US Patent 9954971 Cache eviction in a distributed computing system

A cache server is operative as one of a set of cache servers of a distributed cache. The server includes a processor and a memory connected to the processor. The memory stores instructions executed by the processor to receive a cache storage request, establish a cache eviction requirement in response to the cache storage request, and identify an evict entry within a cache in response to the cache eviction requirement. The evict entry is selected from a random sampling of entries within the cache that are subject to an eviction policy that identifies a probabilistically favorable eviction candidate. The evict entry is removed from the cache. Content associated with the storage request is loaded into the cache.