Memcached Caching System

Memcached is a free, open-source system that helps speed up dynamic web applications by reducing the load on databases.

Think of it as short-term memory for your applications.

Memcached’s APIs provide a large hash table spread across multiple machines. When the table is full, older data is removed to make room for new data. Applications using Memcached store and retrieve data in RAM before using slower storage like a database.

Memcached uses a client-server architecture. Servers maintain a key-value associative array, while clients populate and query this array. Keys can be up to 250 bytes long, and values can be up to 1 megabyte in size.

Memcached helps you use memory more efficiently.

There are two deployment scenarios:

• Without Memcached: Each node operates independently, which is wasteful because the total cache size is limited, and keeping the cache consistent across nodes is difficult.
• With Memcached: All servers share a virtual memory pool, meaning each item is always stored and retrieved from the same location in the cluster.

As your application grows and requires more servers, it also requires more data to be accessed regularly. A strategy where these aspects scale together makes sense.

To get Memcached in your environment, follow these steps:

Step 1. Log into the AccuWeb.Cloud dashboard.

Step 2. Click Create Environment.

Step 3. Choose your application server in the Environment Topology dialog (e.g., Tomcat). Turn on Memcached and scale it vertically. Enter your environment name (e.g., memcached) and click Create.

That’s it! Memcached is now available in your environment.