How to Install phpredis on CentOS 8 / RHEL 8

Install phpredis on CentOS 8

Let us see all commands in details.

Step 1. Install yum utils

First, we need to install yum-utils CLI compatibility layer package, type the yum command:
sudo yum update
sudo yum install yum-utils
Sample outputs:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:26:29 ago on Sat Feb 15 18:56:33 2020.
Dependencies resolved.
===============================================================================
 Package                      Arch       Version              Repository  Size
===============================================================================
Installing:
 yum-utils                    noarch     4.0.8-3.el8          BaseOS      64 k
Installing dependencies:
 dnf-plugins-core             noarch     4.0.8-3.el8          BaseOS      62 k
 python3-dateutil             noarch     1:2.6.1-6.el8        BaseOS     251 k
 python3-dnf-plugins-core     noarch     4.0.8-3.el8          BaseOS     193 k
 python3-six                  noarch     1.11.0-8.el8         BaseOS      38 k
 
Transaction Summary
===============================================================================
Install  5 Packages
 
Total download size: 608 k
Installed size: 1.3 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y

Step 2 – Enable and install EPEL repo on CentOS 8

You need EPEL repo to install redis releated files. So turn it on, run:
sudo yum -y install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
Update and check for epel repo, run:
sudo yum -y update

Step 3 – Install remi repo for PHP 7.4 and php74-php-pecl-redis5

Execute the following commands:
sudo yum -y install https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-8.rpm
sudo yum -y update
Sample outputs:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:33:06 ago on Sat Feb 15 18:56:33 2020.
remi-release-8.rpm                              29 kB/s |  20 kB     00:00    
Dependencies resolved.
===============================================================================
 Package            Architecture Version              Repository          Size
===============================================================================
Installing:
 remi-release       noarch       8.0-4.el8.remi       @commandline        20 k
Installing dependencies:
 epel-release       noarch       8-5.el8              extras              22 k
 
Transaction Summary
===============================================================================
Install  2 Packages
 
Total size: 42 k
Total download size: 22 k
Installed size: 43 k
....

Step 4 – Set default PHP version

CentOS 8 offers various PHP versions using stream and we can see all versions with the following command:
sudo yum module list php

Let us use PHP 7.4.xx as it is supported until Noverber 2021. Run the following two commands to enable php version 7.4
sudo -y yum module reset php
sudo yum -y module enable php:remi-7.4
Sample outputs:

Last metadata expiration check: 0:04:41 ago on Sat Feb 15 19:30:48 2020.
Dependencies resolved.
===============================================================================
 Package           Architecture     Version            Repository         Size
===============================================================================
Enabling module streams:
 php                                remi-7.4                                  
 
Transaction Summary
===============================================================================
 
Complete!

Step 5 – Search for phpredis packge on CentOS 8

Now we have everything set up correctly on CentOS Linux 8 server. It is time to see what packages offered, run:
sudo yum search php-pecl-redis
sudo yum search php-pecl-redis5
Sample outputs:

============================== Name Exactly Matched: php-pecl-redis5 ==============================
php-pecl-redis5.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
================================== Name Matched: php-pecl-redis5 ==================================
php70-php-pecl-redis5.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
php71-php-pecl-redis5.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
php72-php-pecl-redis5.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
php73-php-pecl-redis5.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store
php74-php-pecl-redis5.x86_64 : Extension for communicating with the Redis key-value store

Step 6 – Installing phpredis on CentOS 8

For PHP version 7.4, we need to install the php74-php-pecl-redis5 (or php-pecl-redis5 which is selected by default when we enabled ‘php:remi-7.4’ stream ) package as follows:
sudo yum install php-pecl-redis5
Of course, you can install nginx or apache along with other PHP 7.4 modules if not installed on the server:
sudo yum install php-fpm php-common php-cli nginx php-mysqlnd php-pecl-redis5

Step 7 – Restart PHP or Nginx/Apache server

It depends upon your configuration, and you need to restart the Apache 2 or restart PHP-fpm service or restart/reload the Nginx service. Since I am using php-fpm as FastCGI process manager, I am going to use the following systemctl command:
sudo systemctl restart php-fpm.service
## OR ##
sudo systemctl reload php-fpm.service

A note about installing phpredis on RHEL 8

The procedure and commands are the same as above. Please note that Red Hat or IBM won’t provide any support for 3rd party repos and software.

Conclusion

Redis is a popular in-memory data structure tool implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database server. It is used to speed up dynamic web apps. To talk with the Redis server, you need phpredis exentsion on CentOS 8. However, CentOS 8/RHEL 8 ships without phpredis extension. Hence, we need to enable EPEL and Remi repos. You need working PHP 7 and Nginx server too. See the following tutorials:

• Install Nginx on CentOS 8
• Set up and configure PHP 7.x on CentOS 8 For Nginx
• Setup Let’s Encrypt on CentOS 8 for Nginx