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diff --git a/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md b/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md index 782406659d..3a1a1ccfe6 100644 --- a/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md +++ b/guides/source/caching_with_rails.md @@ -1,14 +1,26 @@ **DO NOT READ THIS FILE ON GITHUB, GUIDES ARE PUBLISHED ON http://guides.rubyonrails.org.** -Caching with Rails: An overview +Caching with Rails: An Overview =============================== -This guide will teach you what you need to know about avoiding that expensive round-trip to your database and returning what you need to return to the web clients in the shortest time possible. +This guide is an introduction to speeding up your Rails application with caching. + +Caching means to store content generated during the request-response cycle and +to reuse it when responding to similar requests. + +Caching is often the most effective way to boost an application's performance. +Through caching, web sites running on a single server with a single database +can sustain a load of thousands of concurrent users. + +Rails provides a set of caching features out of the box. This guide will teach +you the scope and purpose of each one of them. Master these techniques and your +Rails applications can serve millions of views without exorbitant response times +or server bills. After reading this guide, you will know: -* Page and action caching (moved to separate gems as of Rails 4). -* Fragment caching. +* Fragment and Russian doll caching. +* How to manage the caching dependencies. * Alternative cache stores. * Conditional GET support. @@ -18,19 +30,32 @@ Basic Caching ------------- This is an introduction to three types of caching techniques: page, action and -fragment caching. Rails provides by default fragment caching. In order to use -page and action caching, you will need to add `actionpack-page_caching` and +fragment caching. By default Rails provides fragment caching. In order to use +page and action caching you will need to add `actionpack-page_caching` and `actionpack-action_caching` to your Gemfile. -To start playing with caching you'll want to ensure that `config.action_controller.perform_caching` is set to `true` if you're running in development mode. This flag is normally set in the corresponding `config/environments/*.rb` and caching is disabled by default for development and test, and enabled for production. +By default, caching is only enabled in your production environment. To play +around with caching locally you'll want to enable caching in your local +environment by setting `config.action_controller.perform_caching` to `true` in +the relevant `config/environments/*.rb` file: ```ruby config.action_controller.perform_caching = true ``` +NOTE: Changing the value of `config.action_controller.perform_caching` will +only have an effect on the caching provided by the Action Controller component. +For instance, it will not impact low-level caching, that we address +[below](#low-level-caching). + ### Page Caching -Page caching is a Rails mechanism which allows the request for a generated page to be fulfilled by the webserver (i.e. Apache or NGINX), without ever having to go through the Rails stack at all. Obviously, this is super-fast. Unfortunately, it can't be applied to every situation (such as pages that need authentication) and since the webserver is literally just serving a file from the filesystem, cache expiration is an issue that needs to be dealt with. +Page caching is a Rails mechanism which allows the request for a generated page +to be fulfilled by the webserver (i.e. Apache or NGINX) without having to go +through the entire Rails stack. While this is super fast it can't be applied to +every situation (such as pages that need authentication). Also, because the +webserver is serving a file directly from the filesystem you will need to +implement cache expiration. INFO: Page Caching has been removed from Rails 4. See the [actionpack-page_caching gem](https://github.com/rails/actionpack-page_caching). @@ -42,105 +67,213 @@ INFO: Action Caching has been removed from Rails 4. See the [actionpack-action_c ### Fragment Caching -Life would be perfect if we could get away with caching the entire contents of a page or action and serving it out to the world. Unfortunately, dynamic web applications usually build pages with a variety of components not all of which have the same caching characteristics. In order to address such a dynamically created page where different parts of the page need to be cached and expired differently, Rails provides a mechanism called Fragment Caching. +Dynamic web applications usually build pages with a variety of components not +all of which have the same caching characteristics. When different parts of the +page need to be cached and expired separately you can use Fragment Caching. Fragment Caching allows a fragment of view logic to be wrapped in a cache block and served out of the cache store when the next request comes in. -As an example, if you wanted to show all the orders placed on your website in real time and didn't want to cache that part of the page, but did want to cache the part of the page which lists all products available, you could use this piece of code: +For example, if you wanted to cache each product on a page, you could use this +code: ```html+erb -<% Order.find_recent.each do |o| %> - <%= o.buyer.name %> bought <%= o.product.name %> -<% end %> - -<% cache do %> - All available products: - <% Product.all.each do |p| %> - <%= link_to