POC: Nginx proxy cache

[rishabhkailey]

Description

• Evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of using Nginx as a caching proxy to improve website performance and reduce server load.
• Assess the pros and cons of this approach in terms of cache efficiency, resource utilization, and overall impact on application delivery.

[rishabhkailey]

Summary of using Nginx as a caching layer, highlighting its pros and cons:

Pros:

• Reduced Development Effort: Nginx handles cache management tasks like memory allocation, key limits, rotation, and usage tracking, minimizing custom code requirements.
• Disk Storage: Caches can persist on disk for longer-term storage and retrieval, conserving memory.
• Reliability: Nginx's mature codebase, extensively tested by large-scale companies, ensures robust caching functionality.

Cons:

• Limited Lua Flexibility: Nginx's Lua module has constraints, such as the inability to directly check cache existence, potentially leading to redundant operations.
• redundant operations: Lua can not check if cache exists, so we are forced to check user access on every request.
• Nginx Version Limitations: OpenResty, a popular Lua-enabled Nginx distribution, currently lags behind the latest Nginx releases.
• Distributed Caching Challenges: Sharing caches across multiple Grafana instances requires either a single Nginx server (creating a single point of failure) or complex disk sharing arrangements.