The NCache team is thrilled to announce the major release of NCache 5.0! This milestone version introduces foundational advancements in clustering mechanics, API simplicity, and high-performance caching infrastructure. NCache 5.0 is a highly recommended upgrade for all users looking to modernize their data tiers and unlock next-level application scalability.
This flagship release is led by a completely Refactored, Streamlined New API designed for modern asynchronous development, massive Performance Improvements driven by the native integration of Microsoft’s high-performance System.IO.Pipelines, and a fully reimagined, cross-platform Web-Based Management and Monitoring Center. Additionally, this version delivers enterprise-grade additions like Distributed Lucene.NET full-text searching, native JSON serialization storage options, and highly resilient messaging features.
To learn more about all the architectural changes, API improvements, and bug fixes included in this landmark update, read through the full NCache 5.0 release notes.
Completely Refactored, Modernized API (New)
The NCache API has been completely re-engineered from the ground up to be cleaner, simpler, and highly intuitive. By drastically reducing method overloads, developers can now write cleaner code with less boilerplate. The modern API natively utilizes the latest features of C# and the .NET Framework, incorporating full support for:
- Generics for strict type-safety.
- Async/Await methods to prevent thread starvation.
- Task Parallel Library (TPL) for highly efficient asynchronous task orchestration.
Breakthrough Performance Improvements (New)
Core cache server sub-systems have been entirely redesigned to squeeze maximum performance out of your hardware. NCache 5.0 integrates cutting-edge core libraries, most notably Microsoft’s System.IO.Pipelines. This framework completely optimizes high-performance I/O operations in .NET, reducing memory allocations, stream parsing bottlenecks, and garbage collection overhead to deliver unprecedented throughput.
Web-Based Management and Monitoring (New)
The traditional desktop-based NCache Manager and Monitor applications have been officially discontinued and replaced by an all-in-one, browser-accessible web management interface. Built on ASP.NET Core, this cross-platform management application runs seamlessly on both Windows and Linux, giving administrators the power to configure, monitor, and orchestrate their distributed cache clusters from anywhere via a modern web browser.
Key Technical Additions & Enhancements
- Distributed Full-Text Searching (Distributed Lucene.NET) (New): Build distributed Lucene indexes across your cache cluster. NCache’s new Lucene.NET SDK mirrors the standard Lucene.NET library API, allowing you to implement powerful full-text searching across your distributed data tier without a steep learning curve.
- Native Distributed Data Types (New): NCache now provides distributed implementations of standard .NET collection interfaces, enabling synchronized cluster-wide data structures:
- DistributedList: Implements IList<T>, preserving element order and allowing duplicate values.
- DistributedHashSet: Implements ICollection<T>, providing Union, Intersection, and Difference methods without duplicate entries.
- DistributedDictionary: Implements IDictionary<TKey, TValue> for distributed key-value storage.
- DistributedQueue: Implements FIFO (First-In, First-Out) queuing mechanics across multiple nodes.
- Counter: A distributed atomic counter for rapid numerical increment and decrement operations.
- Advanced Pub/Sub & Topic Enhancements:
- Wildcard Support (New): Subscribers can now use wildcards to listen to multiple message TOPICs simultaneously in a single call.
- Durable Subscriptions (New): Messages are securely stored until they are acknowledged by designated subscribers, with flexible Shared (multiple subscribers) or Exclusive (single subscriber) policies ensuring delivery even across abrupt client disconnections.
- Reliable Events Framework: All internal NCache notifications including general cache events, selective notifications, Continuous Queries, and SignalR backplanes now natively route through the highly optimized NCache Pub/Sub framework for ultimate message reliability.
- SQL Querying Projections & FROM Clause (New): NCache’s SQL search engine now supports projections and the FROM clause, allowing you to query specific attributes instead of pulling the entire, bulky cache object into memory.
- Search on Groups in SQL (New): You can now natively execute SQL queries against specific application cache Groups just as you previously did with Tags.
- JSON Serialization Store (New): Move beyond expensive binary serialization. You can now optionally configure NCache to store data natively as JSON, dramatically reducing the CPU and memory footprints required to serialize and deserialize objects.
- Location Affinity (New): Tie related cache items together on the exact same cluster node to speed up bulk operations and complex queries.
- Schedule Maintenance Support (New): Stop a Partitioned-Replica node for short-term patching or maintenance without triggering a heavy, time-consuming data rebalancing process across the remaining cluster.
- Server-Activated Licensing (New): A simplified licensing model where all licenses are activated directly on the cache servers, eliminating client-side activation friction while still managing client connection caps.
- Windows .NET Core Server Support (New): NCache Server built on .NET Core is now fully supported on Windows systems, expanding on its previous Linux-only footprint.
New Administration PowerShell Commands (New)
- Get-ClusterHealth: Displays real-time operational health metrics for the active cache cluster.
- Get-CacheServerStatistics: Monitors performance counters for one or more target cache servers.
- Get-CacheClientStatistics: Extracts precise performance counters from active cache clients.
Get Started with NCache 5.0
With major performance overhauls, a modernized API, and native web-based management, NCache 5.0 sets a new benchmark for distributed caching. Schedule a technical demo with our engineering team today to see how NCache 5.0 can maximize your application throughput!
