Astral 360 WSA — Website Accelerator

Module Configuration

Auto update, per-zone cache sizes, release branch choice.

The Module Configuration page groups the WSA module's global settings — update behavior, resources allocated to the different cache zones, and the version stability tier installed.

Access: Sidebar → Module Configuration.

💡 All settings on this page apply to the whole server (all cPanel accounts). For per-account adjustments, see Account Inventory.

Module Configuration page in WHM

1. Overview

The page contains 5 settings organized vertically:

   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │  Module Configuration                                │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │                                                      │
   │  Auto Update                                  [On]   │
   │  Allow WSA to install minor updates                  │
   │  automatically.                                      │
   │                                                      │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │  Dynamic Cache Size           (Default: 512 MB)      │
   │  Memory budget for the dynamic content zone          │
   │                                       [ 512 MB ] ↺   │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │  CSS / JS Cache Size          (Default: 512 MB)      │
   │  Memory budget for static text assets                │
   │                                       [ 512 MB ] ↺   │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │  Media Cache Size             (Default: 1024 MB)     │
   │  Memory budget for images, fonts, media              │
   │                                      [ 1024 MB ] ↺   │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │  Release Tier                 (Default: stable)      │
   │  Which channel of WSA this server tracks             │
   │  [ Stable · 2.2.0 | Current | Edge | Dev ]      ↺    │
   ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │  Changes apply on save. A rebuild may be required    │
   │  for size changes to take effect.                    │
   │                            [ Cancel ]  [ Save ]      │
   └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each row follows the same pattern:

  • Title of the setting.
  • (Default: ...) — indication of the default value, in small gray font.
  • Description below the title.
  • Control on the right (toggle, numeric field, or segmented).
  • ↺ button (undo) — visible only when the value is modified; restores the default value in one click.

2. Auto Update

   Auto Update                                      [ON]
   Allow WSA to install minor updates automatically.

POST field: autoupdate Values: 0 (Off) or 1 (On) Default: 1 (On)

2.1 Effect

When On, the WSA module checks daily for the latest available version on its release branch (see §5 Release Tier below) and installs it automatically in the background.

The automatic update:

  • Runs via an internal cron task (checkModule, 3600 s interval).
  • Downloads the new version to a temporary folder.
  • Atomically replaces source code.
  • Executes post_update.php for necessary migrations.
  • Reloads nginx.
  • Doesn't interrupt any running site.

2.2 When to disable

  • Certified environments where each update must pass a manual validation.
  • Critical sites where the operator prefers to control precise timing (e.g., avoid an update during peak e-commerce period).
  • Tests on a staging server before propagating to prod.

For the majority of production servers. Stable releases are tested before publication, and security fixes (e.g. nginx CVEs) are delivered quickly via this channel.

3. Dynamic Cache Size

   Dynamic Cache Size                   (Default: 512 MB)
   Memory budget for the dynamic content zone
   (HTML, API responses).                  [ 512 MB ]  ↺

POST field: dynamicSize Value: integer (MB) Default: 512

3.1 Effect

Maximum size (in megabytes) of the cache zone dedicated to dynamic content — PHP/HTML pages, JSON, API, authentication.

When the limit is reached, nginx evicts the least recently used entries (LRU) to make room.

3.2 Recommendations by server profile

Server type Recommended size
Small hosting (< 50 accounts, light sites) 256–512 MB
Medium hosting (50–200 WordPress accounts) 512–1024 MB
Large hosting (200+ accounts, e-commerce) 1024–4096 MB
Dedicated server for a single high-traffic site 2048–8192 MB

3.3 Effects of a change

  • Increase the size: more hits, fewer evictions. Improves cache hit ratio.
  • Decrease the size: frees disk. May increase cache miss ratio and therefore Apache load.

⚠️ Modifying this value requires an nginx rebuild to take effect (the max_size is emitted in the proxy_cache_path directive of the main nginx file). A yellow banner reminds you after saving.

4. CSS / JS Cache Size

   CSS / JS Cache Size                  (Default: 512 MB)
   Memory budget for static text assets —
   minified CSS, JS bundles.               [ 512 MB ]  ↺

POST field: staticSize Value: integer (MB) Default: 512

4.1 Effect

Maximum size of the cache zone dedicated to static text files: stylesheets, JavaScript scripts, static JSON files.

