Can AppFabric Cache be used like memcached with independent nodes?

Question

With Memcached, it is my understanding that each of the cache servers doesn't need to know diddly about the other servers. With AppFabric Cache on the other hand, the shared configuration links the servers (and consequently becomes a single point of failure).

Is it possible to use AppFabric cache servers independently? In other words, can the individual clients choose where to store their key/values based on the available cache servers and would that decision be the same for all clients (the way it is with memcached).

NOTE: I do realize that more advanced features such as tagging would be broken without all the servers knowing about each other.

Answer 1

Are you viewing the shared configuration as a single point of failure? If you are using SQL Server as your configuration repository, then this shouldn't be an issue with a redundant SQL Server setup.

Answer 2

This approach would obviously loose you all of the benefits of using a distributed cache, however, if you really want to do this then simply don't use a shared configuration. When you configure a new AppFabric node create a new configuration file or database. Choosing an existing one basically says "add this new node to the existing cache cluster".