How we could save petabytes of cache storage with Zstandard and Pingora
Cloudflare prototyped cache compression to determine whether the same hardware could store more cached content, exploring if compressing objects inside the cache would increase effective capacity without adding infrastructure.
MAIN POINTS
- Cloudflare tested whether cache compression could expand storage capacity on existing hardware.
- The prototype focused on compressing objects directly inside Cloudflare’s cache.
- The goal was to increase effective cache space without upgrading hardware.
- The experiment aimed to evaluate practical gains from compression in real cache systems.
TAKEAWAYS
- Compression can potentially make existing cache hardware hold more content.
- Prototype testing is useful for measuring real-world storage efficiency improvements.
- Cache optimization may reduce the need for additional infrastructure.
- Practical implementation matters when assessing compression benefits in production systems.