Change the Location of Persistence After Installation

Changing the persistence location in Redis Software after installation can help you reallocate disk usage, optimize I/O, or conform to infrastructure standards. This guide outlines a safe and supported way to migrate persistent storage to a new mount point, using Maintenance Mode, file system symbolic links, and Redis administrative tools. It includes Preparation and Prerequisites, Step-by-Step Migration, and Troubleshooting.

Preparation and Prerequisites

Before initiating the migration:

• Perform in Test First
  Validate these steps in a staging environment to confirm safety and compatibility.
  • Review the Deployment Planning guide to ensure your infrastructure is suitable.
• Back Up All Data
  Follow the Redis Backup guide to safeguard current data in case a rollback is needed.

• Verify Cluster Health
  Run the following commands to ensure all services and nodes are healthy:

  rladmin status extra all
  sudo /opt/redislabs/bin/rlcheck --continue-on-error
  supervisorctl status

• Migrate Shards Off Node (if applicable)
  Only perform this procedure on nodes that do not host master or replica shards. Use rladmin migrate to offload endpoints/shards:

  rladmin migrate shard <shard-id> to <target-node>

  For guidance on storage design considerations, see Persistent and Ephemeral Storage Planning.

• Generate and Save a Support Package
  Generate a support package for pre-change validation and post-mortem if needed.

Step-by-Step Migration Procedure

1. Enable Maintenance Mode

   rladmin node <node-id> maintenance_mode on

   (See Maintenance Mode documentation.)

2. Stop All Redis Services

   supervisorctl stop all
   cnm_ctl stop
   dmc_ctl stop
   sudo /opt/redislabs/bin/redis_ctl stop-all

3. Create the New Persistence Directory

   sudo mkdir -p /u01/app/RedisSoftware/persistentstorage/<node-id>-persist
   chown -R redislabs:redislabs /u01/app/RedisSoftware/persistentstorage/<node-id>-persist
   sudo chmod -R 755 /u01/app/RedisSoftware/persistentstorage/<node-id>-persist

4. Move Existing Data to New Location
   Use mv while preserving ownership and timestamps:

   sudo mv /var/opt/redislabs/persist/* /u01/app/RedisSoftware/persistentstorage/<node-id>-persist/

5. Remove Old Directory and Create Symbolic Link

   rmdir /var/opt/redislabs/persist
   ln -s /u01/app/RedisSoftware/persistentstorage/<node-id>-persist /var/opt/redislabs/persist

   Verify the symlink:

   ls -alR /var/opt/redislabs/persist
   readlink -f /var/opt/redislabs/persist

For more details about default and configurable file system paths, see the Redis File Locations guide.

6. Start Services

   sudo /opt/redislabs/bin/redis_ctl start-all
   cnm_ctl start
   dmc_ctl start
   supervisorctl start all
   supervisorctl status

7. Exit Maintenance Mode

   rladmin node <node-id> maintenance_mode off

8. Verify Cluster Health
   Confirm all services are healthy:

   rladmin status extra all

9. Migrate Shards and Endpoints Back (if needed)

   rladmin migrate shard <shard-id> to <original-node>

10. Clean Up Legacy AOF Files
    Remove *.aof.prev files to free up space:

    find /u01/app/RedisSoftware/persistentstorage/<node-id>-persist/ -name '*.aof.prev' -delete

11. Repeat for Other Nodes
    Sequentially repeat this process on each applicable node.

Troubleshooting