Installing and Configuring Redis Datastore for Storing Session Data, Security Tokens, and More

Redis (which stands for Remote Dictionary Server) is an open-source, in-memory key-value data store. It is often used as a cache or a message broker, but its versatility makes it suitable for a wide variety of use cases.

One of the main advantages of Redis is its performance. Because it stores all of its data in memory, it can perform operations very quickly, making it well suited for real-time applications or applications that require low-latency data access. Additionally, Redis supports a variety of data structures, including strings, hashes, lists, sets, and sorted sets, which makes it easy to work with different types of data.

Redis also has built-in support for data replication and persistence, which means that it can automatically replicate data to one or more slave servers, providing a level of fault tolerance. Additionally, Redis supports a feature called persistence that allows data to be saved to disk, so that it can be reloaded in the event of a failure.

Another important feature is Redis Cluster which allows for sharing of the data across multiple Redis instances to improve performance and scalability. Redis Cluster allows you to automatically shard data across multiple Redis instances. This means that your data is automatically split up into small chunks and distributed across multiple servers, so that each server only stores a portion of the data. This allows you to scale your Redis deployment horizontally, by simply adding more servers as needed, rather than vertically, by adding more memory or CPU to a single server.

At SecureAuth, to install and configure Redis, we use Helm - a popular package manager for Kubernetes that allows users to easily install and configure complex software such as Redis on a Kubernetes cluster. By using Helm to install Redis, users can take advantage of several benefits that make the process of deploying and managing Redis much simpler and more efficient.

Firstly, Helm provides a convenient way to define and manage the configuration of Redis, including the number of nodes, storage settings, and networking settings, in a single, easy-to-read file called a chart. This makes it easy to understand and modify the configuration of Redis as needed.

Additionally, Helm provides the ability to manage and upgrade the Redis deployment in a controlled and repeatable way, this means that any updates or upgrades to the Redis software can be easily rolled out to the cluster in a predictable manner, avoiding any possible disruption to the service.

When you install the SecureAuth plafrom on Kubernetes using Helm Charts, you can see that the Redis dependency is included in our kube-acp-stack Helm Chart.

Alternatively, if you do not want to host your own instance running Redis, you can consider using one of following solutions:

If you wish to configure the connection between the SecureAuth platform and Redis, and configure the datastore installation itself, configure the values.yaml file for your SecureAuth deployment and apply the changes. To learn more, see Configure Helm Charts.

If your SecureAuth plaform Redis address setup is not set correctly, the SecureAuth platform won't start and you will see the log message similar to:

{"error":"failed to create redis client: failed to get redis info: dial tcp 1.0.0.0:1: connect: connection refused","level":"fatal","msg":"failed to create storage"}         

If your connection between SecureAuth and Redis is misconfigured with, for example, an incorrect password, you will see a log message similar to the following:

{"error":"failed to create redis client: failed to get redis info: ERR no responses received","level":"fatal","msg":"failed to create storage"}         

When the SecureAuth platform is able to connect to Redis, but rest of the configuration is incorrect, you will see the log message similar to the following:

{"error":"failed to create redis client: failed to get redis info: ERR unknown command `FT.INFO`, with args beginning with: `default-index`, ","level":"fatal","msg":"failed to create storage"}         

Redis failure forcing you to trigger the recreation of the Redis cluster has the following impact: