Reference Guide

Zend Server Reference Manual
Cache
Working with Caching
This procedure describes the different caching capabilities available to you when using Zend Server.
Caching is the process of storing data or pre-rendered web output that can dramatically reduce the time
to present results to the users.
The available caching capabilities are:
142
Data Cache API
Zend Framework Cache API (External Link)
Page Cache
API versus Interface
The first step in choosing a suitable caching option is to discern who should be setting-up the caching.
The decision what caching option to use, is also based on the type of content you are interested in
caching. Any long running operations such as query results, can be cached using an API as long as the
information is relatively static (i.e. does not frequently change). For example if you are using a web
service to collect weather information you can use the API to cache the information and refresh every
few hours and gain a performance boost without compromising the accuracy of your information. When
planning to develop a PHP application, long processes should be pinpointed in advance in order to
implement caching in an early stage.
On the other hand if you have entire web pages that include static content such as home pages, online
stores and catalogs you can cache the entire page using the Page Cache. When you have pages that
include a mixture of static information and personalized information you can in essence cache per user
but that should be done carefully as it may cancel out the caching performance gain.
The last point in deciding is, ease of use. Using the Data Cache and the Zend Framework Cache API
requires programming skills to insert the API in the code and a deep knowledge of how the PHP
application works. Page Caching also requires a deep understanding of how the PHP application works
but does not require any programming skills and the entire caching process can be done from the Zend
Server Administration Interface (Rule Management | Caching).