Help Centre › Plesk Panel › Enabling OPcache in Plesk
This php & performance guide walks UK Plesk users through Enabling OPcache on Plesk Obsidian. Steps apply to any managed Plesk hosting plan — including smartxhosting.uk/web-apps where Plesk is bundled with EU data-centre hosting, free SSL, daily backups, WP Toolkit and UK business-hours support.
What Is OPcache? · How OPcache Improves Performance · Verifying OPcache Is Enabled in Plesk · Key OPcache Settings to Tune · How to Clear OPcache After Deployment · When to Increase OPcache Memory · OPcache and LiteSpeed Cache — Working Together · FAQ
Plesk Obsidian is a mature web-hosting control panel used by hundreds of thousands of hosting customers worldwide. It centralises the management tasks a typical UK website owner or agency needs:
- Domain, subdomain and alias management
- E-mail accounts, forwarders, spam filtering
- DNS zone editing
- SSL certificates (Let’s Encrypt auto-renewing)
- File and FTP access
- Databases (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL)
- PHP version selection and tuning
- WordPress Toolkit for one-click installation and security
- Backups and restore
- Logs and statistics
On smartxhosting.uk, Plesk runs on Hetzner EU infrastructure with UK-hours support and UK VAT billing.
Plesk performance and caching:
- OPcache (PHP opcode cache) — enabled by default on smartxhosting.uk.
- LiteSpeed Cache / Nginx microcache — page-level caching for HTML output.
- Redis / Memcached — in-memory object cache (check plan).
- Browser caching — set via
.htaccess for static assets.
- CDN — pair with Cloudflare (free tier works) for edge caching and DDoS protection.
Plesk performance and caching:
- OPcache (PHP opcode cache) — enabled by default on smartxhosting.uk.
- LiteSpeed Cache / Nginx microcache — page-level caching for HTML output.
- Redis / Memcached — in-memory object cache (check plan).
- Browser caching — set via
.htaccess for static assets.
- CDN — pair with Cloudflare (free tier works) for edge caching and DDoS protection.
Plesk performance and caching:
- OPcache (PHP opcode cache) — enabled by default on smartxhosting.uk.
- LiteSpeed Cache / Nginx microcache — page-level caching for HTML output.
- Redis / Memcached — in-memory object cache (check plan).
- Browser caching — set via
.htaccess for static assets.
- CDN — pair with Cloudflare (free tier works) for edge caching and DDoS protection.
- Log in to Plesk and open the relevant section for this task.
- Select the target domain or subscription if multiple exist.
- Click the add / create / configure button as appropriate.
- Fill in the required fields. Plesk validates input and flags errors before submission.
- Save the change. Most configuration changes apply immediately; some (e.g. PHP version) take a minute to propagate.
- Verify the result — on smartxhosting.uk, confirmation e-mails are sent automatically for significant changes.
Plesk performance and caching:
- OPcache (PHP opcode cache) — enabled by default on smartxhosting.uk.
- LiteSpeed Cache / Nginx microcache — page-level caching for HTML output.
- Redis / Memcached — in-memory object cache (check plan).
- Browser caching — set via
.htaccess for static assets.
- CDN — pair with Cloudflare (free tier works) for edge caching and DDoS protection.
¶ OPcache and LiteSpeed Cache — Working Together
Plesk performance and caching:
- OPcache (PHP opcode cache) — enabled by default on smartxhosting.uk.
- LiteSpeed Cache / Nginx microcache — page-level caching for HTML output.
- Redis / Memcached — in-memory object cache (check plan).
- Browser caching — set via
.htaccess for static assets.
- CDN — pair with Cloudflare (free tier works) for edge caching and DDoS protection.
Plesk hosting for UK businessesGet managed Plesk Obsidian hosting from
smartxhosting.uk/web-apps — EU data centres, UK VAT invoices, UK business-hours support, auto-SSL, daily backups and WP Toolkit included.
Q: Do I need a specific Plesk licence for this feature?
A: Most features described here are included on all managed smartxhosting.uk Plesk hosting plans. Advanced features (WP Toolkit Deluxe, Developer Pack) may require plan upgrade.
Q: Does this work on both Linux and Windows Plesk?
A: Yes — Plesk Obsidian is cross-platform. smartxhosting.uk runs Plesk on Linux; feature parity is close on Windows but file paths and service names differ.
Q: Is this guide for Plesk Obsidian or an older version?
A: Plesk Obsidian (18.x) is assumed throughout. smartxhosting.uk keeps Plesk on the latest stable branch, so UK customers are always on Obsidian.
Q: How does this feature interact with UK GDPR?
A: Any personal data processed via this feature falls under UK GDPR. Ensure your privacy notice reflects the processing, apply encryption where applicable, and document the processing in your data-processing inventory.
Q: Can I automate this via the Plesk API?
A: Yes — Plesk exposes a CLI and XML/REST APIs for automation. smartxhosting.uk managed hosting allows API access for tasks that do not require root.
Q: How do I access Plesk if I am a smartxhosting.uk customer?
A: Log in to smartxhosting.uk client area → Services → Login to Plesk. SSO takes you straight into the panel.