Acquiring Windows Binaries

Since the official Redis project does not supply Windows executables, Windows-compatible builds can be sourced from community-maintained repositories. Extract the downloaded archive to your preferred directory.

Executable Components

File	Purpose
redis-server.exe	Launches the Redis database server.
redis-cli.exe	Command-line interface for interacting with the server.
redis-benchmark.exe	Utility for evaluating server performance.
redis-check-aof.exe	Tool for validating and repairing Append-Only Files.
redis-check-dump.exe	Tool for verifying RDB snapshot files.
redis.windows.conf	Primary configuration file for the Windows environment.

Service Management

To run Redis as a background service, execute the installation command followed by the start command from your terminal:

redis-server.exe --service-install redis.windows.conf --loglevel verbose
redis-server.exe --service-start

To halt and remove the service, use:

redis-server.exe --service-stop
redis-server.exe --service-uninstall

Configuration Parameters

Settings are defined within redis.windows.conf. Ensure the file is saved with UTF-8 encoding if it contains non-ASCII characters.

• daemonize: Operates as a background daemon (set to yes or no).
• pidfile: Path to store the process ID file. Unique paths are required for multiple instances.
• port: Listening port (default 6379). A value of 0 disables TCP listening.
• bind: Restricts connections to specific IP addresses (e.g., 127.0.0.1). Unset by default, accepting all interfaces.
• timeout: Client connection idle timeout in seconds (0 disables timeout).
• loglevel: Logging verbosity. Options: debug, verbose, notice, warning.
• logfile: Path for log output. Defaults to stdout.
• databases: Total number of logical databases (default 16).
• save <seconds> <changes>: Triggers an RDB snapshot after specified write operations within a timeframe.
• rdbcompression: Enables LZF compression for snapshot files.
• dbfilename: Name of the RDB file.
• dir: Directory path for snapshot storage.
• requirepass: Forces clients to authenticate using the specified password.
• maxclients: Maximum concurrent client connections.
• maxmemory: Hard limit on memory usage. Reaching this limit triggers the eviction policy.
• maxmemory-policy: Key eviction strategy when memory limits are hit (e.g., volatile-lru, allkeys-lru, noeviction).

Replication Settings

• slaveof <masterip> <masterport>: Configures the instance as a replica of a primary node.
• masterauth: Password for authenticating with the primary node.
• slave-serve-stale-data: Determines if replicas serve stale data when disconnected from the primary.
• repl-ping-slave-period: Interval in seconds for replica heartbeats (default 10).
• repl-timeout: Timeout for bulk data I/O and pings (default 60). Must exceed repl-ping-slave-period.

Append-Only File (AOF) Settings

• appendonly: Enables AOF persistence for greater durability.
• appendfilename: Name of the AOF file (default appendonly.aof).
• appendfsync: Disk synchronization frequency. Options: always, everysec, no.
• no-appendfsync-on-rewrite: Prevents fsync calls during BGREWRITEAOF to reduce blocking.
• auto-aof-rewrite-percentage: Triggers AOF rewrite if file size grows by this percentage.
• auto-aof-rewrite-min-size: Minimum AOF size to trigger a rewrite.

Slow Log and Advanced Settings

• slowlog-log-slower-than: Threshold in microseconds for logging slow commands. Negative values disable it.
• slowlog-max-len: Maximum number of slow log entries.
• hash-max-ziplist-entries / hash-max-ziplist-value: Limits for memory-efficient hash encoding.
• list-max-ziplist-entries / list-max-ziplist-value: Limits for memory-efficient list encoding.
• set-max-intset-entries: Maximum entries for integer set encoding.
• zset-max-ziplist-entries / zset-max-ziplist-value: Limits for memory-efficient sorted set encoding.
• activerehashing: Actively rehashes the main dictionary to reclaim memory.

Virtual Memory (VM) configurations were deprecated in Redis 2.4 and should be ignored.

Client Interaction

Launch redis-cli.exe to connect to the local server. Verify the connection:

127.0.0.1:6379> ping
PONG

Retrieve comprehensive server statistics and configuration details:

127.0.0.1:6379> info

This command outputs blocks of data covering Server, Clients, Memory, Persistence, Stats, Replication, CPU, and Keyspace metrics.

Performance Benchmarking

The redis-benchmark.exe utility simulates load. Executing it without arguments runs default tests.

Example output:

====== SET ======
    200000 requests completed in 1.32 seconds
    50 parallel clients
    3 bytes payload
    keep alive: 1
99.98% <= 2 milliseconds
151515.15 requests per second

Common parameters:

• -h: Target host (default 127.0.0.1)
• -p: Target port (default 6379)
• -c: Concurrent client connections (default 50)
• -n: Total number of requests (default 100000)
• -d: Data size in bytes for SET/GET (default 2)
• -t: Run specific tests (e.g., set,get)
• -q: Quiet mode, shows only requests/sec
• --csv: Outputs results in CSV format
• -r: Inserts random keys using the specified range

Execution examples:

redis-benchmark -h 10.0.0.5 -p 6380 -n 200000 -c 25
redis-benchmark -t set -n 500000 -r 50000000
redis-benchmark -t ping,set,get -n 150000 --csv

Data File Validation

To validate an Append-Only File and optionally repair it:

redis-check-aof.exe appendonly.aof --fix

To inspect an RDB snapshot file for integrity and size metrics:

redis-check-dump.exe dump.rdb