Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example


Written by - Mahnoor Malik
Reviewed by - Deepak Prasad

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about Amazon ElastiCache for Redis. But first, let's see what is Amazon ElastiCache

 

Amazon ElastiCache overview

  • It is a fully managed, in-memory caching service supporting flexible, real-time use cases.
  • We can use Amazon ElastiCache for caching, which accelerates application and database performance.
  • It provides a high-performance, scalable, and cost-effective caching solution.
  • It helps remove the complexity associated with deploying and managing a distributed cache environment.
  • It can also be used as a primary data store for use cases that don't require durability like session stores, gaming leaderboards, streaming, and analytics.
  • The common use cases of Amazon ElastiCache include accelerating application performance, easing backend database load, and building low-latency data stores.
  • It is compatible with Redis and Memcached.

Let's have a quick overview of Amazon ElastiCache for Redis.

 

ElastiCache for Redis Overview

If our applications currently use Redis, they can use ElastiCache for Redis with almost no modification. We simply need to know about hostnames and port numbers of the ElastiCache nodes that we have deployed. Following are some of the features offered by ElastiCache for Redis.

  • It offers automatic detection of cache node failures along with its recovery.
  • It supports partitioning of our data up to 500 shards when Redis has cluster mode is enabled. Note that sharding is a method for distributing a single dataset across multiple databases, which can then be stored on multiple machines.
  • It supports encryption in transit and encryption at rest with authentication for Redis version 3.2 and later. This support helps us build HIPAA-compliant applications.
  • It provides more fault tolerance by flexible Availability Zone placement of nodes and clusters.
  • It can integrate with other AWS services such as Amazon EC2, Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, and Amazon SNS.
  • It manages backups, software patching, automatic failure detection, and recovery.
  • We can manually create backups or can have automated backups that can later be used to restore a cluster.
  • It can provide high availability with a primary instance and a synchronous secondary instance that we can use when any problem occurs thus avoiding a single point of failure.
  • It can also provide read replicas to increase read scaling.
  • We can use AWS Identity and Access Management to define users and permissions to control access to our ElastiCache for Redis clusters.
  • We can also place our clusters in a virtual private cloud for protection.
  • It provides Global Datastore for Redis feature through which we can work with fully managed, fast, reliable, and secure replication across AWS Regions.
  • For Redis workloads, data tiering provides a price-performance option by utilizing lower-cost solid-state drives (SSDs) in each cluster node in addition to storing data in memory.

Now let's head straight to the creation of ElastiCache for Redis.

 

Create ElastiCache for Redis

First, we will log in to our AWS account then type ElastiCache under the Services tab. Then we will click on Get Started Now.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis

 

Cluster Engine and Location

For the Cluster engine, we will select Redis. Note that we will not enable cluster mode for now. Note that Cluster-Mode comes with the primary benefit of horizontal scaling up and down of our Redis cluster, with almost zero impact on the performance of the cluster. We have the option to use one of three cluster configurations:

  • Single node
  • Cluster mode disabled
  • Cluster mode enabled

Note that all nodes within a given cluster are designed to be of the same node type (in terms of underlying EC2 instance) and configuration. In our tutorial, we will do a walk-through for Redis Cluster with no replication.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

For Location, we will select Amazon Cloud which means that we will be using Amazon's cloud for ElastiCache instances.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

Redis settings

  • Here we will provide the name for our ElastiCache for Redis i.e. MyDemoRedis.
  • Then we will select version compatibility of the Redis engine i.e. 6.2.
  • Here the port will be 6379 which is the default port.
  • For the Parameter group, we will select default.redis6.x. Note that a Parameter group acts as a container for engine configuration values that can be applied to one or more clusters. If we have created a custom Parameter Group that we want to use, we can select it from the list, otherwise, we will proceed with the default one created for us.
  • Then we will select the Node type i.e. cache.t2.micro which is the type and the associated memory size of the nodes to be deployed.
  • For now, we will select the number of replicas to be 0. We can have the number of replicas between 0 and 5.  Zero replicas will not enable an enhanced cluster with primary/replica roles.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

The following node types are available to us. We have selected cache.t2.micro in order to remain under the free tier.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

