Migrating from Redis or KeyDB

KeyDB remains fully compatible with the Redis API and protocol. As such a migration from Redis to KeyDB is very simple and would be similar to what you would expect migrating in a Redis to Redis scenario.

KeyDB is compatible with all Redis clients as listed here so this should not be a concern. Simply use your client as you would with Redis.

This document will discuss migration from Redis to KeyDB and vice versa. In each scenario the methodology is similar. We will look at both an offline migration and a live migration for each scenario.

Create a Snapshot

Using SAVE or BGSAVE you can create an RDB backup file of the database. If you are saving in production where you don't want any downtime it is recommended to use BGSAVE to prevent blocking clients as SAVE performs synchronously.

The dump.rdb file is saved in your redis/keydb working directory.

If you were using Redis, you can now launch KeyDB Open Source and point to the .rdb file you created (specified 'dir' in .conf). You can also reuse your previous redis.conf file and append any new config options you wish to use from keydb.conf.

If you are migrating on the same machine with the same .conf file you may want to use the SHUTDOWN command as you will need to shutdown your old node if using identical configuration/same port.

For example:

$ redis-cli>6379: bgsave

$ redis-cli>6379: shutdown

$ keydb-server /path/to/redis.conf

This method may result in brief downtime depending on how you swap over and if you are using the same machine or a different server. If you require zero downtime or data-loss during your swapover, you can use a replica to do a live swapover.

Use a Replica

On a live system, if you want a seamless swapover you can simply create a replica node of the server you wish to migrate, then promote the replica to master. See replicaof command reference, or further explanation of replicas here

$ keydb-cli>6379: replicaof redis_node_ipaddress redis_node_port

$ keydb-cli>6379: replicaof no one

After the replica is synced you can promote it to master with the REPLICAOF NO ONE command via keydb-cli or redis-cli. This is the simple version, for more details on creating and promoting replica nodes see this document on replication.

Other methods

You can use DUMP and RESTORE as well if it suits your needs, however typically is not used in preference to the above methods for most cases.

Migrating from KeyDB to Redis

The process is the same above, however if you have enabled any configuration parameters specific to KeyDB, you should disable them prior to migrating back to Redis as the configuration parameters will not be recognized. If you have used commands such as EXPIREMEMBER that is exclusive to KeyDB you may want to remove these prior to migration.

Also keep in mind you may require a larger machine(s) or cluster when migrating back to Redis due to potential performance drops. It is recommended to do some benchmarking to make sure the new instance can handle the load as Redis is single threaded and you may be using 2-16 threads with KeyDB.