Frequently asked questions about Microsoft Connected Cache for Enterprise
What license is required to use Microsoft Connected Cache for Enterprise and Education?
Microsoft Connected Cache for Enterprise and Education is available to all Windows E3, E5, and F3 and Education A3 and A5 customers.
Is there a charge to create Connected Cache Azure resources and cache nodes on Azure?
You'll need an Azure pay-as-you-go subscription to create the Connected Cache Azure resources, but you won't be charged.
Is a nondisclosure agreement required to use Microsoft Connected Cache for Enterprise and Education?
No, a nondisclosure agreement isn't required.
What will Microsoft Connected Cache for Enterprise and Education do for me?
Delivery Optimization and Microsoft Connected Cache are Microsoft’s comprehensive solutions for minimizing enterprises’ internet bandwidth consumption, with Delivery Optimization acting as the distributed content source and Connected Cache as a dedicated content source. Microsoft customers have benefited from these solutions, seeing savings of more than 90% of bandwidth when managing Windows 11 upgrades, Autopilot device provisioning, Intune application installations, and monthly update deployments.
Can I deploy Connected Cache to a production environment?
The core caching engine of Microsoft Connected Cache is deployed to hundreds of ISPs globally and has been reliably delivering Microsoft content to customers. Microsoft support is fully onboarded to support your organization whether you deploy Connected Cache in a lab for testing or in production.
What are the prerequisites and hardware requirements?
What host OS do I need to deploy Connected Cache?
See Host machine requirements for a list of supported host operating systems. The cache node deployment process differs based on host OS.
What content is cached by Microsoft Connected Cache?
For more information about content eligible for caching, see Delivery Optimization and Microsoft Connected Cache content endpoints.
Do I need to provide my own physical server or virtual machine (VM) to use Connected Cache?
Microsoft Connected Cache is a software-only caching solution and requires you to provide your own host machine (physical or virtual) to host your cache nodes.
What kind of storage drives do I need to use for Microsoft Connected Cache?
Microsoft Connected Cache supports both HDDs and SSDs. However, we highly recommend using SSDs as Microsoft Connected Cache is a read intensive application. We also recommend using multiple drives to improve performance.
Where should I host my Connected Cache nodes?
Microsoft Connected Cache is a software-only caching solution and can be hosted on any physical or virtual machine that meets the host machine requirements. The location of the cache node host machine should be based on your network topology and where you have the most traffic.
How can I set up a gMSA account?
For more information about gMSA accounts, see Learn how to provision a Group Managed Service Account on a Domain Controller. Make sure that your gMSA has been granted permissions to "Log on as batch job" within the host machine's local security policies.
How can I set up a local account?
For more information, see Learn how to provision a Local User Account. Make sure that your gMSA has been granted permissions to "Log on as batch job" within the host machine's local security policies.
Where can I monitor cache node usage?
You can monitor your cache node usage on the Azure portal. For more information, see Monitor Connected Cache nodes.
How does Microsoft Connected Cache populate its content cache? Can I pre-seed the content cache?
Microsoft Connected Cache is a cold cache warmed by client requests at the byte range level so that your clients only request the content they need. The cache only fills with content that clients have requested. "Pre-seeding" of the cache can be achieved by use of update rings. Content requests from clients in a test ring or early adopter ring can be used to fill the cache, and all subsequent requests from other clients will be served from cache.
How long would a piece of content live within the Microsoft Connected Cache? Is content purged from the cache?
Once a client's request for content is received, the cache node looks at the cache control headers from the original acquisition. If that content is expired, the cache node continues to serve the stale content while it's downloading the new content. The node will cache the content for 30 days. The content is in the hot cache path (open handles and such) for 24 hours, but resides on disk for 30 days. Once the cache drive fills up, the cache node will start to delete content based on factors such as how recently the content was last requested.
Is it possible to turn off or delay updates of the Microsoft Connected Cache software?
No. It's important to keep the Microsoft Connected Cache software up to date, especially when it comes to security issues. Microsoft completes a rigorous validation process for all Connected Cache software updates, and only pushes updates when it's necessary to keep customers secure or to ensure the continued successful operation of our customers' Connected Cache nodes.
How do I set up Azure CLI?
For more information, see How to install the Azure CLI.
How do I install the Microsoft Connected Cache Azure CLI extension?
For more information, see Install the Microsoft Connected Cache extension.
What do I do if I have to set up or change the proxy configuration for my cache node?
You can enable and edit the proxy configuration for a cache node through the Azure portal or Azure CLI. Cache nodes must be redeployed for proxy changes to take effect. For more information, see Set up or change existing proxy.
How do I set up Microsoft Connected Cache in multiple countries or regions?
Microsoft Connected Cache doesn't have a dependency on any specific Azure region, and doesn't store any personal or organizational identifiable information that would necessitate data residency. The three regions that the Connected Cache resource can be deployed to are (Europe) North Europe, (Asia Pacific) Korea Central, and (US) West US.
Should I use a gMSA, local user, or domain account to deploy Microsoft Connected Cache to Windows?
There are pros and cons to each of the account options available. We anticipate that security and manageability are top priorities for customers. Microsoft provides guidance on both Active Directory and Microsoft Entra-based service accounts (Introduction to Active Directory service accounts - Choose the right type of service account) and user-based service accounts (Secure user-based service accounts in Active Directory)).
Does a user have to stay logged in to the Connected Cache host machine for it to run?
No. As part of the installation on Windows, a scheduled task is created using the runtime account specified at installation time. The scheduled task remains running regardless of which user is logged in. On Linux, Connected Cache remains running regardless of which user is logged in to the host machine.
What do I do if I need more support and have more questions even after reading this FAQ page?
For further support for Microsoft Connected Cache, see Troubleshooting issues for Microsoft Connected Cache for Enterprise and Education. If you still need more support, you can contact customer support.