Various techniques are described for improving the performance of a multiple node system by allocating, in two or more nodes of the system, partitions of a shared cache. A mapping is established between the data items managed by the system, and the various partitions of the shared cache. When a node requires a data item, the node first determines which partition of the shared cache corresponds to the required data item. If the data item does not currently reside in the corresponding partition, the data item is loaded into the corresponding partition even if the partition does not reside on the same node that requires the data item. The node then reads the data item from the corresponding partition of the shared cache.