### What happened?

Environment - LiteLLM version: 1.79.1 (proxy image) - Python: 3.13.9 - redis-py: 5.2.1 - Redis: GCP Memorystore Redis 4.0.14 (non-TLS), Private Service Access, AUTH enabled - Runtime: Kubernetes (Istio sidecar), but issue is client-construction, not network

Summary When configuring Redis via host/port/password and setting ssl: false (or REDIS_SSL=false), LiteLLM’s get_redis_connection_pool unconditionally selects SSLConnection based on the presence of the ssl key, even when its value is false. This causes timeouts against non‑TLS Redis. Using REDIS_URL (redis://...) works because the ssl key path is bypassed.

Code location - File: litellm/_redis.py - Function: get_redis_connection_pool(...) - Current behavior (presence-based): connection_class = async_redis.Connection if "ssl" in redis_kwargs: connection_class = async_redis.SSLConnection redis_kwargs.pop("ssl", None) redis_kwargs["connection_class"] = connection_class This forces SSLConnection whenever the ssl key exists, regardless of value (False/"false").

Impact - With host/port/password and `ssl: false`, the pool uses SSLConnection and fails/timeouts against a non-TLS Redis. - …