Memored

Memored implements an in-memory shared cache to use in nodejs applications which uses cluster module.

Let's say you want your application to take advantage of multi-core CPUs using nodejs cluster module; you will be able to run several isolated processes which shared nothing but a communication channel with parent process. If you need a fast volatile cache, common solutions would create an in-memory map for every process you run, so you end up with the same data stored several times in your machine RAM.

Memored uses communication channel between master process and its workers to use a unique in-memory storage, reducing the amount of memory your application would use.

Getting Started

Install this module with npm:

npm install memored

Store and read values is straightforward:

var cluster = require('cluster'),
    memored = require('memored');
 
if (cluster.isMaster) {
    cluster.fork();
} else {
    var han = {
            firstname: 'Han',
            lastname: 'Solo'
        },
        luke = {
            firstname: 'Luke',
            lastname: 'Skywalker'
        };
 
    // Store and read
    memored.store('character1', han, function() {
        console.log('Value stored!');
 
        memored.read('character1', function(err, value) {
            console.log('Read value:', value);
        });
    });
 
    // You can also set a ttl (milliseconds)
    memored.store('character2', luke, 1000, function(err, expirationTime) {
        console.log('Value stored until:', new Date(expirationTime));
 
        setTimeout(function() {
            memored.read('character2', function(err, value) {
                console.log('Value is gone?', value === undefined);
 
                process.exit();
            });
        }, 1050);
    });
}

Invalidation management

By default, memored will evict cache entries (stored with ttl) passively. This is, when you read an expired entry, you will get no value on return and memored will delete the value from its internal cache.

You can also configure memored to actively evict expired entries every N milliseconds. For this to work, you need to pass the attribute purgeInterval to the setup function. This will trigger an internal function which looks for expired entries and deletes them from its internal cache.

Example:

var cluster = require('cluster'),
    async = require('async'),
    memored = require('memored');
 
if (cluster.isMaster) {
 
    cluster.fork();
    memored.setup({ purgeInterval: 500});
 
} else {
 
    async.series({
        storeValue: function(next) {
            memored.store('key1', 'My simple string value', 100, next);
        },
        readCacheSize: function(next) {
            memored.size(function(err, size) {
                console.log('Current size is 1?', size === 1);
                next();
            });
        },
        wait: function(next) {
            setTimeout(next, 600);
        },
        readCacheSizeAgain: function(next) {
            memored.size(function(err, size) {
                console.log('Current size is 0?', size === 0);
                next();
            });
        }
    }, process.exit);
}

API

Documentation for every module function:

setup(options)

This function is used to configure memored.

Arguments:

• purgeInterval {Number} (optional): Configures and triggers memored expired entries auto deletion. Value expressed in milliseconds. It's only used when called this method from the master process of your application.
• logger {Object} (optional): In you want memored to log something, you must provide an object implementing log and warn functions.

Example:

memored.setup({
    purgeInterval: 15000,
    logger: console
});

store(key, value, [ttl], [callback])

This function stores a value in the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• key {String} (required): Key used to lookup the entry
• value {Mixed} (required): Whatever you want to store
• ttl {Number} (optional): Time to live for this value in the cache (milliseconds)
• callback {Function} (optional): Function to be call on store completion. Callback arguments:
  • err {Error}: Optional error
  • expirationTime {Number}: The timestamp of the moment when this entry will expire. If ttl is not used, this value will be undefined.

Examples:

memored.store('key1', {firstname: 'Han', lastname: 'Solo'}, function() {
    console.log('Value stored!');
});
 
memored.store('key2', ['a', 'b', 'c'], 15000, function(err, expirationTime) {
    console.log('This value will expire on:', new Date(expirationTime));
});

multiStore(map, [ttl], [callback])

This function stores several values in the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• map {Object} (required): Map where the keys represents the keys for the entry in the cache and the values represent the data to be stored.
• ttl {Number} (optional): Time to live for this value in the cache (milliseconds). All the entries will have the same ttl. As all entries will be stored in the same tick, its expiration time will be practically the same.
• callback {Function} (optional): Function to be call on store completion. Callback arguments:
  • err {Error}: Optional error
  • expirationTime {Number}: The timestamp of the moment when the first of the entries will expire. If ttl is not used, this value will be undefined.

