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Creating a Redis cluster

To create a Redis cluster in the Cloud Platform, follow the example guidance in the module.

Choosing an appropriate instance type

ElastiCache for Redis (which manages your Redis cluster) supports a wide range of instance types. Some instance types are considered “previous generation” and should not be used.

Instance types are named based on their family/purpose, generation, any additional capabilities, and size.

For ElastiCache for Redis, instance types will always be prefixed with cache.

Example instance types

cache.t3.small means:

  • cache: you can use this with ElastiCache
  • t3: t is the burstable general purpose family, 3 is the third generation of this family, and there are no additional capabilities
  • small: the instance size (vCPU and memory)

cache.m6g.large means:

  • cache: you can use this with ElastiCache
  • m6g: m is the non-burstable general purpose family, 6 is the sixth generation of this family, and there is a g additional capability (g means Graviton-based)
  • large: the instance size (vCPU and memory)

Table of instance types

You can use the table below to pick an appropriate instance type for your corresponding Redis version. This instance type should be suitable for most applications, environments, and how users of the Cloud Platform generally use ElastiCache for Redis.

As a general rule of thumb, you should always use the latest generation you can. If you are using an older version of ElastiCache for Redis, it is worthwhile upgrading so you can use newer generations.

Redis version Environment type Instance type
4.0.10 to 5.0.5 Non-production cache.t3.micro
Production cache.t3.small
5.0.6 to 7.0.x Non-production cache.t4g.micro
Production cache.t4g.small

If you find your ElastiCache for Redis instance is running out of CPU or memory, try changing the instance type (micro, small) to a larger instance type such as medium.

Statistics

At the time of writing, the following instance types were in use (along with how many) on the Cloud Platform. This can be useful to help you rightsize your instance type compared to other users of the Cloud Platform.

   2 "cache.m4.large"
   2 "cache.m4.xlarge"
  44 "cache.t2.medium"
   5 "cache.t2.micro"
 135 "cache.t2.small"
   6 "cache.t3.small"
   6 "cache.t4g.medium"
   8 "cache.t4g.micro"
   6 "cache.t4g.small"
This page was last reviewed on 20 February 2023. It needs to be reviewed again on 20 February 2024 .
This page was set to be reviewed before 20 February 2024. This might mean the content is out of date.