How to use Redli to Securely Connect to a Vultr Managed Database for Redis

Redli is an open-source Go-based tool that makes TLS/SSL connections to remote Redis Databases. Since the Redis command line tool (redis-cli) does not support TLS/SSL connections natively, Redli serves as the best alternative to the tool with direct TLS support. This article describes how you can use the Redli tool to securely connect to a Vultr Managed Database for Redis.

Prerequisites

Deploy a Vultr Managed Database for Redis.

Install Redli

For easy accessibility, create a new Redli directory.
```
 $ mkdir Redli
```
Switch to the directory.
```
 $ cd Redli
```
Using the wget utility, download the latest Redli release file from the projectâ€™s GitHub Repository. For this article, v0.7.0 is the latest version.
```
 $ wget https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/redli/releases/download/v0.7.0/redli_0.7.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz
```

Extract files from the downloaded tarball.

 $ tar xvf redli_0.7.0_linux_amd64.tar.gz

List the extracted files and verify that a new redli directory is available.
```
 $ ls
```
Output:
```
 LICENSE.txt

 README.md

 redli
```

Configure Redli as a System-wide Command

Move the redli binary file to the /usr/local/bin directory where the system looks for standard user executable files.
```
 $ sudo mv redli /usr/local/bin/
```
Switch to your user home directory.
```
 $ cd ~/
```
Run the redli command to verify that you can access the application.
```
 $ redli --version
```
Output:
```
 0.5.2     
```

Connect to a Vultr Managed Database for Redis

When connecting to remote Redis databases, Redli uses the command syntax below:

     $ redli --tls -h <redis-host> -p <port> -a <password>

--tls: Activates TLS/SSL connectivity.
-h: The remote Redis database host.
-p: Redis Port to connect to.
-a: Redis database password to authenticate with the server.

The rediss: scheme:
```
 $ redli -u rediss://user:password@host:port
```
The -u flag specifies that the connection points to a URI address. You can find your direct Rediss URI in the Vultr Managed Database for Redis control panel.

To connect to your Vultr managed database for Redis, run any of the following commands.
```
 $ redli --tls -h redis.vultrdb.com -p 1234 -a password
```
OR
```
 $ redli --tls -u rediss://user:password@redis.vultrdb.com:1234
```
Replace redis.vultrdb.com, 1234, and password with the actual Vultr Redis database details displayed in your control panel respectively.
Enter PING to verify that you're connected to the Vultr Redis database.
```
 > PING
```
Output:
```
 PONG
```
Start managing your Redis database. To close the session, run the following command.
```
 > exit
```

Next Steps

In this article, you have used the Redli tool to connect to a Vultr Managed Database for Redis. With a secure connection to your database, you can start managing and safely cutover applications as explained in the following articles.

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