EDB Postgres for Kubernetes Plugin v1
EDB Postgres for Kubernetes provides a plugin for kubectl
to manage a cluster in Kubernetes.
The plugin also works with oc
in an OpenShift environment.
Install
You can install the cnp
plugin using a variety of methods.
Note
For air-gapped systems, installation via package managers, using previously downloaded files, may be a good option.
Via the installation script
Using the Debian or RedHat packages
In the releases section of the GitHub repository, you can navigate to any release of interest (pick the same or newer release than your EDB Postgres for Kubernetes operator), and in it you will find an Assets section. In that section are pre-built packages for a variety of systems. As a result, you can follow standard practices and instructions to install them in your systems.
Debian packages
For example, let's install the 1.22.2 release of the plugin, for an Intel based
64 bit server. First, we download the right .deb
file.
Then, install from the local file using dpkg
:
RPM packages
As in the example for .deb
packages, let's install the 1.22.2 release for an
Intel 64 bit machine. Note the --output
flag to provide a file name.
Then install with yum
, and you're ready to use:
Supported Architectures
EDB Postgres for Kubernetes Plugin is currently built for the following operating system and architectures:
- Linux
- amd64
- arm 5/6/7
- arm64
- s390x
- ppc64le
- macOS
- amd64
- arm64
- Windows
- 386
- amd64
- arm 5/6/7
- arm64
Configuring auto-completion
To configure auto-completion for the plugin, a helper shell script needs to be
installed into your current PATH. Assuming the latter contains /usr/local/bin
,
this can be done with the following commands:
Important
The name of the script needs to be exactly the one provided since is used by the kubectl auto-complete process
Use
Once the plugin was installed and deployed, you can start using it like this:
Generation of installation manifests
The cnp
plugin can be used to generate the YAML manifest for the
installation of the operator. This option would typically be used if you want
to override some default configurations such as number of replicas,
installation namespace, namespaces to watch, and so on.
For details and available options, run:
The main options are:
-n
: the namespace in which to install the operator (by default:postgresql-operator-system
)--replicas
: number of replicas in the deployment--version
: version of the operator to be installed, specified in the<major>.<minor>.<patch>
format (e.g.1.22.2
). The default empty value installs the version of the operator that matches the version of the plugin.--watch-namespace
: comma separated string containing the namespaces to watch (by default all namespaces)
An example of the generate
command, which will generate a YAML manifest that
will install the operator, is as follows:
The flags in the above command have the following meaning:
-n king
install the CNP operator into theking
namespace--version 1.22.2
install operator version 1.22.2--replicas 3
install the operator with 3 replicas--watch-namespace "albert, bb, freddie"
have the operator watch for changes in thealbert
,bb
andfreddie
namespaces only
Status
The status
command provides an overview of the current status of your
cluster, including:
- general information: name of the cluster, PostgreSQL's system ID, number of instances, current timeline and position in the WAL
- backup: point of recoverability, and WAL archiving status as returned by
the
pg_stat_archiver
view from the primary - or designated primary in the case of a replica cluster - streaming replication: information taken directly from the
pg_stat_replication
view on the primary instance - instances: information about each Postgres instance, taken directly by each
instance manager; in the case of a standby, the
Current LSN
field corresponds to the latest write-ahead log location that has been replayed during recovery (replay LSN).
Important
The status information above is taken at different times and at different
locations, resulting in slightly inconsistent returned values. For example,
the Current Write LSN
location in the main header, might be different
from the Current LSN
field in the instances status as it is taken at
two different time intervals.
You can also get a more verbose version of the status by adding
--verbose
or just -v
The command also supports output in yaml
and json
format.
Promote
The meaning of this command is to promote
a pod in the cluster to primary, so you
can start with maintenance work or test a switch-over situation in your cluster
Or you can use the instance node number to promote
Certificates
Clusters created using the EDB Postgres for Kubernetes operator work with a CA to sign a TLS authentication certificate.
To get a certificate, you need to provide a name for the secret to store the credentials, the cluster name, and a user for this certificate
After the secret is created, you can get it using kubectl
And the content of the same in plain text using the following commands:
Restart
The kubectl cnp restart
command can be used in two cases:
requesting the operator to orchestrate a rollout restart for a certain cluster. This is useful to apply configuration changes to cluster dependent objects, such as ConfigMaps containing custom monitoring queries.
request a single instance restart, either in-place if the instance is the cluster's primary or deleting and recreating the pod if it is a replica.
