How to Install Memcached on Ubuntu Linux

How to install Memcached on Ubuntu Linux

To install Memcached on Ubuntu Linux, open your terminal and run the commands sudo apt update and sudo apt install memcached libmemcached-tools. These commands download the ⬇️ caching service and helpful management tools from the official Ubuntu software repositories so you can start speeding up your applications right away.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install memcached libmemcached-tools

Memcached tools provide several command line tools for managing the Memcached server. You’ll mostly want to install it 💿 with the Memcached server.

After running the commands above, the Memcached server should be installed and ready to use. To check its status, run the commands below:

sudo systemctl status memcached

You should see similar lines below:

● memcached.service - memcached daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/memcached.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Thu 2019-06-06 10:36:25 CDT; 27s ago
     Docs: man:memcached(1)
 Main PID: 19852 (memcached)
    Tasks: 10 (limit: 4682)
   CGroup: /system.slice/memcached.service
           └─19852 /usr/bin/memcached -m 64 -p 11211 -u memcache -l 127.0.0.1 -P /var/run/memcached/memcached.pid

Jun 06 10:36:25 ubuntu1804 systemd[1]: Started memcached daemon.

The server should be running and should respond to requests. The commands below can be used to stop, start and enable Memcached.

sudo systemctl stop memcached.service
sudo systemctl start memcached.service
sudo systemctl enable memcached.service

How to configure Memcached on Ubuntu Linux

To configure Memcached on Ubuntu Linux, open the main settings file located at /etc/memcached.conf using a text editor like nano. You can change options like the amount of memory the service uses, the network port it listens on, and which user account runs the background process.

The default settings in the file should be enough for most environments and applications. However, for more advanced settings, open the file and make the changes you want to apply to your environment.

To make Memcached listen on a different IP address, edit the configuration file. Change the relevant lines to match the new IP address you specify.

sudo nano /etc/memcached.conf

Then replace the local server IP with the one you want to use. You can also change its default port number as well.

# Default connection port is 11211
-p 11211

# Run the daemon as root. The start-memcached will default to running as root if no
# -u command is present in this config file
-u memcache
# Specify which IP address to listen on. The default is to listen on all IP addresses
# This parameter is one of the only security measures that memcached has, so make sure
# it's listening on a firewalled interface.
-l 192.168.2.1

Save the file and exit. Then restart Memcached services for the changes to apply.

How to block remote access to Memcached

To block remote access to Memcached on Ubuntu, open the /etc/memcached.conf file and find the line starting with -l. Change the IP address from a public address to 127.0.0.1 so the service only accepts connections from your local machine, keeping your cached data safe from outside attacks.

You can define the remote client IP in the configuration file above. IPs that are not in the file above are automatically denied access remotely.

Only explicitly allowed clients can connect to the Memcached service, preventing unauthorized access and improving security.

sudo ufw allow from 192.168.2.1 to any port 11211

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To use Memcached as a caching database for your PHP application, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, or Magento, you need to install the php-memcached extension.

Run the commands below to install the PHP Memcached PHP extension.

sudo apt install php-memcached

To use Memcached with Python, install the extension below.

pip install pymemcache

pip install python-memcached

That should do it!

Conclusion:

• Memcached is a powerful tool for improving the performance of web applications by caching data in memory.
• Installing and configuring Memcached on Ubuntu Linux is a straightforward process, suitable for both students and new users.
• Proper configuration and security measures are essential to prevent unauthorized access and potential misuse.
• Integrating Memcached with PHP applications enhances efficiency, making it an excellent choice for frameworks like WordPress and Drupal.
• Explore additional extensions for languages like Python to take full advantage of Memcached's capabilities.
• Overall, implementing Memcached can significantly enhance your application's speed and responsiveness.