p.name, product_url(p) %> +<% @products.each do |product| %> + <% cache product do %> + <%= render product %> <% end %> <% end %> ``` -The cache block in our example will bind to the action that called it and is written out to the same place as the Action Cache, which means that if you want to cache multiple fragments per action, you should provide an `action_suffix` to the cache call: +When your application receives its first request to this page, Rails will write +a new cache entry with a unique key. A key looks something like this: -```html+erb -<% cache(action: 'recent', action_suffix: 'all_products') do %> - All available products: +``` +views/products/1-201505056193031061005000/bea67108094918eeba42cd4a6e786901 ``` -and you can expire it using the `expire_fragment` method, like so: +The number in the middle is the `product_id` followed by the timestamp value in +the `updated_at` attribute of the product record. Rails uses the timestamp value +to make sure it is not serving stale data. If the value of `updated_at` has +changed, a new key will be generated. Then Rails will write a new cache to that +key, and the old cache written to the old key will never be used again. This is +called key-based expiration. -```ruby -expire_fragment(controller: 'products', action: 'recent', action_suffix: 'all_products') -``` +Cache fragments will also be expired when the view fragment changes (e.g., the +HTML in the view changes). The string of characters at the end of the key is a +template tree digest. It is an md5 hash computed based on the contents of the +view fragment you are caching. If you change the view fragment, the md5 hash +will change, expiring the existing file. -If you don't want the cache block to bind to the action that called it, you can also use globally keyed fragments by calling the `cache` method with a key: +TIP: Cache stores like Memcached will automatically delete old cache files. + +If you want to cache a fragment under certain conditions, you can use +`cache_if` or `cache_unless`: ```erb -<% cache('all_available_products') do %> - All available products: +<% cache_if admin?, product do %> + <%= render product %> <% end %> ``` -This fragment is then available to all actions in the `ProductsController` using the key and can be expired the same way: +#### Collection caching -```ruby -expire_fragment('all_available_products') -``` -If you want to avoid expiring the fragment manually, whenever an action updates a product, you can define a helper method: +The `render` helper can also cache individual templates rendered for a collection. +It can even one up the previous example with `each` by reading all cache +templates at once instead of one by one. This is done automatically if the template +rendered by the collection includes a `cache` call. Take a collection that renders +a `products/_product.html.erb` partial for each element: ```ruby -module ProductsHelper - def cache_key_for_products - count = Product.count - max_updated_at = Product.maximum(:updated_at).try(:utc).try(:to_s, :number) - "products/all-#{count}-#{max_updated_at}" - end -end +render products ``` -This method generates a cache key that depends on all products and can be used in the view: +If `products/_product.html.erb` starts with a `cache` call like so: -```erb -<% cache(cache_key_for_products) do %> - All available products: +```html+erb +<% cache product do %> + <%= product.name %> <% end %> ``` -If you want to cache a fragment under certain conditions, you can use `cache_if` or `cache_unless` +All the cached templates from previous renders will be fetched at once with much +greater speed. There's more info on how to make your templates [eligible for +collection caching](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionView/Template/Handlers/ERB.html#method-i-resource_cache_call_pattern). + +### Russian Doll Caching + +You may want to nest cached fragments inside other cached fragments. This is +called Russian doll caching. + +The advantage of Russian doll caching is that if a single product is updated, +all the other inner fragments can be reused when regenerating the outer +fragment. + +As explained in the previous section, a cached file will expire if the value of +`updated_at` changes for a record on which the cached file directly depends. +However, this will not expire any cache the fragment is nested within. + +For example, take the following view: ```erb -<% cache_if (condition, cache_key_for_products) do %> - All available products: +<% cache product do %> + <%= render product.games %> <% end %> ``` -You can also use an Active Record model as the cache key: +Which in turn renders this view: ```erb -<% Product.all.each do |p| %> - <% cache(p) do %> - <%= link_to p.name, product_url(p) %> - <% end %> +<% cache game do %> + <%= render game %> <% end %> ``` -Behind the scenes, a method called `cache_key` will be invoked on the model and it returns a string like `products/23-20130109142513`. The cache key includes the model name, the id and finally the updated_at timestamp. Thus it will automatically generate a new fragment when the product is updated because the key changes. +If any attribute of game is changed, the `updated_at` value will be set to the +current time, thereby expiring the cache. However, because `updated_at` +will not be changed for the product object, that cache will not be expired and +your app will serve stale data. To fix this, we tie the models together with +the `touch` method: -You can also combine the two schemes which is called "Russian Doll Caching": +```ruby +class Product < ApplicationRecord + has_many :games +end -```erb -<% cache(cache_key_for_products) do %> - All available products: - <% Product.all.each do |p| %> - <% cache(p) do %> - <%= link_to p.name, product_url(p) %> - <% end %> - <% end %> +class Game < ApplicationRecord + belongs_to :product, touch: true +end +``` + +With `touch` set to true, any action which changes `updated_at` for a game +record will also change it for the associated product, thereby expiring the +cache. + +### Managing dependencies + +In order to correctly invalidate the cache, you need to properly define the +caching dependencies. Rails is clever enough to handle common cases so you don't +have to specify anything. However, sometimes, when you're dealing with custom +helpers for instance, you need to explicitly define them. + +#### Implicit dependencies + +Most template dependencies can be derived from calls to `render` in the template +itself. Here are some examples of render calls that `ActionView::Digestor` knows +how to decode: + +```ruby +render partial: "comments/comment", collection: commentable.comments +render "comments/comments" +render 'comments/comments' +render('comments/comments') + +render "header" => render("comments/header") + +render(@topic) => render("topics/topic") +render(topics) => render("topics/topic") +render(message.topics) => render("topics/topic") +``` + +On the other hand, some calls need to be changed to make caching work properly. +For instance, if you're passing a custom collection, you'll need to change: + +```ruby +render @project.documents.where(published: true) +``` + +to: + +```ruby +render partial: "documents/document", collection: @project.documents.where(published: true) +``` + +#### Explicit dependencies + +Sometimes you'll have template dependencies that can't be derived at all. This +is typically the case when rendering happens in helpers. Here's an example: + +```html+erb +<%= render_sortable_todolists @project.todolists %> +``` + +You'll need to use a special comment format to call those out: + +```html+erb +<%# Template Dependency: todolists/todolist %> +<%= render_sortable_todolists @project.todolists %> +``` + +In some cases, like a single table inheritance setup, you might have a bunch of +explicit dependencies. Instead of writing every template out, you can use a +wildcard to match any template in a directory: + +```html+erb +<%# Template Dependency: events/* %> +<%= render_categorizable_events @person.events %> +``` + +As for collection caching, if the partial template doesn't start with a clean +cache call, you can still benefit from collection caching by adding a special +comment format anywhere in the template, like: + +```html+erb +<%# Template Collection: notification %> +<% my_helper_that_calls_cache(some_arg, notification) do %> + <%= notification.name %> <% end %> ``` -It's called "Russian Doll Caching" because it nests multiple fragments. The advantage is that if a single product is updated, all the other inner fragments can be reused when regenerating the outer fragment. +#### External dependencies + +If you use a helper method, for example, inside a cached block and you then update +that helper, you'll have to bump the cache as well. It doesn't really matter how +you do it, but the md5 of the template file must change. One recommendation is to +simply be explicit in a comment, like: + +```html+erb +<%# Helper Dependency Updated: Jul 28, 2015 at 7pm %> +<%= some_helper_method(person) %> +``` ### Low-Level Caching @@ -151,7 +284,7 @@ The most efficient way to implement low-level caching is using the `Rails.cache. Consider the following example. An application has a `Product` model with an instance method that looks up the product’s price on a competing website. The data returned by this method would be perfect for low-level caching: ```ruby -class Product < ActiveRecord::Base +class Product < ApplicationRecord def competing_price Rails.cache.fetch("#{cache_key}/competing_price", expires_in: 12.hours) do Competitor::API.find_price(id) @@ -164,7 +297,10 @@ NOTE: Notice that in this example we used the `cache_key` method, so the resulti ### SQL Caching -Query caching is a Rails feature that caches the result set returned by each query so that if Rails encounters the same query again for that request, it will use the cached result set as opposed to running the query against the database again. +Query caching is a Rails feature that caches the result set returned by each +query. If Rails encounters the same query again for that request, it will use +the cached result set as opposed to running the query against the database +again. For example: @@ -186,21 +322,25 @@ end The second time the same query is run against the database, it's not actually going to hit the database. The first time the result is returned from the query it is stored in the query cache (in memory) and the second time it's pulled from memory. -However, it's important to note that query caches are created at the start of an action and destroyed at the end of that action and thus persist only for the duration of the action. If you'd like to store query results in a more persistent fashion, you can in Rails by using low level caching. +However, it's important to note that query caches are created at the start of +an action and destroyed at the end of that action and thus persist only for the +duration of the action. If you'd like to store query results in a more +persistent fashion, you can with low level caching. Cache Stores ------------ -Rails provides different stores for the cached data created by **action** and **fragment** caches. - -TIP: Page caches are always stored on disk. +Rails provides