> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://tyk-tt17611-iam-auth.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Database Management

> Learn how Tyk uses an in-memory database and a persistent database, and where to find production configuration for each

Tyk components rely on two categories of storage, each with different durability and performance characteristics:

* **In-memory database**, typically Redis, holds short-lived, frequently-accessed data - Sessions, rate limiting counters, caches - that needs to be fast and consistent across nodes. Some of it is recoverable if lost; some (Control Plane Sessions, in particular) is not.
* **Persistent database** holds the durable source of truth - API definitions, policies, users, analytics - that cannot be regenerated if lost.

Getting either wrong in production has real consequences: an under-sized or unprotected in-memory instance can drop Sessions and disrupt live traffic, and a misconfigured persistent database can mean losing your API estate outright. The sections below cover how to size, protect, and tune each.

Both split along the same boundary - what's shared between the components that coordinate together, and what's kept separate:

|                         | Shared                                            | Kept separate                                      |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **In-Memory Database**  | Control Plane - Tyk Dashboard, Tyk MDCB, Tyk Pump | Each Data Plane - Tyk Gateway and its Tyk Pump     |
| **Persistent Database** | Core Platform - Tyk Dashboard, Tyk MDCB, Tyk Pump | Tyk Developer Portal, which keeps its own database |

See [In-Memory Database](/api-management/in-memory-database) for how Redis is used, protected, and sized across the Control Plane and Data Plane.

See [Core Platform Persistent Database](/api-management/persistent-database) for how the Core Platform's persistent database is used, tuned, and sized. Tyk Developer Portal's own database is covered in [Configure SQL Storage](/tyk-configuration-reference/sql).

Connection configuration for each engine, and its compatible alternatives (such as Valkey for the in-memory database, or MongoDB-compatible services for the persistent database), is covered in [Configure Redis](/tyk-configuration-reference/redis-cluster-sentinel), [Configure MongoDB](/tyk-configuration-reference/mongodb), and [Configure SQL Storage](/tyk-configuration-reference/sql).