Docker Desktop Redis for Windows

Introduction

Docker is an open-source platform that allows developers to automate the deployment and scaling of applications inside containers. Redis is an in-memory data structure store that can be used as a database, cache, and message broker. In this article, we will explore how to use Docker Desktop to run Redis on a Windows machine.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following installed on your machine:

  • Docker Desktop for Windows: This can be downloaded from the official Docker website.
  • Redis image: We will be using the official Redis image from the Docker Hub.

Step 1: Install Docker Desktop

To get started, download and install Docker Desktop for Windows from the Docker website. Once the installation is complete, you should see the Docker Desktop icon in your system tray.

Step 2: Pull the Redis Image

Next, we need to pull the Redis image from the Docker Hub. Open a command prompt or PowerShell window and run the following command:

docker pull redis

This will download the latest version of the Redis image to your local machine. You can verify that the image was successfully downloaded by running the following command:

docker images

This will display a list of all the Docker images on your machine, including the Redis image.

Step 3: Run Redis Container

Now that we have the Redis image, we can run a Redis container using the following command:

docker run --name my-redis -d -p 6379:6379 redis

Let's break down this command:

  • --name my-redis: This assigns a name to the container, in this case, "my-redis".
  • -d: This runs the container in the background.
  • -p 6379:6379: This maps the Redis container's port 6379 to the host machine's port 6379.
  • redis: This specifies the name of the Docker image to use, which is "redis".

You can verify that the container is running by executing the command:

docker ps

This will display a list of all the running containers, including the Redis container.

Step 4: Connect to Redis

To connect to the Redis container, you can use a Redis client like Redis CLI or Redis Desktop Manager. In this example, we will use Redis CLI.

First, open a new command prompt or PowerShell window and run the following command to start a Redis CLI session:

docker exec -it my-redis redis-cli

This will open an interactive session inside the Redis container.

Now, you can use Redis commands to interact with the Redis server. For example, you can set a key-value pair using the SET command:

SET mykey "Hello, Redis!"

And then retrieve the value using the GET command:

GET mykey

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned how to use Docker Desktop to run Redis on a Windows machine. We pulled the Redis image from the Docker Hub, ran a Redis container, and connected to the Redis server using Redis CLI. With Docker, it becomes easy to deploy and manage Redis instances, making it a powerful tool for developers.

References

  • [Docker Documentation](
  • [Redis Documentation](