Caching for Performance

Jeff Tapper

Tapper.net Consulting

Agenda

What is Caching Why is Caching important Where can I implement caching What to Cache within CFMX How to Cache within CFMX Summary

What is Caching

A Cache is a place where something is temporarily stored

By storing frequently used items, the need to recreate them is mitigated

Why is Caching Important

Each operation a server performs takes time / resources

By reducing the number of operations any server performs, we increase the ability for that server to handle more requests

Faster Page Loads Increased Scalability

Places to Cache

Database ColdFusion Web Server Network

Places to Cache

Network Diagram

What to Cache in CFMX

Data CFC instances Webservices Pages Content

What to Cache in CFMX

Data Caching common queries can

greatly increase speed pages are built

Reduces network traffic between CFMX and Database

What to Cache in CFMX

CFCs CFCs are the new core building

block of CFMX applications Instantiation of CFCs is an

expensive (slow) process

What to Cache in CFMX

Webservices Calling a webservice invokes a

complex process. Requests WSDL, parses it, makes

calls to methods Caching WSDL reduces over all

processing time 3-5x

What to Cache in CFMX

Pages Many applications have entire pages

which do not change frequently Caching the entire page can reduce time

needed by CFMX In some cases, pages can be cached as

HTML, removing the need for CFMX to process it at all

What to Cache in CFMX

Content Often, even in pages which are not

static, many sections of the page are.

Caching the static parts of the page reduces the time CFMX needs to build the page.

Data Caching in CFMX

Cached Within Cached After Storing query in shared scope

variables

Data Caching in CFMX

Benefits Great for dynamic

queries Easy to implement Built in Timeout

Drawbacks Purging non-trivial

Using CFQUERY attributes to CacheUsing CFQUERY attributes to Cache

Data Caching in CFMX

Benefits Easy to Manage Not limited by “Max

Number cached queries”

Drawbacks Not well suited for

dynamic queries More Complex

implementation Lacks built-in timeout

Query Caching in a shared scopeQuery Caching in a shared scope

CFC Caching in CFMX

Storing instances in shared scope variables

Page Context Bug

Webservice Caching in CFMX

CFMX automatically caches WSDL

Page Caching in CFMX

Trusted Cache CF_SuperCache Custom Built Solutions

Caching content in CFMX

CFCACHE CFSAVECONTENT

Summary

Effective use of caching can greatly extend the scalability of an application

Every application offers a myriad of caching possibilities

Caching opportunities exist both within and outside the CFMX server

Questions

?