Software Architect's Handbook

Using a shared caching strategy

A shared cache is located in a separate location, possibly accessible through a cache service, and all application instances use the shared cache. This resolves the issue of different application instances potentially having different views of cached data. It also improves scalability because a cluster of servers can be used for the cache. Application instances simply interact with the cache service, which is responsible for locating the cached data in the cluster.

A shared cache is slower than a private cache because rather than being available on the same machine as the application instance, it is located somewhere else; there will be some latency involved in interacting with the cache. However, if a greater ...