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Installation and upgrades

Installation on Kubernetes

Directly using the operator manifest

The operator can be installed like any other resource in Kubernetes, through a YAML manifest applied via kubectl.

You can install the latest operator manifest for this minor release as follows:

kubectl apply --server-side -f \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/main/releases/cnpg-1.24.0.yaml

You can verify that with:

kubectl get deployment -n cnpg-system cnpg-controller-manager

Using the cnpg plugin for kubectl

You can use the cnpg plugin to override the default configuration options that are in the static manifests.

For example, to generate the default latest manifest but change the watch namespaces to only be a specific namespace, you could run:

kubectl cnpg install generate \
  --watch-namespace "specific-namespace" \
  > cnpg_for_specific_namespace.yaml

Please refer to "cnpg plugin" documentation for a more comprehensive example.

!!! Warning If you are deploying CloudNativePG on GKE and get an error (... failed to call webhook...), be aware that by default traffic between worker nodes and control plane is blocked by the firewall except for a few specific ports, as explained in the official docs and by this issue. You'll need to either change the targetPort in the webhook service, to be one of the allowed ones, or open the webhooks' port (9443) on the firewall.

Testing the latest development snapshot

If you want to test or evaluate the latest development snapshot of CloudNativePG before the next official patch release, you can download the manifests from the cloudnative-pg/artifacts which provides easy access to the current trunk (main) as well as to each supported release.

For example, you can install the latest snapshot of the operator with:

curl -sSfL \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudnative-pg/artifacts/main/manifests/operator-manifest.yaml | \
  kubectl apply --server-side -f -

If you are instead looking for the latest snapshot of the operator for this specific minor release, you can just run:

curl -sSfL \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudnative-pg/artifacts/release-1.24/manifests/operator-manifest.yaml | \
  kubectl apply --server-side -f -

!!! Important Snapshots are not supported by the CloudNativePG Community, and are not intended for use in production.

Using the Helm Chart

The operator can be installed using the provided Helm chart.

Using OLM

CloudNativePG can also be installed using the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) directly from OperatorHub.io.

Details about the deployment

In Kubernetes, the operator is by default installed in the cnpg-system namespace as a Kubernetes Deployment. The name of this deployment depends on the installation method. When installed through the manifest or the cnpg plugin, it is called cnpg-controller-manager by default. When installed via Helm, the default name is cnpg-cloudnative-pg.

!!! Note With Helm you can customize the name of the deployment via the fullnameOverride field in the "values.yaml" file.

You can get more information using the describe command in kubectl:

$ kubectl get deployments -n cnpg-system
NAME                READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
<deployment-name>   1/1     1            1           18m
kubectl describe deploy \
  -n cnpg-system \
  <deployment-name>

As with any Deployment, it sits on top of a ReplicaSet and supports rolling upgrades. The default configuration of the CloudNativePG operator comes with a Deployment of a single replica, which is suitable for most installations. In case the node where the pod is running is not reachable anymore, the pod will be rescheduled on another node.

If you require high availability at the operator level, it is possible to specify multiple replicas in the Deployment configuration - given that the operator supports leader election. Also, you can take advantage of taints and tolerations to make sure that the operator does not run on the same nodes where the actual PostgreSQL clusters are running (this might even include the control plane for self-managed Kubernetes installations).

!!! Seealso "Operator configuration" You can change the default behavior of the operator by overriding some default options. For more information, please refer to the "Operator configuration" section.

Upgrades

!!! Important Please carefully read the release notes before performing an upgrade as some versions might require extra steps.

Upgrading CloudNativePG operator is a two-step process:

  1. upgrade the controller and the related Kubernetes resources
  2. upgrade the instance manager running in every PostgreSQL pod

Unless differently stated in the release notes, the first step is normally done by applying the manifest of the newer version for plain Kubernetes installations, or using the native package manager of the used distribution (please follow the instructions in the above sections).

The second step is automatically triggered after updating the controller. By default, this initiates a rolling update of every deployed PostgreSQL cluster, upgrading one instance at a time to use the new instance manager. The rolling update concludes with a switchover, which is governed by the primaryUpdateStrategy option. The default value, unsupervised, completes the switchover automatically. If set to supervised, the user must manually promote the new primary instance using the cnpg plugin for kubectl.

!!! Seealso "Rolling updates" This process is discussed in-depth on the Rolling Updates page.

!!! Important In case primaryUpdateStrategy is set to the default value of unsupervised, an upgrade of the operator will trigger a switchover on your PostgreSQL cluster, causing a (normally negligible) downtime.

The default rolling update behavior can be replaced with in-place updates of the instance manager. This approach does not require a restart of the PostgreSQL instance, thereby avoiding a switchover within the cluster. This feature, which is disabled by default, is described in detail below.

Spread Upgrades

By default, all PostgreSQL clusters are rolled out simultaneously, which may lead to a spike in resource usage, especially when managing multiple clusters. CloudNativePG provides two configuration options at the operator level that allow you to introduce delays between cluster roll-outs or even between instances within the same cluster, helping to distribute resource usage over time:

  • CLUSTERS_ROLLOUT_DELAY: Defines the number of seconds to wait between roll-outs of different PostgreSQL clusters (default: 0).
  • INSTANCES_ROLLOUT_DELAY: Defines the number of seconds to wait between roll-outs of individual instances within the same PostgreSQL cluster (default: 0).

