---
title: "Determining the Cache Status in UltraStack"
description: "Caching works in such a way that you may not always think of how it is working when it's on. This is a good thing since the caching function is part of the UltraStack architecture. This article will..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/ultrastack/determining-the-cache-status-in-ultrastack/
date: 2019-12-23
modified: 2021-08-16
author: "InMotion Hosting Contributor"
categories: ["UltraStack"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Determining the Cache Status in UltraStack

Caching works in such a way that you may not always think of how it is working when it’s on. This is a good thing since the caching function is part of the UltraStack architecture. This article will cover how to determine your cache status using the cURL command.

- [Using Curl](#curl)
- [Cache Status Codes](#status-codes)

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## Using Curl to Determine Cache Status

In order to use CURL, you will need to be logged into your site [using SSH](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/server/ssh/shared-reseller-ssh/).

In the result below, you would basically be using the command like:

curl -is https://example.com/ -A "Troubleshooting" | head -14

```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.13.3
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:18:39 GMT
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Connection: keep-alive
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Link: ; rel="https://api.w.org/", ; rel=shortlink
X-Proxy-Cache: HIT
```

## Cache Status Codes

Below is a list of possible values for the `X-Proxy-Cache` header, and a description of what they mean.

- `-` (`X-Proxy-Cache` header is empty or missing) – No caching configured for this URI, or the page was requested via a method other than `GET`, `HEAD`, or `OPTIONS`. This means that `POST` requests will always bypass the cache.
- `HIT` – *Cache Hit* – Nginx found a matching fresh page in the cache and returned it to the visitor.
- `MISS` – *Cache Miss* – No matching fresh page was found in the cache. Nginx made a request to the origin (Apache, PHP-FPM), then cached the resulting page for subsequent requests.
- `EXPIRED` – *Cache Expired* – Nginx tried to retrieve an updated page from the origin (Apache, PHP-FPM), but encountered an error, so instead it served an expired page from the cache.
- `UPDATING` – *Cache Updating* – Nginx is currently waiting for a response from the origin to update the cache (from a previous request). In the meantime, Nginx served the visitor the existing (expired) page from the cache. This behavior can be controlled via the `cache_lock_enable` option (enabled by default).
- `BYPASS` – *Cache Bypass* – This page was forwarded directly from the origin without caching due to explicitly defined exclusion rules that the customer has configured (or that are a part of the default configuration). Specific paths can be configured via the `cache_bypass_paths` option. Other options, such as `bypass_cookies`, also influence whether or not the request bypassed the cache.
- `STATIC/TYPE` – *Static Content (by type)* – This asset was served directly by Nginx due to matching the file extension of the request URL with a predefined list in the template. This is enabled or disabled via the `accel_static_content` option.
- `STATIC/PATH` – *Static Content (by path)* – This asset was served directly by Nginx due to matching the URI with a list defined by the customer (or part of the default configuration). This is configured with the `static_content_paths` option.

Congratulations, you now know how to find out the cache status using the **CURL** command in SSH. Next, learn [How to Purge UltraStack Cache with Cache Manager in cPanel](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/ultrastack/purging-the-ultrastack-cache-with-cache-manager-in-cpanel/).

For even more helpful guides, see our other [UltraStack tutorials](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/ultrastack/).