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local, server, remote and client

doc/sphinx/reference/vcl_var.rst

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.. Copyright (c) 2018-2021 Varnish Software AS SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause See LICENSE file for full text of license

.. NOTE: please maintain lexicographic order of foo.* variable names

.. _vcl_variables:

local, server, remote and client

These variables describe the network connection between the client and varnishd.

Without PROXY protocol::

     client    server
     remote    local
       v          v
CLIENT ------------ VARNISHD

With PROXY protocol::

     client    server   remote     local
       v          v       v          v
CLIENT ------------ PROXY ------------ VARNISHD

.. _client.identity:

client.identity

Type: STRING

Readable from: client, backend

Writable from: client


Identification of the client, used to load balance
in the client director.  Defaults to ``client.ip``

This variable can be overwritten with more precise
information, for instance extracted from a ``Cookie:``
header.

.. _client.ip:

client.ip

Type: IP

Readable from: client, backend


The client's IP address, either the same as ``remote.ip``
or what the PROXY protocol told us.

.. _server.hostname:

server.hostname

Type: STRING

Readable from: all

The host name of the server, as returned by the
`gethostname(3)` system function.

.. _server.identity:

server.identity

Type: STRING

Readable from: all

The identity of the server, as set by the ``-i`` parameter.

If an ``-i`` parameter is not passed to varnishd, the return
value from `gethostname(3)` system function will be used.

.. _server.ip:

server.ip

Type: IP

Readable from: client, backend


The IP address of the socket on which the client
connection was received, either the same as ``local.ip``
or what the PROXY protocol told us.

.. _remote.ip:

remote.ip

Type: IP

Readable from: client, backend

The IP address of the other end of the TCP connection.
This can either be the clients IP, or the outgoing IP
of a proxy server.

If the connection is a UNIX domain socket, the value
will be ``0.0.0.0:0``

.. _local.endpoint:

local.endpoint VCL >= 4.1

Type: STRING

Readable from: client, backend

The address of the '-a' socket the session was accepted on.

If the argument was ``-a foo=:81`` this would be ":81"

.. _local.ip:

local.ip

Type: IP

Readable from: client, backend

The IP address (and port number) of the local end of the
TCP connection, for instance ``192.168.1.1:81``

If the connection is a UNIX domain socket, the value
will be ``0.0.0.0:0``

.. _local.socket:

local.socket VCL >= 4.1

Type: STRING

Readable from: client, backend

The name of the '-a' socket the session was accepted on.

If the argument was ``-a foo=:81`` this would be "foo".

Note that all '-a' gets a default name on the form ``a%d``
if no name is provided.

req and req_top

These variables describe the present request, and when ESI:include requests are being processed, req_top points to the request received from the client.

.. _req:

req

Type: HTTP

Readable from: client


The entire request HTTP data structure.
Mostly useful for passing to VMODs.

.. _req.backend_hint:

req.backend_hint

Type: BACKEND

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Set bereq.backend to this if we attempt to fetch.
When set to a director, reading this variable returns
an actual backend if the director has resolved immediately,
or the director otherwise.
When used in string context, returns the name of the director
or backend, respectively.

.. _req.can_gzip:

req.can_gzip

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client

True if the client provided ``gzip`` or ``x-gzip`` in the
``Accept-Encoding`` header.

req.esi VCL <= 4.0

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Set to ``false`` to disable ESI processing
regardless of any value in beresp.do_esi. Defaults
to ``true``. This variable is replaced by ``resp.do_esi``
in VCL 4.1.

.. _req.esi_level:

req.esi_level

Type: INT

Readable from: client

A count of how many levels of ESI requests we're currently at.

.. _req.filters:

req.filters

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_recv

Writable from: vcl_recv

List of Varnish Fetch Processor (VFP) filters the req.body
will be pulled through. The order left to right signifies
processing from client to cache, iow the leftmost filter is
run first on the body as received from the client after
decoding of any transfer encodings.

