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BigMemory Go supports declarative configuration via an XML configuration file, as well as programmatic configuration via class-constructor APIs. Choosing one approach over the other can be a matter of preference or a requirement, such as when an application requires a certain runtime context to determine appropriate configuration settings.
If your project permits the separation of configuration from runtime use, there are advantages to the declarative approach:
This documentation focuses on XML declarative configuration. Programmatic configuration is explored in certain examples and is documented in Javadocs.
BigMemory Go uses Ehcache as its user-facing interface and is configured
using the Ehcache configuration system. By default, Ehcache looks for an ASCII
or UTF8 encoded XML configuration file called ehcache.xml
at the top level of the Java
classpath. You may specify alternate paths and filenames for the XML configuration file by
using the various CacheManager constructors.
To avoid resource conflicts, one XML configuration is required for each CacheManager that is created. For example, directory paths and listener ports require unique values. BigMemory Go will attempt to resolve conflicts, and, if one is found, it will emit a warning reminding the user to use separate configurations for multiple CacheManagers.
The sample ehcache.xml
is included in the BigMemory Go distribution. It contains full commentary on how to configure each element. This file can also be downloaded from http://ehcache.org/ehcache.xml.
While most of the BigMemory Go configuration is not changeable after startup, certain cache configuration parameters can be modified dynamically at runtime. These include the following:
Expiration settings
timeToLive – The maximum number of seconds an element can exist in the cache regardless of access. The element expires at this limit and will no longer be returned from the cache. The default value is 0, which means no TTL eviction takes place (infinite lifetime).
timeToIdle – The maximum number of seconds an element can exist in the cache without being accessed. The element expires at this limit and will no longer be returned from the cache. The default value is 0, which means no TTI eviction takes place (infinite lifetime).
Local sizing attributes
memory-store eviction policy
Note that the eternal
attribute, when set to "true", overrides timeToLive
and timeToIdle
so that no expiration can take place.
This example shows how to dynamically modify the cache configuration of a running cache:
Cache cache = manager.getCache("sampleCache");
CacheConfiguration config = cache.getCacheConfiguration();
config.setTimeToIdleSeconds(60);
config.setTimeToLiveSeconds(120);
config.setmaxEntriesLocalHeap(10000);
config.setmaxEntriesLocalDisk(1000000);
Dynamic cache configurations can also be disabled to prevent future changes:
Cache cache = manager.getCache("sampleCache");
cache.disableDynamicFeatures();
In ehcache.xml
, you can disable dynamic configuration by setting the <ehcache>
element's dynamicConfig
attribute to "false". For a complete list of configuration parameters that can be changed dynamically, see this introduction to Ehcache configuration.
By default, a get()
operation on store data returns a reference to that data, and any changes to that data are immediately reflected in the memory store. In cases where an application requires a copy of data rather than a reference to it, you can configure the store to return a copy. This allows you to change a copy of the data without affecting the original data in the memory store.
This is configured using the copyOnRead
and copyOnWrite
attributes of the <cache> and <defaultCache elements in your configuration, or programmatically as follows:
CacheConfiguration config = new CacheConfiguration("copyCache", 1000)
.copyOnRead(true).copyOnWrite(true);
Cache copyCache = new Cache(config);
The default configuration is "false" for both options.
To copy elements on put()
-like and/or get()
-like operations, a copy strategy is used. The default implementation uses serialization to copy elements. You can provide your own implementation of net.sf.ehcache.store.compound.CopyStrategy
using the <copyStrategy> element:
<cache name="copyCache"
maxEntriesLocalHeap="10"
eternal="false"
timeToIdleSeconds="5"
timeToLiveSeconds="10"
copyOnRead="true"
copyOnWrite="true">
<copyStrategy class="com.company.ehcache.MyCopyStrategy"/>
</cache>
A single instance of your CopyStrategy
is used per cache. Therefore, in your implementation of CopyStrategy.copy(T)
, T has to be thread-safe.
A copy strategy can be added programmatically in the following way:
CacheConfiguration cacheConfiguration = new CacheConfiguration("copyCache", 10);
CopyStrategyConfiguration copyStrategyConfiguration = new CopyStrategyConfiguration();
copyStrategyConfiguration.setClass("com.company.ehcache.MyCopyStrategy");
cacheConfiguration.addCopyStrategy(copyStrategyConfiguration);
Setting this system property to true
(using java -Dnet.sf.ehcache.disabled=true
in the Java command line) disables caching in ehcache. If disabled, no elements can be added to a cache (puts are silently discarded).
When LRU is selected as the eviction policy, set this system property to true
(using java -Dnet.sf.ehcache.use.classic.lru=true
in the Java command line) to use the older LruMemoryStore implementation. This is provided for ease of migration.
Ehcache configuration files must be comply with the Ehcache XML schema, ehcache.xsd
,
which can be downloaded from http://ehcache.org/ehcache.xsd.
Each BigMemory Go distribution also contains a copy of ehcache.xsd
.
If the CacheManager default constructor or factory method is called, Ehcache looks for a
file called ehcache.xml
in the top level of the classpath. Failing that it looks for
ehcache-failsafe.xml
in the classpath. ehcache-failsafe.xml
is packaged in the Ehcache JAR
and should always be found.
ehcache-failsafe.xml
provides an extremely simple default configuration to enable users to get started before they create their own ehcache.xml
.
If it used Ehcache will emit a warning, reminding the user to set up a proper configuration.
The meaning of the elements and attributes are explained in the section on ehcache.xml
.
<ehcache>
<diskStore path="java.io.tmpdir"/>
<defaultCache
maxEntriesLocalHeap="10000"
eternal="false"
timeToIdleSeconds="120"
timeToLiveSeconds="120"
maxEntriesLocalDisk="10000000"
diskExpiryThreadIntervalSeconds="120"
memoryStoreEvictionPolicy="LRU">
<persistence strategy="localTempSwap"/>
</defaultCache>
</ehcache>
The defaultCache
configuration is applied to any cache that is not explicitly configured. The defaultCache
appears in ehcache-failsafe.xml
by default, and can also be added to any BigMemory Go configuration file.
While the defaultCache
configuration is not required, an error is generated if caches are created by name (programmatically) with no defaultCache
loaded.
Topic | Description |
---|---|
Sizing Caches | Tuning Ehcache often involves sizing cached data appropriately. Ehcache provides a number of ways to size the different data tiers using simple cache-configuration sizing attributes. This page explains simplified tuning of cache size by configuring dynamic allocation of memory and automatic load balancing. |
Expiration, Pinning, and Eviction | The architecture of an Ehcache node can include a number of tiers that store data. One of the most important aspects of managing cached data involves managing the life of the data in each tier. This page covers managing data life in Ehcache and the Terracotta Server Array, including the pinning features of Automatic Resource Control (ARC). |
Fast Restartability | This page covers persistence, fast restartability, and using the local disk as a storage tier. The Fast Restart feature provides enterprise-ready crash resilience, which can serve as a fast recovery system after failures, a hot mirror of the data set on the disk at the application node, and an operational store with in-memory speed for reads and writes. |
Code Samples | Examples of working with key classes and methods such as CacheManager and Cache , loading configuration, and getting statistics. |