Getting Started

Cache Server: This is a full install of NCache and contains everything that the other two options provide plus cache clustering capability. You must install this on any server where you're going to host the cache, regardless of whether you have dedicated or shared cache servers.

Remote Client: This installs the remote client libraries and client cache on all your web/app servers so you can access the cache across the network. Please note that you need remote client libraries to access the cache across the network.

Developer: This installs the NCache API, online help/documentation, and a local stand-alone cache without any clustering capability. Please note that you cannot access a remotely hosted cache from a developer install machine. You can access only a local cache.

Cache Servers (dedicated or shared): If you have 4 or more web/app servers in your environment hosting your application, then we recommend a dedicated caching tier of 2 servers. A dedicated cache cluster should have a minimum of 2 servers for replication and then a ratio of 5:1 between your web/app servers and the cache servers. For smaller environments, even using your web/app servers as cache servers is fine, as long as you have enough memory available on these machines.

NCache Remote Clients (App or Web Servers): Any web/app server that is not hosting the cache server but instead will access it remotely across the network is considered an NCache remote client. You need to install the "remote client" portion of NCache on these machines.

Developer Workstations: If you're using NCache for object caching, you will be making NCache API calls within your application. Therefore, you need to install NCache "Developer" portion on all the developer machines. A developer install includes all the NCache API's, online help, and a local stand-alone cache. Please note that you cannot access any cache remotely from a developer install .

Windows 2003/2008 Server (64-bit) as Cache Servers: It is highly recommended that you use 64-bit Windows 2008 or 2012 Server platform for cache servers.

Adequate RAM in cache servers: NCache puts a minimum of 15% overhead on top of your data. However, this overhead may grow to be a lot more than 15% if you’re using indexes since each index uses memory. Please keep this in mind while deciding how much memory to have in your cache servers. The total memory you need depends on how much data you plan to store in cache.

Two 1Gbit NIC's in cache servers: If you have two NIC's in cache servers, it allows you to configure NCache so that it uses one of the NIC's for cache clustering and the second one for client/server communication. This improves your throughput greatly.

Dual-CPU, Quad-Core or higher: NCache is a highly multi-threaded software and takes full advantage of extra cores and CPUs. The most common configuration for NCache is a dual-CPU quad-core machine. You may need stronger processing power if you have higher transaction loads and/or larger amount of data being stored in NCache. Please consult NCache technical support to get a specific recommendation for your needs.

Disk: NCache does not make heavy use of disk space. Hence you don't need any extra disk space in your cache server machines.