Object Caching: What it Is and How It Can Boost Your Website Performance

If you’ve ever shopped around for web hosting, you’ve probably noticed various companies advertise what object caching technology they use (if they’re fortunate to use any).

This extensive guide will explain object caching, why it’s helpful, and how it makes your website faster and more efficient with Redis. We will also compare these platforms on parameters like memory usage efficiency and data persistence features. Further ahead, we discuss why one might choose Redis over Memcached due to its superior data structures, clustering capabilities, and persistence support.

A fast website is essential for its success; they aren’t just fun for users and great for businesses. Speedy page loads lead to higher engagement, lower bounce rates, and more conversions. According to Cloudflare, even a one-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. That’s like money going to waste.

Improving your site speed should be your top priority for running an online business. Don’t let visitors slip through your fingers like sand in an hourglass. The good news is that there’s a great solution to improve your site’s performance: the object cache.

Finally, through real-world use cases demonstrating improved scalability and reliability with Redis instead of Memcached, you’ll understand how choosing the right object cache can profoundly affect your application’s response time.

So buckle up as we embark on this informative journey together!

What Is Object Caching?

Within a website, numerous PHP objects are continuously constructed, initiated, and removed by the memory manager. Unfortunately, these actions can burden your server, leading to sluggish performance and potential errors.

Imagine you’re running a bustling restaurant (your website), and you have a single chef (your server) who has to cook each meal from scratch every time a customer orders (a user requests a webpage). That’s hard work, and if too many customers come in simultaneously, the chef could get overwhelmed, the kitchen may become chaotic, and meals could take a long time to get to tables. That would make customers unhappy, and they might leave (slow loading and unresponsive website).

What if we could save time by preparing meals in advance (caching)? That’s what object caching does for your website.

The platform you use to run your site is like a big recipe book that’s always being referred to. Object caching is like your sous-chef preparing frequently requested meals in advance, so your chef can quickly serve these meals to customers when they order. This process helps to serve meals faster and keeps the kitchen running smoothly even during the busiest times.

Think of it as a quick-access fridge, where the chef stores meals that customers frequently order. When a customer orders a meal, instead of cooking from scratch, the chef grabs the meal from the fridge, which is much quicker and easier.

How Does Object Caching Work?

To simplify the concept of object caching, allow me to provide a basic analogy using everyday terms. Think of it like this:

When someone orders dinner, they expect the chef to prepare it carefully. Similarly, when web users make requests for webpages, the server is responsible for quickly fetching them. To optimize this process, the server often stores data in its cache, much like how the chef keeps some of their meals in the fridge for later customers.

When the same meal is requested a second time, the chef doesn’t need to cook it from scratch; instead, he takes it from the fridge (the server pulls data from the cache rather than going back to its original source).

Why Should You Use Object Caching?

Faster service: Meals (webpages) are served quicker because they’re ready in the fridge (cache).

Less work for the chef: Our chef (server) is less likely to get overwhelmed during peak hours because some meals (web pages) are pre-made.

Most applications have a built-in sous-chef, which does a great job but only prepares for one mealtime (page load). Once that mealtime is over, it starts from scratch. This might be enough for a small restaurant (website) with few customers (users). But for bigger restaurants (websites), having a sous chef who can prepare meals that last through many mealtimes (page loads) is better.

That’s where the object cache comes in. They’re like super-efficient sous-chefs who can prepare for multiple meal times, ensuring the restaurant (website) runs smoothly even during the busiest hours. They can improve your restaurant’s performance by serving meals faster and reducing the work for your chef.

If you’re interested in learning about the technologies enabling persistent object caching, we have all the information you need. Let’s dive in.

What Are the Top Object Caching Technologies?

Two popular technologies are widely used for object caching: Memcached and Redis.

Memcached is an open-source, distributed memory caching system, it works by storing data in memory, allowing for lightning-fast retrieval. When a request is made for a piece of data, Memcached checks if it’s already in memory. If it is, the data is served directly from there, saving time and resources. However, if the data is not in memory, Memcached needs to fetch it from the database or other sources, which can introduce some latency.

