Installation and Starting the Servers of Redis Stack using Docker

Redis Stack is a bundle of the best technology that Redis is offering in one place, in an easy-to-use package. Starting the Redis stack will start the servers of different technologies that Redis is offering under the Redis Stack. Redis Stack Server extends the core features of Redis OSS, providing a complete developer experience.

Technologies Redis offers under the Redis stack

• RedisJSON (rejson): A module for Redis allowing you to manage JSON documents.
• RediSearch (redisearch): A Redis module that acts as a full-text search engine.
• RedisBloom (redisbloom): A Redis module that provides a scalable bloom filter.
• RedisTimeSeries (redistimeseries): A Redis module intended for storing time series data.
• RedisGears (redisgears): A distributed, fault-tolerant framework for building Redis applications that handle data in real time.

What is Redis?

Redis is an open-source in-memory data store that functions as a database, cache, and message broker. It is extremely fast because it saves data in memory and supports an extensive variety of data types, including strings, lists, sets, and hashes. Redis's reputation for simplicity, high performance, and versatility contributes to it being an attractive option for applications that need real-time analytics and quick data access.

What is the Redis Docker official image?

Redis is similar to a simultaneous-taskthat, lightning-fast digital storage device. It can handle multiple information forms, including text, lists, and more, and maintains data in memory making it blazingly fast. It is an excellent choice for apps that need to access and analyze data rapidly and in real-time because it is simple to use.

Running Redis Stack Locally with Docker | Step-by-Step Guide

Here are the steps to run Redis Stack on Docker.

Step 1:Install Docker from the official website.

Step 2: Update the Windows subsystem of Linux if there is a version issue with the kernel using the following command in the terminal.

wsl -update

Step 3: Run on the Redis stack server on Docker by selecting the Docker Image:

• Redis/Redis-stack contains both the Redis Stack server and Redis Insight. This container is good for local development because we can use the embedded Redis Insight to visualize our data.
• redis/redis-stack-server provides Redis Stack server only. This container is the best option for production deployment.

Step 4: Open the terminal and check whether Docker is installed or not using command.

docker --version

After running this command, it will show the docker version in the terminal like below.

👁 Docker Version Check

Step 5: Start the docker by clicking it from the downloads.

👁 Docker Desktop

Pull the Redis image

Step 6: To pull the Redis image from Docker Hub, use the following command:

docker pull redis/redis-stack-server

Run the Redis container

Step 7: Redis-stack command to run the redis on docker.

docker run -d --name redis-stack -p 6379:6379 -p 8001:8001 redis/redis-stack:latest

• docker run: To start creating a new Docker container, use this command.
• -d: When enabling this flag, Docker gets told to execute the container in detached mode, which involves running the container in the background and displaying its unique identifier.
• --name redis-stack: You may give the container a unique name through this option. The container in this instance will be named redis-stack.
• -p 6379:6379: This option connects the host's port 6379 with the container's port 6379. Redis utilizes port 6379 by default for client connections.
• -p 8001:8001: This option connects the host's port 8001 to the container's port 8001. RedisInsight, a graphical user interface for Redis, typically utilizes port 8001.
• redis/redis-stack:latest: This tells us which Docker image is to be used to build the container. The image in this particular case is redis/redis-stack, and the tag is the latest. If the image is not already available locally, Docker will search for it from the Docker Hub repository.

Starting redis-stack starts the redis Insight also at port 8001 and redis-stack-server starts without redisInsights at port 6379. To change the ports where they are getting exposed change the value on the left part after -p.

Verify that the Redis container is running

Step 8: The redis-stack-server starts running which can be seen in the below image along with the port and status.

👁 Redis Stack Server Running

Refer the below image the redis container running on the linux along with the port.

docker ps

• docker: This is the Docker CLI (Command Line Interface) command-line tool used to interact with Docker.
• ps: This is a subcommand of the Docker CLI, short for "process status". It's borrowed from the Unix/Linux ps command, which is used to list running processes.

Connect to your database

Step 9: Run this command to connect to the server using redis-cli

docker exec -it redis-stack-server redis-cli

• docker: This is the command-line interface (CLI) tool for Docker, which is used to interact with Docker containers and manage Docker resources.
• exec: This is a subcommand of the docker CLI, used to execute a command inside a running container.
• -it: These are two options passed to the docker exec command:
  • -i (or --interactive): Keeps STDIN open even if not attached, allowing interaction with the command being executed.
  • -t (or --tty): Allocates a pseudo-TTY (Terminal) for the command being executed, enabling terminal interaction.
• redis-stack-server: This is the name of the Docker container where the command will be executed. In this case, it refers to the Redis container named redis-stack-server.
• redis-cli: This is the command to be executed inside the Docker container. Specifically, it launches the Redis command-line interface (CLI), allowing the user to interact with the Redis server running inside the container.

Testing Redis container

Step 10: Test the redis using the below command.

ping

Now check the modules present by using the below command.

MODULE LIST 

After running the above command, we can see the Module Lists in terminal. List the modules on redis.

List the modules in redis on linux using the below command. Refer the below image for better understanding.

Operations on Redis Cache using Redis-cli:

• SET: SET key value
• GET: GET key

👁 Operations on Redis Cache

Operations on redis-bloom using redis-cli:

• INSERT: BF.ADD filter_name value
• EXISTS: BF.EXISTS filter_name value

👁 Operations on Redis Bloom

Running Redis Container with Persistent Storage

Step 11: Run the Redis container with the volume mounted for persistent storage:

docker run -d --name my_redis_container -v redis_data:/data redis

• -d: Runs the container in detached mode (in the background).
• --name my_redis_container: Specifies a name for the container.
• -v redis_data:/data: Mounts the Docker volumeredis_data to the directory /data inside the container. This is where Redis stores its data by default.
• redis: Specifies the Redis image to use.

Redis Stack with Docker Compose

Create a docker-compose.yml file defining Redis services along with Redis Insight (optional) using Docker Compose syntax.

version: '3.8'

services:
 redis:
 image: redis/redis-stack:latest
 ports:
 - "6379:6379"
 - "8001:8001"

Run the redis using the docker compose using the below command.

docker-compose up -d

Redis Stack vs Redis

Conclusion

Deploying Redis Stack on Docker streamlines local development by bundling Redis technologies like RedisJSON, RediSearch, RedisBloom, RedisTimeSeries, and RedisGears. With Redis Insight, developers gain a comprehensive toolset for visualization and management. Docker's flexibility enables easy containerization and scaling for both development and production environments. Leveraging Redis Stack facilitates efficient caching, full-text search, bloom filters, time-series data storage, and real-time data processing. Persistent storage options ensure data durability, enhancing reliability across container restarts.