different stores for the cached data (apart from SQL and page +caching). ### Configuration -You can set up your application's default cache store by calling `config.cache_store=` in the Application definition inside your `config/application.rb` file or in an Application.configure block in an environment specific configuration file (i.e. `config/environments/*.rb`). The first argument will be the cache store to use and the rest of the argument will be passed as arguments to the cache store constructor. +You can set up your application's default cache store by setting the +`config.cache_store` configuration option. Other parameters can be passed as +arguments to the cache store's constructor: ```ruby -config.cache_store = :memory_store +config.cache_store = :memory_store, { size: 64.megabytes } ``` NOTE: Alternatively, you can call `ActionController::Base.cache_store` outside of a configuration block. @@ -225,15 +365,36 @@ There are some common options used by all cache implementations. These can be pa * `:race_condition_ttl` - This option is used in conjunction with the `:expires_in` option. It will prevent race conditions when cache entries expire by preventing multiple processes from simultaneously regenerating the same entry (also known as the dog pile effect). This option sets the number of seconds that an expired entry can be reused while a new value is being regenerated. It's a good practice to set this value if you use the `:expires_in` option. +#### Custom Cache Stores + +You can create your own custom cache store by simply extending +`ActiveSupport::Cache::Store` and implementing the appropriate methods. This way, +you can swap in any number of caching technologies into your Rails application. + +To use a custom cache store, simply set the cache store to a new instance of your +custom class. + +```ruby +config.cache_store = MyCacheStore.new +``` + ### ActiveSupport::Cache::MemoryStore -This cache store keeps entries in memory in the same Ruby process. The cache store has a bounded size specified by the `:size` option to the initializer (default is 32Mb). When the cache exceeds the allotted size, a cleanup will occur and the least recently used entries will be removed. +This cache store keeps entries in memory in the same Ruby process. The cache +store has a bounded size specified by sending the `:size` option to the +initializer (default is 32Mb). When the cache exceeds the allotted size, a +cleanup will occur and the least recently used entries will be removed. ```ruby config.cache_store = :memory_store, { size: 64.megabytes } ``` -If you're running multiple Ruby on Rails server processes (which is the case if you're using mongrel_cluster or Phusion Passenger), then your Rails server process instances won't be able to share cache data with each other. This cache store is not appropriate for large application deployments, but can work well for small, low traffic sites with only a couple of server processes or for development and test environments. +If you're running multiple Ruby on Rails server processes (which is the case +if you're using mongrel_cluster or Phusion Passenger), then your Rails server +process instances won't be able to share cache data with each other. This cache +store is not appropriate for large application deployments. However, it can +work well for small, low traffic sites with only a couple of server processes, +as well as development and test environments. ### ActiveSupport::Cache::FileStore @@ -243,9 +404,13 @@ This cache store uses the file system to store entries. The path to the director config.cache_store = :file_store, "/path/to/cache/directory" ``` -With this cache store, multiple server processes on the same host can share a cache. Server processes running on different hosts could share a cache by using a shared file system, but that set up would not be ideal and is not recommended. The cache store is appropriate for low to medium traffic sites that are served off one or two hosts. +With this cache store, multiple server processes on the same host can share a +cache. The cache store is appropriate for low to medium traffic sites that are +served off one or two hosts. Server processes running on different hosts could +share a cache by using a shared file system, but that setup is not recommended. -Note that the cache will grow until the disk is full unless you periodically clear out old entries. +As the cache will grow until the disk is full, it is recommended to +periodically clear out old entries. This is the default cache store implementation. @@ -253,7 +418,10 @@ This is the default cache store implementation. This cache store uses Danga's `memcached` server to provide a centralized cache for your application. Rails uses the bundled `dalli` gem by default. This is currently the most popular cache store for production websites. It can be used to provide a single, shared cache cluster with very high performance and redundancy. -When initializing the cache, you need to specify the addresses for all memcached servers in your cluster. If none is specified, it will assume memcached is running on the local host on the default port, but this is not an ideal set up for larger sites. +When initializing the cache, you need to specify the addresses for all +memcached servers in your cluster. If none are specified, it will assume +memcached is running on localhost on the default port, but this is not an ideal +setup for larger sites. The `write` and `fetch` methods on this cache accept two additional options that take advantage of features specific to memcached. You can specify `:raw` to send a value