Redis (short for Remote Dictionary Server) is also an open-source, in-memory data structure store. It goes beyond simple caching and offers more advanced features. Redis caches data and allows you to store and manipulate various types of data structures, such as strings, lists, sets, and more. This flexibility makes Redis highly versatile and powerful.

Redis vs. Memcached: Which One to Choose?

While both Memcached and Redis are effective caching technologies, Redis tends to be the preferred choice for many users, mainly due to the following:

Persistence: Redis can persist data to disk, ensuring your cached data is not lost even if the server restarts or fails. On the other hand, Memcached does not provide built-in persistence, meaning data can be lost in such situations.

Advanced functionality: Redis offers a rich set of features, such as data expiration, key eviction policies, and support for more complex data structures. These capabilities make Redis suitable for many use cases beyond simple caching, including session management, real-time analytics, and more.

Scalability: Redis can be easily scaled horizontally by setting up multiple instances and using clustering techniques. This allows for high availability and improved performance as your website grows. Memcached, although scalable, may require more manual configuration and effort to achieve the same level of scalability.

Data Expiration/Eviction Policies: Say goodbye to clutter. Redis automatically cleans up old data so you don’t have to.

Community support: Redis has a vibrant and active community, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and resources available. It is widely adopted and integrated into many popular web applications and frameworks, making it easier to find help and support when needed.

While you’re comparing object caching technologies, you should compare us to your current host. See why our platform is consistent, reliable, and one of the fastest in the industry. 🤓 Check out our web hosting plans!

Why Does ChemiCloud Run Redis?

While Memcached is a solid choice for object caching in most applications, Redis offers several advantages that make it the preferred option for many. Its persistence, advanced functionality, scalability, and strong community support make Redis a powerful caching technology that can enhance the performance and responsiveness of your website.

In short, we utilize Redis Object Caching to provide you with the best hosting experience possible.

To unlock the power of Redis, you’ll need specific plugins if you’re using WordPress. Now you know why web developers are head over heels for Redis. But wait, there’s more.

How to Easily Enable Redis on Your Website

For those using ChemiCloud web hosting, Redis object caching is available and working out of the box. Please find the steps below on how to activate Redis in cPanel:

1) Login into your cPanel.

2) Scroll down to the Software section and click Redis Object Cache.

3) Select the ON option and click Submit.

4) Once Redis is activated, you’ll notice that a unique socket path is now showing, you’ll need to take note of this path as it’s needed when activating object cache on your website.

In most applications, you will need to specify host, port and database to connect to Redis.

The host is the “Redis socket address” in this example “/home/demoanta/tmp/redis.sock”, the port is always 0, and the database must be a unique Redis database number.

If you are setting up Redis on multiple websites, each configuration much use a unique number, it can be any number from 1 to 100 as long as each website uses a different one.

How to Activate Redis Object Cache on Your Website

Whether you’re using WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, or other popular platforms that support Object Cache, our step-by-step tutorials will guide you through the  setup process:

• How to Easily Enable Redis Object Cache in WordPress
• How to Easily Enable Redis Object Cache in Joomla

In the following articles, we will provide detailed guidance on setting up and optimizing object caching for different types of web applications. Stay tuned!  

So there you have it. With these simple steps, beginners and pros alike can easily implement object caching, enhancing website speed and user experience.

Conclusion

In this blog post, we explored the concept of object caching and its importance for website speed and optimization. Considering the various pros and cons, it’s essential to carefully evaluate your needs before deciding between Redis and Memcached for your app’s object caching needs. 

We learned about Memcached and Redis as popular object caching solutions. While both Memcached and Redis offer performance enhancements, Redis stands out with its superior data structures, clustering capabilities, and persistence support.

When it comes to the success of your website, the speed with which pages load for your customers and users is essential. Real-world use cases have shown improved scalability and enhanced reliability when using Redis instead of Memcached, and it’s, for this reason, we at ChemiCloud offer it to our customers by default on our web hosting plans.

Should you want to take advantage of our Redis object caching integration, you’ll want to check out our web hosting plans! Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, leave them below or reach out to our support team! We’re here 24×7!