COMMpla Publishes Guide on Optimising Drupal CMS Performance

A recent guide from COMMpla explores practical methods for improving Drupal CMS performance by addressing multiple layers of the platform, from hosting infrastructure to application-level code. The article explains that choosing an appropriate hosting environment, such as a VPS or dedicated server, provides the foundation for performance optimisation. It also highlights server configuration practices including PHP-FPM tuning, optimised MariaDB or MySQL databases, OPcache, HTTP/2 support, and CDN integration for faster content delivery.

The guide reviews Drupal’s multi-layered caching system, including Page Cache for anonymous users and Dynamic Page Cache for authenticated sessions, alongside external solutions such as Redis, Memcached, and Varnish. It recommends keeping Twig templates lightweight, aggregating and minifying CSS and JavaScript assets, and avoiding unnecessary database queries. Careful module management is also advised, with unused modules removed and development utilities disabled in production environments. Profiling tools such as Blackfire, XHProf, and New Relic are suggested to identify performance bottlenecks.

Beyond code and caching, the article discusses operational practices that support long-term performance. These include running Drupal cron tasks through external schedulers, using the Queue API for resource-intensive background processes, and maintaining updated core and module versions to benefit from security and performance improvements. The guide concludes that Drupal optimisation requires a holistic strategy in which infrastructure, caching, development practices, monitoring, and security operate together as part of a single ecosystem.