directly to the server with no serialization. The value must be a string or number. You can use memcached direct operations like `increment` and `decrement` only on raw values. You can also specify `:unless_exist` if you don't want memcached to overwrite an existing entry. @@ -261,36 +429,6 @@ The `write` and `fetch` methods on this cache accept two additional options that config.cache_store = :mem_cache_store, "cache-1.example.com", "cache-2.example.com" ``` -### ActiveSupport::Cache::EhcacheStore - -If you are using JRuby you can use Terracotta's Ehcache as the cache store for your application. Ehcache is an open source Java cache that also offers an enterprise version with increased scalability, management, and commercial support. You must first install the jruby-ehcache-rails3 gem (version 1.1.0 or later) to use this cache store. - -```ruby -config.cache_store = :ehcache_store -``` - -When initializing the cache, you may use the `:ehcache_config` option to specify the Ehcache config file to use (where the default is "ehcache.xml" in your Rails config directory), and the :cache_name option to provide a custom name for your cache (the default is rails_cache). - -In addition to the standard `:expires_in` option, the `write` method on this cache can also accept the additional `:unless_exist` option, which will cause the cache store to use Ehcache's `putIfAbsent` method instead of `put`, and therefore will not overwrite an existing entry. Additionally, the `write` method supports all of the properties exposed by the [Ehcache Element class](http://ehcache.org/apidocs/net/sf/ehcache/Element.html) , including: - -| Property | Argument Type | Description | -| --------------------------- | ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -| elementEvictionData | ElementEvictionData | Sets this element's eviction data instance. | -| eternal | boolean | Sets whether the element is eternal. | -| timeToIdle, tti | int | Sets time to idle | -| timeToLive, ttl, expires_in | int | Sets time to Live | -| version | long | Sets the version attribute of the ElementAttributes object. | - -These options are passed to the `write` method as Hash options using either camelCase or underscore notation, as in the following examples: - -```ruby -Rails.cache.write('key', 'value', time_to_idle: 60.seconds, timeToLive: 600.seconds) -caches_action :index, expires_in: 60.seconds, unless_exist: true -``` - -For more information about Ehcache, see [http://ehcache.org/](http://ehcache.org/) . -For more information about Ehcache for JRuby and Rails, see [http://ehcache.org/documentation/jruby.html](http://ehcache.org/documentation/jruby.html) - ### ActiveSupport::Cache::NullStore This cache store implementation is meant to be used only in development or test environments and it never stores anything. This can be very useful in development when you have code that interacts directly with `Rails.cache` but caching may interfere with being able to see the results of code changes. With this cache store, all `fetch` and `read` operations will result in a miss. @@ -299,19 +437,13 @@ This cache store implementation is meant to be used only in development or test config.cache_store = :null_store ``` -### Custom Cache Stores - -You can create your own custom cache store by simply extending `ActiveSupport::Cache::Store` and implementing the appropriate methods. In this way, you can swap in any number of caching technologies into your Rails application. - -To use a custom cache store, simply set the cache store to a new instance of the class. - -```ruby -config.cache_store = MyCacheStore.new -``` - -### Cache Keys +Cache Keys +---------- -The keys used in a cache can be any object that responds to either `:cache_key` or `:to_param`. You can implement the `:cache_key` method on your classes if you need to generate custom keys. Active Record will generate keys based on the class name and record id. +The keys used in a cache can be any object that responds to either `cache_key` or +`to_param`. You can implement the `cache_key` method on your classes if you need +to generate custom keys. Active Record will generate keys based on the class name +and record id. You can use Hashes and Arrays of values as cache keys. @@ -320,7 +452,12 @@ You can use Hashes and Arrays of values as cache keys. Rails.cache.read(site: "mysite", owners: [owner_1, owner_2]) ``` -The keys you use on `Rails.cache` will not be the same as those actually used with the storage engine. They may be modified with a namespace or altered to fit technology backend constraints. This means, for instance, that you can't save values with `Rails.cache` and then try to pull them out with the `memcache-client` gem. However, you also don't need to worry about exceeding the memcached size limit or violating syntax rules. +The keys you use on `Rails.cache` will not be the same as those actually used with +the storage engine. They may be modified with a namespace or altered to fit +technology backend constraints. This means, for instance, that you can't save +values with `Rails.cache` and then try to pull them out with the `dalli` gem. +However, you also don't need to worry about exceeding the memcached size limit or +violating syntax rules. Conditional GET support ----------------------- @@ -383,3 +520,9 @@ class ProductsController < ApplicationController end end ``` + +References +---------- + +* [DHH's article on key-based expiration](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3113-how-key-based-cache-expiration-works) +* [Ryan Bates' Railscast on cache digests](http://railscasts.com/episodes/387-cache-digests) |