Dragonfly

beginner

Modern Redis and Memcached compatible in-memory datastore.

Overview

Dragonfly is a modern, high-performance in-memory datastore that serves as a drop-in replacement for Redis and Memcached. Developed from the ground up with modern hardware in mind, Dragonfly leverages a multi-threaded, shared-nothing architecture to deliver up to 25x higher throughput than Redis while using 80% less memory. Unlike traditional single-threaded Redis, Dragonfly is designed for vertical scaling on multi-core systems and can handle millions of operations per second on a single node. This Docker deployment provides Dragonfly configured with dual protocol support, enabling applications to connect using either Redis or Memcached client libraries without modification. The container runs with optimized memory lock settings and persistent data storage, making it suitable for production workloads that require both high performance and data durability. The configuration exposes the standard Redis port 6379 while maintaining full compatibility with existing Redis commands and data structures. This stack is ideal for organizations looking to upgrade their caching layer performance without application changes, startups building high-throughput applications, and developers who need a single solution that can replace both Redis and Memcached instances. The vertical scaling capabilities make it particularly valuable for scenarios where traditional Redis clustering complexity isn't desired but higher performance is required.

Key Features

Dual protocol support for Redis and Memcached clients on the same instance
25x higher throughput than Redis with 80% lower memory usage
Multi-threaded architecture optimized for modern multi-core systems
Vertical scaling without the complexity of clustering or sharding
Full Redis API compatibility including advanced data structures
Built-in memory optimization with intelligent data compression
Lock-free data structures for maximum concurrent performance
Native support for both Redis RESP protocol and Memcached text protocol

Common Use Cases

1High-traffic web applications requiring faster session storage and caching
2Gaming platforms needing low-latency leaderboards and real-time data
3E-commerce sites with heavy product catalog and shopping cart operations
4Financial services requiring high-frequency data processing and caching
5Content delivery networks needing efficient edge caching
6Microservices architectures consolidating Redis and Memcached dependencies
7Development environments wanting unified caching for mixed-protocol applications

Prerequisites

Minimum 4GB RAM recommended for optimal performance benefits
Multi-core CPU to leverage Dragonfly's threading advantages
Port 6379 available for Redis protocol connections
Understanding of Redis commands and data structures
Familiarity with either Redis or Memcached client libraries
Docker host with sufficient memory limits configured

For development & testing. Review security settings, change default credentials, and test thoroughly before production use. See Terms

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  dragonfly: 
3    image: docker.dragonflydb.io/dragonflydb/dragonfly:latest
4    container_name: dragonfly
5    restart: unless-stopped
6    ulimits: 
7      memlock: -1
8    volumes: 
9      - dragonfly_data:/data
10    ports: 
11      - "6379:6379"
12    networks: 
13      - dragonfly-network
14
15volumes: 
16  dragonfly_data: 
17
18networks: 
19  dragonfly-network: 
20    driver: bridge

.env Template

.env

1# Dragonfly default configuration

Usage Notes

1Docs: https://www.dragonflydb.io/docs
2Redis-compatible on port 6379 - drop-in Redis replacement
325x throughput of Redis, 80% lower memory usage
4Supports both Redis and Memcached protocols
5Multithreaded and vertically scalable on single node
6Test: redis-cli ping or echo 'stats' | nc localhost 11211 (memcached)

Quick Start

terminal

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  dragonfly:
5    image: docker.dragonflydb.io/dragonflydb/dragonfly:latest
6    container_name: dragonfly
7    restart: unless-stopped
8    ulimits:
9      memlock: -1
10    volumes:
11      - dragonfly_data:/data
12    ports:
13      - "6379:6379"
14    networks:
15      - dragonfly-network
16
17volumes:
18  dragonfly_data:
19
20networks:
21  dragonfly-network:
22    driver: bridge
23EOF
24
25# 2. Create the .env file
26cat > .env << 'EOF'
27# Dragonfly default configuration
28EOF
29
30# 3. Start the services
31docker compose up -d
32
33# 4. View logs
34docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

terminal

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/dragonfly/run | bash

Troubleshooting

Connection refused on port 6379: Check if another Redis instance is running and conflicting with the port binding
High memory usage despite claims of efficiency: Ensure ulimits memlock is properly set to -1 in the container configuration
Memcached protocol not responding: Verify your Memcached client is connecting to port 6379, not the traditional 11211
Performance not meeting expectations: Check CPU core count as Dragonfly requires multiple cores for optimal threading benefits
Data persistence issues: Verify the dragonfly_data volume is properly mounted and has sufficient disk space
Redis commands returning errors: Ensure you're using supported Redis commands as some newer Redis 7+ features may not be implemented

Community Notes

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