Monitoring Redis metrics with ClickStack

First, verify you can connect to Redis and that the INFO command works:

# Test connection
redis-cli ping
# Expected output: PONG

# Test INFO command (used by metrics collector)
redis-cli INFO server
# Should display Redis server information

If Redis requires authentication:

redis-cli -a <your-password> ping

Common Redis endpoints:

• Local installation: localhost:6379
• Docker: Use container name or service name (e.g., redis:6379)
• Remote: <redis-host>:6379

ClickStack allows you to extend the base OpenTelemetry collector configuration by mounting a custom configuration file and setting an environment variable. The custom configuration is merged with the base configuration managed by HyperDX via OpAMP.

Create a file named redis-metrics.yaml with the following configuration:

receivers:
  redis:
    endpoint: "localhost:6379"
    collection_interval: 10s
    # Uncomment if Redis requires authentication
    # password: ${env:REDIS_PASSWORD}
    
    # Configure which metrics to collect
    metrics:
      redis.commands.processed:
        enabled: true
      redis.clients.connected:
        enabled: true
      redis.memory.used:
        enabled: true
      redis.keyspace.hits:
        enabled: true
      redis.keyspace.misses:
        enabled: true
      redis.keys.evicted:
        enabled: true
      redis.keys.expired:
        enabled: true

processors:
  resource:
    attributes:
      - key: service.name
        value: "redis"
        action: upsert

service:
  pipelines:
    metrics/redis:
      receivers: [redis]
      processors:
        - resource
        - memory_limiter
        - batch
      exporters:
        - clickhouse

This configuration:

• Connects to Redis on localhost:6379 (adjust endpoint for your setup)
• Collects metrics every 10 seconds
• Collects key performance metrics (commands, clients, memory, keyspace stats)
• Sets the required service.name resource attribute per OpenTelemetry semantic conventions
• Routes metrics to the ClickHouse exporter via a dedicated pipeline

Key metrics collected:

• redis.commands.processed - Commands processed per second
• redis.clients.connected - Number of connected clients
• redis.clients.blocked - Clients blocked on blocking calls
• redis.memory.used - Memory used by Redis in bytes
• redis.memory.peak - Peak memory usage
• redis.keyspace.hits - Successful key lookups
• redis.keyspace.misses - Failed key lookups (for cache hit rate calculation)
• redis.keys.expired - Keys expired
• redis.keys.evicted - Keys evicted due to memory pressure
• redis.connections.received - Total connections received
• redis.connections.rejected - Rejected connections

To enable custom collector configuration in your existing ClickStack deployment, you must:

1. Mount the custom config file at /etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml
2. Set the environment variable CUSTOM_OTELCOL_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml
3. Ensure network connectivity between ClickStack and Redis

Option 1: Docker Compose

Update your ClickStack deployment configuration:

services:
  clickstack:
    # ... existing configuration ...
    environment:
      - CUSTOM_OTELCOL_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml
      # Optional: If Redis requires authentication
      # - REDIS_PASSWORD=your-redis-password
      # ... other environment variables ...
    volumes:
      - ./redis-metrics.yaml:/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml:ro
      # ... other volumes ...
    # If Redis is in the same compose file:
    depends_on:
      - redis

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    # Optional: Enable authentication
    # command: redis-server --requirepass your-redis-password

Option 2: Docker run (all-in-one image)

If using the all-in-one image with docker run:

docker run --name clickstack \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 4317:4317 -p 4318:4318 \
  -e CUSTOM_OTELCOL_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml \
  -v "$(pwd)/redis-metrics.yaml:/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml:ro" \
  clickhouse/clickstack-all-in-one:latest

Important: If Redis is running in another container, use Docker networking:

# Create a network
docker network create monitoring

# Run Redis on the network
docker run -d --name redis --network monitoring redis:7-alpine

# Run ClickStack on the same network (update endpoint to "redis:6379" in config)
docker run --name clickstack \
  --network monitoring \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 4317:4317 -p 4318:4318 \
  -e CUSTOM_OTELCOL_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml \
  -v "$(pwd)/redis-metrics.yaml:/etc/otelcol-contrib/custom.config.yaml:ro" \
  clickhouse/clickstack-all-in-one:latest

Once configured, log into HyperDX and verify metrics are flowing:

1. Navigate to the Metrics explorer
2. Search for metrics starting with redis. (e.g., redis.commands.processed, redis.memory.used)
3. You should see metric data points appearing at your configured collection interval

Download the pre-generated metrics files (24 hours of Redis Metrics with realistic patterns):

# Download gauge metrics (memory, fragmentation ratio)
curl -O https://datasets-documentation.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/clickstack-integrations/redis/redis-metrics-gauge.csv

# Download sum metrics (commands, connections, keyspace stats)
curl -O https://datasets-documentation.s3.eu-west-3.amazonaws.com/clickstack-integrations/redis/redis-metrics-sum.csv

The dataset includes realistic patterns:

• Cache warming event (06:00) - Hit rate climbs from 30% to 80%
• Traffic spike (14:30-14:45) - 5x traffic surge with connection pressure
• Memory pressure (20:00) - Key evictions and cache performance degradation
• Daily traffic patterns - Business hours peaks, evening drops, random micro-spikes

Start a ClickStack instance:

docker run -d --name clickstack-demo \
  -p 8080:8080 -p 4317:4317 -p 4318:4318 \
  clickhouse/clickstack-all-in-one:latest

Wait approximately 30 seconds for ClickStack to fully start.

Load the metrics directly into ClickHouse:

# Load gauge metrics (memory, fragmentation)
cat redis-metrics-gauge.csv | docker exec -i clickstack-demo \
  clickhouse-client --query "INSERT INTO otel_metrics_gauge FORMAT CSVWithNames"

# Load sum metrics (commands, connections, keyspace)
cat redis-metrics-sum.csv | docker exec -i clickstack-demo \
  clickhouse-client --query "INSERT INTO otel_metrics_sum FORMAT CSVWithNames"

Once loaded, the quickest way to see your metrics is through the pre-built dashboard.

Proceed to the Dashboards and visualization section to import the dashboard and view all Redis Metrics at once.

Download the dashboard configuration file.

1. Open HyperDX and navigate to the Dashboards section
2. Click Import Dashboard in the upper right corner under the ellipses

3. Upload the redis-metrics-dashboard.json file and click Finish Import

The dashboard will be created with all visualizations pre-configured: