connectRedis.js

  REDIS_URL = process.env.REDIS_URL || 'redis://localhost:6379'; // global const for redis
 
  var connection = require("url").parse(REDIS_URL); // parse redis url
  REDIS_PARAMS = {}; // global const for redis connection settings, also used by socket.io
  REDIS_PARAMS.port = connection.port;
  REDIS_PARAMS.host = connection.hostname;
  
  // connect to redis so we can put the express session there
  var client = redis.createClient(REDIS_PARAMS.port, REDIS_PARAMS.host);
  if ( connection.auth ) {
//    REDIS_PARAMS.pass = connection.auth.split(":")[1];
    REDIS_PARAMS.pass = connection.auth;
    client.auth(REDIS_PARAMS.pass, function (err) {
      if (err) throw err;
      else console.log('authorised to redis at: '+ REDIS_PARAMS.host)
    });
  } else console.log('connected to redis at: '+ REDIS_PARAMS.host)