How to start using RDM
After you've installed RDM, the first thing you need to do in order to get going is to create a connection to your Redis server. On the main window, press the button labelled Connect to Redis Server.
Connect to a local or public redis-server
On the first tab (Connection Settings), put in general information regarding the connection that you are creating.
- Name - the name of new connection (example: my_local_redis)
- Host - redis-server host (example: localhost)
- Port - redis-server port (example: 6379)
- Password - redis-server authentication password (if any) (http://redis.io/commands/AUTH)
- Username - only for redis-servers >= 6.0 with configured ACL, for older redis-server leave empty
Connect to a public redis-server with SSL
If you want to connect to a redis-server instance with SSL you need to enable SSL on the second tab and provide a public key in PEM format. Instructions for certain cloud services are below:
AWS ElastiCache
AWS ElastiCache is not accessible outside of your VPC. In order to connect to your ElastiCache remotely, you need to use one of the following options:
- Setup VPN connection [Recommended] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonElastiCache/latest/red-ug/accessing-elasticache.html#access-from-outside-aws
- Setup SSH proxying host and connect through SSH tunnel. [Slow network performance. Not recommended]
- Setup NAT instance for exposing your AWS ElastiCache to the Internet [Firewall rules should be configured very carefully. Not recommended.]
How to connect to AWS ElastiCache with In-Transit Encryption
VPN / NAT
Enable SSL/TLS checkox and connect to your AWS ElastiCache with In-Transit Encryption.
SSH tunnel
Click on "Enable TLS-over-SSH" checkbox in the the SSH connection settings and connect to your AWS ElastiCache with In-Transit Encryption.
Windows Azure Redis Cache

- Create a connection with all requested information.
- Make sure that the "Use SSL Protocol" checkbox is enabled.
- Your Azure Redis connection is ready to use.
Redis Labs

To connect to a Redis Labs instance with SSL/TLS encryption, follow the steps below:
- Make sure that SSL is enabled for your Redis instance in the Redis Labs dashboard.
- Download and unzip
garantia_credentials.zip
from the Redis Labs dashboard. - Select
garantia_user.crt
in the "Public key" field. - Select
garantia_user_private.key
in the "Private key" field. - Select
garantia_ca.pem
in the "Authority" field.
Digital Ocean Managed Redis

Digital Ocean connection settings is a bit confusing. To connect to a Digital Ocean Managed Redis you need to follow steps bellow:
- Copy host, port and password information to RDM
- Leave Username field in RDM empty (Important!)
- Enable SSL/TLS checkox
Connect to private redis-server via SSH tunnel
Basic SSH tunneling
SSH tab is supposed to allow you to use a SSH tunnel. It's useful if your redis-server is not publicly accessible. To use a SSH tunnel select checkbox "Use SSH Tunnel". There are different security options; you can use a plain password or OpenSSH private key.
for Windows users:
Your private key must be in .pem format.
Advanced SSH tunneling
If you need advanced SSH tunneling you should setup a SSH tunnel manually and connect via localhost:
ssh SSH_HOST -L 7000:localhost:6379
Connect to a UNIX socket
RDM doesn't support UNIX sockets directly, but you can use redirecting of the local socket to the UNIX domain socket, for instance with socat:
socat -v tcp-l:6379,reuseaddr,fork unix:/tmp/redis.sock
Advanced connection settings
The Advanced settings tab allows you to customise the namespace separator and other advanced settings.
Next steps
Now you can test a connection or create a connection right away.
Congratulations, you've successfully connected to your Redis Server. You should see something similar to what we show above.
Click on the connection and expand keys. By clicking the right button, you can see console menu and manage your connection from there.