To deploy Redis Enterprise Software on Kubernetes, you first need to install the Redis Enterprise operator. The best way to install the operator depends on your Kubernetes environment.

This quick start guide is for generic Kubernetes distributions (kOps) as well as:

If you’re running either OpenShift or VMWare Tanzu, we provide specific getting started guides for installing the Redis Enterprise Operator on these platforms:

Operator overview

The Redis Enterprise Operator acts on Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) that describe Redis Enterprise clusters and databases.

The operator itself is a deployment, backed by pods, that runs within your deployment namespace. These operator pods must run with sufficient privileges to create the Redis Enterprise cluster resources within that namespace.

When the operator is installed, the following resources are created:

  • a service account under which the operator will run
  • a set of Roles that define the privileges necessary for the operator to perform its tasks
  • a set of Role Bindings to the service account to authorize the service account to have the correct roles (see above)
  • the CRD for a Redis Enterprise Cluster
  • the CRD for a Redis Enterprise Database
  • the operator itself (a deployment)

The operator currently runs within a single namespace and is scoped to operate only on the Redis Enterprise Cluster CRDs in that namespace.

This lets you deploy multiple instances of the operator on the same Kubernetes cluster, supporting multiple Redis Enterprise Clusters in multiple namespaces.

Namespaces

The Redis Enterprise Operator manages a single Redis Enterprise cluster in a single namespace.

Throughout this guide, you should assume that each command is applied to the namespace in which the Redis Enterprise cluster operates.

You can set the default namespace for these operations by running:

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=my-namespace

Installation procedure

The Redis Enterprise Operator definition and reference materials are available on GitHub, while the operator implementation itself is published as a Docker container. The operator definitions are packaged as a single generic YAML file.

Download the bundle

You need to ensure that you pull the correct version of the bundle. You can find the version tags by checking the operator releases on GitHub or by using the GitHub API.

You can download the bundle for the latest release by issuing the following curl command:

VERSION=`curl --silent https://api.github.com/repos/RedisLabs/redis-enterprise-k8s-docs/releases/latest | grep tag_name | awk -F'"' '{print $4}'`
curl --silent -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RedisLabs/redis-enterprise-k8s-docs/$VERSION/bundle.yaml

If you need a different release, replace VERSION in the above with a specific release tag.

Apply the bundle

You can install the operator with a single apply command, passing in the bundle YAML file:

kubectl apply -f bundle.yaml

After running this command, you should see a result similar to this:

role.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/redis-enterprise-operator created
serviceaccount/redis-enterprise-operator created
rolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/redis-enterprise-operator created
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/redisenterpriseclusters.app.redislabs.com configured
customresourcedefinition.apiextensions.k8s.io/redisenterprisedatabases.app.redislabs.com configured
deployment.apps/redis-enterprise-operator created

Verify that the operator is running

You can verify the operator is running in your namespace by checking the deployment as follows:

kubectl get deployment -l name=redis-enterprise-operator

You should see a result similar to this:

NAME                        READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
redis-enterprise-operator   1/1     1            1           0m36s

Test the operator

A cluster is created by creating a custom resource with the kind “RedisEnterpriseCluster” that contains the specification of the cluster option. See the Redis Enterprise Cluster API reference for more information on the various options available.

You can test the operator by creating a minimal cluster by following this procedure:

  1. Create a file called simple-cluster.yaml that defines a Redis Enterprise cluster with three nodes:

    cat <<EOF > simple-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: "app.redislabs.com/v1"
kind: "RedisEnterpriseCluster"
metadata:
  name: "test-cluster"
spec:
  nodes: 3
EOF

    This will request a cluster with three Redis Enterprise nodes using the default requests (i.e., 2 CPUs and 4GB of memory per node). If you want to test with a larger configuration, you can specify the node resources. For example, this configuration increases the memory:

    cat <<EOF > simple-cluster.yaml
apiVersion: "app.redislabs.com/v1"
kind: "RedisEnterpriseCluster"
metadata:
  name: "test-cluster"
spec:
  nodes: 3
  redisEnterpriseNodeResources:
    limits:
      cpu: 2000m
      memory: 16Gi
    requests:
      cpu: 2000m
      memory: 16Gi
EOF

    See the Redis Enterprise hardware requirements for more information on sizing Redis Enterprise node resource requests.

  2. Create the CRD in the namespace with the file simple-cluster.yaml:

    kubectl apply -f simple-cluster.yaml

    You should see a result similar to this:

    redisenterprisecluster.app.redislabs.com/test-cluster created

  3. You can verify the creation of the with:

    kubectl get rec

    You should see a result similar to this:

    NAME           AGE
test-cluster   1m

    At this point, the operator will go through the process of creating various services and pod deployments. You can track the progress by examining the StatefulSet associated with the cluster:

    kubectl rollout status sts/test-cluster

    or by simply looking at the status of all of the resources in your namespace:

    kubectl get all

  4. Once the cluster is running, you can create a test database. First, define the database with the following YAML file:

    cat <<EOF > smalldb.yaml
apiVersion: app.redislabs.com/v1alpha1
kind: RedisEnterpriseDatabase
metadata:
  name: smalldb
spec:
  memory: 100MB
EOF

    Next, apply the database:

    kubectl apply -f smalldb.yaml

  5. The connectivity information for the database is now stored in a Kubernetes secret using the same name but prefixed with redb-:

    kubectl get secret/redb-smalldb -o yaml

    From this secret you can get the service name, port, and password for the default user.