Configuring Memory Store

The memory store is always enabled and exists in heap memory. For the best performance, allot as much heap memory as possible without triggering garbage collection (GC) pauses, and use the off-heap store to hold the data that cannot fit in heap (without causing GC pauses).

The memory store is the top tier and is automatically used by Ehcache to store the data hotset because it is the fastest store. It requires no special configuration to enable, and its overall size is taken from the Java heap size. Since it exists in the heap, it is limited by Java GC constraints.

When an element is added to a cache and it goes beyond its maximum memory size, an existing element is either deleted, if overflow is not enabled, or evaluated for spooling to another tier, if overflow is enabled. The overflow options are overflowToOffHeap and <persistence> (disk store).

If overflow is enabled, a check for expiry is carried out. If it is expired it is deleted; if not it is spooled. The eviction of an item from the memory store is based on the optional MemoryStoreEvictionPolicy attribute specified in the configuration file. Legal values are LRU (default), LFU and FIFO:

Least Recently Used (LRU)—LRU is the default setting. The last-used timestamp is updated when an element is put into the cache or an element is retrieved from the cache with a get call.

Least Frequently Used (LFU) —For each get call on the element the number of hits is updated. When a put call is made for a new element (and assuming that the max limit is reached for the memory store) the element with least number of hits, the Less Frequently Used element, is evicted.

First In First Out (FIFO) — Elements are evicted in the same order as they come in. When a put call is made for a new element (and assuming that the max limit is reached for the memory store) the element that was placed first (First-In) in the store is the candidate for eviction (First-Out).

For all the eviction policies there are also putQuiet() and getQuiet() methods which do not update the last used timestamp.

When there is a get() or a getQuiet() on an element, it is checked for expiry. If expired, it is removed and null is returned. Note that at any point in time there will usually be some expired elements in the cache. Memory sizing of an application must always take into account the maximum size of each cache.

Tip:

calculateInMemorySize() is a convenient method that can provide an estimate of the size (in bytes) of the memory store. It returns the serialized size of the cache, providing a rough estimate. Do not use this method in production as it is has a negative effect on performance.

An alternative is to have an expiry thread. This is a trade-off between lower memory use and short locking periods and CPU utilization. The design is in favor of the latter. For those concerned with memory use, simply reduce the tier size. For more information, refer to Sizing Storage Tiers.