Use PageSpeed with Apache

Check if PageSpeed is enabled

There are different ways to check if mod_pagespeed for Apache is already configured and running.

• Check if the module and configuration files are active, by inspecting the installdir/apache2/conf/httpd.conf and looking for the following lines:

  Include conf/pagespeed.conf
  Include conf/pagespeed_libraries.conf
  

  The module will be located at installdir/apache2/modules/mod_pagespeed_ap24.so.

• Check the source code of rendered application page. Images, CSS and JavaScript should appear in compressed form. For example, an image might be named sample.png.pagespeed.ic.ZWx38TQ7J5.png.

Check Pagespeed statistics

For security reasons, the PageSpeed application is accessible only when using 127.0.0.1 as the hostname. To access it from other IP addresses, follow these steps:

• Enable remote access by editing the installdir/apache2/conf/pagespeed.conf file, disabling URL rewriting and adding your IP address to the list of allowed IP addresses. Ensure that the final result looks like this:

  <Location /pagespeed_admin>
      <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
        RewriteEngine Off
      </IfModule>
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from localhost
      Allow from 127.0.0.1
      Allow from localhost
      SetHandler pagespeed_admin
  </Location>
  

Make similar changes for the /pagespeed_console and /mod_pagespeed_message sections. On some versions, this is also called /mod_pagespeed_statistics.

• Restart Apache to load the changes:

  $ cd installdir
  $ ./ctlscript.sh restart apache
  

You should now be able to check PageSpeed statistics by browsing to http://localhost/pagespeed_admin. Here is an example of what you should see:

TIP: Alternatively, check PageSpeed statistics using an SSH tunnel.

Disable PageSpeed

To disable PageSpeed, follow these steps:

• Comment out the following lines in the installdir/apache2/conf/httpd.conf file:

  Include conf/pagespeed.conf
  Include conf/pagespeed_libraries.conf
  

• Restart Apache:

  $ sudo installdir/ctlscript.sh restart apache
  

Flush the PageSpeed cache

To flush the PageSpeed cache, follow these steps:

• Execute this command:

  $ sudo touch installdir/apache2/var/cache/mod_pagespeed/cache.flush
  

• Restart Apache:

  $ sudo installdir/ctlscript.sh restart apache