VFP Filters change the body before potentially being cached
(e.g. using ``std.cache_req.body()``) and/or being handled by
the backend side, where it may get processed again by
bereq.filters.

Trying to set req.filters after processing the request body
(again, for example with ``std.cache_req.body()``) triggers a
VCL error.

.. _req.grace:

req.grace

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client

Upper limit on the object grace.

During lookup the minimum of req.grace and the object's stored
grace value will be used as the object's grace.

    When reading the unset value, it is returned as -1.

.. _req.hash:

req.hash

Type: BLOB

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_miss, vcl_pass, vcl_purge, vcl_deliver, vcl_synth, vcl_pipe


The hash key of this request.
Mostly useful for passing to VMODs, but can also be useful
for debugging hit/miss status.

.. _req.hash_always_miss:

req.hash_always_miss

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Default: ``false``.

Force a cache miss for this request, even if perfectly
good matching objects are in the cache.

This is useful to force-update the cache without invalidating
existing entries in case the fetch fails.

.. _req.hash_ignore_busy:

req.hash_ignore_busy

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Default: ``false``.

Ignore any busy object during cache lookup.

You only want to do this when you have two server looking
up content sideways from each other to avoid deadlocks.

.. _req.hash_ignore_vary:

req.hash_ignore_vary

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Default: ``false``.

Ignore objects vary headers during cache lookup.

This returns the very first match regardless of the object
compatibility with the client request. This is useful when
variants are irrelevant to certain clients, and differences
in the way the resource is presented don't change how the
client will interpret it.

Use with caution.

.. _req.http:

req.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client


The headers of request, things like ``req.http.date``.

The RFCs allow multiple headers with the same name, and both
``set`` and ``unset`` will remove *all* headers with the name
given.

The header name ``*`` is a VCL symbol and as such cannot, for
example, start with a numeral. To work with valid header that
can't be represented as VCL symbols it is possible to quote the
name, like ``req.http."grammatically.valid"``. None of the HTTP
headers present in IANA registries need to be quoted, so the
quoted syntax is discouraged but available for interoperability.

Some headers that cannot be tampered with for proper HTTP fetch
or delivery are read-only.

req.http.content-length

Type: HEADER

Readable from: client

The content-length header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

req.http.transfer-encoding

Type: HEADER

Readable from: client

The transfer-encoding header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

.. _req.is_hitmiss:

req.is_hitmiss

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_miss, vcl_deliver, vcl_pass, vcl_synth

If this request resulted in a hitmiss

.. _req.is_hitpass:

req.is_hitpass

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_pass, vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

If this request resulted in a hitpass

.. _req.method:

req.method

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

Writable from: client


The request method (e.g. "GET", "HEAD", ...)

req.proto VCL <= 4.0

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

The HTTP protocol version used by the client, usually "HTTP/1.1"
or "HTTP/2.0".

.. _req.proto:

req.proto VCL >= 4.1

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

The HTTP protocol version used by the client, usually "HTTP/1.1"
or "HTTP/2.0".

.. _req.restarts:

req.restarts

Type: INT

Readable from: client


A count of how many times this request has been restarted.

.. _req.storage:

req.storage

Type: STEVEDORE

Readable from: client

Writable from: client


The storage backend to use to save this request body.

.. _req.time:

req.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: client

The time when the request was fully received, remains constant
across restarts.

.. _req.trace:

req.trace

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Controls if ``VCL_trace`` VSL records are emitted for the current
request, see :ref:`vsl(7)`.

Defaults to the setting of the ``feature trace`` parameter,
see :ref:`varnishd(1)`. Does not get reset by a rollback.

.. _req.transport:

req.transport

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

The transport protocol which brought this request.

.. _req.max_age:

req.max_age

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client


Upper limit on the object age for cache lookups to return hit. Matches
``Cache-Control: max-age`` request header semantics.

