Enterprise Library Caching Application Block isolated storage to different machine

Question

I am new in Caching Application Block. What I want is, I want to store the data in another dedicated machine and not in Database (distributed caching without database).

Is there anyway I can achive this?

I can see following options under Backing Stores of Caching Setting of Enterprise Library Configuration Manager:

1) Data Cache Store 2) Custom Cache Store 3) Isolated Storage Cache Store

As the name says, "Isolated Storage Cache Store" should be the answer to my question. But when I add a Isolated Storage Cache Store, there is no option where I can provide a separate dedicated machine name.

Please anyone guide me how can I provide different dedicated machine name and use that as Isolated Storage Backing Store for distributed cahcing.

Many Thanks!

Answer 1

though there are many third party distributed cache providers are available in the market, but some how, there is always a comparison between AppFabric and NCache. As far as Appfabric is concerned, its a wonderful tool but as it is a free product by MS, it has some limitations as well when it comes to feature list. on the other hand, NCache by Alachisoft costs you something but at the same time they also deliver you something. its a feature rich product with an excellent 24/7 technical support.

now Memcached, frankly it has no comparison at all with NCache or Appfabric. its an open source distributed memory object caching system, being used by some big names like facebook. but it also has many limitations. it only works good in some specific cases. if you want high performance, high scalability and high reliability, memcached is not the one which is recommended. it don't offer dynamic clustering which means that you cant add or remove nodes at run time. it also has single point of failure, no toplogies etc. so the bottom line is, you've to go with NCache or Appfabric.

Here is a comparison of features of NCache Vs Appfabric.

Answer 2

Finally we are thinking of using

NCache or AppFebric

NCache Enterprise edition is a really cool tool for caching. It has lots of Cache clustering features like Client Cache, Mirrror Cache, Replica Cache, Partation, Partation Replica Caching etc. It is a very costly tool cost is around 795 $ (US) again they asking 25% OF the purchase price as yearly maintainance cost. It has feature to add a Cache Host during runtime into the cluster. (cool huh!)

Considering this, we made some R&D on Appfebric what we found is, Appfebric is also a good tool to use for distributed caching but somehow I feel that AppFebric is making functionalities copy-paste from NCache. because if we make analysis:

NCache Replica Cache = AppFebric High Availability mode.

Again, AppFebric tool do not have Asynchronous replicating mechanism like NCache (Mirror and Partation-Replica caching topology)

Of course, the ASynchronous replicating mechanism is little unsafe for High Availability mode.

There is another tool MemCache in market, I have not done much R&D on that tool. Any ideas most welcome.

Regards, SP. Jr. Architect CTS

Answer 3

Isolated storage doesn't work that way - it's storage on the local machine, limited to a user and application. If you want to store the data on a separate machine, you'll need to use a different backing store.

Entlib's caching block isn't designed for distributed caching. If that's what you're really looking for, you should investigate explicitly distributed caches.