not understanding the errors I'm getting and why.

[Michael Alger]

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 04:26:31PM -0700, Mike Gracy wrote:
> Using Varnish 2.1. I'm rather new to varnish......
> Message from VCC-compiler:
> Unused backend ffpool, defined:
> (input Line 37 Pos 10)
> director ffpool round-robin {
> ---------######--------------
> Unused backend sppool, defined:
> (input Line 74 Pos 10)
> director sppool round-robin {
> ---------######--------------
> Running VCC-compiler failed, exit 1
> VCL compilation failed

This message is issued whenever you have defined backends or directors
which you don't actually reference in your VCL.

Somewhere in vcl_fetch you'll want to use

  set req.backend = ffpool;

and

  set req.backend = sppool;

Normally you'd do this as part of a conditional construct where you
check the request hostname and/or requested path and select which
backend should be used to serve that content.

Have a look at this page for examples and more explanation:

  http://www.varnish-cache.org/docs/2.1/tutorial/advanced_backend_servers.html