When reading the unset value, it is returned as -1.

.. _req.ttl:

req.ttl

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client


Deprecated alias of ``req.max-age``, which will be removed in a future
version of Vinyl-Cache.

.. _req.url:

req.url

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

Writable from: client


The requested URL, for instance "/robots.txt".

.. _req.xid:

req.xid

Type: INT

Readable from: client

Unique ID of this request.

.. _req_top.http:

req_top.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: client

HTTP headers of the top-level request in a tree of ESI requests.
Identical to req.http. in non-ESI requests.

See req.http_ for general notes.

.. _req_top.method:

req_top.method

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

The request method of the top-level request in a tree
of ESI requests. (e.g. "GET", "HEAD").
Identical to req.method in non-ESI requests.

.. _req_top.proto:

req_top.proto

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

HTTP protocol version of the top-level request in a tree of
ESI requests.
Identical to req.proto in non-ESI requests.

.. _req_top.time:

req_top.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: client

The time when the top-level request was fully received,
remains constant across restarts.

.. _req_top.url:

req_top.url

Type: STRING

Readable from: client

The requested URL of the top-level request in a tree
of ESI requests.
Identical to req.url in non-ESI requests.

bereq

This is the request we send to the backend, it is built from the clients req.* fields by filtering out "per-hop" fields which should not be passed along (Connection:, Range: and similar).

Slightly more fields are allowed through for pass` fetches than for `miss` fetches, for instance Range``.

bereq

Type: HTTP

Readable from: backend

The entire backend request HTTP data structure.
Mostly useful as argument to VMODs.

.. _bereq.backend:

bereq.backend

Type: BACKEND

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Writable from: vcl_pipe, backend

This is the backend or director we attempt to fetch from.
When set to a director, reading this variable returns
an actual backend if the director has resolved immediately,
or the director otherwise.
When used in string context, returns the name of the director
or backend, respectively.

.. _bereq.between_bytes_timeout:

bereq.between_bytes_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: backend

Writable from: backend

Unsettable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Default: ``.between_bytes_timeout`` attribute from the
:ref:`backend_definition`, which defaults to the
``between_bytes_timeout`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`.

The time in seconds to wait between each received byte from the
backend.  Not available in pipe mode.

.. _bereq.body:

bereq.body

Type: BODY

Unsettable from: vcl_backend_fetch

The request body.

Unset will also remove bereq.http.content-length_.

.. _bereq.connect_timeout:

bereq.connect_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Writable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Unsettable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Default: ``.connect_timeout`` attribute from the
:ref:`backend_definition`, which defaults to the
``connect_timeout`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`.

The time in seconds to wait for a backend connection to be
established.

.. _bereq.filters:

bereq.filters

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_fetch

Writable from: vcl_backend_fetch

List of VDP filters the bereq.body will be pushed through when
sending the body to the backend.

.. _bereq.first_byte_timeout:

bereq.first_byte_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: backend

Writable from: backend

Unsettable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Default: ``.first_byte_timeout`` attribute from the
:ref:`backend_definition`, which defaults to the
``first_byte_timeout`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`.

The time in seconds to wait getting the first byte back
from the backend.  Not available in pipe mode.

.. _bereq.hash:

bereq.hash

Type: BLOB

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The hash key of this request, a copy of ``req.hash``.

.. _bereq.http:

bereq.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Writable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Unsettable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The headers to be sent to the backend.

See req.http_ for general notes.

.. _bereq.http.content-length:

bereq.http.content-length

Type: HEADER

Readable from: backend

The content-length header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

bereq.http.transfer-encoding

Type: HEADER

Readable from: backend

The transfer-encoding header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

.. _bereq.is_bgfetch:

bereq.is_bgfetch

Type: BOOL

Readable from: backend

True for fetches where the client got a hit on an object in
grace, and this fetch was kicked of in the background to get
a fresh copy.

