Redis

Available Versions

The following versions of Redis are available on Aptible:

• Redis 2.8
• Redis 3.0, 3.2
• Redis 4.0
• Redis 5.0
• Redis 6.0, 6.2
• Redis 7.0

Connecting to Redis

Aptible Redis Databases expose two Database Credentials:

• A redis credential. This is for plaintext connections, so you shouldn't use it for sensitive or regulated information.
• A redis+ssl credential. This accepts connections over TLS, and it's the one you should use for regulated or sensitive information.

📘 The SSL port uses a valid certificate for its host, so you’re encouraged to verify the certificate when connecting.

Replication

Master-replica replication is available for Redis. Replicas can be created using the aptible db:replicate command.

Failover

Redis replicas can be manually promoted to stop following the primary and start accepting writes. To do so, run the following command on the Database:

REPLICAOF NO ONE

After the replica has been promoted, you should update your Apps to use the promoted replica as the primary Database. Once you start using the replica, you should not go back to using the original primary Database. Instead, continue using the promoted replica and create a new replica off of it.

The effects of REPLICAOF NO ONE are not persisted to the Database's filesystem, so the next time the Database starts, it will attempt to replicate the source Database again. In order to persist this change, contact Aptible Support with the name of the Database and request that it be permanently promoted.

Databases with replicas cannot be deleted, so in order to deprovision an old Database once you've failed over to a promoted replica, you'll need to contact Aptible Support to unlink the Databases. See the Deprovisioning a Database documentation for considerations when deprovisioning a Database.

Data Integrity and Durability

On Aptible, Redis is by default configured to use both Append-only file and RDB backups. This means your data is stored in two formats on disk. Redis on Aptible uses the every-second fsync policy for AOF, and the following configuration for RDB backups:

save 900 1
save 300 10
save 60 10000

This configuration means Redis performs an RDB backup every 900 seconds at most, every 300 seconds if 10 keys are changed, and every 60 seconds if 10000 keys are changed. Additionally, each time a write operation is performed, it is immediately written to the append-only file and flushed from the kernel to the disk (using fsync) one time every second.

Broadly speaking, Redis is not designed to be a durable data store. We do not recommend using Redis in cases where durability is required.

RDB-only flavors

If you'd like to use Redis with AOF disabled and RDB persistence enabled, we provide Redis images in this configuration that you can elect to use.

One of the benefits of RDB-only persistence is the fact that for a given database size, the number of I/O operations is bound by the above configuration, whatever the activity on the database is. However, if Redis crashes or runs out of memory between RDB backups, data might be lost.

Note that an RDB backup means Redis is writing data to disk and is not the same thing as an Aptible Database Backups. Aptible Database Backups are daily snapshots of your Database's disk. In other words: Redis periodically commits data to disk (according to the above schedule), and Aptible periodically makes a snapshot of the disk (which includes the data).

These database types are displayed as RDB-Only Persistence on the Dashboard.

Memory-only flavors

If you'd like to use Redis as a memory-only store (i.e., without any persistence), we provide Redis images with AOF and RDB persistence disabled.

If you use one of those (they aren't the default), make sure you understand that** all data in Redis will be lost upon restarting or resizing your memory-only instance or upon your memory-only instance running out of memory.**

If you'd like to use a memory-only flavor, provision it using the aptible db:create command (substitute $HANDLE with your desired handle for this Database). Since the disk will only be used to store configuration files, use the minimum size (with the --disk-size parameter as listed below):

aptible db:create \
        --type redis \
        --version 4.0-nordb \
        --disk-size 1 \
        "$HANDLE"

These database types are displayed as NO PERSISTENCE on the Dashboard.

Specifying a flavor

When creating a Redis database from the Aptible Dashboard, you only have the option of version with both AOF and RDB enabled.

To list available Redis flavors that can be passed to aptible db:create via the --version option, use the aptible db:versions command:

• ..-aof are the AOF + RDB ones.
• ..-nordb are the memory-only ones.
• The unadorned versions are RDB-Only.

Configuration

Contact Aptible Support if you have a need to change the configuration of a Redis database on Aptible.

Connection Security

Aptible Redis databases support connections via the following protocols:

• For Redis versions 2.8, 3.0, 3.2, 4.0, and 5.0: TLSv1.0, TLSv1.1, TLSv1.2
• For Redis versions 6.0 and 7.0: TLSv1.2