Spring Redis requires Redis 2.0 or above (Redis 2.2 is recommended) and Java SE 6.0 or above. In terms of language bindings (or connectors), Spring Redis integrates with Jedis, JRedis and RJC, three popular open source Java libraries for Redis. If you are aware of any other connector that we should be integrating is, please send us feedback.

The Redis support provides several components (in order of dependencies):

For most tasks, the high-level abstractions and support services are the best choice. Note that at any point, one can move between layers - for example, it's very easy to get a hold of the low level connection (or even the native libray) to communicate directly with Redis.

One of the first tasks when using Redis and Spring is to connect to the store through the IoC container. To do that, a Java connector (or binding) is required; currently Spring Redis has support for Jedis and JRedis. No matter the library one chooses, there only one set of Spring Redis API that one needs to use that behaves consistently across all connectors, namely the org.springframework.data.redis.connection package and its RedisConnection and RedisConnectionFactory interfaces for working respectively for retrieving active connection to Redis.

4.3.1 RedisConnection and RedisConnectionFactory

RedisConnection provides the building block for Redis communication as it handles the communication with the Redis back-end. It also automatically translates the underlying connecting library exceptions to Spring's consistent DAO exception hierarchy so one can switch the connectors without any code changes as the operation semantics remain the same.

	Note
	For the corner cases where the native library API is required, RedisConnection provides a dedicated method getNativeConnection which returns the raw, underlying object used for communication.

Active RedisConnection are created through RedisConnectionFactory. In addition, the factories act as PersistenceExceptionTranslator meaning once declared, allow one to do transparent exception translation for example through the use of the @Repository annotation and AOP. For more information see the dedicated section in Spring Framework documentation.

	Note
	Depending on the underlying configuration, the factory can return a new connection or an existing connection (in case a pool is used).

The easiest way to work with a RedisConnectionFactory is to configure the appropriate connector through the IoC container and inject it into the using class.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
    <!-- Jedis ConnectionFactory -->
  <bean id="jedisConnectionFactory" class="org.springframework.data.redis.connection.jedis.JedisConnectionFactory"/>
</beans>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
  <bean id="jedisConnectionFactory" class="org.springframework.data.redis.connection.jedis.JedisConnectionFactory"
        p:host-name="server" p:port="6379"/>
</beans>

4.3.3 Configuring JRedis connector

JRedis is another popular, open-source connector supported by Spring Redis through the org.springframework.data.redis.connection.jredis package.

	Note
	Since JRedis itself does not support (yet) Redis 2.x commands, Spring Redis uses an updated fork available here.

A typical JRedis configuration can looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
  <bean id="jredisConnectionFactory" class="org.springframework.data.redis.connection.jredis.JredisConnectionFactory"
        p:host-name="server" p:port="6379"/>
</beans>

As one can note, the configuration is quite similar to the Jedis one.

Important

Currently, JRedis does not have support for binary keys. This forces the JredisConnection to perform encoding internally (through base64 schema). In practice, this means it's safe to read/write arbitrary data however the Redis key stored values will differ from the decoded ones, even in the simplest cases, since everything (no matter the format) is encoded. This will not be the case for Redis values. This issue is currently being addressed in the JRedis project and once fixed, will be incorporated by Spring Data Redis.

4.3.4 Configuring RJC connector

RJC is the third, open-source connector supported by Spring Redis through the org.springframework.data.redis.connection.rjc package.

Similar to the other connectors, a typical RJC configuration can looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
  <bean id="jredisConnectionFactory" class="org.springframework.data.redis.connection.rjc.RjcConnectionFactory"
        p:host-name="server" p:port="6379"/>
</beans>

As one can note, the configuration is quite similar to the Jredis or Jedis one.

Important

Currently, RJC does not have support for binary keys. This forces the RjcConnection to perform encoding internally (through base64 schema). In practice, this means it's safe to read/write arbitrary data however the Redis key stored values will differ from the decoded ones, even in the simplest cases, since everything (no matter the format) is encoded. This will not be the case for Redis values. This issue is currently being addressed in the RJC project and once fixed, will be incorporated by Spring Data Redis.

