Drupal can allow you to build amazing sites without code. However, page speed is a common problem. Minimizing the number of modules and other common sense recommendations can help, but caching is another tool, one which requires a bit more understanding.

Having an effective caching strategy requires understanding more than just how Drupal's multiple cache layers work. Tools such as Varnish, CDNs, and newer "caching as a service" offerings can provide further optimizations, but only if configured correctly. Otherwise, they can become a source of confusion and performance bottlenecks.

This session will give you the tools you need to understand, explain, and recommend the best plan of action for building a site with a solid content delivery and caching backbone.

We will break down the caching within Drupal, external tools, as well as changes down the road with PHP 5.5 and Drupal 8. We will give examples of performance gains, use cases, and tests which beginners and experts alike can use. Most of the content from this session was the result of helping hundreds of clients diagnose and resolve issues, so all should emerge with some helpful information!