CODEWITHSUNDEEP
databaseredisnosql
alawrence
alawrence

Reputation: 71

Why use Redis if it's not being run on your application server?

My understanding is that using Redis requires you to host it on its own server. So why even use it if the data being stored on it isn't being run on the same VM (thus using the same RAM) as your app server (eg Node)?

Upvotes: 6

Views: 4912

Answers (2)

Itamar Haber
Itamar Haber

Reputation: 50112

The name "Redis" is an acronym for REmote DIctionary Server - the "Remote" part indicates that it is intended to be used over a network. The main concept here is that the data stored in memory in Redis is accessible to multiple application instances, instead of having an in-app store for each.

That said, there is no requirement to have Redis on a separate server or use it with multiple application instance. On the other hand, it makes a lot of sense because that is what it was designed for.

Upvotes: 2

Michael McTiernan
Michael McTiernan

Reputation: 301

You're not required to host Redis on a separate server at all. In fact, it's not uncommon for application servers to run an in-memory store like Redis or Memcached on the same server for simple caching tasks.

However, what I think is at the heart of your question is a fundamental misunderstanding of how in-memory storage works. Even if you were to run Redis on the same server as your application, your application would never be able to directly access the RAM blocks that Redis uses to store your data--you would still need to send a request to the Redis instance to retrieve the data. Hosting Redis separately from your application server does introduce network latency, but there's zero difference in terms of accessing or modifying the data in RAM.

Upvotes: 5

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