Caching for Performance

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Caching for Performance

• Jeff Tapper
• Tapper.net Consulting

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Agenda

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

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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

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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

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Places to Cache

• Database
• ColdFusion
• Web Server
• Network

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Places to Cache

• Network Diagram

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What to Cache in CFMX

• Data
• CFC instances
• Webservices
• Pages
• Content

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What to Cache in CFMX

• Data
• Caching common queries can greatly increase speed
  pages are built
• Reduces network traffic between CFMX and Database

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What to Cache in CFMX

• CFCs
• CFCs are the new core building block of CFMX
  applications
• Instantiation of CFCs is an expensive (slow)
  process

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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

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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

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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.

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Data Caching in CFMX

• Cached Within
• Cached After
• Storing query in shared scope variables

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Data Caching in CFMX
Using CFQUERY attributes to Cache

• Benefits
• Great for dynamic queries
• Easy to implement
• Built in Timeout

• Drawbacks
• Purging non-trivial

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Data Caching in CFMX
Query Caching in a shared scope

• Drawbacks
• Not well suited for dynamic queries
• More Complex implementation
• Lacks built-in timeout

• Benefits
• Easy to Manage
• Not limited by Max Number cached queries

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CFC Caching in CFMX

• Storing instances in shared scope variables
• Page Context Bug

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Webservice Caching in CFMX

• CFMX automatically caches WSDL

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Page Caching in CFMX

• Trusted Cache
• CF_SuperCache
• Custom Built Solutions

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Caching content in CFMX

• CFCACHE
• CFSAVECONTENT

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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

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Questions

• ?