DEV: add index lifecycle page

Author: dwdougherty

content/develop/interact/search-and-query/best-practices/index-mgmt-best-practices.md

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+---
+Title: Index management best practices for Redis Query Engine
+alwaysopen: false
+categories:
+- docs
+- develop
+- stack
+- oss
+- kubernetes
+- clients
+linkTitle: RQE index management
+weight: 3
+---
+
+#### 1. Plan your indexes strategically
+   - Understand your query patterns: before creating indexes, analyze your expected query patterns to ensure indexes are optimized for performance.
+   - Avoid over-indexing: indexing every field increases memory usage and can slow down updates. Only index fields essential for your queries.
+   - Choose appropriate index types: use the correct field types (`TEXT`, `TAG`, `NUMERIC`, `GEO`, or `VECTOR`) for your data to maximize efficiency.
+
+#### 2. Index creation
+   - Atomic creation: use the `FT.CREATE` command to atomically define an index schema.
+   - Field weighting: assign weights to `TEXT` fields to prioritize certain fields in full-text search results.
+   - Prefix optimization: leverage the `PREFIX` option to restrict indexing to keys with specific patterns.
+   - Data loading strategy: load data into Redis before creating an index when working with large datasets. Use the `ON HASH` or `ON JSON` options to match the data structure.
+
+#### 3. Index aliasing
+   - What is index aliasing?
+     - Aliases act as abstracted names for indexes, allowing applications to reference the alias instead of the actual index name. This simplifies schema updates and index management.
+   - Use cases for index aliasing:
+     - Seamless schema updates: point the alias to a new index without changing application code.
+     - Version control: assign aliases like `products_live` to track the active index version.
+     - Testing and rollback: temporarily assign aliases to test indexes, and revert if needed.
+   - How to manage aliases:
+     - Assign an alias: `FT.ALIASADD my_alias my_index`
+     - Update an alias: `FT.ALIASUPDATE my_alias new_index`
+     - Remove an alias: `FT.ALIASDEL my_alias`
+
+#### 4. Monitoring index population
+   - Check document count:
+     - Use the `FT.INFO` command to monitor the `num_docs` field, ensuring all expected documents are indexed.
+     - Example:
+       ```bash
+       FT.INFO my_new_index
+       ```
+   - Run test queries:
+     - Validate data with sample queries to ensure proper indexing:
+       ```bash
+       FT.SEARCH my_new_index "*"
+       ```
+   - Query profiling:
+     - Use `FT.PROFILE` to analyze query plans and validate performance:
+       ```bash
+       FT.PROFILE my_new_index SEARCH QUERY "your_query"
+       ```
+   - Automate checks:
+     - Implement scripts to periodically verify document counts and query results. For example, in Python:
+       ```python
+       import redis
+
+       def check_index_readiness(index_name, expected_docs):
+           r = redis.StrictRedis(host='localhost', port=6379, decode_responses=True)
+           info = r.execute_command('FT.INFO', index_name)
+           num_docs = int(info[info.index('num_docs') + 1])
+           return num_docs >= expected_docs
+
+       if check_index_readiness('my_new_index', 100000):
+           print("Index is fully populated!")
+       else:
+           print("Index is still populating...")
+       ```
+
+#### 5. Monitoring index performance
+   - Query profiling: use the `FT.PROFILE` command to analyze query performance and identify bottlenecks.
+   - Memory usage: regularly monitor memory usage with the `INFO memory` and `FT.INFO` commands to detect growth patterns and optimize resource allocation.
+   - Search query logs: enable query logging for better insights into how indexes are utilized.
+
+#### 6. Index maintenance
+   - Reindexing: if schema changes are required, create a new index with the updated schema and reassign the alias once the index is ready.
+   - Expire old data: use Redis key expiration or TTLs to automatically remove outdated records and keep indexes lean.
+
+#### 7. Scaling and high availability
+   - Sharding considerations: in a clustered Redis setup, ensure indexes are designed with key distribution in mind to prevent query inefficiencies.
+   - Replication: test how indexes behave under replica promotion to ensure consistent query behavior across nodes.
+   - Active-Active support: if using Redis in an active-active setup, validate how index updates propagate to avoid inconsistencies.
+
+#### 8. Versioning and testing
+   - Index versioning: when changing schemas, create a new version of the index alongside the old one and migrate data progressively.
+   - Staging environment: test index changes in a staging environment before deploying them to production.
+
+#### 9. Cleaning up
+   - Index deletion: use the `FT.DROPINDEX` command to remove unused indexes and free up memory. Be cautious with the `DD` (Delete Documents) flag to avoid unintended data deletion.
+   - Monitoring orphaned keys: Ensure no keys remain that were previously associated with dropped indexes.
+
+#### 10. Documentation and automation
+   - Maintain clear index schemas: document your index configurations to facilitate future maintenance.
+   - Automate index management: use scripts or orchestration tools to automate index creation, monitoring, and cleanup.