Scribd
Upload
31 views9 pages

Deploying PostgreSQL Clusters Using Kubernetes StatefulSets

Uploaded by

Stephen Efange
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views9 pages

Deploying PostgreSQL Clusters Using Kubernetes StatefulSets

Uploaded by

Stephen Efange
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Deploying PostgreSQL Clusters using

Kubernetes StatefulSets
Jeff McCormick
Jeff McCormick
Feb 26, 2017·6 min read
This blog provides guidance on how to build a PostgreSQL cluster using the new Kubernetes
feature - StatefulSet. Using this StatefulSet capability provides a very simple, Kubernetes native,
mechanism to make clustering decisions when deploying a PostgreSQL cluster.

The Crunchy PostgreSQL Container Suite is a set of containers that can be used to deploy,
monitor, and administer the open source PostgreSQL database. More details can be found in the
crunchy-containers GitHUB repository here In a prior blog, Crunchy Data described how to
deploy a similar cluster using Helm.

(This blog cross-posted at the kubernetes.io blog here)

StatefulSets Example
Step 1 - Create Kube Environment
StatefulSets is a new feature and, as a result, running this example will require an environment
based on Kubernetes 1.5.

The example in this blog deploys on Centos7 using kubeadm. Some instructions on
what kubeadm provides and how to deploy a Kubernetes cluster is located here.

Step 2 - Install NFS


The example in this blog uses NFS for the Persistent Volumes, but any shared file system would
also work (ex: ceph, gluster). Reference documentation for Volumes can be found here.

The example script assumes the NFS server is running locally and the hostname resolves to a
known IP address.

In summary, the steps used to get NFS working on a Centos 7 host are as follows:

sudo setsebool -P virt_use_nfs 1


sudo yum -y install nfs-utils libnfsidmap

sudo systemctl enable rpcbind nfs-server

sudo systemctl start rpcbind nfs-server rpc-statd nfs-idmapd

sudo mkdir /nfsfileshare

sudo chmod 777 /nfsfileshare/

sudo vi /etc/exports

sudo exportfs -r

The /etc/exports file should contain a line similar to this one except with the applicable IP
address specified:

/nfsfileshare 192.168.122.9(rw, sync )

After these steps NFS should be running in the test environment.

Step 3 - Clone the Crunchy Container Repo


The example used in this blog is found at in the Crunchy Containers GitHUB repo here. Clone
the Crunchy Containers repository to the applicable test Kubernertes host and go to the example:

cd $HOME
git clone https://github.com/CrunchyData/crunchy-containers.git

cd crunchy-containers/examples/kube/statefulset

Next, pull down the crunchy-postgres container image:

docker pull crunchydata/crunchy-postgres:centos7- 9.5 - 1.2 . 6

Step 4 - Run the Example


To begin, it is necessary to set a few of the environment variables used in the example:

export BUILDBASE= $HOME /crunchy-containers

export CCP_IMAGE_TAG=centos7-9.5-1.2.6

BUILDBASE is where you cloned the repository and CCP_IMAGE_TAG is the container image
version we want to use.

Next, run the example:

./run.sh

That script will create several Kubernetes objects including:

 Persistent Volumes (pv1, pv2, pv3)


 Persistent Volume Claim (pgset-pvc)
 Service Account (pgset-sa)
 Services (pgset, pgset-master, pgset-replica)
 StatefulSet (pgset)
 Pods (pgset-0, pgset-1)

At this point, two pods will be running in the environment:

$ kubectl get pod

NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE

pgset-0 1/1 Running 0 2m

pgset-1 1/1 Running 1 2m

Immediately after the pods are created, the deployment will be as depicted below:

Step 5 - What Just Happened?


This example will deploy a StatefulSet, which in turn creates two pods.
The containers in those two pods run the database. For a replicating cluster, we need one of the
containers to assume the master role and the other containers to assume the replica role.

So, how do the containers determine who will be the master, and who will be the replica?

This is where the new StateSet mechanics come into play. The StateSet mechanics assign a
unique ordinal value to each pod in the set.

The StatefulSets provided unique ordinal value always start with 0. During the initialization of
the container, each container examines its assigned ordinal value. An ordinal value of 0 causes
the container to assume the master role within the database cluster. For all other ordinal values,
the container assumes a replica role. This is a very simple form of discovery made possible by
the StatefulSet mechanics.

Replicas are configured to connect to the master database via a Service dedicated to the master
database. In order to support this replication, the example creates a separate Service for each of
the master role and the replica role. Once the replica has connected, the replica will begin
replicating state from the master.

During the container initialization, a master container will use a Service Account (pgset-sa) to
change it’s container label value to match the master Service selector. Changing the label is
important to enable traffic destined to the master database to reach the correct container within
the Stateful Set. All other pods in the set assume the replica Service label by default.

Step 6 - Deployment Diagram


The example results in a deployment depicted below:
In this deployment, there is a
Service for the master and a separate Service for the replica. The replica is connected to the
master and replication of state has started.

The crunchy-postgres container supports other forms of cluster deployment, the style of
deployment is dictated by setting the PG_MODE environment variable for the container. In the
case of a StatefulSet deployment, that value is set to:

PG_MODE= set

This environment variable is a hint to the container initialization logic as to the style of
deployment intended.

Step 7 - Testing the Example


The tests below assume that the psql client has been installed on the test system. If if not, the
psql client has been previously installed, it can be installed as follows:

sudo yum -y install postgresql

In addition, the tests below assume that the tested environment DNS resolves to the Kube DNS
and that the tested environment DNS search path is specified to match the applicable Kube
namespace and domain. The master service is named pgset-master and the replica service is
named pgset-replica.
Test the master as follows (the password is password):

psql -h pgset-master -U postgres postgres -c 'table pg_stat_replication'

If things are working, the command above will return output indicating that a single replica is
connecting to the master.

Next, test the replica as follows:

psql -h pgset-replica -U postgres postgres -c 'create table foo (id int)'

The command above should fail as the replica is read-only within the cluster.

Next, scale up the set as follows:

kubectl scale statefulset pgset --replicas=3

The command above should successfully create a new replica pod called pgset-2 as depicted
below:
Step 8 - Persistence Explained
Take a look at the persisted data files on the resulting NFS mount path:

ls -l /nfsfileshare/

total 12

drwx------ 20 26 26 4096 Jan 17 16:35 pgset-0

drwx------ 20 26 26 4096 Jan 17 16:35 pgset-1


drwx------ 20 26 26 4096 Jan 17 16:48 pgset-2

Each container in the StatefulSet binds to the single NFS Persistent Volume Claim (pgset-pvc)
created in the example script.

Since NFS and the PVC can be shared, each pod can write to this NFS path.

The container is designed to create a subdirectory on that path using the pod host name for
uniqueness.

Conclusion
StatefulSets is an exciting feature added to Kubernetes for container builders that are
implementing clustering. The ordinal values assigned to the set provide a very simple mechanism
to make clustering decisions when deploying a PostgreSQL cluster.

To learn more contact Crunchy Data at [email protected]

WRITTEN BY

Jeff McCormick

You might also like