Knowledgebase

Memcached & Redis on Firstserv Hosting

Memcached

On Firstserv Cloud, Business, and Reseller hosting plans, you may notice that Memcached appears as an available PHP extension.

However:

• ❌ Firstserv does not run local Memcached servers on shared hosting
• ✅ The extension is provided only for compatibility with external Memcached services

Using Memcached

If you wish to use Memcached:

• You can connect to an external Memcached server
• Or run your own Memcached instance on another system

✅ If you are using an external Memcached server:

• Please contact Firstserv support with the external server IP address
• This allows us to ensure it is permitted through the firewall

Redis Support

Unlike Memcached, Redis is supported natively on selected Firstserv hosting plans.

Redis Availability

• ✅ Available on Premium PCI-compliant hosting packages (e.g. higher-tier plans)
• ❌ Not available on standard shared hosting plans

Getting Started with Redis

To use Redis:

• Enable it via cPanel (if your plan supports it)
• Follow the Firstserv Redis setup guide for configuration steps

✅ Redis is commonly used for:

• Object caching
• Database query optimisation
• Improving performance for CMS platforms (e.g. WordPress, Magento)

Summary

• Memcached

  • Available as a PHP extension only
  • Requires an external server to function

• Redis

  • Fully supported on select Firstserv plans
  • Offers powerful performance improvements

If you’re unsure which caching solution is best for your setup or need help configuring Redis or Memcached, the Firstserv support team is happy to assist.