NCache Integration for CacheManager.Core

NCache implementation of CacheManager.Core cache handles and backplane, allowing CacheManager.Core to use an NCache cache as its distributed cache handle while leveraging NCache's Messaging Service as a backplane for cache synchronization across multiple application instances.

Package Versions

Package	Version
Alachisoft.NCache.Opensource.SDK	>= 5.3.6.2
CacheManager.Core	Compatible with CacheManager.Core
Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions	Supported

Installation

Install-Package NCache.OSS.CacheManager.Core
dotnet add package NCache.OSS.CacheManager.Core

Prerequisites

Before using this package, ensure you have:

1. NCache Server – a running NCache cluster
2. An NCache cache – created on the cluster, matching the CacheName specified in NCacheOptions
3. A CacheManager.Core instance already configured in your application

Overview

The NCache CacheManager.Core integration provides both a distributed cache handle and a cache synchronization backplane for CacheManager.Core.

The package includes:

• NCacheCacheHandle<T> — a BaseCacheHandle implementation that stores cache entries in an NCache cache
• NCacheCacheBackplane — a CacheManager backplane implementation that uses NCache's Messaging Service (Pub/Sub topics) to propagate cache invalidation events across multiple application instances

Cache connections are established through CacheManager.GetCache using the supplied NCacheOptions. When configured with a backplane, invalidation messages are published over an NCache topic, allowing all connected CacheManager instances to keep their local caches synchronized.

Key benefits:

• Native CacheManager.Core cache handle implementation backed by NCache
• Distributed cache synchronization using NCache Messaging Service
• Supports CacheManager CRUD operations
• Supports absolute and sliding expiration
• Configurable NCache connectivity through a single options class
• Drop-in integration with existing CacheManager.Core configuration

Limitations

• Tag-based eviction is not supported
• Some advanced functionality may be limited by the NCache Open Source edition

Configuration

NCache integration is configured by passing an NCacheOptions instance when registering the cache handle and backplane.

var services = new ServiceCollection();

services.AddLogging(cfg =>
{
    cfg.AddConsole();
    cfg.SetMinimumLevel(LogLevel.Information);
});

var provider = services.BuildServiceProvider();
var loggerFactory = provider.GetRequiredService<ILoggerFactory>();

var options = new NCacheOptions
{
    CacheName = "demoCache",
    ServerList = new List<NCacheOptions.ServerConfig>
    {
        new NCacheOptions.ServerConfig
        {
            Ip = "127.0.0.1"
        }
    }
};

var cache = CacheFactory.Build<string>("myCache", settings =>
{
    settings.WithDictionaryHandle();

    settings.WithHandle(
        typeof(NCacheCacheHandle<>),
        "cache_handle_name",
        true,
        options);

    settings.WithBackplane(
        typeof(NCacheCacheBackplane),
        "ncache_config_key",
        "example_topic_name",
        options);
},
loggerFactory);

NCacheOptions controls how the integration connects to NCache.

Property	Description
CacheName	Name of the NCache cache instance. The cache must already exist in the cluster.
ServerList	List of NCache server nodes used to establish the connection.
ServerConfig.Ip	IP address or hostname of an NCache server.
ServerConfig.Port	Server port. Defaults to 9800 if not specified.

Usage

Register the NCache cache handle and backplane when configuring CacheManager.Core:

var cache = CacheFactory.Build<string>("myCache", settings =>
{
    settings.WithDictionaryHandle();

    settings.WithHandle(
        typeof(NCacheCacheHandle<>),
        "cache_handle_name",
        true,
        options);

    settings.WithBackplane(
        typeof(NCacheCacheBackplane),
        "ncache_config_key",
        "example_topic_name",
        options);
},
loggerFactory);

Once configured:

• CacheManager CRUD operations are executed against the configured NCache cache.
• Absolute and sliding expiration policies are enforced by NCache.
• Cache invalidation notifications are propagated through the NCache backplane, allowing multiple application instances to maintain synchronized local caches.

Validation

During initialization, the integration validates the supplied configuration before establishing a connection.

The following checks are performed:

• NCacheOptions must not be null
• CacheName must be specified
• Every ServerList entry must contain a valid IP address
• Port values, when specified, must be within the range 1–65535

After validation, a cache connection is established using:

CacheManager.GetCache(CacheName, CacheConnectionOptions)

If validation fails or the cache cannot be reached, an exception is thrown during initialization.

Best Practices

• Create the NCache cache before starting your application.
• Configure ServerList for distributed deployments.
• Avoid caching excessively large objects.
• Use a dedicated NCache cluster for each environment.
• Configure the backplane when multiple application instances share the same cache.

Sample

Demonstrates configuring CacheManager.Core to use NCache as a distributed cache handle and backplane. The sample shows how to configure NCacheCacheHandle and NCacheCacheBackplane, then perform common cache operations including CRUD operations, region-based caching, expiration, and cache synchronization.

Follow the following instructions to run the sample.

dotnet restore
dotnet run

The sample performs the following operations automatically:

• Configures CacheManager with an in-memory dictionary handle, an NCache distributed cache handle, and an NCache backplane.
• Adds an item with an absolute expiration.
• Retrieves the cached item.
• Checks whether the cached item exists.
• Removes the cached item.
• Adds multiple items to a cache region.
• Retrieves an item from the region.
• Checks whether the regional item exists.
• Clears the entire cache region.

Observe the console output to verify that each operation completes successfully and that cache operations are synchronized through the configured NCache backplane.

Resources

• NCache Documentation
• CacheManager.Core
• NuGet Package NCache.OSS.CacheManager.Core
• NCache CacheManager.Core Documentation
• NCache Open Source
• Alachisoft Website

Technical Support

Alachisoft © provides various sources of technical support.

• Please refer to http://www.alachisoft.com/support.html to select a support resource suitable for your issue.
• To request additional features in the future, or if you notice any discrepancy regarding this document, please drop an email to support@alachisoft.com.

License

Copyright © 2026 Alachisoft. All rights reserved.