Advanced Redis settings

  • Here we can create a new subnet group or select an existing subnet group. For now, we will create a new subnet group.
  • Then we will provide the description of the subnet group.
  • Then we will select the VPC environment where our cluster will run.
  • After that we will select Subnet ID, here we will select one with Availability zone us-east-2b. We can choose one or more subnets within the VPC. ElastiCache will select IP addresses from those subnets, and assign the IP addresses to the nodes in our cluster.
  • In Availability zones placement, we will select No preference for now. Note that it is highly recommended to select at least one of the read replicas in a different availability zone from the primary for improved fault tolerance in the unlikely event of an availability zone disruption. For clustered Redis, if No Preference is chosen, ElastiCache automatically spreads our nodes over Availability Zones. To manually select Availability Zones for each node, we will use Select Zones.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

Now let's look into the security-related settings.

  • Here we will select a default sg. Note that a Security Group acts like a firewall that controls network access to our clusters. We can select one or more Security Groups for our Cluster.
  • For now, we will not enable Encryption at-rest and Encryption in-transit.
  • Note that if encryption at-rest is enabled, it will enable encryption of data stored on disk. Currently, enabling encryption at rest can be done when creating a Redis cluster using Redis version 3.2.6 only or at least 4.0. If it is enabled, we will have to select an encryption key. Encryption Key can be default or Customer Managed Customer Master key.
  • If Encryption in-transit is enabled, it enables encryption of data on the wire. Currently, enabling encryption in transit can be done when creating a Redis cluster using Redis version 3.2.6 only or at least 4.0. If it is enabled, we will also have to configure access control that provides the ability to configure authenticating and authorizing access based on user groups, representing a group of users. Alternatively, Redis AUTH Default User can be used to control allowing clients to execute commands.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

  • For Logs, we can enable Slow log and Engine Log. Note that Slow log provides Redis slow log for queries that exceed a specified execution time and Engine log provides logs for open-source Redis engine processing tasks.
  • If we select slow log or enable log then we will also have to specify Log format i.e. TEXT or JSON and Destination Type that can be CloudWatch Logs or Kinesis Firehose.
  • For Import data to cluster, we won't do anything for now as it is optional, but we can provide Path to S3 bucket which contains an external Redis RDB backup to seed our cluster.
  • In Backup, we will enable automatic backups. When the automatic backup is enabled, it allows ElastiCache to automatically create a daily backup of a replica node (non clustered Redis) or set of replicas (Clustered Redis). Non-clustered Redis can also be configured to create a backup of the primary node after the cluster is created.
  • We will specify the backup retention period to be 1. Note that it represents the number of days for which automated backups are retained before they are automatically deleted.
  • In the Backup window, we will select No preference for now. Here we can specify the daily time range during which automated backups are initiated if automated backups are enabled.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

  • For the Maintenance window, we will select No preference for now. Note that the maintenance window allows us to specify the time range (UTC) during which any scheduled maintenance activities such as software patching or pending Cluster modifications that we requested would occur.
  • In the Topic for SNS notification, we will select Disable notifications. Here we can select an SNS topic from the list, or type an existing topic Amazon Resource Name (ARN).
  • We are not specifying any tags for now. Note that a single node Redis cluster is tagged at the cluster level. Adding replicas will inherit tags from the primary.
  • In the end, we will click on Create.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

Here we can see our Elasticache for Redis with the status creating.

Amazon ElastiCache for Redis Tutorial with Example

 

Conclusion

With this, we have come to the end of our tutorial. In this tutorial, we learned about Amazon ElastiCache for Redis. First, we had a quick overview of Amazon ElastiCache in general and then Amazon Elasticache for Redis. And after that, we walked through the process of creating Amazon ElastiCache for Redis.

Stay tuned for some more informative tutorials coming ahead. Feel free to leave any feedback in the comments section.

Happy learning!

 

References

Amazon ElastiCache
What Is Amazon ElastiCache for Redis?

 

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Mahnoor Malik

She is a Computer and Information Systems Engineer with a master's degree in Computer Networks and Systems Security. She excels in backend development, specializing in Java with the Spring Boot framework, and is proficient in other languages such as C, C++, and Python. You can reach out to us on Facebook page.

Categories AWS

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