[SOLVED] How to Run Redis on Windows Easily? - redis

A Simple Guide to Running Redis on Windows

In this chapter, we will look at different ways to run Redis on Windows. Redis is a fast data storage system. People use it for caching, messaging, and storing data. It works best on Unix-like systems. But we can still run Redis on Windows. We will show easy steps for different users. By the end, we will understand how to install and set up Redis on Windows using different methods.

Here are the parts we will talk about in this chapter on how to run Redis on Windows:

Part 1 - Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
Part 2 - Install Redis on WSL
Part 3 - Set Up Redis to Run as a Service on WSL
Part 4 - Access Redis from Windows Command Line
Part 5 - Use Docker to Run Redis on Windows
Part 6 - Run Redis with Chocolatey on Windows
Frequently Asked Questions

Whether we like to use WSL, Docker, or package managers like Chocolatey, this guide will give us the steps we need to run Redis on Windows. For more details on related topics, we can check these links: How can I implement server push? and What are key differences between…. Let’s begin!

Part 1 - Install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

To run Redis on Windows easy, we first need to install the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Let us follow these steps to enable and set up WSL:

Open PowerShell as Administrator:
- We right-click the Start button and choose “Windows PowerShell (Admin)”.
Enable WSL: We run this command to enable WSL:
```
wsl --install
```
Set WSL Version: To set WSL to version 2, we run this command:
```
wsl --set-default-version 2
```
Install a Linux Distribution: We can choose a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Store. For example, we can pick Ubuntu and install it.
Launch the Distribution: After we install it, we launch the Linux distribution from the Start menu. This will ask us to create a new user account and password.
Update the Package List: When we are inside our Linux shell, we need to update the package list:
```
sudo apt update
```

Now that we have WSL installed, we are ready to go to Part 2 - Install Redis on WSL. There we will set up Redis in our new Linux environment. This setup helps us run Redis on Windows without any problem.

Part 2 - Install Redis on WSL

To install Redis on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), we can follow these steps.

Update Package List
First, open your WSL terminal. Then run this command:
```
sudo apt update
```
Install Redis
Next, we need to install Redis. Use this command:
```
sudo apt install redis-server
```
Configure Redis
Now, we will open the Redis configuration file. Run this command:
```
sudo nano /etc/redis/redis.conf
```
We need to change the supervised directive to systemd. This helps Redis work better with the service manager. It should look like this:
```
supervised systemd
```
Start Redis Server
We can now start the Redis server using systemd. Use this command:
```
sudo systemctl start redis.service
```
Enable Redis to Start on Boot
To make sure Redis starts by itself when we boot the computer, we run this command:
```
sudo systemctl enable redis.service
```
Verify Redis Installation
We should check if Redis is running. Run this command:
```
sudo systemctl status redis.service
```
Also, we can test Redis to see if it works. Use this command:
```
redis-cli ping
```
If Redis is running, it will reply with PONG.

For more information on detailed settings and options, we can look at this guide on how to implement server push.

Part 3 - Configure Redis to Run as a Service on WSL

To run Redis as a service on Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), we can follow these steps:

Create a Redis Service File: We need to create a service file for Redis in the systemd folder.
```
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/redis.service
```

Add the Following Configuration: Next, we will paste this configuration into the file.

[Unit]
Description=Redis In-Memory Data Store
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/redis-server /etc/redis/redis.conf
ExecStop=/usr/bin/redis-cli shutdown
Restart=always
User=your-username

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

We need to replace your-username with our real WSL username.