.. _bereq.is_hitmiss:

bereq.is_hitmiss

Type: BOOL

Readable from: backend

If this backend request was caused by a hitmiss.

.. _bereq.is_hitpass:

bereq.is_hitpass

Type: BOOL

Readable from: backend

If this backend request was caused by a hitpass.

.. _bereq.method:

bereq.method

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Writable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The request type (e.g. "GET", "HEAD").

Regular (non-pipe, non-pass) fetches are always "GET"

bereq.proto VCL <= 4.0

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Writable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The HTTP protocol version, "HTTP/1.1" unless a pass or pipe
request has "HTTP/1.0" in ``req.proto``

.. _bereq.proto:

bereq.proto VCL >= 4.1

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The HTTP protocol version, "HTTP/1.1" unless a pass or pipe
request has "HTTP/1.0" in ``req.proto``

.. _bereq.retries:

bereq.retries

Type: INT

Readable from: backend

A count of how many times this request has been retried.

.. _bereq.retry_connect:

bereq.retry_connect

Type: BOOL

Readable from: backend

Writable from: backend

Default: ``true``.
Controls whether Varnish will make a second attempt to connect to the
backend if a first connection reuse attempt failed. Setting to ``false``
means that no retries will be made. However, setting this to ``true``
does not guarantee that a retry will always be attempted, as there are
other factors involved in the decision (ex: a request body not being
cached).
Note that this only controls automatic retries due to connection
failures, and does not affect retries initiated from VCL using
``return(retry);``.

.. _bereq.task_deadline:

bereq.task_deadline

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_pipe

Writable from: vcl_pipe

Unsettable from: vcl_pipe

Deadline for pipe sessions, defaults ``0s``, which falls back to the
``pipe_task_deadline`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`

.. _bereq.time:

bereq.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The time when we started preparing the first backend request,
remains constant across retries.

.. _bereq.trace:

bereq.trace

Type: BOOL

Readable from: backend

Writable from: backend

Controls if ``VCL_trace`` VSL records are emitted for the current
request, see :ref:`vsl(7)`.

Inherits the value of ``req.trace`` when the backend request
is created. Does not get reset by a rollback.

.. _bereq.uncacheable:

bereq.uncacheable

Type: BOOL

Readable from: backend


Indicates whether this request is uncacheable due to a
`pass` in the client side or a hit on an hit-for-pass object.

.. _bereq.url:

bereq.url

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Writable from: vcl_pipe, backend

The requested URL, copied from ``req.url``

.. _bereq.xid:

bereq.xid

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_pipe, backend

Unique ID of this request.

beresp

The response received from the backend, one cache misses, the store object is built from beresp.

beresp

Type: HTTP

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The entire backend response HTTP data structure, useful as
argument to VMOD functions.

.. _beresp.age:

beresp.age

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: Age header, or zero.

The age of the object.

.. _beresp.backend:

beresp.backend

Type: BACKEND

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

This is the backend we fetched from.  If bereq.backend
was set to a director, this will be the backend selected
by the director.
When used in string context, returns its name.

beresp.backend.ip VCL <= 4.0

Type: IP

Readable from: vcl_backend_response

IP of the backend this response was fetched from.

.. _beresp.backend.name:

beresp.backend.name

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Name of the backend this response was fetched from.
Same as beresp.backend.

.. _beresp.body:

beresp.body

Type: BODY

Writable from: vcl_backend_error

For producing a synthetic body.

.. _beresp.do_esi:

beresp.do_esi

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: ``false``.

Set it to true to parse the object for ESI directives. This is
necessary for later ESI processing on the client side. If
beresp.do_esi is false when an object enters the cache, client
side ESI processing will not be possible (obj.can_esi will be
false).

It is a VCL error to use beresp.do_esi after setting beresp.filters.

.. _beresp.do_gunzip:

beresp.do_gunzip

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: ``false``.

