Technology
Cloudflare reduces 1.1.1.1 DNS cache memory usage by 100 terabytes
Five memory optimizations cut per-entry cache size by over 50 percent while improving lookup speed and throughput.
The short version
- Cloudflare implemented five consecutive memory optimizations in its Big Pineapple platform, which powers 1.1.1.1 and other DNS services.
- The updates reduced the memory footprint per cache entry by over 50%, saving approximately 100 terabytes of RAM across the fleet.
- The structural changes also increased insert throughput by 43% and reduced lookup latency by 19%.
Key facts
- Cloudflare's Big Pineapple platform holds over 250 billion DNS cache entries globally at any given time.[Hacker News]
- Five structural memory optimizations reduced the memory footprint per DNS cache entry by more than 50%.[Hacker News]
- The updates reclaimed roughly 100 terabytes of RAM across Cloudflare's server fleet.[Hacker News]
- Following the optimizations, DNS cache insert throughput rose 43% and lookup latency dropped 19%.[Hacker News]