Create Redis Configuration File: If we do not have a Redis configuration file yet, let’s create one.
```
sudo mkdir /etc/redis
sudo nano /etc/redis/redis.conf
```
We will add this basic configuration:
```
bind 127.0.0.1
port 6379
```
Reload Systemd: After we make the service file, we have to reload systemd to see the new service.
```
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```
Start the Redis Service: Now, we can start the Redis service with this command.
```
sudo systemctl start redis
```
Enable Redis to Start on Boot: We want Redis to start when we boot. So we need to enable the service.
```
sudo systemctl enable redis
```
Check Redis Service Status: We can check if the Redis service is running with:
```
sudo systemctl status redis
```

Now we have set up Redis to run as a service on WSL. This will help us with high availability and keeping our data safe. For more info about key configurations, we can check this link. If we want to know more about differences in configurations, we can refer to this link.

Part 4 - Access Redis from Windows Command Line

To access Redis from the Windows Command Line, we can follow these simple steps:

Open Command Prompt: Press Windows + R, type cmd, then hit Enter.
Check WSL Installation: We need to make sure that WSL is installed and running. We can check this by typing:
```
wsl --list --running
```
If Redis is running, it will show up in the list.
Connect to Redis: To connect to Redis, we use the redis-cli command. If Redis runs on WSL, we type:
```
wsl redis-cli
```
Test Connection: After we start redis-cli, we test the connection by running:
```
ping
```
We should get a response that says PONG.
Using Redis Commands: Now we can use Redis commands right from the command line. For example:
```
set mykey "Hello, Redis!"
get mykey
```
Access from Windows: If we want to connect to Redis from the native Windows command line, we need to set Redis to listen on all IP addresses. We open the Redis configuration file usually found at /etc/redis/redis.conf in WSL. Then we change this line:
```
bind 0.0.0.0
```
After that, we restart Redis by typing:
```
sudo service redis-server restart
```
Connect from Windows Native Command Line: We need to have the Redis CLI installed for Windows. Then we can use this command to connect:
```
redis-cli -h localhost -p 6379
```

By following these steps, we can easily access Redis from the Windows Command Line. It makes managing our Redis database easy from our Windows environment. For more details on Redis commands and how to use them, check this tutorial on implementing server push.

Part 5 - Using Docker to Run Redis on Windows

We will run Redis on Windows with Docker. Follow these steps:

Install Docker Desktop:
- First, we need to download and install Docker Desktop for Windows.
- After we install it, we should make sure Docker is running.
Pull the Redis Image: Open PowerShell or Command Prompt. Then, we run this command to get the latest Redis image:
```
docker pull redis
```
Run Redis Container: Next, we run the Redis container with this command:
```
docker run --name redis-container -d -p 6379:6379 redis
```
This command does these things:
- --name redis-container: We give the container the name “redis-container”.
- -d: This runs the container in the background.
- -p 6379:6379: This connects port 6379 on our computer to port 6379 in the container.
Access Redis: To use the Redis command line, we type:
```
docker exec -it redis-container redis-cli
```

Configure Redis (optional): We can change Redis settings by making our own redis.conf file. We use it when we start the container:

docker run --name redis-container -d -p 6379:6379 -v /path/to/your/redis.conf:/usr/local/etc/redis/redis.conf redis redis-server /usr/local/etc/redis/redis.conf

Manage Containers:
- To see running containers, we type:
```
docker ps
```
- To stop the Redis container, we type:
```
docker stop redis-container
```
- To remove the Redis container, we type:
```
docker rm redis-container
```

Using Docker to run Redis on Windows makes it easy to set up and manage our Redis. For more advanced Redis tasks, we can check this tutorial on implementing server push and look at different settings.

Part 6 - Running Redis with Chocolatey on Windows

We can run Redis on Windows using Chocolatey by following these simple steps.

Install Chocolatey:
First, we need to open a Command Prompt with admin rights. We can do this by right-clicking on it and selecting “Run as Administrator.” Then we run this command to install Chocolatey:

@"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

Install Redis:
After we install Chocolatey, we run this command in the same Command Prompt to install Redis:
```
choco install redis-64
```
Start Redis:
When the installation is done, we can start the Redis service with this command:
```
redis-server
```
If we want, we can also start Redis as a Windows service using:
```
redis-server --service-start
```
Verify Redis Installation:
To see if Redis is running well, we can use the Redis CLI. We run this command:
```
redis-cli ping
```
If everything is okay, we will see a response of PONG.
Configure Redis (Optional):
If we want to change settings, we can edit the Redis configuration file. It is located at C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\lib\redis-64\tools\redis.windows.conf. For example, to change the default port, we find this line:
```
port 6379
```
We can change 6379 to whatever port we want.

By following these steps, we can run Redis on Windows with Chocolatey. If we need more help with server push implementations, we can check this server push article.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can we run Redis natively on Windows?

Running Redis natively on Windows is not supported. Redis is mainly made for Unix-based systems. But we can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to run Redis on Windows. This way, we can enjoy the full features of Redis while using Windows. For more help, check our section on installing Redis on WSL.

2. What is the best way to install Redis on Windows?

The best way to install Redis on Windows is by using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). This gives us a Linux environment where Redis can run easily. We can also use Docker to run Redis in a container or install it with Chocolatey for easy management. For more detailed steps, look at our sections on installing Redis on WSL and using Docker.

3. How can we access Redis from the Windows command line?

To access Redis from the Windows command line, we need to make sure Redis is running in our WSL. After that, we can use the redis-cli command in the WSL terminal. For easier access, we can create a batch file or use the command line to connect to Redis directly. For a full guide, check our section on accessing Redis from Windows command line.

4. Is Redis on Windows suitable for production use?

We can run Redis on Windows using WSL or Docker, but it is better for development and testing, not for production. The official Redis team does not support Windows for production workloads. For production, it is better to use a Linux server. For more details, look at our article on key differences between Redis on Windows and Linux.

5. How can we manage Redis keys effectively on Windows?

We can manage Redis keys on Windows using the redis-cli command-line tool. It is available when we run Redis through WSL or Docker. We can do many things like setting, getting, and deleting keys. For deleting keys safely, we can use special Redis commands. For more on this, check our guide on atomically deleting keys in Redis.

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