This and its accompanying documents describe JBoss Cache's TreeCache, a tree-structured replicated, transactional cache. JBoss Cache's PojoCache, an "object-oriented" cache that is the AOP-enabled subclass of TreeCache, allowing for Plain Old Java Objects (POJOs) to be inserted and replicated transactionally in a cluster, is described separately in a similar user guide.

The TreeCache is fully configurable. Aspects of the system such as replication mechanisms, transaction isolation levels, eviction policies, and transaction managers are all configurable. The TreeCache can be used in a standalone fashion - independent of JBoss Application Server or any other application server. PojoCache on the other hand requires both TreeCache and the JBossAOP standalone subsystem. PojoCache, documented separately, is the first in the market to provide a POJO cache functionality.

This document is meant to be a user guide to explain the architecture, api, configuration, and examples for JBoss Cache's TreeCache. Good knowledge of the Java programming language along with a string appreciation and understanding of transactions and concurrent threads is presumed. No prior knowledge of JBoss Application Server is expected or required.

If you have questions, use the user forum linked on the JBoss Cache website. We also provide a mechanism for tracking bug reports and feature requests on the JBoss JIRA issue tracker. If you are interested in the development of JBoss Cache or in translating this documentation into other languages, we'd love to hear from you. Please post a message on the user forum or contact us on the developer mailing list.

JBoss Cache is an open-source product based on LGPL. Commercial development support, production support and training for JBoss Cache is available through JBoss Inc. JBoss Cache is a product in JBoss Professional Open Source JEMS (JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite).