AppFabric Caching Services:Utilizing AppFabric Caching

Services On-Premise and Beyond to Optimize Performance

• About Me• Overview of Caching• Server AppFabric Caching Architecture• Demo: Server AppFabric Configuration• Server AppFabric Caching Concepts• Demo: Implementing Application Cache• Beyond On-Premise Caching• Demo: Azure AppFabric Caching• Conclusion

About Me

• Microsoft Certified Professional• Phoenix Connected Systems User Group

Leadership Team• 6+ years building mid-tier solutions using

Microsoft technology including, but not limited to, • BizTalk Server (2006, 2010)• MSSQL Server (2000, 2005, 2008)• .NET Framework (1.1, 2.0, 3.5, 4.0)

• Windows Communication Foundation• Microsoft.Web.Services3• .NET Remoting

• Currently working for Cable One, Inc.

Overview of AppFabric

• Provides hosting services• Provides caching services• Provides robust tools and services for managing

applications on-premise and off-premise• Tracing• Dashboard

• Key point: Difference between Server AppFabric and Azure AppFabric• Windows Server AppFabric is on-premise• Windows Azure AppFabric is in the cloud• APIs attempt to be seemless

The Dilemma

• Even though we’re light years beyond the traditional paper filing method of the past, users still find the application driven processes too slow. Users will be happy to learn that technology once again has provided a solution: Caching

Common Questions

• How do we increase the speed of data access and the application as a whole?

• How can we make our caching solutions more scalable?

• How do we ensure our application is not only fast and scalable, but also maintain it’s robustness?

Cache Concepts

• Cache– Storing a copy of data closer to application logic, and away from

it’s source– Increases application speed

• Distributed Caching– A set of nodes in a farm that coordinate to create a unified view

of a cache to a caching client– Assists in creating a scalable caching solution

• Expiration and Eviction– When an object is removed from the cache because of stalenes or

due to low memory conditions– Assists in maintaining a robust caching solution

Caching Overview

Server AppFabric Cache Architecture

• Runs on top of Windows Server and IIS via Windows Server AppFabric Caching Services

• Cache Host exists on the server as a windows service• Multiple cache servers can run in a clustered environment• Administered through PowerShell• Configuration can be shared across multiple servers

through the use of a database or XML file located on a UNC share

• Cache client communicates with the cluster rather than just an individual server

Architecture Diagram

Demo 1: Server AppFabric Configuration

Implementing AppFabric Cache

• “You've effectively got a big, partitionable distributed (and optionally highly available) hashtable across multiple machines.”—Scott Hanselman

• Hashtable of objects that take the form of their System.Object base class• Requires type conversion to restore them to their original type

• Cache clusters are logically segmented into named caches and regions• A named cache, also referred to as a cache, is a configurable unit of

in-memory storage that all applications use to store data in the distributed cache

• Regions are an additional data container that you can place in the cache

• Regions can be used to segregate like data by allowing you to search all cached objects in the region using descriptive strings, also known as “tags”.

Named Caches and Regions

Demo 2: Implementing Application Cache

Recap: Benefits of Server AppFabric Caching

• Scalable: • Can restart the application without

losing valuable cached data• Applications can spread session objects

across the cache cluster, providing scalability

• Caches any serializable CLR object and provides access through simple cache APIs

Where to Now??

Azure: Off-Premise Caching• Windows Azure provides a simple to maintain solution that allows

the business to leverage Microsoft’s servers in order to save money• Implemented in code almost identically to Server AppFabric, with

the only exception that Azure AppFabric Caching does not support user-created regions or tag-based searches

• Unlike Windows Server AppFabric, Windows PowerShell is not used to manage the provisioned caches or the cache cluster• The Windows Azure Administration Portal is extremely easy to use and

allows businesses to get a cache up and running in as little as 60 seconds• Libraries are nearly interchangeable which makes migrating from

Windows Server AppFabric to Windows Azure AppFabric Caching a nearly seemless

Demo 3:Migrating from Windows Server AppFabric Cache to Windows

Azure Cache

Other Cache Providers– Off-Premise

• Amazon ElastiCache

– On-premise• Memcached

– Proven in one blog online to be a bit faster– More oftenly stated to be more difficult to set up– Supports C#– API converts objects to strings– Object size limit: 1MB– Not as many features as Coherence and AppFabric

• Coherence– On paper, appears to support more features that Server AppFabric caching– Supports C#

• Redis– Not as many features as other cache providers– Does not support as many languages

Recap• Server AppFabric caching helped make our stock

web service ~7.5 times faster• Azure AppFabric caching, although a bit slower,

still saw decrease in response time by a multiple of 4

• Azure cache host configured and started in around 60 seconds or often times less

• Code can easily be migrated between off-premise and on-premise AppFabric caching solutions

Questions?

References• Introduction to Caching with Windows Server AppFabric (Beta): http://

msdn.microsoft.com/library/cc645013.aspx• Module 1–Windows AppFabric Cache (AppFabric Demos)• Windows Server AppFabric Caching Logical Architecture Diagram: http://

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee790985.aspx • Differences Between Caching On-Premises and in the Cloud: http://

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/gg185678.aspx• Wade Wegner works at Microsoft and is the Technical Evangelist Lead for

Windows Azure: http://www.wadewegner.com/ • Distributed Caching Showdown – Memcached vs Velocity:

http://www.briandrought.com/blog/?p=29• Installing, Configuring and Using Windows Server AppFabric and the "Velocity"

Memory Cache in 10 minutes: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/InstallingConfiguringAndUsingWindowsServerAppFabricAndTheVelocityMemoryCacheIn10Minutes.aspx

Aditional Information• Email– myers.chris.j@gmail.com– camyers@cableone.net

• Blog– http://bloggedbychris.com/

• Phoenix Connected Systems User Group– http://pcsug.org/