Redash on Ubuntu 24.04 on Azure User Guide

Overview

Redash is an open-source platform for querying your data with SQL, visualising the results and assembling them into shareable dashboards. It connects to dozens of databases and APIs, runs and schedules queries, turns result sets into charts, and lets a team build and share dashboards from a browser. The cloudimg image deploys Redash 10.1.0.b50633 as the official production Docker Compose stack (the server, a scheduler, two Celery workers, PostgreSQL and Redis), fronts it with an nginx reverse proxy on port 80, persists all state on a dedicated Azure data disk, rotates every secret, and creates a unique admin account on the first boot of every VM. Backed by 24/7 cloudimg support.

What is included:

• Redash 10.1.0.b50633 deployed from the official Docker Compose stack, pinned to redash/redash:10.1.0.b50633
• The full multi-container stack: server (gunicorn), scheduler, scheduled_worker, adhoc_worker, PostgreSQL and Redis
• nginx on :80 as a reverse proxy to the loopback Redash server, plus a static unauthenticated /health probe
• PostgreSQL and Redis bound to the private Docker network only (never published on the host)
• A per-VM admin account (email + password + API key) generated on first boot and recorded in a root-only file
• A dedicated Azure data disk at /var/lib/redash holding the PostgreSQL metadata database and Redis data (Docker data-root relocated there)
• redash.service, redash-firstboot.service, nginx.service and docker.service as systemd units, enabled and active
• 24/7 cloudimg support

Prerequisites

An active Azure subscription, an SSH key pair, and a VNet + subnet in the target region. Standard_B4ms (4 vCPU / 16 GiB RAM) is the recommended size - the multi-container Redash stack needs the memory. NSG inbound: allow 22/tcp from your management network and 80/tcp. Redash serves plain HTTP on port 80; for production, terminate TLS in front of it with your own domain.

Step 1 - Deploy from the Azure Marketplace

Sign in to the Azure Portal, choose Create a resource, search the Marketplace for Redash by cloudimg, and select Create. On Basics pick your subscription, resource group, region and size (Standard_B4ms or larger); under Administrator account choose SSH public key and paste your key; under Inbound port rules allow SSH (22) and HTTP (80). Review the dedicated data disk on the Disks tab, then Review + create -> Create.

Step 2 - Deploy from the Azure CLI

az vm create \
  --resource-group <your-rg> \
  --name redash \
  --image <marketplace-image-urn> \
  --size Standard_B4ms \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --ssh-key-values ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub \
  --vnet-name <your-vnet> --subnet <your-subnet> \
  --public-ip-sku Standard

az vm open-port --resource-group <your-rg> --name redash --port 80 --priority 1010

Step 3 - Connect to your VM

ssh azureuser@<vm-public-ip>

Step 4 - Confirm the services are running

Redash runs as a Docker Compose stack managed by redash.service, behind nginx. Confirm the units are active:

systemctl is-active redash.service nginx.service docker.service

Each reports active. On first boot the image rotates every secret and creates a per-VM admin account.

Step 5 - Confirm the container stack

The stack is six containers - the web server, the scheduler, two Celery workers, PostgreSQL and Redis:

docker compose -f /opt/redash/docker-compose.yml ps

All six report Up. PostgreSQL and Redis are attached to the private Docker network only and are never published on the host; only nginx on port 80 is reachable from outside.

Step 6 - Confirm the health and ping endpoints

nginx serves a static, unauthenticated /health file for load balancers and probes, and proxies Redash's own /ping liveness endpoint:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w 'health=%{http_code}\n' http://localhost/health

It returns health=200. Redash's application ping returns PONG:

curl -s http://localhost/ping; echo

Step 7 - Retrieve your admin credentials

The admin email, password and API key are generated uniquely on the first boot of your VM and written to a root-only file:

cat /root/redash-credentials.txt

This file contains REDASH_ADMIN_EMAIL (admin@cloudimg.local), REDASH_ADMIN_PASSWORD and REDASH_ADMIN_API_KEY. Store them somewhere safe.

Step 8 - Sign in to the Redash web UI

Browse to http://<vm-public-ip>/ and sign in as admin@cloudimg.local with the password from Step 7.

After signing in you land on the Dashboards home, with the left navigation for Dashboards, Queries, Alerts and Create.

Open Create -> New Query to reach the query editor, where you write SQL against a connected data source, run it, and turn the result into a visualisation.

Under Settings -> Data Sources you connect Redash to your databases and APIs - PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, Redshift, Elasticsearch and many more.

Step 9 - Verify the REST API with your API key

Every Redash user has an API key that authenticates REST calls without a session. Read the per-VM admin key from the credentials file and call the dashboards endpoint:

API=$(grep '^REDASH_ADMIN_API_KEY=' /root/redash-credentials.txt | cut -d= -f2-)
curl -s -o /dev/null -w 'api=%{http_code}\n' -H "Authorization: Key $API" http://localhost/api/dashboards

It returns api=200. A request with a wrong key is rejected. To authenticate as a browser session instead, POST your admin email and password to the login form - for example curl -i -c cookies.txt -d 'email=admin@cloudimg.local' -d 'password=<REDASH_ADMIN_PASSWORD>' http://<vm-public-ip>/login returns a 302 redirect on success.

Step 10 - Confirm data lives on the dedicated disk

The PostgreSQL metadata database (users, queries, dashboards, cached results) and the Redis data live on the dedicated Azure data disk, so they survive OS changes and can be resized independently:

findmnt /var/lib/redash

The mount is backed by a separate Azure data disk captured into the image and re-provisioned on every VM. Docker's data-root is relocated under it, so every Redash named volume lands on the resizable disk.

Building with Redash

Connect a data source (Settings -> Data Sources), write a query in the editor, and save it. Add a visualisation to the query - a chart, counter, pivot or table - then pin one or more visualisations onto a dashboard and share it with your team. Queries can be scheduled to refresh on an interval (handled by the scheduler and workers), and alerts can notify you when a value crosses a threshold. See the Redash documentation for the query language, data source options and API reference.

Maintenance

• Admin users: add users and groups from Settings -> Users and Settings -> Groups in the web UI.
• Backups: snapshot the /var/lib/redash data disk, or back up the PostgreSQL metadata database inside the postgres container.
• Data: the metadata database and Redis data live under /var/lib/redash (Docker data-root).
• Stack control: manage the stack with sudo systemctl restart redash.service, or with docker compose in /opt/redash.
• TLS: Redash serves plain HTTP on port 80; front it with TLS (e.g. certbot) and your own domain before production use.
• Upgrades: edit the pinned image tag in /opt/redash/docker-compose.yml, then sudo systemctl restart redash.service.
• Security patches: unattended-upgrades remains enabled so the OS continues to receive security updates automatically.

Support

cloudimg provides 24/7 expert support for this image. Contact support@cloudimg.co.uk.