Is it possible to dynamically add more memory to memcached (i.e. without restarting the server)?

Question

Is it possible to dynamically add more memory to memcached (i.e. without restarting the server)?

Say I initially start a memcached server with 512MB RAM. Later, after adding more memory to my VPS, I want to tell memcached that it can now use 1024MB RAM. Since my live app is connected to memcached, I don't want to shut down the memcached server. Rather, I am wondering whether it is possible to dynamically add more RAM for memcached to use without restarting it.

Answer 1

No, you cannot change the configuration of a running memcached server (at least, not for the amount of memory it uses).

You could add a second memcache server, and have your systems choose between them. Usually though, you'll just take the initial hit to refill the cache. Even with that second instance, it would still have to refill anyway.