7 Reasons Not to Put a Cache in Front of Your Database

The blog post critically examines the use of external caches in front of databases, highlighting both their potential benefits and drawbacks. It argues that while caching may initially appear to be a straightforward solution for improving database performance without extensive reconfiguration, it introduces several issues such as increased latency, additional costs, decreased availability, and added complexity in application management. The post notes that external caches can disrupt the internal caching mechanisms of modern databases, leading to inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities. Through examples like ScyllaDB, which effectively utilizes internal caching and minimizes reliance on external caches, the article suggests that leveraging built-in database caching capabilities can often be more efficient. It presents the perspective that many challenges associated with external caches can be mitigated by optimizing internal database caching, thus questioning the necessity of external caching solutions in most scenarios.