Deployment Options for Redis on Google Cloud

This document provides an overview of Redis deployments and migrations to Google Cloud, including the options and tradeoffs for deploying Redis on different services, based on your requirements.

Redis is an in-memory data structure store that you can use as a database, cache, message broker, and more. Google Cloud fully supports Redis, including the following:

• Fully managed options provided by Memorystore and Redis Ltd.

• Self managed options using the following products:

  • Compute Engine

  • Google Kubernetes Engine

  • OpenShift

The best way to deploy Redis on Google Cloud depends on your specific needs and requirements. The recommendations provided in this guide are based on general best practices and considerations. It's important to thoroughly analyze your Redis workload and consult official documentation or seek professional advice for specific use cases or requirements.

Architectures

You can deploy Redis using one of the following architectures:

Deployment options

Google Cloud offers the following Redis deployment options:

• Fully-managed Memorystore for Redis by Google Cloud: A fully managed, highly available, and durable Redis service managed by Google that is cost effective and fast to set up, operate, and scale. Memorystore supports both Redis Cluster and standalone Redis with optional high availability.
• Self or fully-managed Redis Enterprise by Redis Ltd.: A highly available and durable Redis cluster licensed by Redis Ltd. and with two management options: managed by Redis Ltd. ("Redis Enterprise Cloud"), or self-managed ("Redis Enterprise Software") with Redis Ltd.'s support. You can procure Redis Enterprise directly from Redis Ltd. , or through Google Cloud Marketplace . Redis Ltd. supports deployments on Compute Engine , Google Kubernetes Engine and OpenShift.
• Self-managed Redis Open source software (OSS): A self-managed Redis cluster or standalone Redis with optional high availability, deployable on Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, or OpenShift.

Choose a Redis deployment option

This section describes how to choose a Redis deployment option that is best suited for your workload. Figure 1 provides a visual overview of the decision points:

Choose a Redis management model

You can choose between one of the following management models:

• Fully managed deployment. You offload deployment and management operations to the service provider. Choose this model when you need to focus on building your app and offload management tasks.

• Self managed deployment. You are responsible for deployment and management operations. Choose this model if any of the following are true:

  • You have an existing operational economy of scale, and taking on managing and operating Redis makes economic sense in your organization.

  • You have a strategic preference for IaaS-only dependency.

  • You require advanced optimizations.

Evaluate deployment options

After you choose your management model, evaluate the deployment options that are available to you.

Fully Managed Options

For fully managed deployments, you can use Memorystore or Redis Enterprise Cloud.

Memorystore

Choose Memorystore if any of the following are true:

• You have a preference for consolidating support of managed software with Google Cloud.
• You have a preference for optimizing for integration with Google Cloud constructs such as Identity and Access Management, APIs, org policies, quota, or Cloud Asset Inventory.
• You require specific features only available in Memorystore (e.g, scale back in).

For more information about Memorystore, see the Memorystore product documentation .

Redis Enterprise Cloud

Choose Redis Enterprise Cloud if any of the following are true:

• You require specific features only available in Redis Enterprise Cloud (for example, cross-region active-active multi-primary writes with its 99.999% SLA, RedisSearch use case).
• You require cluster scaling for an application that does not support the Redis Cluster API.

For more information about Redis Enterprise Cloud, see the Redis Cloud documentation .

Self managed options

For self-managed deployments, you can choose between Redis Enterprise and Redis Open Source Software.

Redis Enterprise

Choose self-managed Redis Enterprise if any of the following are true:

• Your application requires its unique features, such as automatic re-sharding for scaling out, Redis on flash, or Redis Enterprise Operator for Kubernetes.
• Your operations team does not have the required skill set to handle complex Redis issues internally without qualified third party support.
• You prefer the enterprise support provided by Redis Ltd., and the associated licensing costs are manageable by your organization.

For more information about Redis Enterprise Software, see the Redis Enterprise Software documentation .

Redis Open Source Software

Choose self-managed Redis Open Source Software if any of the following are true:

• You require or have a preference for full customization not otherwise possible.
• Your operations team has the required skill set to handle complex Redis issues internally without qualified third party support.
• You want to avoid licensing costs.
• You have extensive in house Redis and Linux kernel tuning resources, or your use case does not require tuning.

When deploying self-managed Redis Open Source Software, choose a deployment target based on your platform strategy choice. Redis Open Source Software is deployable on Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, or OpenShift. GKE Autopilot can reduce deployment and management efforts, but may be more limited in ways such as being harder to scale in.

For more information about Redis Open Source Software, see Redis.io .

Feature comparison

The following table summarizes the key differences between all deployment options: