Web Farm and Cache Dependency

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3/13/2012 9:11:33 AM
john_scvo
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Web Farm and Cache Dependency

MoJo 2.3.8.1

I am trying to setup and test MoJo on our 2 server web cluster. Have shared storage for the /Data and we have an SQL failover cluster at the backend and logging to the database is fine. So far so good. Reading the documentation about cache dependency I am not clear if this

In a small web farm where a common disk drive is used by the nodes they can all be cleared by the same dependency file but a better solution is needed for a more scalable web farm that could have lots of nodes.

means that there is no problem where we have 2 servers using a common /data directory via IIS. If this means there is nothing else to do then Yippee if not what are my options.

TIA

John

ref http://www.mojoportal.com/implementation-considerations-for-web-farms

3/13/2012 9:31:30 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: Web Farm and Cache Dependency

Hi John,

We no longer use cache dependency files. For a web farm where more than one node is actively serving requests the best solution is to use a distributed cache like App Fabric Cache so that all the nodes are using the same cache. For a failover cluster where only one node is used at a time regular memory cache is fine, but as soon as there is more than one active node they need to share cache otherwise clearing a cache item on one node does not clear it on the others.

While the linked article is about Azure AppFabric cache, you don't have to use Azure it can be run on your own server(s). The configuration settings for it in this article also about Azure but I'm pretty sure you can just point it to your own endpint server running appfabric cache though I have only tested on Azure.

Hope that helps,

Joe

3/13/2012 11:31:09 AM
john_scvo
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Re: Web Farm and Cache Dependency

Thanks Joe

This is not good news. App fabric as far as I can see is IIS7 and higher only. Our cluster is W2003 IIS6. I may need to look into changing to a fail-over configuration. Can you tell me what is cached in .NET that we need to worry about? IF it is just the Sitemap and menus I can live with that as once deployed this particular site should not change very often.

Cheers

J

 

3/13/2012 11:49:44 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: Web Farm and Cache Dependency

Hi John,

Other than those things mainly site settings. If you have another box that can run app fabric it doesn't have to be on the cluster, in fact it probably would be better if it isn't since it would be shared/accessed by both nodes. I'm also looking into adding support for memcached.

Best,

Joe

3/22/2012 9:00:38 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: Web Farm and Cache Dependency

Hi John,

Just fyi, in the next release we will have support for cache dependency files again because it is a good solution for clearing the cache on small clusters that use a shared drive. See this thread for more info.

Best,

Joe

3/22/2012 9:29:26 AM
john_scvo
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Re: Web Farm and Cache Dependency

Excellent news Joe - once again many many thanks for all you hard work and ***** support. As well from the tech stuff I have learned so much from you, not least how to handle support questions, I don't know how you get any work done Laughing

I think a beer voucher is called for.

Best

John

3/22/2012 9:39:59 AM
Joe Audette
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Re: Web Farm and Cache Dependency

Hi John,

Thanks so much for the generous beer donation! Very appreciated!

Cheers,

Joe

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