Examples:

var users = {
    'user1': { name: 'Han Solo' },
    'user2': { name: 'Princess Leia' },
    'user3': { name: 'Luke Skywalker' }
};
memored.multiStore(users, function() {
    console.log('Users saved');
});
 
memored.multiStore(users, 15000, function(err, expirationTime) {
    console.log('First value will expire on:', new Date(expirationTime));
});

read(key, callback)

This function reads a value from the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• key {String} (required): Key used to lookup the entry
• callback {Function} (required): Function to be called on read completion. Callback arguments:
  • err {Error}: Optional error
  • value {Mixed}: Contents of the cached entry. If the value is not found or is expired, it will be undefined.

Example:

memored.read('key1', function(err, value) {
    console.log('Key1 value:', value);
});
 
memored.read('key1', function(err, value, expirationTime) {
    console.log('Key1 value:', value);
    console.log('Key1 expiration time:', new Date(expirationTime));
});
 
memored.read('unknownKey', function(err, value) {
    console.log('No data read?', value === undefined);
});

multiRead(keys, callback)

This function reads several values from the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• keys {Array(string)} (required): List of keys to lookup entries in the cache
• callback {Function} (required): Function to be called on read completion. Callback arguments:
  • err {Error}: Optional error
  • values {Object}: An object where its keys will be the keys used in the keys array and their values will be objects representing cached entries with the attributes value and expirationTime. If a cache entry is not found for a given key, that key will not be included in the values. Only found entries will exist in the result.

Example;

memored.multiRead(['key1', 'key2', 'unknownKey'], function(err, values) {
    console.log('Key1 value:', values.key1.value);
    console.log('Key1 expiration time:', values.key1.expirationTime);
    
    console.log(Object.keys(values)); // ['key1', 'key2']
    
    console.log('unknownKey:', values.unknownKey); // undefined
});

remove(key, callback)

This function removes an entry from the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• key {String} (required): Key for the entry to be removed.
• callback {Function} (optional): Function to be called on removal completion.

Example:

memored.remove('key1', function() {
    console.log('Key removed from the cache.');
});

multiRemove(keys, callback)

This function removes several entries from the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• keys {Array(string)} (required): Keys for the entries to be removed. If any key is not found in the cache, it's just ignored.
• callback {Function} (optional): Function to be called on removal completion.

Example:

memored.multiRemove(['key1', 'key2', 'unknownKey'], function() {
    console.log('Entries foundn in the cache has been removed.')
});

clean(callback)

This function removes all the entries from the cache. It is intended to be called from a worker process.

Arguments:

• callback {Function} (optional): Function to be called on read completion.

Example:

memored.clean(function() {
    console.log('All cache entries have been deleted.');
});

size(callback)

This function returns the number of entries in the cache.

Arguments:

• callback {Function} (required): Function to be called on size calculation is complete. Callback arguments:
  • err {Error}: Optional error
  • size {Number}: The number of entries in the cache.

Example:

memored.size(function(err, size) {
    console.log('Cache size:', size);
});

keys(callback)

This function returns an array of the keys for objects in the cache.

Arguments:

• callback {Function} (required): Function to be called when keys calculation is complete. Callback arguments:
  • err {Error}: Optional error
  • keys {Array}: An array of strings for the keys of the entries in the cache.

Example:

memored.keys(function(err, keys) {
    console.log('Cache keys:', keys);
});

version

This is an attribute which provides module's version number

Final note

All the callbacks first parameter is an optional error object. Actually, this param will never be an error because there is no expected error in the internal code. There's no function call that can possible throw an expected error that this module would deal with. The existence of this param is to follow the convention about libraries callbacks in nodejs. As everybody expects this first callback parameter to be an optional one, I decided to include it.

• Nodeguide
• Nodejitsu
• GoSquared

License

Copyright (c) 2014 PaquitoSoft
Licensed under the MIT license.