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Redis Backup Shell Script for Linux (RDB Snapshot Automation)

· dinesh
redis backup shell script

Automate Redis backups on Linux with a Bash script that triggers BGSAVE, copies dump.rdb, and rotates old snapshots.

What this script does

  • Triggers Redis BGSAVE and waits for completion
  • Copies RDB file to dated backup directory
  • Compresses backup with gzip
  • Deletes backups older than retention days
  • Logs every run and exits non-zero on failure

Prerequisites

  • Redis server running
  • redis-cli available
  • Read access to Redis data dir or redis-cli AUTH

Step 1: Save the script

sudo nano /usr/local/bin/redis-backup.sh
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/redis-backup.sh

Step 2: Full script (scroll to read)

redis-backup.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

REDIS_CLI="redis-cli"
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/redis"
RETENTION_DAYS=7
LOG="/var/log/redis-backup.log"
DATE=$(date +%F_%H-%M-%S)

log(){ echo "[$(date '+%F %T')] $*" | tee -a "$LOG"; }
die(){ log "ERROR: $*"; exit 1; }

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
log "Starting Redis backup on $(hostname -s)"

$REDIS_CLI ping >/dev/null || die "Redis not responding"
LASTSAVE=$($REDIS_CLI LASTSAVE)
$REDIS_CLI BGSAVE >/dev/null
log "BGSAVE triggered, waiting for completion..."

for i in $(seq 1 60); do
  NOW=$($REDIS_CLI LASTSAVE)
  [[ "$NOW" != "$LASTSAVE" ]] && break
  sleep 1
done

RDB=$($REDIS_CLI CONFIG GET dir | tail -1)/dump.rdb
[[ -f "$RDB" ]] || die "RDB not found: $RDB"

OUT="${BACKUP_DIR}/redis_${DATE}.rdb.gz"
gzip -c "$RDB" > "$OUT"
log "Saved: $OUT ($(du -h "$OUT" | awk '{print $1}'))"

find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name 'redis_*.rdb.gz' -mtime +"$RETENTION_DAYS" -delete
log "Backup completed"

Scroll inside the box to read the full script.

Step 3: Configure settings

  • REDIS_CLI — path to redis-cli (add -a password if needed)
  • BACKUP_DIR — destination for .rdb.gz files
  • RETENTION_DAYS — auto-delete old backups
Redis backup shell script running on Linux server
Redis backup shell script running on Linux server

Step 4: Test manually

redis-cli ping
sudo /usr/local/bin/redis-backup.sh
ls -lah /var/backups/redis/

Schedule with cron

sudo crontab -e

Add:

0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/redis-backup.sh >> /var/log/redis-backup.log 2>&1

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Terminal screenshot is an original illustration created for Gnome IT Solutions (blog.gnomeitsolutions.com).