Monitor Redis with Nightingale

Runs INFO against Redis to collect memory, hit ratio, connections, slowlog and replication state; includes a Sentinel input and templates for redis_exporter.

Last reviewed 2026-11-02

The Redis input connects to the instance, runs INFO and parses the result into memory usage and fragmentation, keyspace hit ratio, connected and blocked clients, persistence state and replication status. Add one [[instances]] block per instance and give each an instance label; the dashboards filter on it.

For Sentinel deployments the redis_sentinel input collects the topology from the sentinel's point of view. Dashboards come in Categraf and redis_exporter editions; the rules cover memory nearing maxmemory, dropping hit ratio, abnormal connection counts, broken replication and restarts.

What's in the template

• 3 dashboards, 47 panels in total
• 13 alert rules, each with runbook steps
• Categraf collector config: input.redis, input.redis_sentinel

How to connect

1. Install Categraf and enable the plugins you need. Each config goes in its own conf/input.<plugin>/ directory; fill in addresses and credentials, then restart Categraf.

   conf/input.redis/redis.toml

   # # collect interval
   # interval = 15
   
   [[instances]]
   # address = "127.0.0.1:6379"
   # username = ""
   # password = ""
   # pool_size = 2
   
   # # Optional. Specify redis commands to retrieve values
   # commands = [
   #     {command = ["get", "sample-key1"], metric = "custom_metric_name1"},
   #     {command = ["get", "sample-key2"], metric = "custom_metric_name2"}
   # ]
   
   # # interval = global.interval * interval_times
   # interval_times = 1
   
   # important! use global unique string to specify instance
   # labels = { instance="n9e-10.2.3.4:6379" }
   
   ## Optional TLS Config
   # use_tls = false
   # tls_min_version = "1.2"
   # tls_ca = "/etc/categraf/ca.pem"
   # tls_cert = "/etc/categraf/cert.pem"
   # tls_key = "/etc/categraf/key.pem"
   ## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
   # insecure_skip_verify = true

   conf/input.redis_sentinel/redis_sentinel.toml

   # # collect interval
   # interval = 15
   
   [[instances]]
   # [protocol://][:password]@address[:port]
   # e.g. servers = ["tcp://localhost:26379"]
   servers = []
   
   # # interval = global.interval * interval_times
   # interval_times = 1
   # add some dimension data by labels
   # labels = {}
   
   ## Optional TLS Config
   # use_tls = false
   # tls_min_version = "1.2"
   # tls_ca = "/etc/categraf/ca.pem"
   # tls_cert = "/etc/categraf/cert.pem"
   # tls_key = "/etc/categraf/key.pem"
   ## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
   # insecure_skip_verify = true

2. Open the integration center in Nightingale, find Redis, and import the dashboards and alert rules into a business group.

3. Imported rules start disabled. Check that the metrics are arriving first, then enable the rules one by one with thresholds that fit your environment.

Bundled dashboards

Dashboard	Panels
Redis by address	16
Redis by instance	16
Redis Overview - exporter	15

Bundled alert rules

13 rules, disabled on import so you can enable them one by one with your own thresholds. The PromQL condition and runbook steps for every rule are in the alert rule library: Redis alert rules.

Rule	Severity	For
High Redis eviction rate	S2 Warning	1m
High Redis memory usage rate	S2 Warning	1m
High Redis Ping latency (above 100 milliseconds)	S2 Warning	1m
Low Redis hit rate	S2 Warning	1m
Redis connection refused	S2 Warning	—
Redis has just been restarted, please be aware	S3 Info	—
High Redis client connection count - exporter	S2 Warning	1m
High Redis eviction rate - exporter	S2 Warning	1m
High Redis latency - exporter	S2 Warning	1m
High Redis memory usage rate - exporter	S2 Warning	1m
Low Redis hit rate - exporter	S2 Warning	1m
Redis connection refused - exporter	S2 Warning	—
Redis has just been restarted, please be aware - exporter	S3 Info	—

Related

• Redis template source: the raw JSON for dashboards, rules and collector config. Pull requests welcome.
• Categraf redis plugin docs: every config option and the full metric list.
• Categraf redis_sentinel plugin docs: every config option and the full metric list.
• Walkthrough: monitor Redis
• Import dashboards and alert rules
• Verify that metrics are stored
• All integrations