Most users are likely to use RedisTemplate and its coresponding package org.springframework.data.redis.core - the template is in fact the central class of the Redis module due to its rich feature set. The template offers a high-level abstraction for Redis interaction - while RedisConnection offer low level methods that accept and return binary values (byte arrays), the template takes care of serialization and connection management, freeing the user from dealing with such details.

Moreover, the template provides operations views (following the grouping from Redis command reference) that offer rich, generified interfaces for working against a certain type or certain key (through the KeyBound interfaces) as described below:

Once configured, the template is thread-safe and can be reused across multiple instances.

Out of the box, RedisTemplate uses a Java-based serializer for most of its operations. This means that any object written or read by the template will be serializer/deserialized through Java. The serialization mechanism can be easily changed on the template and the Redis module offers several implementations available in the org.springframework.data.redis.serializer package - see Section 4.6, “Serializers” for more information. Note that the template requires all keys to be non-null - values can be null as long as the underlying serializer accepts them; read the javadoc of each serializer for more information.

For cases where a certain template view is needed, one the view as a dependency and inject the template: the container will automatically perform the conversion eliminating the opsFor[X] calls:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
  <bean id="jedisConnectionFactory" class="org.springframework.data.redis.connection.jedis.JedisConnectionFactory"
        p:use-pool="true"/>
  
  <!-- redis template definition -->
  <bean id="redisTemplate" class="org.springframework.data.redis.core.RedisTemplate"
    p:connection-factory-ref="jedisConnectionFactory"/>

  ... 
</beans>

public class Example {

  // inject the actual template 
  @Autowired
  private RedisTemplate<String, String> template;

  // inject the template as ListOperations
  @Autowired
  private ListOperations<String, String> listOps;

  public void addLink(String userId, URL url) {
    listOps.leftPush(userId, url.toExternalForm());
  }
}

Since it's quite the keys and values stored in Redis can be java.lang.String, the Redis modules provides two extensions to RedisConnection and RedisTemplate respectively the StringRedisConnection (and its DefaultStringRedisConnection implementation) and StringRedisTemplate as a convenient one-stop solution for intensive String operations. In addition to be bound to String keys, the template and the connection use the StringRedisSerializer underneath which means the stored keys and values are human readable (assuming the same encoding is used both in Redis and your code). For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
  <bean id="jedisConnectionFactory" class="org.springframework.data.redis.connection.jedis.JedisConnectionFactory"
        p:use-pool="true"/>
  
  <bean id="stringRedisTemplate" class="org.springframework.data.redis.core.StringRedisTemplate"
    p:connection-factory-ref="jedisConnectionFactory"/>

  ... 
</beans>

public class Example {

  @Autowired
  private StringRedisTemplate redisTemplate;

  public void addLink(String userId, URL url) {
    redisTemplate.opsForList().leftPush(userId, url.toExternalForm());
  }
}

As with the other Spring templates, RedisTemplate and StringRedisTemplate allow the developer to talk directly to Redis through the RedisCallback interface: this gives complete control to the developer as it talks directly to the RedisConnection.

public void useCallback() {
  redisTemplate.execute(new RedisCallback<Object>() {
    
    public Object doInRedis(RedisConnection connection) throws DataAccessException {
      Long size = connection.dbSize();
      ...
    }
  });
}

From the framework perspective, the data stored in Redis are just bytes. While Redis itself supports various types, for the most part these refer to the way the data is stored rather then what it represents. It is up to the user to decide whether the information gets translated into Strings or any other objects. The conversion between the user (custom) types and raw data (and vice-versa) is handled in Spring Redis Redis through the RedisSerializer interface (package org.springframework.data.redis.serializer) which as the name implies, takes care of the serialization process. Multiple implementations are available out of the box, two of which have been already mentioned before in this documentation: the StringRedisSerializer and the JdkSerializationRedisSerializer. However one can use OxmSerializer for Object/XML mapping through Spring 3 OXM support or JacksonJsonRedisSerializer for storing data in JSON format. Do note that the storage format is not limited only to values - it can be used for keys, values or hashes without any restrictions.