If the in-place restart is requested but the change cannot be applied without a switchover, the switchover will take precedence over the in-place restart. A common case for this will be a minor upgrade of PostgreSQL image.
Note
If you want ConfigMaps and Secrets to be automatically reloaded
by instances, you can add a label with key k8s.enterprisedb.io/reload
to it.
Reload
The kubectl cnp reload
command requests the operator to trigger a reconciliation
loop for a certain cluster. This is useful to apply configuration changes
to cluster dependent objects, such as ConfigMaps containing custom monitoring queries.
The following command will reload all configurations for a given cluster:
Maintenance
The kubectl cnp maintenance
command helps to modify one or more clusters
across namespaces and set the maintenance window values, it will change
the following fields:
- .spec.nodeMaintenanceWindow.inProgress
- .spec.nodeMaintenanceWindow.reusePVC
Accepts as argument set
and unset
using this to set the
inProgress
to true
in case set
and to false
in case of unset
.
By default, reusePVC
is always set to false
unless the --reusePVC
flag is passed.
The plugin will ask for a confirmation with a list of the cluster to modify and their new values, if this is accepted this action will be applied to all the cluster in the list.
If you want to set in maintenance all the PostgreSQL in your Kubernetes cluster, just need to write the following command:
And you'll have the list of all the cluster to update
Report
The kubectl cnp report
command bundles various pieces
of information into a ZIP file.
It aims to provide the needed context to debug problems
with clusters in production.
It has two sub-commands: operator
and cluster
.
report Operator
The operator
sub-command requests the operator to provide information
regarding the operator deployment, configuration and events.
Important
All confidential information in Secrets and ConfigMaps is REDACTED.
The Data map will show the keys but the values will be empty.
The flag -S
/ --stopRedaction
will defeat the redaction and show the
values. Use only at your own risk, this will share private data.
Note
By default, operator logs are not collected, but you can enable operator
log collection with the --logs
flag
- deployment information: the operator Deployment and operator Pod
- configuration: the Secrets and ConfigMaps in the operator namespace
- events: the Events in the operator namespace
- webhook configuration: the mutating and validating webhook configurations
- webhook service: the webhook service
- logs: logs for the operator Pod (optional, off by default) in JSON-lines format
The command will generate a ZIP file containing various manifest in YAML format
(by default, but settable to JSON with the -o
flag).
Use the -f
flag to name a result file explicitly. If the -f
flag is not used, a
default time-stamped filename is created for the zip file.
Note
The report plugin obeys kubectl
conventions, and will look for objects constrained
by namespace. The CNP Operator will generally not be installed in the same
namespace as the clusters.
E.g. the default installation namespace is postgresql-operator-system
results in
With the -f
flag set:
Unzipping the file will produce a time-stamped top-level folder to keep the directory tidy:
will result in:
If you activated the --logs
option, you'd see an extra subdirectory:
Note
The plugin will try to get the PREVIOUS operator's logs, which is helpful when investigating restarted operators. In all cases, it will also try to get the CURRENT operator logs. If current and previous logs are available, it will show them both.
If the operator hasn't been restarted, you'll still see the ====== Begin …
and ====== End …
guards, with no content inside.
You can verify that the confidential information is REDACTED by default:
With the -S
(--stopRedaction
) option activated, secrets are shown:
You'll get a reminder that you're about to view confidential information:
report Cluster
The cluster
sub-command gathers the following:
- cluster resources: the cluster information, same as
kubectl get cluster -o yaml
- cluster pods: pods in the cluster namespace matching the cluster name
- cluster jobs: jobs, if any, in the cluster namespace matching the cluster name
- events: events in the cluster namespace
- pod logs: logs for the cluster Pods (optional, off by default) in JSON-lines format
- job logs: logs for the Pods created by jobs (optional, off by default) in JSON-lines format
The cluster
sub-command accepts the -f
and -o
flags, as the operator
does.
If the -f
flag is not used, a default timestamped report name will be used.
Note that the cluster information does not contain configuration Secrets / ConfigMaps,
so the -S
is disabled.
Note
By default, cluster logs are not collected, but you can enable cluster
log collection with the --logs
flag
Usage:
Note that, unlike the operator
sub-command, for the cluster
sub-command you
need to provide the cluster name, and very likely the namespace, unless the cluster
is in the default one.
and then:
Remember that you can use the --logs
flag to add the pod and job logs to the ZIP.
will result in:
OpenShift support
The report operator
directive will detect automatically if the cluster is
running on OpenShift, and will get the Cluster Service Version and the
Install Plan, and add them automatically to the zip under the openshift
sub-folder.
Note
the namespace becomes very important on OpenShift. The default namespace for OpenShift in CNP is "openshift-operators". Many (most) clients will use a different namespace for the CNP operator.
results in
You can find the OpenShift-related files in the openshift
sub-folder:
Logs
The kubectl cnp logs
command allows to follow the logs of a collection
of pods related to EDB Postgres for Kubernetes in a single go.
It has at the moment one available sub-command: cluster
.
Cluster logs
The cluster
sub-command gathers all the pod logs for a cluster in a single
stream or file.
This means that you can get all the pod logs in a single terminal window, with a
single invocation of the command.
As in all the cnp plugin sub-commands, you can get instructions and help with
the -h
flag:
kubectl cnp logs cluster -h
The logs
command will display logs in JSON-lines format, unless the
--timestamps
flag is used, in which case, a human readable timestamp will be
prepended to each line. In this case, lines will no longer be valid JSON,
and tools such as jq
may not work as desired.
If the logs cluster
sub-command is given the -f
flag (aka --follow
), it
will follow the cluster pod logs, and will also watch for any new pods created
in the cluster after the command has been invoked.
Any new pods found, including pods that have been restarted or re-created,
will also have their pods followed.
The logs will be displayed in the terminal's standard-out.
This command will only exit when the cluster has no more pods left, or when it
is interrupted by the user.
If logs
is called without the -f
option, it will read the logs from all
cluster pods until the time of invocation and display them in the terminal's
standard-out, then exit.
The -o
or --output
flag can be provided, to specify the name
of the file where the logs should be saved, instead of displaying over
standard-out.
The --tail
flag can be used to specify how many log lines will be retrieved
from each pod in the cluster. By default, the logs cluster
sub-command will
display all the logs from each pod in the cluster. If combined with the "follow"
flag -f
, the number of logs specified by --tail
will be retrieved until the
current time, and and from then the new logs will be followed.
NOTE: unlike other cnp
plugin commands, the -f
is used to denote "follow"
rather than specify a file. This keeps with the convention of kubectl logs
,
which takes -f
to mean the logs should be followed.
Usage:
Using the -f
option to follow:
Using --tail
option to display 3 lines from each pod and the -f
option
to follow:
With the -o
option omitted, and with --output
specified:
Destroy
The kubectl cnp destroy
command helps remove an instance and all the
associated PVCs from a Kubernetes cluster.
The optional --keep-pvc
flag, if specified, allows you to keep the PVCs,
while removing all metadata.ownerReferences
that were set by the instance.
Additionally, the k8s.enterprisedb.io/pvcStatus
label on the PVCs will change from
ready
to detached
to signify that they are no longer in use.
Running again the command without the --keep-pvc
flag will remove the
detached PVCs.
Usage:
The following example removes the cluster-example-2
pod and the associated
PVCs:
Cluster hibernation
Sometimes you may want to suspend the execution of a EDB Postgres for Kubernetes Cluster
while retaining its data, then resume its activity at a later time. We've
called this feature cluster hibernation.
Hibernation is only available via the kubectl cnp hibernate [on|off]
commands.
Hibernating a EDB Postgres for Kubernetes cluster means destroying all the resources generated by the cluster, except the PVCs that belong to the PostgreSQL primary instance.
You can hibernate a cluster with:
This will:
- shutdown every PostgreSQL instance
- detach the PVCs containing the data of the primary instance, and annotate them with the latest database status and the latest cluster configuration
- delete the
Cluster
resource, including every generated resource - except the aforementioned PVCs
When hibernated, a EDB Postgres for Kubernetes cluster is represented by just a group of
PVCs, in which the one containing the PGDATA
is annotated with the latest
available status, including content from pg_controldata
.
Warning
A cluster having fenced instances cannot be hibernated, as fencing is part of the hibernation procedure too.
