As mentioned previously, the included GeoWebCache comes with a default configuration. Although the default configuration is ready to use, you can manage almost all parameters from the web interface.
The Caching Defaults form includes general parameters. The first section is about services used to expose tiles:
The first option is disabled by default. Direct integration is about the endpoint used in the WMS GetMap requests. If you go with the default option, you will have to use a custom endpoint to tell GeoServer that you want to retrieve a map from the cache if there are tiles available to fulfill your request:
http://localhost:8080/geoserver/gwc/service/wms?
Enabling direct integration lets you use the same syntax you would use against a non-cached layer:
http://localhost:8080/geoserver/<workspace>/wms?tiled=true
The endpoint is not the only condition required to use cache. Any WMS request has to meet several other conditions in order...