Chapter 16. Expiration
16.1. About Expiration
JBoss Data Grid uses expiration to attach one or both of the following values to an entry:
- A lifespan value.
- A maximum idle time value.
Expiration can be specified on a per-entry or per-cache basis and the per-entry configuration overrides per-cache configurations. If expiration is not configured at the cache level, cache entries are created immortal (i.e. they will never expire) as a default. Conversely, if expiration is configured at the cache level, the expiration defaults apply to all entries which do not explicitly specify a
lifespan or maxIdle value.
Expired entries, unlike evicted entries, are removed globally, which removes them from memory, cache stores and the cluster.
Expiration automates the removal of entries that have not been used for a specified period of time from the memory. Expiration and eviction are different because:
- expiration removes entries based on the period they have been in memory. Expiration only removes entries when the life span period concludes or when an entry has been idle longer than the specified idle time.
- eviction removes entries based on how recently (and often) they are used. Eviction only removes entries when too many entries are present in the memory. If a cache store has been configured, evicted entries are persisted in the cache store.
