This document discusses caching patterns for microservices. It begins by introducing the speaker and their background at Wix. It then provides examples of when and how to cache from Wix's 2000 microservices, including caching external critical configuration data, improving data layer latency, and caching before services with very high external traffic. The document outlines three caching patterns in detail - S3 backed static caching, DynamoDB caching with change data capture, and HTTP reverse proxy caching with Varnish. It provides guidance on choosing the appropriate caching pattern based on factors like data criticality, dynamism, and invalidation needs.

1. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Advanced Microservices
Caching Patterns
Natan Silnitsky
Backend Infra TL,
Wix.com
natansil.com twitter@NSilnitsky linkedin/natansilnitsky github.com/natansil

2. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
200 Million registered users from 190 countries

3. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Rebecca, Wix Stores
Stores
Checkout
Service
* issues

4. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
1. Get app
identification
2. Start
WIX APP
MARKET
Rebecca, Wix Stores
HTTP
Stores
Checkout
Service

5. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
WIX APP
MARKET
Rebecca, Wix Stores 1. Get app
identification
2. Start
Stores
Checkout
Service
Unreliable Requests
* still available

6. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Alex, Wix Stores
Store
Catalog
Stores
Catalog
Service
retrieve

7. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Alex, Wix Stores
Store
Catalog
Stores
Catalog
Service
Request Overload
DB latency and
failure increase

8. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
No Cache - Increase in
- loading and response
- Network costs
- DB failure
Caching Patterns
* traffic grows

9. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
With Cache -
- reduce latency
- reduce the needed scale
- improve reliability
Caching Patterns
* DB is unavailable

10. @NSilnitsky
When & how to Cache
Examples from 2000 microservices of various use cases
Caching Patterns
#1
high risk/cost
of network
failure
Like caching
external critical
configuration
data.
* S3 backed

11. @NSilnitsky
When & how to Cache
Examples from 2000 microservices of various use cases
Caching Patterns
#1
high risk/cost
of network
failure
Like caching
external critical
configuration
data.
#2
To improve
average latency
for data layer
access
DynamoDB +
CDC +
LRU cache.

12. @NSilnitsky
When & how to Cache
Examples from 2000 microservices of various use cases
Caching Patterns
#1
high risk/cost
of network
failure
Like caching
external critical
configuration
data.
#2
To improve
average latency
for data layer
access
DynamoDB +
CDC +
LRU cache.
#3
Some very high
external traffic
cases
Caches are very
important -
cache before
the service.

13. @NSilnitsky
When & how to Cache
Examples from 2000 microservices of various use cases
Caching Patterns
#1
high risk/cost
of network
failure
Like caching
external critical
configuration
data.
#2
To improve
average latency
for data layer
access
DynamoDB +
CDC +
LRU cache.
#3
Some very high
external traffic
cases
Caches are very
important -
cache before
the service.
#4
When NOT to -
young products
Don’t cache
prematurely

14. @NSilnitsky
Agenda 3 Caching Patterns:
1. S3 backed static cache
2. DynamoDB+CDC based cache
3. HTTP Reverse Proxy cache
Caching Patterns

15. @NSilnitsky
Agenda 3 Caching Patterns:
1. S3 backed static cache
2. DynamoDB+CDC based cache
3. HTTP Reverse Proxy cache
Caching Patterns

16. @NSilnitsky
Service
WIX APP
MARKET
Caching Patterns
for Unreliable Requests

17. @NSilnitsky
Service
WIX APP
MARKET
Caching Patterns
On Init - Fetch app defs
Koboshi /
Remote Data Fetcher

18. @NSilnitsky
Service
WIX APP
MARKET
Caching Patterns
Koboshi /
Remote Data Fetcher
Local
cache
or
AWS S3

19. @NSilnitsky
Service
WIX APP
MARKET
Caching Patterns
Koboshi /
Remote Data Fetcher
Local
cache AWS S3
or
+ Retry

20. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Cache Type Cache Size Best For Not For
Read-through cache
Before the 3rd party service
Data has to
fit into memory
External source
of static configuration
Dynamically
updating data

21. @NSilnitsky
Next 3 Caching Patterns:
1. S3 backed static cache
2. DynamoDB+CDC based cache
3. HTTP Reverse Proxy cache
Caching Patterns

22. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Store
Catalog
Stores
Catalog
Service
for Request Overload
Read + Writes
Browser
HTTP
* slower interaction

23. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Stores
Catalog
Service
Cached KV Store
2. put
Store
Catalog
1. Write
V1
K1
V1
K2 K3 K8 K9
V1 V2 V1
head End

24. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Stores
Catalog
Service
Cached KV Store
1. get
Store
Catalog
2. Read
on miss
V1
K1
V1
K2 K3 K8 K9
V1 V2 V1
head End

25. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Stores
Catalog
Service
Cached KV Store
LRU Cache
put
Amazon
DynamoDB
put

26. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Stores
Catalog
Service
Cross-DC Data
replication & conflict
resolution
Amazon
DynamoDB
Cache

27. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Stores
Catalog
Service
Amazon
DynamoDB
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Event
K1- V2 is updated
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
K1
----
V1
K2
----
V1
K1
-----
V2
K3
----
V1
K4
----
V1
K5
----
V1
CDC Topic
Keeps a SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
Kafka Broker
Cache

28. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Stores
Catalog
Service
Amazon
DynamoDB
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Event
K1- V2 is updated
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
5
0 1 2 3 4
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
0 1 2 3 4 5
K1
----
V1
K2
----
V1
K1
-----
V2
K3
----
V1
K4
----
V1
K5
----
V1
CDC Topic
Keeps a SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
Kafka Broker
Consumer
(Consumes
from)
Cached KV Store
V1
K1
V1
K2 K3 K8 K9
V1 V2 V1
head End

29. @NSilnitsky
Cache
Caching Patterns
Warm up
Take most
recent events
Amazon
DynamoDB
CDC Topic
Kafka Broker
Stores
Catalog
Service

30. @NSilnitsky
Cache
Caching Patterns
Warm up (compact)
Take ALL
Up to date events
Amazon
DynamoDB
CDC Topic
Kafka Broker
Stores
Catalog
Service

31. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Cache Type Cache Size Best For Not For
Cache-Aside
Before the DB
No limitation on DB data size
LRU cache size is configurable
Make DB read access faster
for “popular” values
Highly critical application
startup information

32. @NSilnitsky
Next 3 Caching Patterns:
S3 backed static cache
DynamoDB+CDC based cache
HTTP Reverse Proxy cache
Caching Patterns

33. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns

34. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Site
Renderer
Service
DNS
resolution
Load
Balancers
* simplified flow
Wix DC
Varnish
cache
* open source

35. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
DNS
resolution
Load
Balancers
* simplified flow
Varnish
cache
Kafka Broker
Site Published
Purge request
(SiteId)
Site
Editor
Service
Site
Renderer
Service
Wix DC

36. @NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
DNS
resolution
Load
Balancers
* simplified flow
Varnish
cache
Kafka Broker
Site Published
Purge request
(SiteId)
Purge
ETag: SiteId
Site
Editor
Service
Varnish
Purger
Service
Site
Renderer
Service
Wix DC

37. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Varnish
cache
Size limit depends on the configured
Storage backends:
1. malloc is memory based — so the size is limited by
(more) expensive memory cost
2. file is memory-backed-by-disk based — which is
limited by less expensive disk cost, but can cause
performance penalty due to fragmentation…
Caching Patterns

38. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Varnish
cache
Size limit depends on the configured
Storage backends:
1. malloc is memory based — so the size is limited by
(more) expensive memory cost
2. file is memory-backed-by-disk based — which is
limited by less expensive disk cost, but can cause
performance penalty due to fragmentation…
3. Massive Storage Engine (MSE) — also backed by file,
but has a “fragmentation proof algorithm.” part of
Varnish Cache Plus (paying customers only).
Caching Patterns

39. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Cache Type Cache Size Best For Not For
Read-through
before the app
Depends on storage
backend
Improving latency for “stable”
HTTP responses
Hard to invalidate
aggregated data

40. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Choose
Cache Pattern
Is your data crucial
for startup?
Is your data highly
dynamic?
No
Yes
S3 Persisted data cache

41. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Choose
Cache Pattern
Is your data crucial
for startup?
Is your data highly
dynamic?
S3 Persisted data cache
No
Yes
Is your data highly
dynamic?
Yes
No
DynamoDB backed
cache / Redis
Yes

42. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Caching Patterns
Choose
Cache Pattern
Is your data crucial
for startup?
Is your data highly
dynamic?
S3 Persisted data cache
No
Yes
Is your data highly
dynamic?
Yes
No
External clients &
easy invalidation?
No
DynamoDB backed
cache / Redis
Varnish cache /
CDN
Yes
No
Yes

43. @NSilnitsky
https://medium.com/wix-engineering/4-microservices-caching-pattern
s-at-wix-b4dfee1ae22f
The blog post
Caching Patterns

44. @NSilnitsky
A Java/Scala high-level SDK for Apache Kafka.
github.com/wix/greyhound
Caching Patterns
0.2 is out!

45. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Thank
You!
👉 slideshare.net/NatanSilnitsky
Any questions?
natansil.com twitter@NSilnitsky linkedin/natansilnitsky github.com/natansil
Caching Patterns

46. @NSilnitsky
@NSilnitsky
Q&A
natansil.com twitter@NSilnitsky linkedin/natansilnitsky github.com/natansil
👉 slideshare.net/NatanSilnitsky
Any questions?