--- /dev/null
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
+
+.. _config-cache:
+
+Cache
+=====
+
+Cache in Knot Resolver is stored on disk and also shared between
+:ref:`systemd-multiple-instances` so resolver doesn't lose the cached data on
+restart or crash.
+
+To improve performance even further the resolver implements so-called aggressive caching
+for DNSSEC-validated data (:rfc:`8198`), which improves performance and also protects
+against some types of Random Subdomain Attacks.
+
+
+.. _config-cache-sizing:
+
+Sizing
+------
+
+For personal and small office use-cases cache size around 100 MB is more than enough.
+
+For large deployments we recommend to run Knot Resolver on a dedicated machine,
+and to allocate 90% of machine's free memory for resolver's cache.
+
+.. note::
+
+ Choosing a cache size that can fit into RAM is important even if the
+ cache is stored on disk (default). Otherwise, the extra I/O caused by disk
+ access for missing pages can cause performance issues.
+
+For example, imagine you have a machine with 16 GB of memory.
+After machine restart you use command ``free -m`` to determine
+amount of free memory (without swap):
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+ $ free -m
+ total used free
+ Mem: 15907 979 14928
+
+Now you can configure cache size to be 90% of the free memory 14 928 MB, i.e. 13 453 MB:
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+ -- 90 % of free memory after machine restart
+ cache:
+ size-max: 13453M
+
+
+.. _config-cache-persistence:
+
+Persistence
+-----------
+
+.. tip:: Using ``tmpfs`` for cache improves performance and reduces disk I/O.
+
+By default the cache is saved on a persistent storage device
+so the content of the cache is persisted during system reboot.
+This usually leads to smaller latency after restart etc.,
+however in certain situations a non-persistent cache storage might be preferred, e.g.:
+
+ - Resolver handles high volume of queries and I/O performance to disk is too low.
+ - Threat model includes attacker getting access to disk content in power-off state.
+ - Disk has limited number of writes (e.g. flash memory in routers).
+
+If non-persistent cache is desired configure cache directory to be on
+tmpfs_ filesystem, a temporary in-memory file storage.
+The cache content will be saved in memory, and thus have faster access
+and will be lost on power-off or reboot.
+
+.. note::
+
+ In most of the Unix-like systems ``/tmp`` and ``/var/run`` are
+ commonly mounted as tmpfs. While it is technically possible to move the
+ cache to an existing tmpfs filesystem, it is *not recommended*, since the
+ path to cache is configured in multiple places.
+
+Mounting the cache directory as tmpfs_ is the recommended approach. Make sure
+to use appropriate ``size-max`` option and don't forget to adjust the size in the
+config file as well.
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ # /etc/fstab
+ tmpfs /var/cache/knot-resolver tmpfs rw,size=2G,uid=knot-resolver,gid=knot-resolver,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=0700 0 0
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+ # /etc/knot-resolver/config.yaml
+ cache:
+ storage: /var/cache/knot-resolver
+ size-max: 1G
+
+.. _tmpfs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmpfs
+
+
+Configuration reference
+-----------------------
+
+
+.. option:: cache/storage: <dir>
+ :default: /var/cache/knot-resolver
+
+
+.. option:: cache/size-max: <size B|K|M|G>
+ :default: 100M
+
+.. note:: Use ``B, K, M, G`` bytes units prefixes.
+
+Opens cache with a size limit. The cache will be reopened if already open.
+Note that the maximum size cannot be lowered, only increased due to how cache is implemented.
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+ cache:
+ storage: /var/cache/knot-resolver
+ size-max: 400M
+
+
+.. option:: cache/ttl-max: <time ms|s|m|h|d>
+ :default: 1d (1 day)
+
+ Higher TTL bound applied to all received records.
+
+
+.. option:: cache/ttl-min: <time ms|s|m|h|d>
+ :default: 5s
+
+ Lower TTL bound applied to all received records.
+ Forcing TTL higher than specified violates DNS standards, so use higher values with care.
+ TTL still won't be extended beyond expiration of the corresponding DNSSEC signature.
+
+.. code-block:: yaml
+
+ cache:
+ # max TTL must be always higher than min
+ ttl-max: 2d
+ ttl-min: 20s
+
+
+.. option:: cache/ns-timeout: <time ms|s|m|h|d>
+ :default: 1000ms
+
+ Time interval for which a nameserver address will be ignored after determining that it doesn't return (useful) answers.
+ The intention is to avoid waiting if there's little hope; instead, kresd can immediately SERVFAIL or immediately use stale records (with :ref:`serve_stale <mod-serve_stale>` module).
+