1.2. Steps to Set up Red Hat JBoss Data Grid

Procedure 1.1. Set Up JBoss Data Grid

1. Set Up the Cache Manager

   The first step in a JBoss Data Grid configuration is a cache manager. Cache managers can retrieve cache instances and create cache instances quickly and easily using previously specified configuration templates. For details about setting up a cache manager, see Part I, “Set Up a Cache Manager”

2. Set Up JVM Memory Management

   An important step in configuring your JBoss Data Grid is to set up memory management for your Java Virtual Machine (JVM). JBoss Data Grid offers features such as eviction and expiration to help manage the JVM memory.

   1. Set Up Eviction

      Use eviction to specify the logic used to remove entries from the in-memory cache implementation based on how often they are used. JBoss Data Grid offers different eviction strategies for finer control over entry eviction in your data grid. Eviction strategies and instructions to configure them are available in Chapter 3, Set Up Eviction.

   2. Set Up Expiration

      To set upper limits to an entry's time in the cache, attach expiration information to each entry. Use expiration to set up the maximum period an entry is allowed to remain in the cache and how long the retrieved entry can remain idle before being removed from the cache. For details, see Chapter 4, Set Up Expiration

3. Monitor Your Cache

   JBoss Data Grid uses logging via JBoss Logging to help users monitor their caches.

   1. Set Up Logging

      It is not mandatory to set up logging for your JBoss Data Grid, but it is highly recommended. JBoss Data Grid uses JBoss Logging, which allows the user to easily set up automated logging for operations in the data grid. Logs can subsequently be used to troubleshoot errors and identify the cause of an unexpected failure. For details, see Chapter 5, Set Up Logging

4. Set Up Cache Modes

   Cache modes are used to specify whether a cache is local (simple, in-memory cache) or a clustered cache (replicates state changes over a small subset of nodes). Additionally, if a cache is clustered, either replication, distribution or invalidation mode must be applied to determine how the changes propagate across the subset of nodes. For details, see Part IV, “Set Up Cache Modes”

5. Set Up Locking for the Cache

   When replication or distribution is in effect, copies of entries are accessible across multiple nodes. As a result, copies of the data can be accessed or modified concurrently by different threads. To maintain consistency for all copies across nodes, configure locking. For details, see Part V, “Set Up Locking for the Cache” and Chapter 12, Set Up Isolation Levels

6. Set Up and Configure a Cache Store

   JBoss Data Grid offers the passivation feature (or cache writing strategies if passivation is turned off) to temporarily store entries removed from memory in a persistent, external cache store. To set up passivation or a cache writing strategy, you must first set up a cache store.

   1. Set Up a Cache Store

      The cache store serves as a connection to the persistent store. Cache stores are primarily used to fetch entries from the persistent store and to push changes back to the persistent store. For details, see Part VI, “Set Up and Configure a Cache Store”

   2. Set Up Passivation

      Passivation stores entries evicted from memory in a cache store. This feature allows entries to remain available despite not being present in memory and prevents potentially expensive write operations to the persistent cache. For details, see Part VII, “Set Up Passivation”

   3. Set Up a Cache Writing Strategy

      If passivation is disabled, every attempt to write to the cache results in writing to the cache store. This is the default Write-Through cache writing strategy. Set the cache writing strategy to determine whether these cache store writes occur synchronously or asynchronously. For details, see Part VIII, “Set Up Cache Writing”

7. Monitor Caches and Cache Managers

   JBoss Data Grid includes two primary tools to monitor the cache and cache managers once the data grid is up and running.

   1. Set Up JMX

      JMX is the standard statistics and management tool used for JBoss Data Grid. Depending on the use case, JMX can be configured at a cache level or a cache manager level or both. For details, see Chapter 19, Set Up Java Management Extensions (JMX)

   2. Set Up Red Hat JBoss Operations Network (JON)

      Red Hat JBoss Operations Network (JON) is the second monitoring solution available for JBoss Data Grid. JBoss Operations Network (JON) offers a graphical interface to monitor runtime parameters and statistics for caches and cache managers. For details, see Chapter 20, Set Up JBoss Operations Network (JON)

8. Introduce Topology Information

   Optionally, introduce topology information to your data grid to specify where specific types of information or objects in your data grid are located. Server hinting is one of the ways to introduce topology information in JBoss Data Grid.

   1. Set Up Server Hinting

      When set up, server hinting provides high availability by ensuring that the original and backup copies of data are not stored on the same physical server, rack or data center. This is optional in cases such as a replicated cache, where all data is backed up on all servers, racks and data centers. For details, see Chapter 26, High Availability Using Server Hinting