Scaling web applications using Memcache

Last weekend, I gave a talk at Chennai Geeks meetup about using memcache to scale web applications.

There were lot of good questions and the discussion which followed after the presentation was very good. Thanks for the organizers for putting together a great event.

I have uploaded the slides which I used for the talk to my slideshare account. I have also embedded them below so that you can easily view them.

Scalling web applications using memcache from Sudar Muthu

Questions

During the event, there were a couple of open questions that were not answered. I am posting them below with the answers.

What is the Protocol used by Memcache?

Memcahce runs on TCP. But the memcache protocol also has an interface for UDP, which can be used in very large installations.

Does memcache return anything when adding a new item fails?

Memcache actually returns a boolean false, if it encounters any errors while trying to save a value. (I got this completely wrong during the presentation)

Is it possible to store values in one language and retrieve it in another language?

Short answer is yes. Long answer is, it depends on what you are storing. If you are going to store just basic data types like int or string, it should not be a problem. But if you are going to store serialized objects, it could be a problem.

If you have to store serialized objects and use them across multiple languages then try to serialize them using Google protocol buffer.

BTW if I have missed any questions, then let me know and I will answer them here.

About Chennai Geeks

Chennai Geeks is a forum for hackers in Chennai. You can find more information about it from their Facebook page.

The monthly meetup takes places every 3rd Saturday of the month. This was my first meetup and I was pretty impressed with the enthusiasm and the knowledge of the community.  I am planning to attend their monthly meetup if possible.

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