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Magento

Introduction​

Magento (also known as Adobe Commerce) is a powerful open-source e-commerce platform written in PHP. It powers thousands of online stores worldwide and requires a fast in-memory data store for optimal performance.

Magento relies on an in-memory store for three critical functions:

  • Default Cache: Application-level caching for configurations, layouts, and block HTML output.
  • Page Cache (Full Page Cache): Stores complete rendered pages for ultra-fast delivery to visitors.
  • Session Storage: Manages user sessions for shopping carts, authentication, and checkout flows.

Dragonfly integrates seamlessly with Magento, providing high-throughput caching and session management. By using Dragonfly, you can achieve superior performance and memory efficiency for your Magento store, especially under high traffic loads during peak shopping periods.

TL;DR​

Dragonfly works with Magento out of the box. Configure your Magento installation to connect to Dragonfly using the standard protocol, and your store will benefit from Dragonfly's multi-threaded architecture and efficient memory management.

A complete Docker-based example is available in the dragonfly-examples repository.

Running Magento with Dragonfly​

1. Dragonfly Initialization​

There are several options available to get Dragonfly up and running quickly. For production environments, ensure Dragonfly is accessible from your Magento application servers.

# Run Dragonfly with default settings
$> ./dragonfly --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 6379

For high-traffic Magento stores, consider enabling memory limits and persistence:

$> ./dragonfly --bind 0.0.0.0 --port 6379 --maxmemory 4gb --dbfilename dump.rdb

2. Magento Configuration​

Magento stores its backend configuration in app/etc/env.php. Configure Dragonfly as the backend for cache and sessions by updating this file:

<?php
return [
    // ... other configuration ...

    'cache' => [
        'frontend' => [
            'default' => [
                'id_prefix' => 'MAGENTO_CACHE_',
                'backend' => 'Magento\\Framework\\Cache\\Backend\\RemoteSynchronizedCache',
                'backend_options' => [
                    'remote_backend' => 'Cm_Cache_Backend_Redis',
                    'remote_backend_options' => [
                        'server' => 'dragonfly.host',  // Your Dragonfly host
                        'port' => '6379',
                        'database' => '0'
                    ],
                    'local_backend' => 'Cm_Cache_Backend_File',
                    'local_backend_options' => [
                        'cache_dir' => '/var/www/html/magento/var/cache'
                    ]
                ]
            ],
            'page_cache' => [
                'id_prefix' => 'MAGENTO_PAGE_CACHE_',
                'backend' => 'Cm_Cache_Backend_Redis',
                'backend_options' => [
                    'server' => 'dragonfly.host',  // Your Dragonfly host
                    'port' => '6379',
                    'database' => '1'
                ]
            ]
        ]
    ],

    'session' => [
        'save' => 'redis',
        'redis' => [
            'host' => 'dragonfly.host',  // Your Dragonfly host
            'port' => '6379',
            'database' => '2',
            'timeout' => '2.5',
            'persistent_identifier' => '',
            'compression_threshold' => '2048',
            'compression_library' => 'gzip',
            'max_concurrency' => '6',
            'break_after_frontend' => '5',
            'break_after_adminhtml' => '30'
        ]
    ],

    // ... other configuration ...
];

Alternatively, use the Magento CLI to configure Dragonfly during installation or updates:

php bin/magento setup:config:set \
  --cache-backend=redis \
  --cache-backend-redis-server=dragonfly.host \
  --cache-backend-redis-db=0 \
  --page-cache=redis \
  --page-cache-redis-server=dragonfly.host \
  --page-cache-redis-db=1 \
  --session-save=redis \
  --session-save-redis-host=dragonfly.host \
  --session-save-redis-db=2

3. Database Separation​

Using separate databases for different cache types is recommended:

Cache TypeDatabasePurpose
Default Cachedb=0Application cache, configurations, layouts
Page Cachedb=1Full page cache for faster page loads
Sessionsdb=2User sessions, shopping carts, authentication

This separation allows for independent cache management. For example, you can flush the page cache without affecting user sessions.

4. Cache Management​

After configuration, flush the Magento cache to ensure the new settings take effect:

# Flush all caches
php bin/magento cache:flush

# Verify cache status
php bin/magento cache:status

Docker Example​

A complete Docker Compose setup with Magento 2.4.8, MySQL, OpenSearch, and Dragonfly is available in the dragonfly-examples repository.

The example includes:

  • Pre-configured Docker services for a complete Magento development environment
  • Automated installation script with Dragonfly configuration
  • Sample data setup for testing
  • Testing scripts

Quick start:

git clone https://github.com/dragonflydb/dragonfly-examples.git
cd dragonfly-examples/magento-integration
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Dragonfly IP and Magento Marketplace credentials
docker compose up -d

Performance Considerations​

For optimal Magento performance with Dragonfly:

  1. Memory Allocation: Allocate sufficient memory for your cache workload. A typical Magento store with moderate traffic benefits from 2-4GB dedicated to caching.

  2. Connection Pooling: Magento's session configuration supports connection settings like max_concurrency and timeout values. Tune these based on your traffic patterns.

  3. Cache Warming: After deployment or cache flush, consider warming the cache by crawling key pages to pre-populate the page cache.

  4. Monitoring: Monitor Dragonfly's memory usage and hit rates to ensure optimal cache utilization.

Useful Resources​