Get started with Redis Enterprise Active-Active databases

Quick start guide to create an Active-Active database for test and development.

To get started, this article will help you set up an Active-Active database, formerly known as CRDB (conflict-free replicated database), spanning across two Redis Enterprise Software clusters for test and development environments. Here are the steps:

  1. Run two Redis Enterprise Software Docker containers.

  2. Set up each container as a cluster.

  3. Create a new Redis Enterprise Active-Active database.

  4. Test connectivity to the Active-Active database.

To run an Active-Active database on installations from the Redis Enterprise Software download package, set up two Redis Enterprise Software installations and continue from Step 2.

Note:
This getting started guide is for development or demonstration environments. For production environments, see Create an Active-Active geo-replicated database for instructions.

Run two containers

To spin up two Redis Enterprise Software containers, run these commands:

docker run -d --cap-add sys_resource -h rs1_node1 --name rs1_node1 -p 8443:8443 -p 9443:9443 -p 12000:12000 redislabs/redis

docker run -d --cap-add sys_resource -h rs2_node1 --name rs2_node1 -p 8445:8443 -p 9445:9443 -p 12002:12000 redislabs/redis

The -p options map the Cluster Manager UI port (8443), REST API port (9443), and database access port differently for each container to make sure that all containers can be accessed from the host OS that is running the containers.

Set up two clusters

  1. For cluster 1, go to https://localhost:8443 in a browser on the host machine to access the Redis Enterprise Software Cluster Manager UI.

    Note:
    Depending on your browser, you may see a certificate error. Continue to the website.

  2. Click Create new cluster:

    When you first install Redis Enterprise Software, you need to set up a cluster.

  3. Enter an email and password for the administrator account, then click Next to proceed to cluster setup:

    Set the credentials for your admin user.

  4. Enter your cluster license key if you have one. Otherwise, a trial version is installed.

    Enter your cluster license key if you have one.

  5. In the Configuration section of the Cluster settings page, enter a cluster FQDN, for example cluster1.local:

    Configure the cluster FQDN.

  6. On the node setup screen, keep the default settings and click Create cluster:

    Configure the node specific settings.

  7. Click OK to confirm that you are aware of the replacement of the HTTPS SSL/TLS certificate on the node, and proceed through the browser warning.

  8. Repeat the previous steps for cluster 2 with these differences:

    • In your web browser, go to https://localhost:8445 to set up the cluster 2.

    • For the Cluster name (FQDN), enter a different name, such as cluster2.local.

Now you have two Redis Enterprise Software clusters with FQDNs cluster1.local and cluster2.local.

Note:
Each Active-Active instance must have a unique fully-qualified domain name (FQDN).

Create an Active-Active database

  1. Sign in to cluster1.local's Cluster Manager UI at https://localhost:8443

  2. Open the Create database menu with one of the following methods:

    • Click the + button next to Databases in the navigation menu:

      Create database menu has two options: Single Region and Active-Active database.

    • Go to the Databases screen and select Create database:

      Create database menu has two options: Single Region and Active-Active database.

  3. Select Active-Active database.

  4. Enter the cluster's local admin credentials, then click Save:

    Enter the cluster's admin username and password.

  5. Add participating clusters that will host instances of the Active-Active database:

    1. In the Participating clusters section, go to Other participating clusters and click + Add cluster.

    2. In the Add cluster configuration panel, enter the new cluster's URL, port number, and the admin username and password for the new participating cluster:

      In the Other participating clusters list, add the address and admin credentials for the other cluster: https://cluster2.local:9443

      Add cluster panel.

    3. Click Join cluster to add the cluster to the list of participating clusters.

  6. Enter database1 for Database name and 12000 for Port:

    Database name and port text boxes.

  7. Configure additional settings:

    1. In the High availability section, turn off Replication since each cluster has only one node in this setup:

      Turn off replication in the High availability section.

    2. In the Clustering section, either:

      • Make sure that Sharding is enabled and select the number of shards you want to have in the database. When database clustering is enabled, databases are subject to limitations on Multi-key commands. You can increase the number of shards in the database at any time.

      • Turn off Sharding to use only one shard and avoid Multi-key command limitations.

      Note:
      You cannot enable or turn off database clustering after the Active-Active database is created.

  8. Click Create.

    Note:
    If you cannot activate the database because of a memory limitation, make sure that Docker has at least 4 GB of memory allocated in the Advanced section of Docker Settings.

  9. After the Active-Active database is created, sign in to the Cluster Manager UIs for cluster 1 at https://localhost:8443 and cluster 2 at https://localhost:8445.

  10. Make sure each cluster has an Active-Active database member database with the name database1.

    In a real-world deployment, cluster 1 and cluster 2 would most likely be in separate data centers in different regions. However, for local testing we created the scale-minimized deployment using two local clusters running on the same host.

Test connection

With the Redis database created, you are ready to connect to your database. See Connect to Active-Active databases for tutorials and examples of multiple connection methods.

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