Set to ``true`` to gunzip the object while storing it in the
cache.

If ``http_gzip_support`` is disabled, setting this variable
has no effect.

It is a VCL error to use beresp.do_gunzip after setting beresp.filters.

.. _beresp.do_gzip:

beresp.do_gzip

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: ``false``.

Set to ``true`` to gzip the object while storing it.

If ``http_gzip_support`` is disabled, setting this variable
has no effect.

It is a VCL error to use beresp.do_gzip after setting beresp.filters.

.. _beresp.do_stream:

beresp.do_stream

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: ``true``.

Deliver the object to the client while fetching the whole
object into varnish.

For uncacheable objects, storage for parts of the body which
have been sent to the client may get freed early, depending
on the storage engine used.

This variable has no effect if beresp.do_esi is true or when
the response body is empty.

.. _beresp.filters:

beresp.filters

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_response

Writable from: vcl_backend_response

List of Varnish Fetch Processor (VFP) filters the beresp.body
will be pulled through. The order left to right signifies
processing from backend to cache, iow the leftmost filter is
run first on the body as received from the backend after
decoding of any transfer encodings.

VFP Filters change the body before going into the cache and/or
being handed to the client side, where it may get processed
again by resp.filters.

The following VFP filters exist in varnish-cache:

* ``gzip``: compress a body using gzip

* ``testgunzip``: Test if a body is valid gzip and refuse it
  otherwise

* ``gunzip``: Uncompress gzip content

* ``esi``: ESI-process plain text content

* ``esi_gzip``: Save gzipped snippets for efficient
  ESI-processing

  This filter enables stitching together ESI from individually
  gzipped fragments, saving processing power for
  re-compression on the client side at the expense of some
  compression efficiency.

Additional VFP filters are available from VMODs.

By default, beresp.filters is constructed as follows:

* ``gunzip`` gets added for gzipped content if
  ``beresp.do_gunzip`` or ``beresp.do_esi`` are true.

* ``esi_gzip`` gets added if ``beresp.do_esi`` is true
  together with ``beresp.do_gzip`` or content is already
  compressed.

* ``esi`` gets added if ``beresp.do_esi`` is true

* ``gzip`` gets added for uncompressed content if
  ``beresp.do_gzip`` is true

* ``testgunzip`` gets added for compressed content if
  ``beresp.do_gunzip`` is false.

After beresp.filters is set, using any of the beforementioned
``beresp.do_*`` switches is a VCL error.

.. _beresp.grace:

beresp.grace

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: Cache-Control ``stale-while-revalidate`` directive,
or ``default_grace`` parameter.

Set to a period to enable grace.

.. _beresp.http:

beresp.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Unsettable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP headers returned from the server.

See req.http_ for general notes.

beresp.http.content-length

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The content-length header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

beresp.http.transfer-encoding

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The transfer-encoding header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

.. _beresp.keep:

beresp.keep

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: ``default_keep`` parameter.

Set to a period to enable conditional backend requests.

The keep time is cache lifetime in addition to the ttl.

Objects with ttl expired but with keep time left may be used
to issue conditional (If-Modified-Since / If-None-Match)
requests to the backend to refresh them.

beresp.proto VCL <= 4.0

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP protocol version the backend replied with.

.. _beresp.proto:

beresp.proto VCL >= 4.1

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP protocol version the backend replied with.

.. _beresp.reason:

beresp.reason

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP status message returned by the server.

.. _beresp.status:

beresp.status

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP status code returned by the server.

More information in the `HTTP response status`_ section.

.. _beresp.storage:

beresp.storage

Type: STEVEDORE

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh


The storage backend to use to save this object. If
none is set, Varnish will pick a storage backend in a
round-robin fashion, or the `Transient` backend if
the object is short-lived.

beresp.storage_hint VCL <= 4.0

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh


Deprecated since varnish 5.1 and discontinued since VCL
4.1 (varnish 6.0). Use beresp.storage instead.

