An overview of the architecture for the DBNL platform
The DBNL platform architecture consists of a set of Services packaged as Docker images and a set of standard Infrastructure components that are deployed into your infrastructure (e.g. a VPC in AWS or GCP, or on-premise). The platform is scalable, modular, and self contained. It does not require an external connection to hosted Distributional services to operate.
DBNL platform architecture
Infrastructure
The DBNL platform requires the following infrastructure:
A Kubernetes cluster to host the DBNL platform services.
A PostgreSQL database to store metadata.
An object store bucket to store raw data (e.g. S3 or GCS).
A Redis database to serve as a messaging queue.
A load balancer to route traffic to the API or UI service.
(Optional) A Clickhouse database to store trace data.
Infrastructure Sizing Requirements
Kubernetes Cluster
Environment
Nodes
CPU per Node
Memory per Node
Total Resources
Minimum (POC/Testing)
3
4 vCPU
16 GB
12 vCPU, 48 GB RAM
Recommended (Production)
5+
8 vCPU
32 GB
40+ vCPU, 160+ GB RAM
High Volume (>100k logs/day)
10+
16 vCPU
64 GB
160+ vCPU, 640+ GB RAM
PostgreSQL Database
Environment
Instance Type (AWS)
Instance Type (GCP)
vCPU
Memory
Minimum
db.t3.medium
db-n1-standard-2
2
4 GB
Recommended
db.r5.large
db-n1-highmem-4
2-4
16 GB
High Volume
db.r5.xlarge+
db-n1-highmem-8+
4-8+
32+ GB
Object Store
Environment
Storage
Minimum
100 GB
Recommended
1 TB
High Volume
10+ TB (scales with log volume and retention)
Redis
Environment
Instance Type (AWS)
Instance Type (GCP)
Memory
Minimum
cache.t3.medium
M1
3.2 GB
Recommended
cache.r5.large
M3
13+ GB
High Volume
cache.r5.xlarge+
M4+
25+ GB
Clickhouse (Optional - Required for OTEL Trace Ingestion)
Environment
vCPU
Memory
Storage
Minimum
4
16 GB
100 GB
Recommended
8
32 GB
500 GB
High Volume
16+
64+ GB
2+ TB
Estimated Monthly Costs
Costs vary by cloud provider and region. Approximate ranges (as of 2025):
Minimum Setup: $300-500/month (suitable for POC/testing)
Recommended Production: $800-1500/month (handles typical production workloads)
High Volume: $2000-5000+/month (depends on log volume and retention requirements)
These estimates assume standard cloud provider pricing. Costs can be reduced with reserved instances, committed use discounts, or on-premise deployments.
Services
The DBNL platform consists of three core services that run within the Kubernetes cluster:
The API service (api-srv) serves the DBNL API and orchestrates work across the dbnl platform.
The worker service (worker-srv) processes async jobs scheduled by the API service.
The UI service (ui-srv) serves the DBNL UI assets.
