---
type: reference
stage: Systems
group: Distribution
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Troubleshooting Redis **(FREE SELF)**

There are a lot of moving parts that must be taken care carefully
in order for the HA setup to work as expected.

Before proceeding with the troubleshooting below, check your firewall rules:

- Redis machines
  - Accept TCP connection in `6379`
  - Connect to the other Redis machines via TCP in `6379`
- Sentinel machines
  - Accept TCP connection in `26379`
  - Connect to other Sentinel machines via TCP in `26379`
  - Connect to the Redis machines via TCP in `6379`

## Basic Redis activity check

Start Redis troubleshooting with a basic Redis activity check:

1. Open a terminal on your GitLab server.
1. Run `gitlab-redis-cli --stat` and observe the output while it runs.
1. Go to your GitLab UI and browse to a handful of pages. Any page works, like
   group or project overviews, issues, files in repositories, and so on.
1. Check the `stat` output again and verify that the values for `keys`, `clients`,
   `requests`, and `connections` increases as you browse. If the numbers go up,
   basic Redis functionality is working and GitLab can connect to it.

## Troubleshooting Redis replication

You can check if everything is correct by connecting to each server using
`redis-cli` application, and sending the `info replication` command as below.

```shell
/opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/redis-cli -h <redis-host-or-ip> -a '<redis-password>' info replication
```

When connected to a `Primary` Redis, you see the number of connected
`replicas`, and a list of each with connection details:

```plaintext
# Replication
role:master
connected_replicas:1
replica0:ip=10.133.5.21,port=6379,state=online,offset=208037514,lag=1
master_repl_offset:208037658
repl_backlog_active:1
repl_backlog_size:1048576
repl_backlog_first_byte_offset:206989083
repl_backlog_histlen:1048576
```

When it's a `replica`, you see details of the primary connection and if
its `up` or `down`:

```plaintext
# Replication
role:replica
master_host:10.133.1.58
master_port:6379
master_link_status:up
master_last_io_seconds_ago:1
master_sync_in_progress:0
replica_repl_offset:208096498
replica_priority:100
replica_read_only:1
connected_replicas:0
master_repl_offset:0
repl_backlog_active:0
repl_backlog_size:1048576
repl_backlog_first_byte_offset:0
repl_backlog_histlen:0
```

## Troubleshooting Sentinel

If you get an error like: `Redis::CannotConnectError: No sentinels available.`,
there may be something wrong with your configuration files or it can be related
to [this issue](https://github.com/redis/redis-rb/issues/531).

You must make sure you are defining the same value in `redis['master_name']`
and `redis['master_password']` as you defined for your sentinel node.

The way the Redis connector `redis-rb` works with sentinel is a bit
non-intuitive. We try to hide the complexity in omnibus, but it still requires
a few extra configurations.

---

To make sure your configuration is correct:

1. SSH into your GitLab application server
1. Enter the Rails console:

   ```shell
   # For Omnibus installations
   sudo gitlab-rails console

   # For source installations
   sudo -u git rails console -e production
   ```

1. Run in the console:

   ```ruby
   redis = Redis.new(Gitlab::Redis::SharedState.params)
   redis.info
   ```

   Keep this screen open and try to simulate a failover below.

1. To simulate a failover on primary Redis, SSH into the Redis server and run:

   ```shell
   # port must match your primary redis port, and the sleep time must be a few seconds bigger than defined one
    redis-cli -h localhost -p 6379 DEBUG sleep 20
   ```

1. Then back in the Rails console from the first step, run:

   ```ruby
   redis.info
   ```

   You should see a different port after a few seconds delay
   (the failover/reconnect time).

## Troubleshooting a non-bundled Redis with an installation from source

If you get an error in GitLab like `Redis::CannotConnectError: No sentinels available.`,
there may be something wrong with your configuration files or it can be related
to [this upstream issue](https://github.com/redis/redis-rb/issues/531).

You must make sure that `resque.yml` and `sentinel.conf` are configured correctly,
otherwise `redis-rb` does not work properly.

The `master-group-name` (`gitlab-redis`) defined in (`sentinel.conf`)
**must** be used as the hostname in GitLab (`resque.yml`):

```conf
# sentinel.conf:
sentinel monitor gitlab-redis 10.0.0.1 6379 2
sentinel down-after-milliseconds gitlab-redis 10000
sentinel config-epoch gitlab-redis 0
sentinel leader-epoch gitlab-redis 0
```

```yaml
# resque.yaml
production:
  url: redis://:myredispassword@gitlab-redis/
  sentinels:
    -
      host: 10.0.0.1
      port: 26379  # point to sentinel, not to redis port
    -
      host: 10.0.0.2
      port: 26379  # point to sentinel, not to redis port
    -
      host: 10.0.0.3
      port: 26379  # point to sentinel, not to redis port
```

When in doubt, read the [Redis Sentinel documentation](https://redis.io/topics/sentinel).