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    Memcached - Hardened Self-Hosted In-Memory Cache (SASL Auth)

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    Sold by: Lynxroute 
    Deployed on AWS
    Free Trial
    This product has charges associated with it for hardening, security configuration, and support. Memcached is the classic high-performance distributed in-memory cache - a single multithreaded C daemon used to speed up web apps and databases. Unlike bare Memcached AMIs that bind to 0.0.0.0 with no authentication and leave UDP enabled (a notorious DDoS amplification vector), this Lynxroute build is security baked in: SASL authentication required, bound to the private interface only, UDP disabled, UFW firewall pre-configured, and a CIS Level 1 hardened Ubuntu 24.04 LTS base. A locked-down, VPC-internal cache that is safe to run from first boot. BSD-3-Clause license - fully auditable, no vendor lock-in.

    Overview

    This is a repackaged software product wherein additional charges apply for hardening, security configuration, and support.

    WHAT IS MEMCACHED

    Memcached is a high-performance, distributed in-memory object caching system, implemented as a single multithreaded C daemon built on libevent. It stores arbitrary key-value pairs in RAM to take load off databases and APIs, with a slab allocator, LRU eviction, per-key TTL expiry, atomic increment/decrement and compare-and-swap, and text, binary and meta protocols. Applications shard transparently across nodes using consistent hashing in the client, with mature client libraries for PHP, Python, Java, Node.js, Go, Ruby and most other languages. It is the battle-tested caching layer behind many of the largest web platforms. Memcached is in-memory only with no persistence by design - the cache is rebuilt by the application after a restart. BSD-3-Clause license, no vendor lock-in.

    WHAT THIS AMI ADDS

    Security hardening:

    • SASL authentication required at first boot - a unique random credential is generated, not a default or empty password
    • Bound to the private interface and loopback only - never 0.0.0.0, never exposed to the internet
    • UDP disabled (-U 0) - closes the well-known Memcached DDoS amplification vector
    • Memory cap sized to the instance automatically at first boot
    • UFW firewall - SSH on 22 only; port 11211 governed by your Security Group
    • fail2ban, AppArmor
    • CVE scan - every image is scanned for vulnerabilities before release

    OS hardening (CIS Level 1):

    • CIS Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Level 1 benchmark applied via ansible-lockdown
    • auditd, SSH hardening, Kernel hardening, IMDSv2 enforced

    Compliance artifacts:

    • SBOM - CycloneDX 1.6 at /etc/lynxroute/sbom.json
    • CIS Conformance Report at /etc/lynxroute/cis-report.html
    • CIS Tailored Profile at /usr/share/doc/lynxroute/CIS_TAILORED_PROFILE.md

    Highlights

    • Memcached security baked in: SASL authentication required, bound to the private interface only, and UDP disabled - unlike bare Memcached AMIs that bind to 0.0.0.0 with no auth and leave UDP open as a DDoS amplification vector.
    • CIS Level 1 hardened Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: auditd, fail2ban, AppArmor, SSH key-only, IMDSv2 enforced. CVE-scanned before every release. SBOM (CycloneDX) and CIS Conformance Report included.
    • Drop-in caching layer for web apps and databases: works with every standard Memcached client across PHP, Python, Java, Node.js, Go and more. BSD-3-Clause license - fully auditable, no vendor lock-in.

    Details

    Delivery method

    Delivery option
    64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

    Latest version

    Operating system
    Ubuntu 24.04

    Deployed on AWS
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    Pricing

    Free trial

    Try this product free for 5 days according to the free trial terms set by the vendor. Usage-based pricing is in effect for usage beyond the free trial terms. Your free trial gets automatically converted to a paid subscription when the trial ends, but may be canceled any time before that.

    Memcached - Hardened Self-Hosted In-Memory Cache (SASL Auth)

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    Pricing is based on actual usage, with charges varying according to how much you consume. Subscriptions have no end date and may be canceled any time.
    Additional AWS infrastructure costs may apply. Use the AWS Pricing Calculator  to estimate your infrastructure costs.

    Usage costs (5)

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    Dimension
    Cost/hour
    t3.medium
    Recommended
    $0.02
    t3.large
    $0.03
    t3.small
    $0.02
    m6i.xlarge
    $0.05
    m6i.large
    $0.03

    Vendor refund policy

    We do not offer refunds for this product. AWS infrastructure charges are billed separately by AWS and are not refundable by us.

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    Legal

    Vendor terms and conditions

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    Content disclaimer

    Vendors are responsible for their product descriptions and other product content. AWS does not warrant that vendors' product descriptions or other product content are accurate, complete, reliable, current, or error-free.

    Usage information

     Info

    Delivery details

    64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

    Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

    An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.

    Version release notes

    Memcached 1.6.42 - Initial release (June 2026)

    • Memcached 1.6.42 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
    • CIS Level 1 hardening applied (ansible-lockdown/UBUNTU24-CIS)
    • CVE-scanned before every release
    • SASL authentication required - unique credential generated at first boot
    • Bound to the private interface and loopback only - never 0.0.0.0
    • UDP disabled (-U 0) - closes the DDoS amplification vector
    • Memory cap sized to the instance automatically
    • UFW firewall pre-configured (SSH on 22; 11211 governed by your Security Group)
    • fail2ban, auditd, AppArmor pre-configured
    • SBOM (CycloneDX 1.6) at /etc/lynxroute/sbom.json
    • CIS Conformance Report (OpenSCAP) at /etc/lynxroute/cis-report.html
    • IMDSv2 enforced

    Additional details

    Usage instructions

    1. Launch instance (t3.medium recommended)
    2. SSH: ssh -i key.pem ubuntu@<PUBLIC_IP>
    3. Read credentials: sudo cat /root/memcached-credentials.txt
    4. Open port 11211 in the Security Group ONLY to your trusted app-tier sources (never 0.0.0.0/0)
    5. Connect from an app server in the same VPC using a SASL-capable client on the private IP and port 11211

    Memcached is a VPC-internal cache: it is bound to the private interface only, requires SASL authentication, and has UDP disabled. It is never exposed to the public internet.

    Example (Python, python-binary-memcached): import bmemcached c = bmemcached.Client(("<PRIVATE_IP>:11211",), "<username>", "<password>") c.set("key", "value"); print(c.get("key"))

    The SASL username and password are saved to /root/memcached-credentials.txt at first boot. The cache is in-memory only - it is empty after a reboot by design.

    Resources

    Vendor resources

    Support

    Vendor support

    Lynxroute is not affiliated with the Memcached project. This AMI packages the BSD-3-Clause open-source Memcached distribution as a self-hosted EC2 service (distinct from Amazon ElastiCache for Memcached, which is a managed offering).

    Visit us online: https://lynxroute.com 

    For Memcached documentation: https://docs.memcached.org/  For Memcached upstream issues:

    AWS infrastructure support

    AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.

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