Default data cache and other caches are configured as absolute values. The data cache contains pages from recently accessed objects, typically:
sysobjects, sysindexes, and other system tables for each database
Active log pages for each database
The higher levels and parts of the lower levels of frequently used indexes
Recently accessed data pages
When you install Adaptive Server, it has a single data cache that is used by all Adaptive Server processes and objects for data, index, and log pages. The default size is 8MB.
The following pages describe the way this single data cache is used. Most of the concepts on aging, buffer washing, and caching strategies apply to the user-defined data caches and the default data cache.
“Configuring the data cache to improve performance” describes how to improve performance by dividing the data cache into named caches and how to bind particular objects to these named caches.