In-place updates of the instance manager

By default, CloudNativePG issues a rolling update of the cluster every time the operator is updated. The new instance manager shipped with the operator is added to each PostgreSQL pod via an init container.

However, this behavior can be changed via configuration to enable in-place updates of the instance manager, which is the PID 1 process that keeps the container alive.

Internally, each instance manager in CloudNativePG supports the injection of a new executable that replaces the existing one after successfully completing an integrity verification phase and gracefully terminating all internal processes. Upon restarting with the new binary, the instance manager seamlessly adopts the already running postmaster.

As a result, the PostgreSQL process is unaffected by the update, refraining from the need to perform a switchover. The other side of the coin, is that the Pod is changed after the start, breaking the pure concept of immutability.

You can enable this feature by setting the ENABLE_INSTANCE_MANAGER_INPLACE_UPDATES environment variable to 'true' in the operator configuration.

The in-place upgrade process will not change the init container image inside the Pods. Therefore, the Pod definition will not reflect the current version of the operator.

Compatibility among versions

CloudNativePG follows semantic versioning. Every release of the operator within the same API version is compatible with the previous one. The current API version is v1, corresponding to versions 1.x.y of the operator.

In addition to new features, new versions of the operator contain bug fixes and stability enhancements. Because of this, we strongly encourage users to upgrade to the latest version of the operator, as each version is released in order to maintain the most secure and stable Postgres environment.

CloudNativePG currently releases new versions of the operator at least monthly. If you are unable to apply updates as each version becomes available, we recommend upgrading through each version in sequential order to come current periodically and not skipping versions.

The release notes page contains a detailed list of the changes introduced in every released version of CloudNativePG, and it must be read before upgrading to a newer version of the software.

Most versions are directly upgradable and in that case, applying the newer manifest for plain Kubernetes installations or using the native package manager of the chosen distribution is enough.

When versions are not directly upgradable, the old version needs to be removed before installing the new one. This won't affect user data but only the operator itself.

Upgrading to 1.24.0 or 1.23.4

!!! Important We encourage all existing users of CloudNativePG to upgrade to version 1.24.0 or at least to the latest stable version of the minor release you are currently using (namely 1.23.4).

!!! Warning Every time you are upgrading to a higher minor release, make sure you go through the release notes and upgrade instructions of all the intermediate minor releases. For example, if you want to move from 1.22.x to 1.24, make sure you go through the release notes and upgrade instructions for 1.23 and 1.24.

From Replica Clusters to Distributed Topology

One of the key enhancements in CloudNativePG 1.24.0 is the upgrade of the replica cluster feature.

The former replica cluster feature, now referred to as the "Standalone Replica Cluster," is no longer recommended for Disaster Recovery (DR) and High Availability (HA) scenarios that span multiple Kubernetes clusters. Standalone replica clusters are best suited for read-only workloads, such as reporting, OLAP, or creating development environments with test data.

For DR and HA purposes, CloudNativePG now introduces the Distributed Topology strategy for replica clusters. This new strategy allows you to build PostgreSQL clusters across private, public, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments, spanning multiple regions and potentially different cloud providers. It also provides an API to control the switchover operation, ensuring that only one cluster acts as the primary at any given time.

This Distributed Topology strategy enhances resilience and scalability, making it a robust solution for modern, distributed applications that require high availability and disaster recovery capabilities across diverse infrastructure setups.

You can seamlessly transition from a previous replica cluster configuration to a distributed topology by modifying all the Cluster resources involved in the distributed PostgreSQL setup. Ensure the following steps are taken:

  • Configure the externalClusters section to include all the clusters involved in the distributed topology. We strongly suggest using the same configuration across all Cluster resources for maintainability and consistency.
  • Configure the primary and source fields in the .spec.replica stanza to reflect the distributed topology. The primary field should contain the name of the current primary cluster in the distributed topology, while the source field should contain the name of the cluster each Cluster resource is replicating from. It is important to note that the enabled field, which was previously set to true or false, should now be unset (default).

For more information, please refer to the "Distributed Topology" section for replica clusters.

Upgrading to 1.23 from a previous minor version

User defined replication slots

CloudNativePG now offers automated synchronization of all replication slots defined on the primary to any standby within the High Availability (HA) cluster.

If you manually manage replication slots on a standby, it is essential to exclude those replication slots from synchronization. Failure to do so may result in CloudNativePG removing them from the standby. To implement this exclusion, utilize the following YAML configuration. In this example, replication slots with a name starting with 'foo' are prevented from synchronization:

...
  replicationSlots:
    synchronizeReplicas:
      enabled: true
      excludePatterns:
      - "^foo"

Alternatively, if you prefer to disable the synchronization mechanism entirely, use the following configuration:

...
  replicationSlots:
    synchronizeReplicas:
      enabled: false

Server-side apply of manifests

To ensure compatibility with Kubernetes 1.29 and upcoming versions, CloudNativePG now mandates the utilization of "Server-side apply" when deploying the operator manifest.

While employing this installation method poses no challenges for new deployments, updating existing operator manifests using the --server-side option may result in errors resembling the example below:

Apply failed with 1 conflict: conflict with "kubectl-client-side-apply" using..

If such errors arise, they can be resolved by explicitly specifying the --force-conflicts option to enforce conflict resolution:

kubectl apply --server-side --force-conflicts -f <OPERATOR_MANIFEST>

Henceforth, kube-apiserver will be automatically acknowledged as a recognized manager for the CRDs, eliminating the need for any further manual intervention on this matter.