![Deploy and Manage Pgpool in Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)](/blog/post/deploy-and-manage-pgpool-in-gke/hero_hu4319d5ff4a4e9c05cba253c9f6e69f4d_53938_1300x650_fill_q75_box_smart1.jpg)
Overview
KubeDB is the Kubernetes Native Database Management Solution which simplifies and automates routine database tasks such as Provisioning, Monitoring, Upgrading, Patching, Scaling, Volume Expansion, Backup, Recovery, Failure detection, and Repair for various popular databases on private and public clouds. The databases supported by KubeDB include MongoDB, Elasticsearch, MySQL, MariaDB, Redis, PostgreSQL, FerretDB, Percona XtraDB, and Memcached. Additionally, KubeDB also supports ProxySQL, PgBouncer, Pgpool and the streaming platform Kafka, RabbitMQ. You can find the guides to all the supported databases in KubeDB . In this tutorial we will deploy and manage Pgpool in Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). We will cover the following steps:
- Install KubeDB
- Deploy PostgreSQL Cluster
- Deploy Pgpool
- Read/Write through Pgpool
Get Cluster ID
We need the cluster ID to get the KubeDB License. To get cluster ID, we can run the following command:
$ kubectl get ns kube-system -o jsonpath='{.metadata.uid}'
8e336615-0dbb-4ae8-b72f-2e7ec34c399d
Get License
Go to Appscode License Server to get the license.txt file. For this tutorial we will use KubeDB.
Install KubeDB
We will use helm to install KubeDB. Please install helm here
if it is not already installed.
Now, let’s install KubeDB
.
$ helm search repo appscode/kubedb
NAME CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTION
appscode/kubedb v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 KubeDB by AppsCode - Production ready databases...
appscode/kubedb-autoscaler v0.30.0 v0.30.0 KubeDB Autoscaler by AppsCode - Autoscale KubeD...
appscode/kubedb-catalog v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 KubeDB Catalog by AppsCode - Catalog for databa...
appscode/kubedb-community v0.24.2 v0.24.2 KubeDB Community by AppsCode - Community featur...
appscode/kubedb-crd-manager v0.0.9 v0.0.9 KubeDB CRD Manager by AppsCode
appscode/kubedb-crds v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 KubeDB Custom Resource Definitions
appscode/kubedb-dashboard v0.21.0 v0.21.0 KubeDB Dashboard by AppsCode
appscode/kubedb-enterprise v0.11.2 v0.11.2 KubeDB Enterprise by AppsCode - Enterprise feat...
appscode/kubedb-grafana-dashboards v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 A Helm chart for kubedb-grafana-dashboards by A...
appscode/kubedb-kubestash-catalog v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 KubeStash Catalog by AppsCode - Catalog of Kube...
appscode/kubedb-metrics v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 KubeDB State Metrics
appscode/kubedb-one v2023.12.28 v2023.12.28 KubeDB and Stash by AppsCode - Production ready...
appscode/kubedb-ops-manager v0.32.0 v0.32.0 KubeDB Ops Manager by AppsCode - Enterprise fea...
appscode/kubedb-opscenter v2024.4.27 v2024.4.27 KubeDB Opscenter by AppsCode
appscode/kubedb-provider-aws v2024.4.27 v0.7.0 A Helm chart for KubeDB AWS Provider for Crossp...
appscode/kubedb-provider-azure v2024.4.27 v0.7.0 A Helm chart for KubeDB Azure Provider for Cros...
appscode/kubedb-provider-gcp v2024.4.27 v0.7.0 A Helm chart for KubeDB GCP Provider for Crossp...
appscode/kubedb-provisioner v0.45.0 v0.45.0 KubeDB Provisioner by AppsCode - Community feat...
