Geo-Replication Made Superbly Efficient with the Azure Redis Cache:

January 13, 2021January 13, 2021 Nick Jonas Azure cache alternative, Azure Redis Cache pricing, Redis server

Introduction:

The innovation of the in-memory, key-value data store in the form of the Redis server has been quite a revelation in the world of software development, enterprises, and startups. With the superb state-of-the-art cache memory for excellent data recalls and brilliant architecture, data latency and incomplete user requests are a thing of the past.

The best thing about the Redis server is that it is open-source software. The BSD 3-clause licensing makes it easy for developers to expand on the server’s architecture and make it more flexible and efficient to work with. The open-source Redis has already been a stepping stone for the Redis server Windows that is easily downloadable, installable, and integrable with Windows versions.

Microsoft corporation has also integrated the server in its indigenous modules like the Azure cache and developed an Azure cache alternative by combining it with the Redis cache. The Azure Redis Cache is now available with enhanced geo-replication support, and its availability is creating a massive stir in the developer community!

Application of the Redis server in geo-replication:

Developing globally distributed applications can be a complicated task for developers. The challenges include-

Various race conditions while those applications are under use
Geo-failovers and cross-region write conflicts might arise, creating complex combinations of events that are immensely difficult to address.

As a result, the developers are always on the lookout for such software, easing their tasks. The Redis server has appeared like a Messiah in such conditions!

Let’s try to understand why.

Active-active databases of the Redis server have simplified the development of globally-distributed applications. They employ the built-in smarts to resolve the conflicting writes based on the used data type.

Earlier, most of the dependence was on the simplistic resolution of “last-writer-wins” type conflicts. The Redis server data types are presently combined with the techniques defined in CRDTs (conflict-free replicated data types) to provide smart and automatic conflict resolution to geo-distributed active-active databases. All these types of conflict resolutions are critically dependent on the data type intent.

The innovation of the Azure Redis Cache geo-replication support and its impact:

The Azure Redis Cache geo-replication support’s general availability has been a boon for the software developer community.

The Redis Cache had come up as an Azure cache alternative when Microsoft Azure’s cache-as-a-service offering was developed on the key-value, in-memory, open source Redis. The growing list of Azure services is now more formidable with this Azure Redis Cache with in-built geo-replication support.

The results?

The IT pros and software developers can now construct robust disaster recovery plans.
Mission-critical applications can run more seamlessly on the cloud.
During unexpected events of widespread regional failures, the applications will continue to run.
Disaster-resilient solutions building on Azure has become more comfortable.
Customers can build disaster-proof solutions quickly with virtual machines like Traffic Manager and Azure Site Recovery. From Cosmos DB, SQL databases and even the Redis Cache are the popular data services that can be used efficiently.

Establishment of geo-replication support in Redis cache:

The Azure Redis Cache pricing has several tiers. The premium tier will enable you to access the geo-replication feature. If a developer or an IT-pro wishes to employ the geo-replication feature, he will initially need a pair of premium cache instances. If one premium cache is already present, then an additional premium cache is required in the secondary Azure region of the user’s choice.

A basic or a standard instance of cache won’t be allowing you the geo-replication support. You have to upgrade the same to premium before you can utilize the geo-replication feature. Each primary cache allows only one geo-replicated cache. There is no restriction regarding the placement of each of those geo-replicated caches. But the developers from Microsoft corporation recommend the placement of each geo-replicated cache in different Azure regions. It would ensure enhanced resiliency.

If a user intends to establish geo-replication, he needs to link those two Azure Redis Cache instances together. The Azure portal offers the simplest way to do the same.

Management of fail over:

Co-location in the same Azure region provides optimal cache performances. When both the client and the server reside in the same region, there are many perks. When a Redis cache is present with a globally-distributed application, it offers superlative Azure Redis Cache response times, including roundtrip network latencies in single-digit milliseconds. On the other hand, the physical distance between the client and the server’s Azure regions can cause considerable delays in the overall response time.

Summing up:

All in all, the geo-replication feature support in the new Azure Redis Cache will ensure more efficiency for the developer community and a more significant ROI for the organization or enterprise concerned.