Introduction to Caching Enhancing Performance and Reducing Costs

Introduction

Hello, In this content, we will explore the concept of caching and its various types, which are utilized to strengthen data flow in applications and reduce costs in terms of speed and performance during interactions with users.

What is Caching?

In modern software applications, especially on the web, as the number of users increases, resource limitations often become a challenge. This can lead to the need for increased system resources, which in turn demands a larger budget due to the associated additional costs.

Alongside the expansion of resource capacity, it is also necessary to reduce the costs that arise from user interactions. For instance, considering just one of the many factors contributing to these costs—database operations—we can observe that billions of data points are transferred between the application and the database based on user requests. This immense energy consumption can over time lead to the database struggling to meet demands, eventually necessitating further investments in database servers.

Caching serves as a strategic solution to optimize resource usage, enhance performance, and minimize such costs.

In such cases, the caching mechanism is utilized to reduce the load on databases and dynamically handle the majority of requests without requiring additional investments.

Caching is a technique where frequently accessed data is stored in alternative locations outside the database. This allows the data to be retrieved and processed more quickly without repeatedly burdening the system for each request.

When caching is implemented correctly at the right place and time, it significantly enhances application performance and scalability. It ensures a consistent user experience by delivering the same performance for 1,000,000 users as it does for 100 users, regardless of the traffic intensity, without requiring additional capacity upgrades.

Why Should We Use Caching?

Instead of repeatedly retrieving stable data from the database for each request, the data should be cached after the initial query and served from the cache for subsequent requests. As emphasized earlier, this approach provides a significant performance boost for all operations involving “stable” data.

Considerations When Using Caching

The fundamental rule to remember is that cached data is a copy of the original data. Modifications to the original data in the database can lead to the cached data becoming stale. Therefore, it is crucial to configure the cache to automatically invalidate and refresh data after a certain period. If not managed properly, stale data can cause unforeseen issues and application crises. To mitigate such risks, the validity period (expiration time) of cached data must be configured appropriately.

Types of Caching

Caching can be categorized into two main types: Local Caching and Global Caching.

• Local Caching (In-Memory Caching) This type of caching operates in the memory space of the machine where the application is running. It is also referred to as Private Caching.
• Global Caching (Distributed Caching) This caching system is distributed across multiple servers but functions as a unified entity. It is also known as Public Caching.

In our next content, we will provide a detailed explanation of In-Memory Caching and its workings.

You can read here In-Memory Cache

You can read here Distributed Cache

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