# Zone\_size vs max\_size - what's the difference?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zone-size-vs-max-size-whats-the-difference/209113>\
**Category:** NGINX\
**Created:** [July 6, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zone-size-vs-max-size-whats-the-difference/209113 "2011-07-06T03:21:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dubstep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@dubstep](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/dubstep)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zone-size-vs-max-size-whats-the-difference/209113/1 "2011-07-06T03:21:59Z")

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Hi,  
I’m wondering what’s the difference between the zone\_size and  
max\_size  
parameter in a proxy\_cache\_path directive like below.

_proxy\_cache\_path path [levels=number] keys\_zone=zone\_name:zone\_size  
[inactive=time] [max\_size=size];_  
\*  
\*  
Thanks for your help in advance.

xwk

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**Author:** ![Weikai\_Xie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@Weikai\_Xie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Weikai_Xie)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/zone-size-vs-max-size-whats-the-difference/209113/2 "2011-07-06T09:25:23Z")

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Hello!

On Wed, Jul 06, 2011 at 09:21:12AM +0800, Weikai Xie wrote:

> Hi,  
> I’m wondering what’s the difference between the zone\_size and max\_size  
> parameter in a proxy\_cache\_path directive like below.
> 
> _proxy\_cache\_path path [levels=number] keys\_zone=zone\_name:zone\_size  
> [inactive=time] [max\_size=size];_

“zone\_size” is a size of keys\_zone, i.e. shared memory zone used  
to store cache keys (some minimal metadata about cached pages,  
about 64 bytes on 32-bit platforms).

“max\_size” is a maximum size of data on disk (i.e. cache itself).

Maxim D.