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Setting Up Redis Prometheus Exporter

This guide explains how to install and run the Redis Exporter, which exposes Redis performance metrics that can be scraped by Grafana Alloy or Prometheus for visualization in Grafana Cloud.

1. Download and Install Redis Exporter​

Download the latest stable version (v1.61.0) from the official GitHub releases:

cd /tmp
wget https://github.com/oliver006/redis_exporter/releases/download/v1.61.0/redis_exporter-v1.61.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Extract and install the binary:

tar -xzf redis_exporter-v1.61.0.linux-amd64.tar.gz
mv redis_exporter-v1.61.0.linux-amd64/redis_exporter /usr/local/bin/
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/redis_exporter

2. Create a Systemd Service​

Create a service file to manage Redis Exporter as a background process:

/etc/systemd/system/redis-exporter.service

Add the following configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Redis Exporter
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/redis_exporter --redis.addr=rediss://redis-hostname:6380 --redis.password=''
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

This ensures the exporter connects securely to your Azure Redis instance (rediss:// indicates TLS).

3. Enable and Start the Service​

Reload systemd and start the exporter:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable redis-exporter
systemctl start redis-exporter

4. Verify the Exporter​

Check that it’s active and running:

systemctl status redis-exporter

By default, Redis Exporter listens on port 9121. Verify that it’s returning metrics:

curl http://localhost:9121/metrics

Example output:

# HELP redis_up Information about the Redis instance
# TYPE redis_up gauge
redis_up 1

5. Configure Grafana Alloy Scrape​

If you’re using Grafana Alloy to forward metrics to Grafana Cloud, edit the configuration file:

/etc/alloy/config.alloy

Add the following block:

prometheus.scrape "redis" {
  targets = [
    { __address__ = "127.0.0.1:9121", },
  ]
  metrics_path = "/metrics"
  forward_to = [prometheus.relabel.metrics_instance.receiver]
}

Then restart Alloy to apply changes:

systemctl restart alloy

This tells Alloy to scrape the Redis Exporter on 127.0.0.1:9121 and forward all collected metrics to your Grafana Cloud metrics pipeline.