Joomla Cache Issues

When using Joomla CMS version 1.5.20 to deliver site content and AceSEF for delivering Search Engine friendly URL’s, we have experienced our URL’s breaking. This makes the website unusable.

The main visual symptom being page content is displayed without any CSS formatting being applied. Additionally, none (or just one or two images) are displayed. This is because all the paths to these resources (CSS file(s), JavaScript file(s), Image(s)) get corrupted with additional, useless, path information being included.

For example:
Actual file path:
http://www.opensourcevarsity.com/videos/_hwdvids_nav_categories

Corrupted file path:
www.opensourcevarsity.com/index.php/openofficewriter/forum/open-source-varsity-forum/mysql-forum/videos.html

Extra Elements Added:
/index.php/openofficewriter/forum/open-source-varsity-forum/mysql-forum

We are not sure why these extra path elements get added, only that they do. This causes all content delivery to fail, including the websites 404 Error page, if one exists.

Several websites, including ours experienced this when they upgraded from Joomla CMS 1.5.19 to Joomla CMS 1.5.20.

Solving This Issue:

There is a simple solution to this issue. One has to purge the Joomla Cache. Here’s how to do it:

Login as Joomla administrator by entering the url_of_your_website/administrator in your browser address bar.

Enter an appropriate username, password and leave the Language to Default, click on Login as shown in Diagram 1.

Diagram 1

After logging in to the Joomla backend, Joomla Administrator Control Panel Page opens as shown in Diagram 2.

If you want to access the Control Panel from another area in the back-end, simply use the textual menu items, Site --> Control Panel.

Diagram 2

To access the website’s Global Configuration, click on the Global Configuration icon in the Joomla Control Panel as shown in Diagram 2.

Diagram 3

In the Global Configuration, click on the System Tab.
On the right hand side you will see Heading Cache Setting as shown in diagram 4.
Set the Cache Option to No and click on the Save button on the top right hand corner.

Diagram 4

Now go to Extension -> Plugin Manager as shown in diagram 5

Diagram 5

In the Plugin Manager search for the System – Cache Plugin. If the System Cache Plugin is enabled, disable the plugin as shown in diagram 6

Diagram 6

Click on the to disabled the plugin. When the icon turn into this means that the Plugin is disabled.

Now monitor your website for a day to check if the URL of your website are breaking or not. Hope fully the URL’s will work just fine.

After making the above change we monitored our website for two days. During that duration our URL’s worked just fine.

After that we reactivated the System – Cache Plugin. In the System – Cache Plugin Parameters, we set Use Browser Caching option to YES as shown in diagram 7.

Diagram 7

After that use Tools -> Clean Cache as shown in diagram 8.

Diagram 8

On the Clean Cache Page select the checkbox and click on Delete Button as shown in diagram 9.

Diagram 9

After that use Tools --> Purge Expired Cache as shown in diagram 10

Diagram 10

On the Purge Expired Cache page click the Purge Expired button on the top right hand corners as shown in diagram 11.

Diagram 11

Keep monitoring you website for a couple of days.

NOTE: If the System Cache Plugin is ON, whenever you make any change(s) in your websites content(s) or image(s), please do not forget to Clean Joomla Cache as shown in diagram 9 and Purge Expired Cache as shown in diagram 11. If you do not Clean Joomla’s Cache you will have to wait for 15 minutes to see the changed content on your website as this is the default Cache lifetime as set in the System Cache as shown in diagram 7.

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