In case of error the operator will not be able to revert the procedure. You can still force the operation with:
A hibernated cluster can be resumed with:
Once the cluster has been hibernated, it's possible to show the last configuration and the status that PostgreSQL had after it was shut down. That can be done with:
Benchmarking the database with pgbench
Pgbench can be run against an existing PostgreSQL cluster with following command:
Refer to the Benchmarking pgbench section for more details.
Benchmarking the storage with fio
fio can be run on an existing storage class with following command:
Refer to the Benchmarking fio section for more details.
Requesting a new physical backup
The kubectl cnp backup
command requests a new physical base backup for
an existing Postgres cluster by creating a new Backup
resource.
Info
From release 1.21, the backup
command accepts a new flag, -m
to specify the backup method.
To request a backup using volume snapshots, set -m volumeSnapshot
The following example requests an on-demand backup for a given cluster:
The created backup will be named after the request time:
By default, a newly created backup will use the backup target policy defined
in the cluster to choose which instance to run on.
However, you can override this policy with the --backup-target
option.
In the case of volume snapshot backups, you can also use the --online
option
to request an online/hot backup or an offline/cold one: additionally, you can
also tune online backups by explicitly setting the --immediate-checkpoint
and
--wait-for-archive
options.
The "Backup" section contains more information about the configuration settings.
Launching psql
The kubectl cnp psql
command starts a new PostgreSQL interactive front-end
process (psql) connected to an existing Postgres cluster, as if you were running
it from the actual pod. This means that you will be using the postgres
user.
Important
As you will be connecting as postgres
user, in production environments this
method should be used with extreme care, by authorized personnel only.
By default, the command will connect to the primary instance. The user can
select to work against a replica by using the --replica
option:
This command will start kubectl exec
, and the kubectl
executable must be
reachable in your PATH
variable to correctly work.
Note
When connecting to instances running on OpenShift, you must explicitly
pass a username to the psql
command, because of a security measure built into
OpenShift:
Snapshotting a Postgres cluster
Warning
The kubectl cnp snapshot
command has been removed.
Please use the backup
command to request
backups using volume snapshots.
Using pgAdmin4 for evaluation/demonstration purposes only
pgAdmin stands as the most popular and feature-rich open-source administration and development platform for PostgreSQL. For more information on the project, please refer to the official documentation.
Given that the pgAdmin Development Team maintains official Docker container images, you can install pgAdmin in your environment as a standard Kubernetes deployment.
Important
Deployment of pgAdmin in Kubernetes production environments is beyond the scope of this document and, more broadly, of the EDB Postgres for Kubernetes project.
However, for the purposes of demonstration and evaluation, EDB Postgres for Kubernetes
offers a suitable solution. The cnp
plugin implements the pgadmin4
command, providing a straightforward method to connect to a given database
Cluster
and navigate its content in a local environment such as kind
.
For example, you can install a demo deployment of pgAdmin4 for the
cluster-example
cluster as follows:
This command will produce:
After deploying pgAdmin, forward the port using kubectl and connect through your browser by following the on-screen instructions.
As usual, you can use the --dry-run
option to generate the YAML file:
pgAdmin4 can be installed in either desktop or server mode, with the default being server.
In server
mode, authentication is required using a randomly generated password,
and users must manually specify the database to connect to.
On the other hand, desktop
mode initiates a pgAdmin web interface without
requiring authentication. It automatically connects to the app
database as the
app
user, making it ideal for quick demos, such as on a local deployment using
kind
:
After concluding your demo, ensure the termination of the pgAdmin deployment by executing:
Warning
Never deploy pgAdmin in production using the plugin.
Logical Replication Publications
The cnp publication
command group is designed to streamline the creation and
removal of PostgreSQL logical replication publications.
Be aware that these commands are primarily intended for assisting in the
creation of logical replication publications, particularly on remote PostgreSQL
databases.
Warning
It is crucial to have a solid understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of PostgreSQL's native logical replication system before using these commands. In particular, be mindful of the logical replication restrictions.
Creating a new publication
To create a logical replication publication, use the cnp publication create
command. The basic structure of this command is as follows:
There are two primary use cases:
With
--external-cluster
: Use this option to create a publication on an external cluster (i.e. defined in theexternalClusters
stanza). The commands will be issued from the<LOCAL_CLUSTER>
, but the publication will be for the data in<EXTERNAL_CLUSTER>
.Without
--external-cluster
: Use this option to create a publication in the<LOCAL_CLUSTER>
PostgreSQLCluster
(by default, theapp
database).
