Title: Shield causing issues with Varnish Cache
Last modified: September 14, 2017

---

# Shield causing issues with Varnish Cache

 *  Resolved [ProjectArmy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/supporthero/)
 * (@supporthero)
 * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/shield-causing-issues-with-varnish-cache/)
 * Hey Paul,
 * We ran into some issues on Dreamhost’s Dreampress hosting, where they require
   Varnish Cache to be used. Here’s what Dreamhost support said:
 * > I was also troubleshooting Varnish not working properly as it wasn’t able to
   > cache the site for your example.com and my.example.com domain, the issue is
   > coming from your installed security plugin wp-simple-firewall. It’s generating
   > php sessions which doesn’t allow Varnish to work properly.
 * Have you seeing any issues with Varnish Cache before?
 * Thanks,
    Viktor

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Paul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/paultgoodchild/)
 * (@paultgoodchild)
 * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/shield-causing-issues-with-varnish-cache/#post-9497719)
 * Shield uses a cookie to track “sessions” only when as they’re actually required.
   Any visitor accessing only the front-end of the site will not have a cookie set.
 * Also, it’s not using PHP Sessions – it’s creating a cookie (with the name ‘icwp-
   wpsf’). Cookies must be compatible with Varnish Cache or you’d not be able to
   log into WordPress.
 * They’ll need to point at something else… it’s not Shield causing this problem.
   Unless they can be more specific with something for us to look at.
 * Hope this helps.
 *  Thread Starter [ProjectArmy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/supporthero/)
 * (@supporthero)
 * [8 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/shield-causing-issues-with-varnish-cache/#post-9501425)
 * Thanks Paul, I figured that much. I’ll pass this on and see what they say.
 * Viktor
 *  Plugin Author [Paul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/paultgoodchild/)
 * (@paultgoodchild)
 * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/shield-causing-issues-with-varnish-cache/#post-9517872)
 * I’m going to mark this resolved for now, but feel free to update me if you find
   anything you think we can help with.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Shield causing issues with Varnish Cache’ is closed to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/wp-simple-firewall/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3054572)
 * [Shield: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/)
 * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/#faq)
 * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/)
 * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/active/)
 * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/unresolved/)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-simple-firewall/reviews/)

 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [Paul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/paultgoodchild/)
 * Last activity: [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/shield-causing-issues-with-varnish-cache/#post-9517872)
 * Status: resolved