Pre-launch Configuration

Complete important configuration before launching your site.

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This section provides information on how to enable backups, test your email plugin or module, review status reports, and test your cache.

Enable and Schedule Weekly Backups

  1. Click Backups on the Dev tab of your Site Dashboard then click Backup Schedule.

  2. Switch the toggle to Enable if needed, then pick the day on which you want to create weekly backups, and then click Update Weekly Backup Schedule.

  3. Repeat these steps for the Test and Live environments.

Refer to Backups Tool for more information on this feature.

Enable and Test Email Plugin/Module (Optional)

We strongly recommend using a third-party email service provider if your site will be sending outgoing email. Refer to Email on Pantheon for more information.

 Note

Some email solution providers (like Sendgrid) may implement a waiting period before upgrading to a paid plan, to fight malicious email. If you're switching email providers as part of your launch, make sure to research and plan for this if applicable.

Review Status Reports

Launch with confidence by taking advantage of Pantheon's static site analysis service for Drupal and WordPress.

  1. Access the Live environment in your Pantheon Site Dashboard.

  2. Navigate to the Status page.

The automated report will:

  • Check for exploited patterns in code

  • Show database stats

  • Reveal PHP errors

Refer to Drupal Launch Check and WordPress Launch Check for more information on what is included in these checks and how they work.

Maximize Performance by Configuring Cache (Optional)

Enable Object Cache

Pantheon's Object Cache (formerly Redis) provides an alternative, drop-in caching backend for your website. This removes caching work from the database, which is vital for scaling to a larger number of logged-in users. It also provides a number of other features for developers, including managing queues and custom caching.

All plans except for a Basic plan can use Object Cache. Object Cache is available to Sandbox plans for developmental purposes, but will not be available going live on a Basic plan.

Configure Caching

Configure your performance settings to maximize performance.

Serving anonymous traffic from virtual memory allows a cached response to be returned to the browser without needing to access the application container, which in turns frees up resources to build more dynamic requests.

Test Cache

Follow the steps below to test Pantheon's Global CDN. This will show you whether or not a page is being served from Global CDN by examining the HTTP headers from a response using cURL.

  1. Examine the headers through the command line:

    curl --head https://docs.pantheon.io
HTTP/2 301
content-type: text/html
location: https://docs.pantheon.io/
server: nginx
strict-transport-security: max-age=31622400
x-pantheon-styx-hostname: styx-fe2-a-5d96768699-vcdvh
x-styx-req-id: b7b8d4d2-04d9-11ec-a467-9a05fab906d1
cache-control: public, max-age=86400
date: Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:30:21 GMT
x-served-by: cache-mdw17379-MDW, cache-ewr18124-EWR
x-cache: HIT, HIT
x-cache-hits: 1, 1
x-timer: S1629819022.932985,VS0,VE1
pantheon-trace-id: be58e6a03a904fbfa64515ee136ffd34
vary: Cookie, Cookie
age: 9654
accept-ranges: bytes
via: 1.1 varnish, 1.1 varnish
content-length: 162

    Note the result for age or max-age.

  2. Navigate to the site's Dev environment and set the site to Maintenance Mode.

  3. Clear the cache from either the Advanced Page Cache module or from the Dashboard.

  4. cURL the site headers filtered for stale cache in a terminal:

    curl --head https://docs.pantheon.io | grep PContext-Resp-Is-Stale

    If the response headers include PContext-Resp-Is-Stale, the page has been successfully served from stale cache.

  1. Navigate to the page using Firefox or Chrome, and in the browser's developer tools open the Network tab.

  2. Find the response headers for the page or asset.

  3. Go to the site's Dev environment and set the site to Maintenance Mode.

  4. Clear the cache from either the Advanced Page Cache module or from the Dashboard.

  5. Go back to the page and Developer Tools, then refresh the page for the newest header responses.

    If the result includes PContext-Resp-Is-Stale, the page has been successfully served from stale cache.

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