Installing Redis

To use Redis, you must install and provide your own Redis instance to the IBM RPA server.

IBM RPA uses Redis as an in-memory data storage server. It acts as publish/subscribe External link for semaphore commands and internal notifications, and can significantly enhance performance in these cases. You must install Redis if you want high availability and disaster recovery capabilities. See more at High availability and disaster recovery considerations.

Before you begin

The Windows™ version of Redis can cause known issues with semaphore commands. So, if you deploy the IBM RPA server on Windows™, use Redis 4.0.8 or later on a Docker™ instance or on a Linux™ server instead.

Procedure

Install Redis on Windows

To install Redis on Windows, see How to Install Redis on Windows 🡥 on the official Redis documentation.

Install Redis on Linux or Docker

Follow this procedure on a Docker™ instance or a Linux™ machine:

  1. Download the latest stable version 🡥 of Redis.
  2. Enter the value KEA to the property notify-keyspace-events on Redis configuration file. For more information about changing Redis configuration file, see Redis configuration 🡥.

What to do next

Only the IBM RPA server needs access to Redis, so after you change the Redis configuration file to work properly, you can improve Redis security.

  1. Open the redis.conf file:

    sudo nano /etc/redis/redis.conf

  2. Add or uncomment "bind 127.0.0.1".

  3. Replace 127.0.0.1 with the IP address to your server if you are running Redis under WSL or in a separate Linux machine.

  4. Save and close the file.

Note:If you have installed a version of Redis for Windows (no longer supported), you must edit both C:\Program Files\Redis\redis.windows.conf and C:\Program Files\Redis\redis.windows-service.conf files.

Make sure to update your Redis password at IBM RPA Control Center beforehand, and then update it in the Redis configuration file or environment. It is expected that the IBM RPA API doesn't work momentarily until you update the Redis password on these environments correctly.

  1. Log in to IBM RPA Control Center.
  2. In the left side menu, click Platform settings > Redis.
  3. Enter the password in the Password field.
  4. Click Save.