Warning
When connecting to an external cluster, ensure that the specified user has
sufficient permissions to execute the CREATE PUBLICATION
command.
You have several options, similar to the CREATE PUBLICATION
command, to define the group of tables to replicate. Notable options include:
- If you specify the
--all-tables
option, you create a publicationFOR ALL TABLES
. - Alternatively, you can specify multiple occurrences of:
--table
: Add a specific table (with an expression) to the publication.--schema
: Include all tables in the specified database schema (available from PostgreSQL 15).
The --dry-run
option enables you to preview the SQL commands that the plugin
will execute.
For additional information and detailed instructions, type the following command:
Example
Given a source-cluster
and a destination-cluster
, we would like to create a
publication for the data on source-cluster
.
The destination-cluster
has an entry in the externalClusters
stanza pointing
to source-cluster
.
We can run:
which will create a publication for all tables on source-cluster
, running
the SQL commands on the destination-cluster
.
Or instead, we can run:
which will create a publication named app
for all the tables in the
source-cluster
, running the SQL commands on the source cluster.
Info
There are two sample files that have been provided for illustration and inspiration: logical-source and logical-destination.
Dropping a publication
The cnp publication drop
command seamlessly complements the create
command
by offering similar key options, including the publication name, cluster name,
and an optional external cluster. You can drop a PUBLICATION
with the
following command structure:
To access further details and precise instructions, use the following command:
Logical Replication Subscriptions
The cnp subscription
command group is a dedicated set of commands designed
to simplify the creation and removal of
PostgreSQL logical replication subscriptions.
These commands are specifically crafted to aid in the establishment of logical
replication subscriptions, especially when dealing with remote PostgreSQL
databases.
Warning
Before using these commands, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of PostgreSQL's native logical replication system. In particular, be mindful of the logical replication restrictions.
In addition to subscription management, we provide a helpful command for synchronizing all sequences from the source cluster. While its applicability may vary, this command can be particularly useful in scenarios involving major upgrades or data import from remote servers.
Creating a new subscription
To create a logical replication subscription, use the cnp subscription create
command. The basic structure of this command is as follows:
This command configures a subscription directed towards the specified
publication in the designated external cluster, as defined in the
externalClusters
stanza of the <LOCAL_CLUSTER>
.
For additional information and detailed instructions, type the following command:
Example
As in the section on publications, we have a source-cluster
and a
destination-cluster
, and we have already created a publication called
app
.
The following command:
will create a subscription for app
on the destination cluster.
Warning
Prioritize testing subscriptions in a non-production environment to ensure their effectiveness and identify any potential issues before implementing them in a production setting.
Info
There are two sample files that have been provided for illustration and inspiration: logical-source and logical-destination.
Dropping a subscription
The cnp subscription drop
command seamlessly complements the create
command.
You can drop a SUBSCRIPTION
with the following command structure:
To access further details and precise instructions, use the following command:
Synchronizing sequences
One notable constraint of PostgreSQL logical replication, implemented through publications and subscriptions, is the lack of sequence synchronization. This becomes particularly relevant when utilizing logical replication for live database migration, especially to a higher version of PostgreSQL. A crucial step in this process involves updating sequences before transitioning applications to the new database (cutover).
To address this limitation, the cnp subscription sync-sequences
command
offers a solution. This command establishes a connection with the source
database, retrieves all relevant sequences, and subsequently updates local
sequences with matching identities (based on database schema and sequence
name).
You can use the command as shown below:
For comprehensive details and specific instructions, utilize the following command:
Example
As in the previous sections for publication and subscription, we have
a source-cluster
and a destination-cluster
. The publication and the
subscription, both called app
, are already present.
The following command will synchronize the sequences involved in the
app
subscription, from the source cluster into the destination cluster.
Warning
Prioritize testing subscriptions in a non-production environment to guarantee their effectiveness and detect any potential issues before deploying them in a production setting.
Integration with K9s
The cnp
plugin can be easily integrated in K9s, a
popular terminal-based UI to interact with Kubernetes clusters.
See k9s/plugins.yml
for details.
- On this page
- Install
- Use
- Integration with K9s