What is Tair (Enterprise Edition)? - Tair (Redis® OSS-Compatible)

Tair (Enterprise Edition) is a cloud-based in-memory database service for enterprises. It is developed based on the Tair service of Alibaba Group. Tair (Enterprise Edition) has officially been in use within Alibaba Group since 2009 and has proven its outstanding performance in a variety of scenarios, including Double 11, Youku Spring Festival Gala, Cainiao, and AMAP.

Storage types

The rapid development of the Internet makes business scenarios more diverse and complex. To meet the changing requirements, Tair (Enterprise Edition), as a high-availability and high-performance NoSQL database service, provides multiple series types of instances based on storage mediums such as DRAM, NVM, and ESSDs. These series types are developed to meet your requirements for low-latency access, data persistence, and reduced overall costs, and provide higher performance, more data structures, and more flexible storage methods. This helps you meet business requirements in different scenarios.

Storage type	Description
DRAM-based instance	Provides ultra-high performance. DRAM-based instances use the multi-threading model to provide read and write performance three times that of Redis Open-Source Edition instances that have the same specifications. For more information, see Performance whitepaper of Redis 5.0-compatible Tair DRAM-based instances and Performance whitepaper of Redis 6.0-compatible Tair DRAM-based instances. Provides a variety of self-developed enhanced data modules. These modules include exString (including commands that enhance Redis string functionality), exHash, exZset, GIS, Bloom, Doc, TS, Cpc, Roaring, Search, and Vector. These modules allow you to spend less time writing code, improve business performance, and focus on innovation. Provides enterprise-class features, such as point-in-time data restoration by using data flashback, proxy query cache, and Global Distributed Cache. Supports enterprise-class encryption methods, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption and transparent data encryption (TDE). For more information, see Enable TLS encryption and Enable TDE.
Persistent memory-optimized instance	Offers ultra-high cost-effectiveness. The price of persistent memory-optimized instances is approximately 30% lower than that of Redis Open-Source Edition instances that have the same capacity. The performance of persistent memory-optimized instances reaches 90% of that of Redis Open-Source Edition instances. For more information, see Performance whitepaper of persistent memory-optimized instances. Supports enhanced data modules. These modules include exString (including commands that enhance Redis string functionality), exHash, and Cpc. Prevents data loss caused by power failure. Persistent memory-optimized instances implement persistence for each command. The system returns a success response for each write operation only after the data is persistently stored. You can use persistent memory-optimized instances as in-memory databases instead of caches.
ESSD/SSD-based instance	Reduced costs: ESSD/SSD-based instances reduce up to 85% of costs compared with Redis Open-Source Edition instances. High performance: An ESSD/SSD-based instance delivers approximately 60% of the performance of a Redis Open-Source Edition instance. For more information, see Performance whitepaper of ESSD-based instances. Storage in disks: ESSD/SSD-based instances store data in ESSDs or SSDs to ensure high data reliability. The capacity of an ESSD/SSD-based instance can reach hundreds of terabytes. Data distribution: ESSD/SSD-based instances use the Alibaba Cloud TairDB storage engine and combine disks and memory to provide an optimal balance between data persistence and quick access to data. High compatibility: ESSD/SSD-based instances are compatible with most data structures and commands of Redis 6.0.

Purchase guide

Step 1: Create an instance

Millstones of Tair

In 2004, Taobao started to use caching technologies to support its business operations. The first caching technology that was put into use is frontend page caching. This technology uses Edge Side Includes (ESI) to identify web content segments that can or cannot be accelerated. Frontend page caching reduces the number of times that entire pages are fetched from the server.

The rapid growth of customer traffic on Taobao exerted more pressure on databases. Backend caching emerged in response to this situation. Backend caching has evolved over many iterations from TBStore to Taobao Database Manager (TDBM). TBStore provides services such as persisting Taobao details and verification codes. TDBM was initially used in Taobao User Center. In 2009, the large-scale and high-performance in-memory database service Tair was released based on the success of previous systems and technical experience.

Tair (Enterprise Edition) is one of the most heavily used systems of Alibaba Group. Tair (Enterprise Edition) can handle hundreds of millions of calls per second and has played a critical role in powering online access acceleration during Double 11 events for many years.

Date	Event
July 2024	Redis 7.0-compatible DRAM-based instances were released with comparable performance to Redis 6.0-compatible DRAM-based instances.
October 2022	Redis 6.0-compatible DRAM-based instances were released with a 20% performance improvement than Redis 5.0-compatible DRAM-based instances that have the same specifications.
July 2021	The following new series types were released: Persistent memory-optimized instances use persistent memory to provide large-capacity in-memory databases that are compatible with open source Redis. Persistent memory-optimized instances do not use disks to implement data persistence and cost 30% less than Redis Open-Source Edition instances while delivering almost the same throughput and latency as Redis Open-Source Edition instances and maintaining the persistence of each operation. This helps improve the reliability of business data. ESSD/SSD-based instances are developed based on ESSDs or SSDs and are compatible with the core data structures and APIs of open source Redis. These instances can provide large-capacity, low-cost, and persistent database services. Tair will focus on core cloud-native capabilities, such as hardware-software integration, intelligent data distribution, and integration of data storage and computing.
November 2019	Tair 3.0 or Tair (Enterprise Edition) was released. Redis 5.0-compatible DRAM-based instances use the multi-threading model. These instances integrate multiple Tair data structures to provide high-performance, high-compatibility database services that come with enterprise-class features.
April 2019	The Tair team was recognized as one of the top three contributors in the Redis community and delivered a public speech at RedisConf 2019.
August 2018	Tair took the lead in introducing hybrid-storage instances in China to separate cold data from hot data for the first time and reduce costs.
November 2017	Tair dynamic hashing provided support for the 2017 Double 11 event and was able to resolve several critical cache issues within the industry.
April 2017	Tair 2.0 was released and started to provide services to the new business units AMAP and Youku. ApsaraDB for Memcache (OCS) was upgraded to ApsaraDB for Redis.
August 2016	Tair Smart O&M Platform was released. The release of this platform contributed to the breakthrough of hundreds of billions of sales during the 2016 Double 11 event.
March 2015	The Tair team released ApsaraDB for Redis. This release helped Tair enter the cloud era.
May 2014	The Tair team released OCS, a cloud-based caching service. After OCS was released, OCS became a basic service of Alibaba Cloud and started to provide services for OCS users.
April 2013	The Fastdump service was released. It can significantly reduce import time and access latency. Tair was implemented on a large scale in Alimama.
October 2012	The Redis Database (RDB) cache engine was released with APIs that are similar to those used in open source Redis. This engine supports more flexible and complex data structures.
June 2011	The Local Database (LDB) persistence engine was released to meet key-value storage requirements in the Internet industry.
November 2009	Tair was used to support the high-volume concurrent traffic during the Double 11 event for the first time.
April 2009	Tair 1.0 was released and used in business segments such as the Taobao core system, Memory-Mapped Database (MDB) cache, and User Center.