diff --git a/app/models/app_config.rb b/app/models/app_config.rb
index 0ccdd512d..eb3d07756 100644
--- a/app/models/app_config.rb
+++ b/app/models/app_config.rb
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ HELP
         end
       end
     end
-  end
+  ende
 
   def deprecate_hoptoad_api_key
     if self[:hoptoad_api_key].present?
@@ -170,4 +170,24 @@ HELP
   def self.single_process_mode?
     (ENV['SINGLE_PROCESS'] == "true" || ENV['SINGLE_PROCESS_MODE'] == "true" || self[:single_process_mode]) ? true : false
   end
+  
+  def self.get_redis_instance
+    if ENV["REDISTOGO_URL"].present?
+      puts "WARNING: using the REDISTOGO_URL environment variable is deprecated, please use REDIS_URL now."
+      ENV['REDIS_URL'] = ENV["REDISTOGO_URL"]
+    end
+    
+    redis_options = {}
+    
+    if ENV['REDIS_URL'].present?
+      redis_options = { :url => ENV['REDIS_URL'] }
+    elsif ENV['RAILS_ENV']== 'integration2'
+      redis_options = { :host => 'localhost', :port => 6380 }
+    elsif AppConfig[:redis_url].present?
+      puts "WARNING: You're redis_url doesn't start with redis://" unless AppConfig[:redis_url].start_with?("redis://")
+      redis_options = { :url => AppConfig[:redis_url] }
+    end
+  
+    Redis.new(redis_options.merge(:thread_safe => true))
+  end
 end
diff --git a/config/application.yml.example b/config/application.yml.example
index 54abba54c..6c1c8f47b 100644
--- a/config/application.yml.example
+++ b/config/application.yml.example
@@ -24,10 +24,13 @@ defaults: &defaults
   ## Examples, uncomment one or add your own:
   ca_file: '/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt'
 
-  ## URL for a remote redis, on the default port.
+  ## Redis URL for a remote redis.
   ## Don't forget to restrict IP access!
-  ## Leave it empty for the default (localhost)
-  redis_url: ''
+  ## Leave it empty for the default ('redis://localhost:6379/0')
+  ## You can specify a username and password in it, for example
+  ## redis://user:password@remote_host:6379/0
+  ## You can also specify a unix socket URL like unix://tmp/redis.sock
+  redis_url:
 
   ## Serve static assets via the appserver.
   ## This is highly not recommended for production use,
diff --git a/config/initializers/resque.rb b/config/initializers/resque.rb
index 910ba2079..c89f86723 100644
--- a/config/initializers/resque.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/resque.rb
@@ -3,19 +3,7 @@ require 'resque'
 Resque::Plugins::Timeout.timeout = 300
 
 if !AppConfig.single_process_mode?
-  if redis_to_go = ENV["REDISTOGO_URL"]
-    uri = URI.parse(redis_to_go)
-    redis_options = { :host => uri.host, :port => uri.port,
-                      :passsword => uri.password }
-  elsif ENV['RAILS_ENV']== 'integration2'
-    redis_options = { :host => 'localhost', :port => 6380 }
-  elsif AppConfig[:redis_url].present?
-    redis_options = { :url => AppConfig[:redis_url], :port => 6379 }
-  end
-  
-  if redis_options
-    Resque.redis = Redis.new(redis_options.merge(:thread_safe => true))
-  end
+  Resque.redis = AppConfig.get_redis_instance
 end
 
 # Single process-mode hooks using Resque.inline
diff --git a/config/unicorn.rb b/config/unicorn.rb
index 7d943d226..7c6810b7e 100644
--- a/config/unicorn.rb
+++ b/config/unicorn.rb
@@ -47,12 +47,7 @@ after_fork do |server, worker|
 
   # copy pasta from resque.rb because i'm a bad person
   if !AppConfig.single_process_mode?
-    if redis_to_go = ENV["REDISTOGO_URL"]
-      uri = URI.parse(redis_to_go)
-      Resque.redis = Redis.new(:host => uri.host, :port => uri.port, :password => uri.password)
-    elsif AppConfig[:redis_url]
-      Resque.redis = Redis.new(:host => AppConfig[:redis_url], :port => 6379)
-    end
+    Resque.redis = AppConfig.get_redis_instance
   end
 
   # Enable this line to have the workers run as different user/group