Varnish Change Web Server Signature Headers

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To change the web server signature headers in Varnish, you can modify the VCL (Varnish Configuration Language) file used by Varnish.

Here are the steps to follow:

  1. Open the VCL file in a text editor. On Ubuntu and Debian systems, the default VCL file is located at /etc/varnish/default.vcl.
sudo nano /etc/varnish/default.vcl
  1. Add the following lines of code to the vcl_deliver section of the VCL file, just before the return(deliver) statement:
unset resp.http.Server;
unset resp.http.X-Powered-By;
set resp.http.Server = "Your New Server Signature";
set resp.http.X-Powered-By = "Your New X-Powered-By Signature";

These lines will remove the default Server and X-Powered-By headers and set new custom headers with the server and X-Powered-By information you specify.

  1. Save the changes to the VCL file and exit the text editor.
  2. Reload the Varnish configuration by running the following command:
sudo systemctl reload varnish

This will reload the Varnish configuration and apply your changes.

  1. To test whether the new headers have been successfully added, you can use the curl command to send a request to your web server and inspect the response headers:
curl -I http://your-domain.com

This command will display the headers for the specified URL. You should see your new Server and X-Powered-By headers in the response.

Note that changing the web server signature headers can help improve security by making it harder for attackers to determine the software and version of your web server. However, it is not a substitute for other security measures such as regular software updates, strong passwords, and secure coding practices.

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