Spring Data provides dedicated messaging integration for Redis, very similar in functionality and naming to the JMS integration in Spring Framework; in fact, users familiar with the JMS support in Spring, should feel right at home.

Redis messaging can be roughly divided into two areas of functionality, namely the production or publication and consumption or subscription of messages, hence the shortcut pubsub (Publish/Subscribe). The RedisTemplate class is used for message production. For asynchronous reception similar to Java EE's message-driven bean style, Spring Data provides a dedicated message listener containers that is used to create Message-Driven POJOs (MDPs) and for synchronous reception, the RedisConnection contract.

The package org.springframework.data.redis.connection and org.springframework.data.redis.listener provide the core functionality for using Redis messaging.

// send message through connection
RedisConnection con = ...
byte[] msg = ...
byte[] channel = ...

con.publish(msg, channel);

// send message through RedisTemplate
RedisTemplate template = ...
template.convertAndSend("hello!", "world");

4.7.2 Receiving/Subscribing for messages

On the receiving side, one can subscribe to one or multiple channels either by naming them directly or by using pattern matching. The latter approach is quite useful as it not only allows multiple subscriptions to be created with one command but to also listen on channels not yet created at subscription time (as long as match the pattern).

At the low-level, RedisConnection offers subscribe and pSubscribe methods that map the Redis commands for subscribing by channel respectively by pattern. Note that multiple channels or patterns can be used as arguments. To change the subscription of a connection or simply query whether it is listening or not, RedisConnection provides getSubscription and isSubscribed method.

Important

Subscribing commands are synchronized and thus blocking. That is, calling subscribe on a connection will cause the current thread to block as it will start waiting for messages - the thread will be released only if the subscription is canceled, that is an additional thread invokes unsubscribe respectively pUnsubscribe on the same connection. See message listener container below for a solution to these problem.

As mentioned above, one subscribed a connection starts waiting for messages - no other commands can be invoked on it except for adding new subscriptions or modifying/canceling the existing ones, that is invoking anything else then subscribe, pSubscribe, unsubscribe, pUnsubscribe or is illegal and will through an exception.

In order to subscribe for messages, one needs to implement the MessageListener callback: each time a new message arrives, the callback gets invoked and the user code executed through onMessage method. The interface gives access not only to the actual message but to the channel it has been received through and the pattern (if any) used by the subscription to match the channel. This information allows the callee to differentiate between various messages not just by content but also through data.

Message Listener Containers

Due to its blocking nature, low-level subscription is not attractive as it requires connection and thread management for every single listener. To alleviate this problem, Spring Data offers RedisMessageListenerContainer which does all the heavy lifting on behalf of the user - users familiar with EJB and JMS should find the concepts familiar as it is designed as close as possible to the support in Spring Framework and its message-driven POJOs (MDPs)

RedisMessageListenerContainer acts as a message listener container; it is used to receive messages from a Redis channel and drive the MessageListener that are injected into it. The listener container is responsible for all threading of message reception and dispatches into the listener for processing. A message listener container is the intermediary between an MDP and a messaging provider, and takes care of registering to receive messages, resource acquisition and release, exception conversion and suchlike. This allows you as an application developer to write the (possibly complex) business logic associated with receiving a message (and reacting to it), and delegates boilerplate Redis infrastructure concerns to the framework.

Further more, to minimize the application footprint, RedisMessageListenerContainer performs allows one connection and one thread to be shared by multiple listeners even though they do not share a subscription. Thus no matter how many listeners or channels an application tracks, the runtime cost will remain the same through out its lifetime. Moreover, the container allows runtime configuration changes so one can add or remove listeners while an application is running without the need for restart. Additionally, the container uses a lazy subscription approach, using a RedisConnection only when needed - if all the listeners are unsubscribed, cleanup is automatically performed and the used thread released.

To help with the asynch manner of messages, the container requires a java.util.concurrent.Executor ( or Spring's TaskExecutor) for dispatching the messages. Depending on the load, the number of listeners or the runtime environment, one should change or tweak the executor to better serve her needs - in particular in managed environments (such as app servers), it is highly recommended to pick a a proper TaskExecutor to take advantage of its runtime.

