# Introduction

#### Connect to a local instance of Redis

```
redis-cli
```

```
127.0.0.1:6739>
```

The prompt indicates a connection to a Redis instance hosted locally (`127.0.0.1`) and accessed over Redis's default port (`6739`)

#### Connect to a remote instance of Redis

```
redis-cli -h <host> -p <port_number> -a <password>
```

If you’ve set a Redis password, clients will be able to connect to Redis even if they don’t include the `-a` flag in their `redis-cli` command. However, they won’t be able to add, change, or query data until they authenticate.&#x20;

To authenticate after connecting, use the `auth` command followed by the password:

```
127.0.0.1:6739> auth <password>
```

If you’re working with a managed Redis database, your cloud provider may give you a URI that begins with `redis://` or `rediss://` which you can use to access your datastore.

* If the connection string begins with `redis://`, you can include it as an argument to `redis-cli` to connect.
* However, if you have a connection string that begins with `rediss://`, that means your managed database requires connections over [TLS/SSL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security).&#x20;
  * `redis-cli` does not support TLS connections, so you’ll need to use a different tool that supports the `rediss://` protocol in order to connect with the URI.&#x20;
  * For Managed Databases, which require connections to be made over TLS, [Redli](https://github.com/IBM-Cloud/redli) to access the Redis instance.

```
redli --tls -u rediss://<connection_URI>
```

* `-tls` option : specifies that the connection should be made over TLS
* `-u` flag : for connection URI

If an attempt to connect to an unavailable instance, redis-cli will go into _disconnected mode_.

```
not connected> 
```

#### Testing Connection

```
127.0.0.1:6739> ping
Output
PONG
```

```
not connected> ping
Output
Could not connect to Redis at <host>:<port>: Connection refused
```

#### Disconnecting from Redis

```
127.0.0.1:6739> quit
```

```
127.0.0.1:6739> exit
```

Both `quit` and `exit` will close the connection, but only as soon as all pending replies have been written to clients.
