-12 seconds to parse the / – That should be near instantaneous.

    Yes, I know. And I’m thinking neither CloudFlare nor W3T Cache will help improve that situation.

    Any suggestions about how I might streamline or sequence the .htaccess file . . . or is it time to start searching for a better webhost?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    11 years, 7 months ago

    Usually W3TC has a ‘preview’ mode that you have to turn off.

    Go to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=w3tc_general

    The green ‘enabled’ will be there, even if you have nothing checked, so make sure you’ve checked at least ‘page cache.’

    http://gnswebsvcs.com/readme.html doesn’t take too terribly long to load, so I’d start with turning off all the plugins and switching to the TwentyEleven theme. See how it loads.

    It’s possible you don’t have enough PHP memory going on, which … hard to poke at from this end.

    Thread Starter Andrew Mills

    (@andrewmills)

    11 years, 7 months ago

    It’s looking like the theme is somehow responsible. (Which baffles me because I thought the .htaccess file was more of an Apache thing than a WordPress or WordPress theme thing.)

    Basically, we switch the theme to TwentyEleven, and it loads everything in under 5 seconds. We switch it to the regular theme and just the trailing slash rewrite takes longer than that. But proving it definitively is beyond my current skills/tools.

    I guess I need to find some kind of PHP debug tool that will let me do a step debugging walk through. Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

    Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    🏳️‍🌈 Advisor and Activist

    11 years, 7 months ago

    *sigh* Themes.

    The short version is that themes can add in functions to your site which can totally do this. Just like plugins. I suspect it’s overwriting the normal behavior.

    What theme is this?

    Thread Starter Andrew Mills

    (@andrewmills)

    11 years, 7 months ago

    A child theme based on the Headway Base. I’ve put an entry on their support forums, and they are looking into it.

    Sorry to have taken your time– I knew themes could slow things down in general on WordPress, but I didn’t know they could operate as early as the .htaccess point of things in the sequence.

    Clearly I still have lots more to learn about WordPress. Think I’ll try to get that debugger tool running this weekend, if I can.

    Thank you again for your time.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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