Patent ID: 7437516

Claim:
A method, comprising: configuring a first eviction policy plug-in by selecting a first sorting component from amongst a plurality of sorting components, said first sorting component having program code to implement a first sorting method, said first eviction policy plug-in also having a first eviction timing component, said first eviction timing component having program code to implement a first eviction timing method; configuring a second eviction policy plug-in by selecting a second sorting component, said second sorting component having program code to implement a second sorting method, said second eviction policy plug-in also having a second eviction timing component, said second eviction timing component having program code to implement a second eviction timing method, wherein said first and second sorting methods are different and said first and second timing methods are different; configuring respective first and second cache portions by plugging said first and second eviction policy plug-ins into a cache management software program and plugging respective first and second storage plug-ins into said cache management software program; and, performing said first and second sorting methods and said first and second timing methods by processing their respective program code from their respective eviction policy plug-ins and performing first and second storage methods by processing their respective program code from their respective storage plug-ins.