appscode/kubedb-schema-manager v0.21.0 v0.21.0 KubeDB Schema Manager by AppsCode
appscode/kubedb-ui v2024.5.3 0.6.5 A Helm chart for Kubernetes
appscode/kubedb-ui-server v2021.12.21 v2021.12.21 A Helm chart for kubedb-ui-server by AppsCode
appscode/kubedb-webhook-server v0.21.0 v0.21.0 KubeDB Webhook Server by AppsCode
$ helm install kubedb oci://ghcr.io/appscode-charts/kubedb \
--version v2024.4.27 \
--namespace kubedb --create-namespace \
--set-file global.license=/path/to/the/license.txt \
--set global.featureGates.Pgpool=true \
--wait --burst-limit=10000 --debug
Let’s verify the installation:
$ watch kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -l "app.kubernetes.io/instance=kubedb"
NAMESPACE NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
kubedb kubedb-kubedb-autoscaler-9dfbd954f-8fjzt 1/1 Running 0 2m39s
kubedb kubedb-kubedb-ops-manager-7669786dcc-hlcg5 1/1 Running 0 2m39s
kubedb kubedb-kubedb-provisioner-6d9db6f7dc-km8th 1/1 Running 0 2m39s
kubedb kubedb-kubedb-webhook-server-758f57c4c4-q7r8z 1/1 Running 0 2m39s
kubedb kubedb-petset-operator-5d94b4ddb8-kk5bn 1/1 Running 0 2m39s
kubedb kubedb-petset-webhook-server-b89bf7d9b-ng27h 2/2 Running 0 2m39s
kubedb kubedb-sidekick-5d9947bd9-r2j8s 1/1 Running 0 2m39s
We can list the CRD Groups that have been registered by the operator by running the following command:
$ kubectl get crd -l app.kubernetes.io/name=kubedb
NAME CREATED AT
connectclusters.kafka.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:37Z
connectors.kafka.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:37Z
druidversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:48Z
elasticsearchautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:34Z
elasticsearchdashboards.elasticsearch.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:34Z
elasticsearches.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:33Z
elasticsearchopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:34Z
elasticsearchversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:48Z
etcdversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:48Z
ferretdbversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:48Z
kafkaautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:37Z
kafkaconnectorversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:48Z
kafkaopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:37Z
kafkas.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:37Z
kafkaversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:48Z
mariadbarchivers.archiver.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:40Z
mariadbautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:40Z
mariadbdatabases.schema.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:40Z
mariadbopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:40Z
mariadbs.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:40Z
mariadbversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
memcachedversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
mongodbarchivers.archiver.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:43Z
mongodbautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:43Z
mongodbdatabases.schema.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:44Z
mongodbopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:43Z
mongodbs.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:43Z
mongodbversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
mssqlserverversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
mysqlarchivers.archiver.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:47Z
mysqlautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:47Z
mysqldatabases.schema.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:47Z
mysqlopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:47Z
mysqls.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:47Z
mysqlversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
perconaxtradbversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
pgbouncerversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
pgpools.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:50Z
pgpoolversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
postgresarchivers.archiver.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:53Z
postgresautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:53Z
postgresdatabases.schema.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:53Z
postgreses.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:50Z
postgresopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:53Z
postgresversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
proxysqlversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
publishers.postgres.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:54Z
rabbitmqversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
redisautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:57Z
redises.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:57Z
redisopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:57Z
redissentinelautoscalers.autoscaling.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:57Z
redissentinelopsrequests.ops.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:57Z
redissentinels.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:57Z
redisversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
singlestoreversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
solrversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
subscribers.postgres.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:54:54Z
zookeeperversions.catalog.kubedb.com 2024-05-10T06:53:49Z
Deploy PostgreSQL Cluster
Now, we are going to Deploy PostgreSQL Cluster using KubeDB. First, let’s create a Namespace in which we will deploy the server.
$ kubectl create namespace demo
namespace/demo created
PostgreSQL is readily available in KubeDB as CRD and can easily be deployed. But by default this will create a PostgreSQL server with max_connections=100
, but we need more than 100 connections for our Pgpool to work as expected.
Pgpool requires at least 2*num_init_children*max_pool*spec.replicas
connections in PostgreSQL server. So we can use Custom Configuration File
to create a PostgreSQL server with custom max_connections
.
