In versions new enough to have the `-o lru_maintainer` option, a new LRU mechanic is available. Previously: Each slab class has an independent doubly-linked list comprising its LRU. Items are pulled from the bottom and either reclaimed or evicted as needed. Now, enabling `-o lru_maintainer` changes all of the behavior below: * LRU's are now split between HOT, WARM, and COLD LRU's. New items enter the HOT LRU. * LRU updates only happen as items reach the bottom of an LRU. If active in HOT, stay in HOT, if active in WARM, stay in WARM. If active in COLD, move to WARM. * HOT/WARM each capped at 32% of memory available for that slab class. COLD is uncapped (by default, as of this writing). * Items flow from HOT/WARM into COLD. * A background thread exists which shuffles items between/within the LRU's as limits are reached. * The background thread can also control the lru_crawler, if enabled. The primary goal is to better protect active items from "scanning". Items which are never hit again will flow from HOT, through COLD, and out the bottom. Items occasionally active (reaching COLD, but being hit before eviction), move to WARM. There they can stay relatively protected. A secondary goal is to improve latency. The LRU locks are no longer used on item reads, only during sets and from the background thread. Also the background thread is likely to find expired items and release them back to the slab class asynchronously, which speeds up new allocations. It is recommended to use this feature with the lru crawler as well: `memcached -o lru_maintainer,lru_crawler` - Then it will automatically scan slab classes for items with expired TTL's. If your items are always set to never expire, you can omit this option safely. An extra option: `-o expirezero_does_not_evict` (when used with lru_maintainer) will make items with an expiration time of 0 unevictable. Take caution as this will crowd out memory available for other items.