How we saved 100 terabytes of memory by optimizing 1.1.1.1’s DNS cache
Five Rust-level memory optimizations to Big Pineapple’s DNS cache layout reduced per-entry memory usage by 56%, freeing roughly 100 TB across Cloudflare’s fleet.
MAIN POINTS
- Five Rust-level optimizations targeted the DNS cache layout.
- Per-entry memory usage dropped by 56%.
- The savings freed about 100 TB across Cloudflare’s fleet.
- Big Pineapple benefited from substantial memory efficiency gains.
TAKEAWAYS
- Small structural changes in cache layout can produce massive fleet-wide savings.
- Rust-level optimization can meaningfully reduce infrastructure memory costs.
- DNS cache efficiency improvements scale dramatically at Cloudflare’s size.
- Memory reductions can translate into large operational capacity gains.