Redis with Docker Compose: Persistence, Security, and Production-Ready Configuration
Originally published on bckinfo.com Redis with Docker Compose: Persistence, Security, and Production-Ready Configuration Table of Contents Why Redis Containers Lose Data RDB vs AOF: Choosing a Persistence Strategy Basic Setup with Docker Compose Full Persistence Configuration Securing Redis in Docker Setting Resource Limits Redis in a Multi-Service Stack Backing Up and Restoring a Redis Volume Common Issues and Quick Fixes Closing Notes Redis is one of the most common services to run in Docker — it's fast to spin up, lightweight, and perfect for caching, session storage, and queues. But that same simplicity hides a trap: by default, Redis in Docker stores everything in memory, and the moment a container is removed, all of that data disappears . This guide walks through setting up Redis with Docker Compose the right way — covering persistence, authentication, resource limits, and the health checks you need before putting it anywhere near production. Why Redis Containers Lose Data A Docker container is meant to be disposable. That's a feature for stateless services, but it's a liability for a database like Redis. If you start a plain Redis container without a mounted volume, here's what happens: The container writes its dataset only inside its own writable layer. docker compose down or docker rm removes that layer entirely. The next time the container starts, Redis initializes with an empty dataset. This single oversight accounts for a large share of "we lost our session data" incidents in small teams running Redis in containers for the first time. The fix is straightforward once you understand the two persistence mechanisms Redis offers. RDB vs AOF: Choosing a Persistence Strategy Redis supports two persistence models, and production setups typically combine both: RDB (Redis Database snapshots) Point-in-time snapshots of the dataset, saved at intervals you define. Fast to restore, but you can lose any writes that happened after the last snapshot. AOF (Append Only Fil