redis-to-valkeylisted

Migrate Redis deployments (especially Bitnami Redis Helm charts in Sentinel HA mode) to Valkey on Kubernetes, including fully air-gapped clusters. Core knowledge: the RDB-version wall (Valkey replicates/loads only from Redis ≤ 7.2.x; Redis 7.4+ writes RDB v12 which Valkey rejects; Valkey 9 writes its own v80 — a one-way door), the two transfer layers (version-bound REPLICAOF/DUMP-RESTORE vs version-agnostic logical replay with RedisShake or rdb-cli), a side-by-side cutover runbook, Valkey chart selection (groundhog2k / CloudPirates / official valkey-io tradeoffs), Bitnami-redis→valkey values translation, consumer-app reconnection (Sentinel discovery, master-set names, frozen redis_version 7.2.4), Prometheus exporter continuity, air-gap tool/image mirroring, and Argo CD source rewiring away from charts.bitnami.com. Part of the bitnami-exit suite.
air-gapped/skills · ★ 5 · DevOps & Infrastructure · score 78

Install: claude install-skill air-gapped/skills

# redis-to-valkey Migrate Redis (Bitnami-chart Sentinel HA or any standalone/replicated Redis) to Valkey on Kubernetes with data intact, clients reconnected, and no dependency left on dead-ended Bitnami artifacts. Facts below were verified 2026-08-26 against primary sources (valkey source at release tags, chart repos, vendor docs); re-verify anything version-gated before relying on it in a later year. ## Why this migration exists A pinned Bitnami chart still *syncs* — `charts.bitnami.com` serves — so the failure arrives later, at **image-pull time**, on the first pod reschedule onto a node without the tag cached: versioned images moved to frozen `docker.io/bitnamilegacy` on 2025-09-29. Valkey, the Linux Foundation fork of Redis 7.2.4, is the successor. Full risk model: `references/airgap-gitops.md`. ## The one fact that shapes every plan: the RDB-version wall Valkey forked at Redis 7.2. Its replication and snapshot formats stayed at the fork point, then diverged on their own path: | Server | Writes RDB | Can load | |---|---|---| | Redis 7.0 | v10 | ≤ v10 | | Redis 7.2 | v11 | ≤ v11 | | Redis 7.4 / 8.x | **v12** | ≤ v12 | | Valkey 8.0 / 8.1 | v11 | ≤ v11 (v12+ rejected as foreign) | | Valkey 9.0 / 9.1 | **v80** (own numbering) | v11 and v80; Redis v12+ rejected | (Verified in `src/rdb.h` at release tags: `RDB_VERSION`, `RDB_FOREIGN_VERSION_MIN 12`.) Consequences: 1. **`REPLICAOF`, RDB file copy, `DUMP`/`RESTORE`, and `MIGRATE` work only from Redis ≤ 7.2.x sources.*