Software cache benchmark

Question

I'm trying to run some benchmark measurements by my own. The idea is to use some well known vanilla web benchmark (e.g. RUBiS, TPC-W) and their tuned version (Varnish reverse proxy in front Apache and software cache in front database). I have couple dilemmas:

• Varnish should be 'relatively easy' to install and configure. However I'm more concerned about cache. If I understood correctly, software cache (e.g. Memcached, Redis) requires code changes. It means I need to change each database command in benchmark (potentially large number of servlets) and to use Memcached API. Is this correct?

• Second, I need this results rather soon, so is there any alternative (some software cache which doesn't require code changes, or benchmark with already incorporate Memcached API)?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Varnish is a caching software, plain and simple. Redis is not. Redis is a database that uses a key/value system for storing data. Redis is most often used as a cacheing system to supplement mysql in certain cases (like storing sessions). Memcached is like redis, but I can not really comment because I have no experience with Memcached. So, for your 1st question, yes Memcached and Redis require code changes.

2nd- I dont know. If you just want to cache your site, then Varnish will be your quickest option. Redis and Memcached will require a lot more work.

Hope this helped :)