Installing Redis on Mac Mini with External Access: A Guide for the MoolMeow Project 🔄

Hello there! In this guide, we’ll explore how to install Redis on a Mac Mini and configure it for external access from a Kubernetes cluster for the MoolMeow project. Let’s set up Redis for caching, session management, and more! 🛠️

⚠️ Warning: The Redis password used in this guide is an example only. In a real environment, you should use a different strong password for security reasons.

1. Installing Redis with Homebrew 🍺

Just like with MySQL, we can easily install Redis on Mac using Homebrew:

# Install Redis
brew install redis

After installation, the default Redis configuration file will be created at /opt/homebrew/etc/redis.conf.

2. Modifying the Redis Configuration File ⚙️

Let’s modify the configuration file to allow external access:

# Edit the Redis configuration file
sudo nano /opt/homebrew/etc/redis.conf

Find and modify the following settings in the configuration file:

2.1 Allowing External Access

By default, Redis only allows local connections. Find and modify this line:

# Original setting
bind 127.0.0.1 ::1

# Modified setting (allows connections from all network interfaces)
bind 0.0.0.0

2.2 Setting a Password

Enhance security by setting a password for Redis. Find this line, uncomment it, and set your password:

# Original setting (commented out)
# requirepass foobared

# Modified setting
requirepass your_strong_redis_password

2.3 Protected Mode Setting

If you’ve set a password, you can disable protected mode:

# Original setting
protected-mode yes

# Modified setting
protected-mode no

2.4 Additional Security and Performance Settings (Optional)

You can also add these settings to optimize security and performance:

# Memory limit (e.g., 1GB)
maxmemory 1gb

# Memory policy (LRU - Least Recently Used)
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

# Connection limit
maxclients 100

# Restricting dangerous commands (rename or disable commands)
rename-command FLUSHALL ""
rename-command FLUSHDB ""
rename-command CONFIG ""

3. Starting the Redis Service 🚀

After changing the configuration, start the Redis service:

# Start Redis service
brew services start redis

# Check service status
brew services list

If Redis was already running, restart it:

brew services restart redis

4. Testing the Redis Connection ✅

Verify that the Redis service is running properly by testing the connection locally:

# Run Redis CLI
redis-cli

# Authenticate with password
AUTH your_strong_redis_password

# Simple test
SET test "Hello Redis"
GET test

# Exit
EXIT

If all commands execute successfully, Redis is properly configured.

5. Testing Redis Connection from External Sources 🌐

Test whether you can connect to Redis from another computer or Kubernetes node:

# Connect to Redis from another machine
redis-cli -h [Mac Mini IP address] -p 6379 -a your_strong_redis_password

# Test
SET remote_test "Connection from remote machine"
GET remote_test

6. Using Redis from Kubernetes ⎈

To connect to Redis on Mac Mini from your Kubernetes cluster, you can store the Redis connection information as a Secret:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: redis-credentials
  namespace: your-namespace
type: Opaque
stringData:
  REDIS_HOST: "[Mac Mini IP address]"
  REDIS_PORT: "6379"
  REDIS_PASSWORD: "your_strong_redis_password"

You can then use this Secret as environment variables in your application Deployment:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: your-app
  namespace: your-namespace
spec:
  # ... other settings ...
  template:
    # ... other settings ...
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: your-app-container
        # ... other settings ...
        env:
        - name: REDIS_HOST
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: redis-credentials
              key: REDIS_HOST
        - name: REDIS_PORT
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: redis-credentials
              key: REDIS_PORT
        - name: REDIS_PASSWORD
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: redis-credentials
              key: REDIS_PASSWORD

7. Additional Tips for Redis Security 🔒

1. Use a Strong Password: Use a complex password with at least 16 characters.

2. Configure Network Firewall: Set up firewall rules to allow Redis port (6379) access only from necessary IP ranges.

3. Regular Backups: Create a script to regularly back up your Redis data:

   # Redis backup example
   redis-cli -a your_strong_redis_password SAVE
   cp /opt/homebrew/var/db/redis/dump.rdb /backup/redis_$(date +%Y%m%d).rdb
   

4. Set Up Monitoring: Monitor Redis memory usage, connection count, command execution count, etc.

Conclusion 🎯

Now you have Redis installed on your Mac Mini and configured for external access. This allows you to use Redis for session management, caching, and other purposes in the MoolMeow project’s Kubernetes cluster.

Using Redis together with MySQL creates an efficient structure where MySQL manages the database while Redis handles temporary data like sessions and caches.

In the next guide, we’ll explore how to set up the basic infrastructure on the k3s Kubernetes cluster. 👋

Related post: Installing MySQL on Mac Mini with External Access: A Guide for the MoolMeow Project