XF 1.2 Caching question

[vexx]

Hey guys,

Wondering about XF's caching..I plan to use Memcache ..my question is, should I config memcache to be the only caching system or should I combine it with "cache front-end" as shown in the documentation. I'm not sure what's the best route.

Maybe someone did a caching thread, but I couldn't find it via search.

Thanks!

 

[Paul B]

Both frontend and backend are required.
The frontend enables the cache.
The backend defines the type.

 

[vexx]

Ah got it, so just to double check, this is enough in config.php?

$config['cache']['enabled'] = true;
$config['cache']['frontend'] = 'Core';
$config['cache']['frontendOptions']['cache_id_prefix'] = 'xf_';

$config['cache']['backend'] = 'Memcached';
$config['cache']['backendOptions'] = array(
'compression' => false,
'servers' => array(
array(
// your memcached server IP /address
'host' => 'localhost',

// memcached port
'port' => 11222,
)
)
);

 

[Jake Bunce]

See this document:

http://xenforo.com/help/cache/

In all, to use Memcached for XF's cached data you need to add this code to the library/config.php file:

$config['cache']['enabled'] = true;
$config['cache']['frontend'] = 'Core';
$config['cache']['frontendOptions']['cache_id_prefix'] = 'xf_';

$config['cache']['backend'] = 'Memcached';
$config['cache']['backendOptions'] = array(
	'compression' => false,
	'servers' => array(
		array(
			// your memcached server IP /address
			'host' => 'localhost',
			
			// memcached port
			'port' => 11211,
		)
	)
);

A memory cache (such as Memcached) can speed things up. But be sure to monitor the cache. An unhealthy memory cache can actually be a detriment. A memory cache is really only appropriate for large / busy forums on a dedicated server with a server admin to configure it.

Besides a memory cache, using an opcode cache like APC is a benefit to all forums and will speed up execution by way of having it installed on the server without any configuration in XF itself.

 

[vexx]

I think we have Eaccelerator installed (i have to check, I manage more than 1 server). Do you think APC is worth more than eAcc?

 

[Jake Bunce]

I think we have Eaccelerator installed (i have to check, I manage more than 1 server). Do you think APC is worth more than eAcc?

Either works. I don't have enough experience with both of them to make a recommendation.

 

[Wildcat Media]

I need to set up this caching within the next few weeks.

Is there any benefit to using APC as the backend vs. Memcache, or are they about the same performance-wise? I'm not certain if we have the PECL extension installed to use the latter (I can check next week). APC is already installed and running nicely. I may just roll with that.

Just curious, has anyone tried this? http://framework.zend.com/manual/1.12/en/zend.cache.backends.html#zend.cache.backends.twolevels

May not even be possible with XF but it uses a two-level cache. One fast (APC, Memcache) and one slow (SQLite, flat file).