diff --git a/cmd/ff-proxy/main.go b/cmd/ff-proxy/main.go
index 58382df4..dcef611e 100644
--- a/cmd/ff-proxy/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ff-proxy/main.go
@@ -324,6 +324,11 @@ func main() {
 		})
 		logger.Info("connecting to redis", "address", redisAddress)
 		sdkCache = cache.NewRedisCache(client)
+		err := sdkCache.HealthCheck(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			logger.Error("failed to connect to redis", "err", err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
 	} else {
 		logger.Info("initialising default memcache")
 		sdkCache = cache.NewMemCache()
diff --git a/docs/redis_cache.md b/docs/redis_cache.md
index 44bd71e5..6ef24c70 100644
--- a/docs/redis_cache.md
+++ b/docs/redis_cache.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 You can optionally configure the Relay Proxy to store flag data in redis. See [configuration](./configuration.md) for details on setting this up.
 
+The Relay Proxy does not currently support clustered Redis or Redis Sentinel.
 
 
 ### What happens if network connection is lost?