Hibernate L2 Cache with Infinispan (Standalone)

What You Will Learn

How to configure Infinispan as the Hibernate second-level (L2) cache provider in a standalone Java SE application, and observe entity cache puts, hits, misses, and query cache behavior through Hibernate statistics.

Prerequisites

Java 17+

Step 1: Add the Infinispan Hibernate Cache Dependency

Add the Infinispan Hibernate cache module and an in-memory database to your pom.xml:

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.hibernate.orm</groupId>
   <artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
   <groupId>org.infinispan</groupId>
   <artifactId>infinispan-hibernate-cache-v66</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
   <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
   <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
</dependency>

Step 2: Configure the Persistence Unit

In META-INF/persistence.xml, enable the second-level cache and query cache, and set Infinispan as the cache provider:

   <persistence-unit name="events">
      <shared-cache-mode>ENABLE_SELECTIVE</shared-cache-mode>
      <properties>
         <!-- H2 in-memory database -->
         <property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect"/>
         <property name="hibernate.connection.url" value="jdbc:h2:mem:db1;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1;MVCC=TRUE"/>
         <property name="hibernate.connection.driver_class" value="org.h2.Driver"/>
         <property name="hibernate.connection.username" value="sa"/>
         <property name="hibernate.connection.password" value=""/>

         <!-- Create/drop database in each run -->
         <property name="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto" value="create-drop" />

         <!-- Enables second level cache -->
         <property name="hibernate.cache.use_second_level_cache" value="true"/>
         <!-- Enable query cache -->
         <property name="hibernate.cache.use_query_cache" value="true"/>

         <!-- Use Infinispan second level cache provider -->
         <property name="hibernate.cache.region.factory_class"
                   value="infinispan"/>
         <!-- Force using local configuration when only using a single node.
              Otherwise a clustered configuration is loaded. -->
         <property name="hibernate.cache.infinispan.cfg"
                   value="org/infinispan/hibernate/cache/commons/builder/infinispan-configs-local.xml"/>

         <!-- Generate statistics to see effects of second level cache -->
         <property name="hibernate.generate_statistics" value="true" />

         <!-- Entity specific configuration, e.g. via property:
                 hibernate.cache.infinispan.<Entity FQN>.expiration.max_idle
         -->
         <property name="hibernate.cache.infinispan.org.infinispan.tutorial.simple.hibernate.cache.local.model.Person.expiration.max_idle"
                   value= "1000"/>
      </properties>
   </persistence-unit>

Step 3: Mark Entities as Cacheable

Annotate your JPA entities with @Cacheable so they participate in second-level caching:

@Entity
@Cacheable
public class Event {

   @Id
   @GeneratedValue
   private Long id;

   private String name;

   private LocalDateTime timestamp = LocalDateTime.now();

Step 4: Use the Entity Manager and Observe Cache Statistics

Persist, find, update, and query entities. Hibernate statistics reveal L2 cache activity:

      // Create JPA persistence manager
      emf = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("events");

      CacheRegionStatistics eventCacheStats;
      CacheRegionStatistics personCacheStats;
      Statistics stats;

      // Persist 3 entities, stats should show 3 second level cache puts
      persistEntities();
      eventCacheStats = getCacheStatistics(Event.class.getName());
      printfAssert("Event entity cache puts: %d (expected %d)%n", eventCacheStats.getPutCount(), 3);

      // Find one of the persisted entities, stats should show a cache hit
      findEntity(1L);
      eventCacheStats = getCacheStatistics(Event.class.getName());
      printfAssert("Event entity cache hits: %d (expected %d)%n", eventCacheStats.getHitCount(), 1);

Step 5: Run the Tutorial

mvn package exec:exec

The output shows cache puts when entities are persisted, cache hits when entities are found, cache misses after eviction, and query cache behavior on repeated queries.

What’s Next

Hibernate L2 cache with Spring Boot for the same pattern in a Spring Boot application
Hibernate L2 cache with WildFly for a Jakarta EE deployment