Using Redis with Laravel: Installation, Configuration, and Cluster Setup

This article explains how to integrate Redis with a Laravel application, covering the compilation of the php‑redis extension, Laravel installation, and Redis configuration for caching and database usage.

1. Compile and install php‑redis extension

# cd /usr/local/src
# wget http://pecl.php.net/get/redis-5.2.2.tgz
# tar -zxvf redis-5.2.2.tgz
# cd redis-5.2.2
# /usr/local/php7.2/php/phpize
# ./configure --with-php-config=/usr/local/php7.2/bin/php-config
# make && make install
echo "extension=redis.so" >> php.ini

2. Install Laravel framework

composer -v
composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel blog

Generate the application key: php artisan key:generate Access the project at http://localhost/blog/public/index.php.

3. Install predis extension composer require predis/predis 4. Configure Redis in Laravel

In config/cache.php set the driver to redis and define the store:

'default' => env('CACHE_DRIVER', 'file'),
'stores' => [
    'redis' => [
        'driver' => 'redis',
        'connection' => 'cache',
    ],
],

In config/database.php configure the Redis client, options, and connections, including cluster settings:

'redis' => [
    'client' => env('REDIS_CLIENT', 'predis'),
    'options' => [
        'cluster' => env('REDIS_CLUSTER', 'predis'),
        'prefix' => env('APP_NAME', 'laravel').'_database_',
    ],
    'default' => [
        'url' => env('REDIS_URL'),
        'host' => env('REDIS_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
        'password' => env('REDIS_PASSWORD', null),
        'port' => env('REDIS_PORT', 6379),
        'database' => env('REDIS_DB', 0),
    ],
    'cache' => [
        'url' => env('REDIS_URL'),
        'host' => env('REDIS_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
        'password' => env('REDIS_PASSWORD', null),
        'port' => env('REDIS_PORT', 6379),
        'database' => env('REDIS_CACHE_DB', 1),
    ],
    // Cluster configuration example using three nodes
    'clusters' => [
        'write' => [
            [
                'host' => '192.168.1.100',
                'password' => null,
                'port' => 6379,
                'database' => 0,
            ],
        ],
        'read' => [
            [
                'host' => '192.168.1.101',
                'password' => null,
                'port' => 6379,
                'database' => 0,
            ],
            [
                'host' => '192.168.1.102',
                'password' => null,
                'port' => 6379,
                'database' => 0,
            ],
        ],
    ],
],

5. Sample PHP code for Redis read/write

$redis = new Redis();
$redis->connect('localhost', 6379);
$redis->set('username', 'wangwu');
var_dump($redis->get('username')); // outputs string(6) "wangwu"

// Using Laravel's Redis facade with cluster connections
$res = Redis::connection('clusters.write')->set('key', 'value');
$res = Redis::connection('clusters.read')->get('key');

The steps above provide a complete guide to set up Redis for caching and as a primary data store within a Laravel application, including cluster configuration for high availability.