Which symbol represents a distributed cache?

Question

In a system architecture diagram, just like a "cloud" represents the internet, what general symbol would you use to depict a distributed cache e.g. Coherence or JBoss?

Answer 1

There doesn't seem to be any standard. Looking around at the various diagrams people have used to represent a distributed cache, Cameron Purdy's graphs still seem to be the best explanatory diagrams. Cameron started Tangosol, which was later acquired by Oracle. I would go with a miniature cloud obscuring or containing four database servers. Interlinking arrows perhaps as well. You just want to make sure that it doesn't look too much like "the" cloud, like Azure. You don't want make it look like you are going through the Internet to get there, but rather that there are "4" database servers, which "work together". You could also just use Database cylinders stacked on top of each other.