Hint to Varnish that you want to save this object to a
particular storage backend.

.. _beresp.time:

beresp.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

When the backend headers were fully received just before
``vcl_backend_response {}`` was entered, or when
``vcl_backend_error {}`` was entered.

.. _beresp.transit_buffer:

beresp.transit_buffer

Type: BYTES

Readable from: vcl_backend_response

Writable from: vcl_backend_response

Default: ``transit_buffer`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`.

The maximum number of bytes the client can be ahead of the
backend during a streaming pass if ``beresp`` is
uncacheable. See also ``transit_buffer`` parameter
documentation in :ref:`varnishd(1)`.

.. _beresp.ttl:

beresp.ttl

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Default: Cache-Control ``s-maxage`` or ``max-age`` directives,
or a value computed from the Expires header's deadline, or the
``default_ttl`` parameter.

The object's remaining time to live, in seconds.

.. _beresp.uncacheable:

beresp.uncacheable

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Writable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh

Inherited from bereq.uncacheable, see there.

Setting this variable makes the object uncacheable.

This may produce a hit-for-miss object in the cache.

Clearing the variable has no effect and will log the warning
"Ignoring attempt to reset beresp.uncacheable".

.. _beresp.was_304:

beresp.was_304

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_response, vcl_backend_error, vcl_backend_refresh


When ``true`` this indicates that we got a 304 response
to our conditional fetch from the backend and turned
that into ``beresp.status = 200``

obj_stale

This is the stale object we had in cache. It cannot be modified.

.. _obj_stale.age:

obj_stale.age

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The age of the stale object.

.. _obj_stale.can_esi:

obj_stale.can_esi

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

If the stale object can be ESI processed, that is if setting
``resp.do_esi`` or adding ``esi`` to ``resp.filters`` in
``vcl_deliver {}`` would cause the response body to be ESI
processed.

.. _obj_stale.grace:

obj_stale.grace

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The stale object's grace period in seconds.

.. _obj_stale.hits:

obj_stale.hits

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The count of cache-hits on this stale object.

In `vcl_deliver` a value of 0 indicates a cache miss.

.. _obj_stale.http:

obj_stale.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP headers stored in the stale object.

See req.http_ for general notes.

.. _obj_stale.keep:

obj_stale.keep

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The stale object's keep period in seconds.

.. _obj_stale.proto:

obj_stale.proto

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The HTTP protocol version stored in the stale object.

.. _obj_stale.reason:

obj_stale.reason

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh


The HTTP reason phrase stored in the stale object.

.. _obj_stale.status:

obj_stale.status

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh


The HTTP status code stored in the stale object.

More information in the `HTTP response status`_ section.

.. _obj_stale.storage:

obj_stale.storage

Type: STEVEDORE

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The storage backend where this stale object is stored.

.. _obj_stale.time:

obj_stale.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The time the stale object was created from the perspective of the
server which generated it. This will roughly be equivalent to
``now`` - ``obj.age``.

.. _obj_stale.ttl:

obj_stale.ttl

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

The stale object's time to live, in seconds.

.. _obj_stale.uncacheable:

obj_stale.uncacheable

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

Whether the stale object is uncacheable (pass, hit-for-pass or
hit-for-miss).

.. _obj_stale.is_valid:

obj_stale.is_valid

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_backend_refresh

Whether the stale object is still valid.

obj

This is the object we found in cache. It cannot be modified.

.. _obj.age:

obj.age

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

The age of the object.

.. _obj.can_esi:

obj.can_esi

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

If the object can be ESI processed, that is if setting
``resp.do_esi`` or adding ``esi`` to ``resp.filters`` in
``vcl_deliver {}`` would cause the response body to be ESI
processed.

.. _obj.grace:

obj.grace

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

The object's grace period in seconds.

.. _obj.hits:

obj.hits

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver


The count of cache-hits on this object.

