Install Redis on a Linux VPS - Documentation Infrawire

Redis is an in-memory key-value store, widely used for caching, web sessions, queues (with appropriate libraries), and rate limiting. This guide installs Redis on Ubuntu/Debian with a local-only default (recommended).

Prerequisites

VPS with sudo
Ubuntu 20.04+ or Debian 11+

Installation


Bash
1sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
2sudo apt install -y redis-server
3sudo systemctl enable redis-server
4sudo systemctl start redis-server
5sudo systemctl status redis-server

Quick test


Bash
redis-cli ping

Expected: PONG.


Bash
redis-cli SET test "hello"
redis-cli GET test

Main configuration file

On Debian/Ubuntu, configuration is often /etc/redis/redis.conf.

Important settings:

bind: often 127.0.0.1 ::1 — keep localhost only if the app runs on the same server.
protected-mode yes: keep enabled unless you have proper authentication and exposure rules.
supervised systemd: good integration with systemd (depending on package version).

After edits:


Bash
sudo systemctl restart redis-server

Password (recommended if widening network access)

In redis.conf:


Config
requirepass your_long_password

Connect:


Bash
redis-cli -a 'your_long_password' ping

Never commit passwords to Git; use environment variables.

Memory and persistence

maxmemory: cap RAM on small VPS (e.g. maxmemory 256mb with maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru for cache-only use).
RDB/AOF: Redis can persist to disk; pure volatile cache setups may reduce persistence (understand data-loss risk).

Security

Do not expose Redis to the internet without tunnel, VPN, or very strict firewall rules.
Combine with UFW for other public ports.

Application connection string

Local typical URL:


TEXT
redis://127.0.0.1:6379

With password:


TEXT
redis://:[email protected]:6379

Troubleshooting

Connection refused: service stopped or wrong port; check sudo systemctl status redis-server and ss -tlnp | grep 6379.
OOM: lower maxmemory or add RAM.