Valkey Installation on ubuntu

Install Docker

for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove $pkg; done

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Check docker installation status

sudo systemctl status docker

Set the conf

sudo rm -rf /data/valkey/valkey.conf
sudo nano /data/valkey/valkey.conf

Paste the conf make sure to edit the password

bind 0.0.0.0
port 6379
protected-mode yes

requirepass StrongP@ssw0rd!

save 60 1
appendonly yes
appendfilename "appendonly.aof"
appendfsync everysec

dir /data

logfile /data/valkey.log
loglevel notice

maxmemory 1gb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

Check is it good or not

ls -l /data/valkey/valkey.conf

-rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 350 Oct 18 16:10 /data/valkey/valkey.conf

Run the container

sudo docker run -d \
  --name valkey \
  -p 6379:6379 \
  -v /data/valkey:/data \
  -v /data/valkey/valkey.conf:/etc/valkey/valkey.conf:ro \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  valkey/valkey:latest \
  valkey-server /etc/valkey/valkey.conf

Check all good

sudo tail -f /data/valkey/valkey.log

Check
Ready to accept connections
this message should come up

conf this if you think that kernel should allocate as much they can

1️⃣ maxmemory = 1 GB

• This is a hard cap inside ValKey.

• Redis will never store more than 1 GB of data in memory, even if your machine has 4 GB free.

• Eviction (allkeys-lru) will kick in once that limit is reached.

• Effect: Redis memory usage is limited to 1 GB for keys/data.

---

2️⃣ vm.overcommit_memory=1

• This is a Linux-level setting, not a ValKey setting.

• Linux allows Redis to request memory without being blocked, even if the kernel thinks the system might run out of RAM.

• Important: This does not change the maxmemory limit inside Redis.

So in your case:

• ValKey will still only store 1 GB of data (because of maxmemory=1gb).

• Linux may allocate slightly more than 1 GB to Redis internally for overhead, buffers, bookkeeping, without killing the process.

• Redis cannot “go beyond 1 GB for data” just because overcommit=1 is set.

# Temporary (until next reboot)
sudo sysctl vm.overcommit_memory=1

# Permanent
echo "vm.overcommit_memory=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

Here is your password

make sure to allow 6379 on security group as in bound rule

redis://default:<pass>@<EC2_PRIVATE_OR_PUBLIC_IP>:6379

Test command in cli

docker exec -it valkey valkey-cli
> auth StrongP@ssw0rd!
OK
> set test "persistent"
OK
> get test
"persistent"

Node js Client sample code

// index.js
import { createClient } from 'redis';

async function main() {
  // Replace <EC2_IP> with your EC2 public/private IP
  const client = createClient({
    url: 'redis://default:StrongP@ssw0rd!@<EC2_IP>:6379'
  });

  client.on('error', (err) => console.error('Redis Client Error', err));

  try {
    await client.connect();
    console.log('✅ Connected to ValKey successfully!');

    // Set a key with expiry of 60 seconds
    await client.set('test-key', 'Hello ValKey!', { EX: 60 });
    console.log('✅ Key "test-key" set with 60 seconds expiry');

    // Get the key
    const value = await client.get('test-key');
    console.log('🔹 Retrieved value:', value);

  } catch (err) {
    console.error('Connection failed:', err);
  } finally {
    await client.quit();
    console.log('Connection closed');
  }
}

main();

npm install redis
node index.js

✅ Connected to ValKey successfully!
✅ Key "test-key" set with 60 seconds expiry
🔹 Retrieved value: Hello ValKey!
Connection closed

🔹 Bottom line

Your current setup is okay for small production workloads or a single-app environment:

• One EC2 instance

• Domain-based access

• Persistent storage via EBS

• Password protection

…but for enterprise-level production with high availability, failover, and monitoring, you’ll need to implement:

• Clustered ValKey / Redis replication

• TLS/SSL connections

• Monitoring and alerting

• Automated backups