In `vcl_deliver` a value of 0 indicates a cache miss.

.. _obj.http:

obj.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_hit

The HTTP headers stored in the object.

See req.http_ for general notes.

.. _obj.keep:

obj.keep

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

The object's keep period in seconds.

.. _obj.proto:

obj.proto

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_hit

The HTTP protocol version stored in the object.

.. _obj.reason:

obj.reason

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_hit


The HTTP reason phrase stored in the object.

.. _obj.status:

obj.status

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_hit


The HTTP status code stored in the object.

More information in the `HTTP response status`_ section.

.. _obj.storage:

obj.storage

Type: STEVEDORE

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

The storage backend where this object is stored.

.. _obj.time:

obj.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

The time the object was created from the perspective of the
server which generated it. This will roughly be equivalent to
``now`` - ``obj.age``.

.. _obj.ttl:

obj.ttl

Type: DURATION

Readable from: vcl_hit, vcl_deliver

The object's remaining time to live, in seconds.

.. _obj.uncacheable:

obj.uncacheable

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_deliver

Whether the object is uncacheable (pass, hit-for-pass or
hit-for-miss).

resp

This is the response we send to the client, it is built from either beresp (pass/miss), obj (hits) or created from whole cloth (synth).

With the exception of resp.body all resp.* variables available in both vcl_deliver{} and vcl_synth{} as a matter of symmetry.

resp

Type: HTTP

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The entire response HTTP data structure, useful as argument
to VMODs.

.. _resp.body:

resp.body

Type: BODY

Writable from: vcl_synth

To produce a synthetic response body, for instance for errors.

.. _resp.do_esi:

resp.do_esi VCL >= 4.1

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Writable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Default: obj.can_esi

This can be used to selectively disable ESI processing, even
though ESI parsing happened during fetch (see beresp.do_esi).
This is useful when Varnish caches peer with each other.

It is a VCL error to use resp.do_esi after setting resp.filters.

.. _resp.filters:

resp.filters

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Writable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

List of VDP filters the resp.body will be pushed through.

Before resp.filters is set, the value read will be the default
filter list as determined by varnish based on resp.do_esi and
request headers.

After resp.filters is set, changing any of the conditions
which otherwise determine the filter selection will have no
effect. Using resp.do_esi is an error once resp.filters is
set.

.. _resp.http:

resp.http.*

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Writable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Unsettable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The HTTP headers that will be returned.

See req.http_ for general notes.

resp.http.content-length

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The content-length header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

resp.http.transfer-encoding

Type: HEADER

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The transfer-encoding header field is protected, see protected_headers_.

.. _resp.is_streaming:

resp.is_streaming

Type: BOOL

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Returns true when the response will be streamed
while being fetched from the backend.

resp.proto VCL <= 4.0

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Writable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The HTTP protocol version to use for the response.

.. _resp.proto:

resp.proto VCL >= 4.1

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The HTTP protocol version to use for the response.

.. _resp.reason:

resp.reason

Type: STRING

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Writable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The HTTP status message that will be returned.

.. _resp.status:

resp.status

Type: INT

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

Writable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The HTTP status code that will be returned.

More information in the `HTTP response status`_ section.

resp.status 200 will get changed into 304 by core code after
a return(deliver) from vcl_deliver for conditional requests
to cached content if validation succeeds.

For the validation, first ``req.http.If-None-Match`` is
compared against ``resp.http.Etag``. If they compare equal
according to the rules for weak validation (see RFC7232), a
304 is sent.

Secondly, ``req.http.If-Modified-Since`` is compared against
``resp.http.Last-Modified`` or, if it is unset or weak, against
    the point in time when the object was last modified based on the
``Date`` and ``Age`` headers received with the backend
response which created the object. If the object has not been
modified based on that comparison, a 304 is sent.

