Introduction to Redis: What it is and its Use Cases

An open-source NoSQL database known as Redis (which stands for Remote Dictionary Serve) is noted for being a quick in-memory key-value data store, cache, message broker, and queue. The undertaking was launched by Salvatore "antirez" Sanfilippo, the man responsible for creating Redis. He was working to make his Italian startup more scalable, which was creating a real-time online log analyzer. He developed an early proof of concept version of Redis after seeing considerable difficulties scaling specific types of workloads using conventional database systems. Instagram and Github are two of the first businesses to use this technology. Therefore, it is no surprise that not just major corporations but also developers have embraced and used this.

Complex Data Structures

Redis provides the values with five different data options. These consist of strings, hashes, sets, sorted sets, and lists. These data kinds' specific operations and their well-documented temporal complexity are included.

Redis is not just as complex as a standard datastore. It provides a wide range of data structures to satisfy the requirements of our applications. It allows developers to use applications in accordance with customer needs, independent of technological constraints.

Data Retention

Data persistence refers to the concept of a piece of data remaining accessible after the production process has concluded. Alternatively put, saved data must persist even if the server crashes. A data store must write to permanent storage to be regarded as persistent (i.e. ssd or hdd).

The entire dataset is normally kept in memory by Redis. Redis allows point-in-time recovery for persistence. To persist the data to non-volatile memory, Redis provides RDB and AOF persistence mechanisms.

Performance

Redis offers incredibly effective performance. The application claims to have an amazing performance for read and write operations due to its in-memory design, a project manager's dedication to reducing complexity, and an event-based programming approach.

Highly Available

In order to guarantee high-level data availability, Redis provides built-in functionality for non-blocking, asynchronous, primary/replica replication. This has previously been covered in one of our earlier blogs. Start by reading these blog posts. Redis Cluster is briefly discussed in Redis High Availability Architecture with Sentinel or Hash Slot vs. Consistent Hashing in Redis.

ANSI C was used to create Simply Efficient Redis, which has no external dependencies. The software runs flawlessly in every POSIX environment.

Redis is also compatible with many other languages, including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby, and R. As previously indicated, Redis has native data structures. Redis has a very active and sizable community. It allows Redis to be extensible. It takes only a few lines of code to integrate and simple steps to save, access, and use data with current apps.

Use Cases For Redis

Session Store

The current status of a user's interaction with programs, such as a website or a game, is captured in the session state, which is user-related data. A typical web application maintains a session for each connected user for the duration that a user is logged in to the system. Applications keep track of user identity, login credentials, personalization information, recent actions, shopping cart information, and more through session state.

Applications for Messaging and Chat

Redis supports many data structures, including lists, sorted sets, hashes, and Pub/Sub with pattern matching. Redis can now enable fast chat rooms, live comment streams, social media feeds, and server-to-server communication.

Applications for Leaderboards in Games

When creating real-time leaderboards or scoreboards, game creators frequently choose Redis as their platform. This use case is easily implementable using the Redis Sorted Set data structure, which ensures element uniqueness while maintaining list order according to user scores (points) linked with the key. Every time the user's score changes, it must be updated. By using timestamps as the score for ranking based on timestamps, Sorted Sets can also be used to handle time-series data.