Implement Hibernate Second-Level Cache with NCache

By Abhinav Pandey

In this tutorial, we'll explore implementing a second-level cache in Hibernate using NCache. We'll set up a Java application with Hibernate. Then we'll configure NCache as the second-level cache. Finally, we'll test the implementation to see how caching reduces the database load and improves performance.

Basics

Before we dive into the implementation, let's understand the basics of Hibernate, NCache, and Hibernate second-level cache.

Hibernate

Hibernate is an open-source object-relational mapping (ORM) framework for Java applications. It simplifies the development of database interactions by mapping Java objects to database tables and vice versa.

To improve performance, Hibernate provides two levels of caching:

1. First-Level Cache
The first-level cache is associated with the Hibernate session and is enabled by default. It stores the objects retrieved during a session and eliminates the need to hit the database multiple times for the same object. The first-level cache is limited to the scope of a session and is not shared across sessions. It is also not persistent and is cleared when the session is closed or cleared explicitly.

2. Second-Level Cache
The second-level cache is shared across sessions and can be configured to cache data at the application level. It reduces the number of database hits by storing objects longer. Second-level cache needs to be configured explicitly and can be implemented using various caching providers like NCache, Ehcache, etc.