.. _resp.time:

resp.time

Type: TIME

Readable from: vcl_deliver, vcl_synth

The time when we started preparing the response, just before
entering ``vcl_synth {}`` or ``vcl_deliver {}``.

Special variables

.. _now:

now

Type: TIME

Readable from: all


The current time, in seconds since the UNIX epoch.

When converted to STRING in expressions it returns
a formatted timestamp like ``Tue, 20 Feb 2018 09:30:31 GMT``

``now`` remains stable for the duration of any built-in VCL
subroutine to make time-based calculations predictable and
avoid edge cases.

In other words, even if considerable amounts of time are spent
in VCL, ``now`` will always represent the point in time when
the respective built-in VCL subroutine was entered. ``now`` is
thus not suitable for any kind of time measurements. See
:ref:`std.timestamp()`, :ref:`std.now()` and
:ref:`std.timed_call()` in :ref:`vmod_std(3)`.

sess

A session corresponds to the "conversation" that Varnish has with a single client connection, over which one or more request/response transactions may take place. It may comprise the traffic over an HTTP/1 keep-alive connection, or the multiplexed traffic over an HTTP/2 connection.

.. _sess.idle_send_timeout:

sess.idle_send_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client

Send timeout for individual pieces of data on client
connections, defaults to the ``idle_send_timeout`` parameter,
see :ref:`varnishd(1)`

.. _sess.send_timeout:

sess.send_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client

Total timeout for ordinary HTTP1 responses, defaults to the
``send_timeout`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`

.. _sess.timeout_idle:

sess.timeout_idle

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client

Idle timeout for this session, defaults to the
``timeout_idle`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`

.. _sess.timeout_linger:

sess.timeout_linger

Type: DURATION

Readable from: client

Writable from: client

Unsettable from: client

Linger timeout for this session, defaults to the
``timeout_linger`` parameter, see :ref:`varnishd(1)`

.. _sess.xid:

sess.xid VCL >= 4.1

Type: INT

Readable from: client, backend

Unique ID of this session.

storage

.. XXX all of these are actually defined in generate.py

.. _storage.free_space:

storage.<name>.free_space

Type: BYTES

Readable from: client, backend

Default: 0

Free space available in the named stevedore. Only available for
the malloc stevedore.

.. _storage.happy:

storage.<name>.happy

Type: BOOL

Readable from: client, backend

Default: true

Health status for the named stevedore. Not available in any of the
current stevedores.

.. _storage.used_space:

storage.<name>.used_space

Type: BYTES

Readable from: client, backend

Default: 0

Used space in the named stevedore. Only available for the malloc
stevedore.

Runtime parameters

Some of the global runtime parameters related to VCL transactions are readable anywhere in VCL. The value of a parameter can change between accesses, it is not cached for the duration of a VCL task.

param.backend_idle_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_backend_idle_timeout`.

param.backend_wait_limit

Type: INT

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_backend_wait_limit`.

param.backend_wait_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_backend_wait_timeout`.

param.between_bytes_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_between_bytes_timeout`.

param.connect_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_connect_timeout`.

param.default_grace

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_default_grace`.

param.default_keep

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_default_keep`.

param.default_ttl

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_default_ttl`.

param.first_byte_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_first_byte_timeout`.

param.idle_send_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_idle_send_timeout`.

param.max_esi_depth

Type: INT

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_max_esi_depth`.

param.max_restarts

Type: INT

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_max_restarts`.

param.max_retries

Type: INT

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_max_retries`.

param.pipe_task_deadline

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_pipe_task_deadline`.

param.pipe_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_pipe_timeout`.

param.send_timeout

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_send_timeout`.

param.shortlived

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_shortlived`.

param.timeout_idle

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_timeout_idle`.

param.transit_buffer

Type: BYTES

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_transit_buffer`.

param.uncacheable_ttl

Type: DURATION

Readable from: all

Global parameter :ref:`ref_param_uncacheable_ttl`.