ASP.NET Core MVC Interview Question #144

What is distributed caching and when is it preferable?

Dependency Injection, Services, Error Handling, Logging & Performance Senior Advanced

Quick Interview Answer

A distributed cache stores cached data in an external system shared by multiple application instances. It is useful in load-balanced deployments when instances need access to common cached values or distributed session data.

Detailed Explanation

Distributed caching introduces serialization, network, expiration, and failure considerations. Cache data should be treated as disposable acceleration data rather than the sole authoritative copy of critical business information.

Code Example

public async Task<string?> GetValueAsync(
    string key,
    CancellationToken token)
{
    return await _cache.GetStringAsync(key, token);
}