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Does the W3TC plugin cause massive bandwidth consumption from AmazonAWS.com?
We enabled W3 Total Cache on 11/18 and the website immediately got slammed with over 130,000+ file requests every 24 hours from AmazonAWS.com – this extraordinarily high bandwidth consumption continued every day for 8 days until we blocked AmazonAWS.com using the CloudFlare Firewall on 11/26.
Today, our hosting provider, LiquidWeb.com, pointed out that the W3TC plugin could be the source / cause – We have disabled W3TC to prevent further consumption / expense.
Here’s their comments:
***
I did a check on this and could notice that your plugin w3-total-cache is integrated with AWS SDK. Please see the below snippet which carries verification for the same.[***@support-n01 content]$ grep -irl amazone
wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo/js/dist/languages/nl.js
wp-content/plugins/w3-total-cache/vendor/aws/aws-sdk-php/src/data/ecr/2015-09-21/api-2.json.php
wp-content/plugins/w3-total-cache/vendor/aws/aws-sdk-php/src/data/ecs/2014-11-13/api-2.json.php
wp-content/plugins/w3-total-cache/vendor/aws/aws-sdk-php/src/data/quicksight/2018-04-01/api-2.json.php
wp-content/plugins/w3-total-cache/vendor/aws/aws-sdk-php/src/data/savingsplans/2019-06-28/api-2.json.php
There is a possibility that the mentioned plugin is also loading the AWS SDK and that’s why the site receive traffic from aws IPs. So I would recommend you to de-activate w3 total cache or please contact the plugin’s support team, and ask if it is possible to stop their plugin loading AWS SDK.
***Hello Dale,
Thank you for reaching out and I am happy to assist you with this.
In W3 Total Cache, the composer loads the libraries conditionally for AWS functions. AWS SDK for PHP – Use Amazon Web Services in your PHP project
If you are using AWS service, the plugin will load the AWS SDK. Are you using any of the amazon services?Does the issue persist if you disable the W3TC?
Thanks!Hello Marko,
Thank you for your prompt response! We do not and have never used any Amazon services at all.
Unfortunately, I cannot tell for certain if the issue persists after disabling W3TC because we have blocked all Amazon requests at the CloudFlare firewall. I can watch the firewall block report and let you know if the Amazon hits are eliminated or reduced.
Thx!
Hello Dale,
Thank you for your feedback.
W3TC should not load AWS SDK unless the AWS is being used.
The only way to determine this is to check with W3TC disabled as we were not able to replicate this behavior.
However, if blocking the Amazon requests works for you, you should keep an eye on the firewall block report and share any information that may be related.
Thanks!
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