4.2 Recommendations

Server type Recommended size
Modern sites with JS frameworks (React, Vue, Angular) 512–1024 MB
Classic WordPress / Joomla / Drupal sites 256–512 MB
Static sites 128–256 MB

This zone tends to fill slowly and offers an excellent hit ratio because CSS/JS files change only rarely (when a theme or plugin is updated).

5. Media Cache Size

   Media Cache Size                     (Default: 1024 MB)
   Memory budget for images, fonts and other
   binary media.                          [ 1024 MB ]  ↺

POST field: mediaSize Value: integer (MB) Default: 1024

5.1 Effect

Maximum size of the cache zone dedicated to binary media: images (PNG, JPG, WebP, AVIF), fonts (WOFF2, WOFF), videos, PDFs, downloadable archives.

This is generally the largest zone because media represents the bulk of a modern web page's weight.

5.2 Recommendations

Server type Recommended size
Small hosting 512–1024 MB
Medium hosting 1024–2048 MB
Large hosting (e-commerce, media) 2048–8192 MB
Heavy video / download sites 8192+ MB

5.3 Reference calculation

Rough estimate: average page size × number of unique pages × 1.5. For an average WordPress site, about 200 unique pages × 3 MB of media per page = 600 MB.

6. Release Tier

   Release Tier                       (Default: stable)
   Which channel of WSA this server tracks for updates.
   [ Stable · 2.2.0 | Current · 2.2.1 | Edge · 2.3.0 | Dev ] ↺

POST field: moduleTier Values: stable, current, edge, dev Default: stable

6.1 The four channels

Channel Target audience Risk Update frequency
Stable Production. Versions that passed through current and edge without incident. Very low. Monthly or quarterly.
Current Production slightly more up-to-date. Recently published stable versions. Low. A few times a month.
Edge Beta. For test servers or evaluation before official publication. Moderate — possible residual bugs. Weekly to biweekly.
Dev Active development. Reserved for the Astral Internet team. High — unstable. Daily.

To the right of each option, the version number currently published on this channel is displayed if available (e.g., Stable · 2.2.0).

6.2 Effect of the change

When you change channels and save:

  • The module updates its internal configuration file.
  • At the next update check (automatic daily, or manual via Update WSA), it downloads the latest version of the new channel.
  • If the new channel has a more recent version, the module updates.
  • If the new channel has an older version, no automatic downgrade is performed — you stay on the installed version.

6.3 Recommendations

  • Normal production: stable.
  • To benefit from the latest features without waiting: current.
  • To test in advance (staging server): edge.
  • Astral team only: dev.

⚠️ Moving from stable to edge may install an untested beta at the next auto-update. Make a backup before switching on a production server.

   Changes apply on save. A rebuild may be required
   for size changes to take effect.
                                    [ Cancel ]  [ Save changes ]

7.1 Cancel button

Cancels all unsaved changes and returns to the dashboard. No confirmation requested — unsaved values are simply lost.

7.2 Save changes button

Saves all modified values:

  1. Client-side validation — each numeric field is checked (positive integer, in expected range). If an error is detected, a red border indicates it and saving is blocked.
  2. POST to the WHM dispatcher — mod-action=save-mod- setting.
  3. Server-side validation — double-check of values (the wsa::Set* methods re-validate).
  4. SQLite write of the new values.
  5. nginx rebuild if moduleTier changed (launches wsa --update --verbose streamed).
  6. Success banner on the refreshed page, listing modified options.

7.3 Fields requiring a rebuild

Field Impact
Auto Update No rebuild needed. Immediate effect.
Dynamic Cache Size Rebuild needed to apply new size.
CSS/JS Cache Size Rebuild needed.
Media Cache Size Rebuild needed.
Release Tier No nginx rebuild, but triggers an update check.

If you changed a size, then execute Rebuild Nginx conf from the dashboard to apply the new configuration.

8. Internal architecture (informative)

For curious administrators, settings are persisted in the SQLite database /etc/wsa/conf/wsa.sqlite, table options:

SQLite key Type UI source
autoupdate string (0/1) Auto Update toggle
dynamic_cache_size int (MB) Dynamic Cache Size
cssjs_cache_size int (MB) CSS/JS Cache Size
other_cache_size int (MB) Media Cache Size
update_branch string Release Tier

Manual intervention is possible via:

sqlite3 /etc/wsa/conf/wsa.sqlite \
    "UPDATE options SET value='1024' WHERE option='dynamic_cache_size';"

…but strongly discouraged: values are then no longer in sync with what the UI displays, and an nginx rebuild is required to apply the change.

9. Further reading