Is there a way to enforce a size limit of MemoryCache in System.Runtime.Caching?

Question

I'm using .net 4 Memory Cache. I would like to limit the size of the cache say to 10mb because I don't want my application to be abusing what goes in there.

I would also like to know how much memory my cache is at any given time. How can I tell at run time?

score 45 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 24 '13 at 12:37

You can specify the maximum amount of physical memory dedicated to the MemoryCache in the application config file using the namedCaches element, or by passing in the setting when you create your MemoryCache instance via the NameValueCollection passed into the constructor by putting an entry in the collection with a key of cacheMemoryLimitMegabytes and a value of 10.

Here is an example of the namedCaches configuration element:

<configuration>
  <system.runtime.caching>
    <memoryCache>
      <namedCaches>
        <add name="Default" 
          cacheMemoryLimitMegabytes="10" 
          physicalMemoryLimitPercentage="0"
          pollingInterval="00:05:00" />
      </namedCaches>
    </memoryCache>
  </system.runtime.caching>
</configuration>

And here is how you can configure the MemoryCache during creation:

//Create a name / value pair for properties
var config = new NameValueCollection();
config.Add("pollingInterval", "00:05:00");
config.Add("physicalMemoryLimitPercentage", "0");
config.Add("cacheMemoryLimitMegabytes", "10");

//instantiate cache
var cache = new MemoryCache("CustomCache", config);

This blog post details just about all of the ways to configure the MemoryCache object, and some examples were adapted from this source.

When does this size limit get evaluated? When adding a new cache entry or only during the polling interval? — Tamas Molnar, Jun 16 '16 at 07:51
@manipurea async according to the `pollingInterval` and in concery=t with some complex gymnastics you can see if you take ILSpy to it — Ruben Bartelink, Oct 24 '17 at 09:36

score 10 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 24 '14 at 11:56

10

You can do this in configuration... for example...

<system.runtime.caching>
   <memoryCache>
      <namedCaches>
         <add name="Default"
              cacheMemoryLimitMegabytes="52"
              physicalMemoryLimitPercentage="40"
              pollingInterval="00:04:01" />
      </namedCaches>
   </memoryCache>
</system.runtime.caching>

To do this in code see... this msdn page

edited Apr 24 '14 at 11:56

answered Apr 05 '11 at 04:02

John Sobolewski

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Cool!! Can you do it in code too? Do you know how to tell how big the cache is? – Jonathon Kresner Apr 05 '11 at 04:03
1

You should be able to as it takes the config items in it constructor... as a a name value collection. – John Sobolewski Apr 05 '11 at 04:13
You know... I tried all this a while back & couldn't get it working... I'm not sure why I left myself a note to post asking about this. I will further investigate. – Jonathon Kresner Apr 05 '11 at 04:16
Why are both cacheMemoryLimitMegabytes & physicalMemoryPercentage used together? I would have thought it logical to use one or the other. – Canacourse Jul 30 '11 at 14:00

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

6

It seems at this time the maximum amount of memory allocated for the cache can not be enforced. See this post for further reference: MemoryCache does not obey memory limits in configuration

edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

Community

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answered Dec 23 '11 at 08:54

Th 00 mÄ s

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Is there a way to enforce a size limit of MemoryCache in System.Runtime.Caching?

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