Create a PostgreSQL database

The Cloudnative POstgreSQL database operator is installed by default. Teams can use the operator and the postgresql quick start to create their own PostgreSQL databases.

Create a database

You can create a postgresql database from the Catalog:

1. Go to Catalog in the left menu and click on the postgresql template.

2. Click on Values.

3. Fill in a name for the database.

4. Change other parameter values if required.

5. Click Submit and the Deploy Changes.

The operator will now create the database and add secrets to the team's namespace called <database-name>-superuser and <database-name>-app. <database-name>-superuser contains the secrets for the superuser of the PostgreSQL cluster, whereas the <database-name>-app is granted access to the default database with the name set for the database. Each secret contains the username and password for the database with the keys username and password.

You can now provide the username and password to a container as environment variables using a secretKeyRef:

env:
  - name: DB_USER
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: <database-name>-app
        key: username
  - name: DB_PASSWORD
    valueFrom:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: <database-name>-app
        key: password

note

Using the superuser credentials for connecting an app is discouraged. The app user has the access it needs for initializing tables etc.

Monitoring

The postgresql quick start template includes two parameters that can be used to create a PodMonitor and a Grafana Dashboard. Set the monitoring parameter to true to create a PodMonitor and set the dashboard parameter to true to add a cloudnativepg dashboard to the Team's Grafana. Note that this dashboard can be used to monitor multiple databases so you'll just need to create it once.