AppFabric Caching: Specify maximum memory (RAM) that can be used

Question

In AppFabric caching, is there a way to allocate or specify maximum memory (RAM) that can be used? I would like to have my web application and an AppFabric cache instance running on the same server.

Answer 1

you can specify maximum memory using the size parameter in host tag in the xml configuration. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff428169%28v=ws.10%29.aspx The above cmdlet would let you allocate the memory in MB which you want to allocate for the cache on a host. Please note we usually recommend a dedicated machine for the cache server.

Answer 2

Thank Ankit! I am curious as to what are the main benefits of using a dedicated machine for the cache server. The machines that I am planning to use have lots of memory (RAM).

Answer 3

Thank Ankit! I am curious as to what are the main benefits of using a dedicated machine for the cache server. The machines that I am planning to use have lots of memory (RAM).

Its not just about memory usage. Cache is supposed to be a performant system, when other roles/applications are actively running on your cache server they will consume resources like CPU, Network etc. These can cause your cache performance to go down and even operation can be affected if the other apps stress the PC or max out the network.

Answer 4

Doesn't having a dedicated machine also give you a single point of failure?  If I want to distribute my cache across my web servers would you recommend memcached as a better alternative? 

Answer 5

By dedicated machine, We don't mean 1 machine only hosting the cache, we mean that the servers (more than 1 can also be there, we too are a distributed cache) need to be hosting only the cache service and not other roles like say something like a DNS server which itself would consume a lot of CPU/network connections not giving free resources to cache.