The MessageListenerAdapter

The MessageListenerAdapter class is the final component in Spring's asynchronous messaging support: in a nutshell, it allows you to expose almost any class as a MDP (there are of course some constraints).

Consider the following interface definition. Notice that although the interface extends the MessageListener interface, it can still be used as a MDP via the use of the MessageListenerAdapter class. Notice also how the various message handling methods are strongly typed according to the contents of the various Message types that they can receive and handle.

public interface MessageDelegate {

    void handleMessage(String message);

    void handleMessage(Map message);

    void handleMessage(byte[] message);

    void handleMessage(Serializable message);
}

public class DefaultMessageDelegate implements MessageDelegate {
    // implementation elided for clarity...
}

In particular, note how the above implementation of the MessageDelegate interface (the above DefaultMessageDelegate class) has no Redis dependencies at all. It truly is a POJO that we will make into an MDP via the following configuration.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:redis="http://www.springframework.org/schema/redis"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/redis http://www.springframework.org/schema/redis/spring-redis.xsd">

  <!-- the default ConnectionFactory -->
  <redis:listener-container>
    <!-- the method attribute can be skipped as the default method name is "handleMessage" -->
    <redis:listener ref="listener" method="handleMessage" topic="chatroom" />
  </redis:listener-container>
  
  <bean class="redisexample.DefaultMessageDelegate"/>
  ...
<beans>

	Note
	The listener topic can be either a channel (e.g. topic="chatroom") or a pattern (e.g. topic="*room")

The example above uses the Redis namespace to declare the message listener container and automatically register the POJOs as listeners. The full blown, beans definition is displayed below:

<!-- this is the Message Driven POJO (MDP) -->
<bean id="messageListener" class="org.springframework.data.redis.listener.adapter.MessageListenerAdapter">
    <constructor-arg>
        <bean class="redisexample.DefaultMessageDelegate"/>
    </constructor-arg>
</bean>

<!-- and this is the message listener container... -->
<bean id="redisContainer" class="org.springframework.data.redis.listener.RedisMessageListenerContainer">
    <property name="connectionFactory" ref="connectionFactory"/>
    <property name="messageListeners">
      <!-- map of listeners and their associated topics (channels or/and patterns) -->
      <map>
        <entry key-ref="messageListener">
            <bean class="org.springframework.data.redis.listener.ChannelTopic">
               <constructor-arg value="chatroom">
            </bean>
        </entry>
      </map>
    </property>
</bean>

Each time a message is received, the adapter automatically performs translation (using the configured RedisSerializer) between the low-level format and the required object type transparently. Any exception caused by the method invocation is caught and handled by the container (by default, being logged).

Package org.springframework.data.redis.support offers various reusable components that rely on Redis as a backing store. Curently the package contains various JDK-based interface implementations on top of Redis such as atomic counters and JDK Collections.

The atomic counters make it easy to wrap Redis key incrementation while the collections allow easy management of Redis keys with minimal storage exposure or API leakage: in particular the RedisSet and RedisZSet interfaces offer easy access to the set operations supported by Redis such as intersection and union while RedisList implements the List, Queue and Deque contracts (and their equivalent blocking siblings) on top of Redis, exposing the storage as a FIFO (First-In-First-Out), LIFO (Last-In-First-Out) or capped collection with minimal configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
  xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
    
  <bean id="queue" class="org.springframework.data.redis.support.collections.DefaultRedisList">
    <constructor-arg ref="redisTemplat"/>
    <constructor-arg value="queue-key"/>
  </bean>
    
</beans>

public class AnotherExample {

  // injected
  private Deque<String> queue;

  public void addTag(String tag) {
    queue.push(tag);
  }
}

As shown in the example above, the consuming code is decoupled from the actual storage implementation - in fact there is no indication that Redis is used underneath. This makes moving from development to production environments transparent and highly increases testability (the Redis implementation can just as well be replaced with an in-memory one).

Spring Data Redis project is in its early stages. We are interested in feedback, knowing what your use cases are, what are the common patters you encounter so that the Redis module better serves your needs. Do contact us using the channels mentioned above, we are interested in hearing from you!