Get started with POM Cache
This chapter takes a site owner from an uncached WordPress installation to a verified POM Cache deployment. It deliberately separates installation, licensing, cache configuration, and production approval: each step answers a different question and has a different rollback.
Choose the right article
| If you need to… | Read |
|---|---|
| Understand the product before changing the site | What POM Cache does |
| Decide which performance tasks belong elsewhere | What POM Cache deliberately does not do |
| Check WordPress, PHP, installation mode, Apache, and filesystem prerequisites | Requirements and compatibility |
| Deploy the plugin, constants, drop-in, and rewrite rules | Install and activate POM Cache |
| Connect the site to its POM subscription | Activate your POM Cache license |
| Learn what every settings section controls | Tour the POM Cache interface |
| Generate one HTML file and prove that it is reused safely | Verify your first cached page |
| Approve a complete site or network for launch | Production cache checklist |
| Update the plugin or prepare a useful support request | Updates, support, and safe maintenance |
Recommended order for a new installation
- Confirm the deployment meets the requirements.
- Install and activate the plugin without enabling cache generation yet. Use Network Activate on multisite.
- Configure
WP_CACHE,POM_CACHE_HOME, theadvanced-cache.phpdrop-in, and the Apache rules. - Open the Advanced tab and resolve every item marked Needs manual change.
- Save and validate the license from the License section.
- Learn the difference between the HTML and progressive JSON controls.
- Enable HTML caching and complete the first-cache test on a simple public page.
- Review personalized routes, invalidation, JSON behavior, and the CDN before production approval.
The three layers you will verify
POM Cache can participate in three distinct delivery layers:
- Origin HTML cache: complete public WordPress pages stored as
index.html. - Progressive JSON cache: independent JSON files used by compatible progressive archives.
- Edge delivery: an optional CDN such as CloudFront, responsible for its own cache and response compression.
A success at one layer does not prove the other two are correct. When diagnosing a result, start at the WordPress origin, then verify Apache or PHP delivery, and only then verify the CDN.
Safe starting principle
Use an anonymous page whose HTML is the same for every visitor. Do not begin with an account area, cart, checkout, password-protected page, or another route that contains visitor-specific state. POM Cache has bypass safeguards, but production approval should demonstrate the intended public case before testing exceptions.
After completing this chapter, continue with the cache layer or workflow that matches the site you are configuring.