Now, create a Secret using this configuration file.
Create Secret with Custom Configuration
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: pg-configuration
namespace: demo
stringData:
user.conf: max_connections=400
Let’s save this yaml configuration into pg-configuration.yaml
Then create the above Secret,
kubectl apply -f pg-configuration.yaml
secret/pg-configuration created
Here, is the yaml of the PostgreSQL CRO we are going to use:
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: Postgres
metadata:
name: postgres-cluster
namespace: demo
spec:
replicas: 3
version: "16.1"
configSecret:
name: pg-configuration
storageType: Durable
storage:
storageClassName: "standard"
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 1Gi
terminationPolicy: WipeOut
Let’s save this yaml configuration into postgres-cluster.yaml
Then create the above PostgreSQL CRO,
$ kubectl apply -f postgres-cluster.yaml
postgres.kubedb.com/postgres-cluster created
In this yaml,
spec.version
field specifies the version of PostgreSQL. Here, we are using PostgreSQLversion 16.1
. You can list the KubeDB supported versions of PostgreSQL by running$ kubectl get postgresversions
command.spec.storage
specifies PVC spec that will be dynamically allocated to store data for this database. This storage spec will be passed to the StatefulSet created by KubeDB operator to run database pods. You can specify any StorageClass available in your cluster with appropriate resource requests.spec.configSecret
is an optional field that allows users to provide custom configuration for PostgreSQL.- And the
spec.terminationPolicy
field is Wipeout means that the database will be deleted without restrictions. It can also be “Halt”, “Delete” and “DoNotTerminate”. Learn More about these in Termination Policy .
Let’s check if the server is ready to use,
$ kubectl get postgres -n demo postgres-cluster
NAME VERSION STATUS AGE
postgres-cluster 16.1 Ready 2m7s
Create Database, User & Grant Privileges
Here, we are going to create a database with a new user and grant all privileges to the database.
$ kubectl exec -it postgres-cluster-0 -n demo -- bash
Defaulted container "postgres" out of: postgres, pg-coordinator, postgres-init-container (init)
postgres-cluster-0:/$ psql -c "create database test"
CREATE DATABASE
postgres-cluster-0:/$ psql -c "create role roy with login password '12345'"
CREATE ROLE
postgres-cluster-0:/$ psql -c "grant all privileges on database test to roy"
GRANT
postgres-cluster-0:/$ psql test
psql (16.1)
Type "help" for help.
test=# GRANT ALL ON SCHEMA public TO roy;
GRANT
test=# exit
postgres-cluster-0:/$ exit
exit
Create Secret
Now, we’ll create a secret that includes the User
and Password
with values from newly created role and password above. The secret must have two labels, one is app.kubernetes.io/name: postgreses.kubedb.com
and another is app.kubernetes.io/instance: <appbinding name>
.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: db-user-pass
namespace: demo
labels:
app.kubernetes.io/instance: postgres-cluster
app.kubernetes.io/name: postgreses.kubedb.com
stringData:
password: "12345"
username: roy
Let’s save this yaml configuration into db-user-pass.yaml
Then create the above Secret,
$ kubectl apply -f db-user-pass.yaml
secret/db-user-pass created
Deploy Pgpool
We are going to Deploy Pgpool using KubeDB. Here, is the yaml of the Pgpool CRO we are going to use:
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: Pgpool
metadata:
name: pgpool
namespace: demo
spec:
version: "4.5.0"
replicas: 1
postgresRef:
name: postgres-cluster
namespace: demo
syncUsers: true
terminationPolicy: WipeOut
Let’s save this yaml configuration into pgpool.yaml
Then create the above Pgpool CRO,
$ kubectl apply -f pgpool.yaml
pgpool.kubedb.com/pgpool created
In this yaml,
spec.version
field specifies the version of Pgpool. Here, we are using Pgpool4.5.0
. You can list the KubeDB supported versions of Pgpool by running$ kubectl get pgpoolversions
command.spec.postgresRef
specifies the name and the namespace of the appbinding that points to the PostgreSQL server.spec.syncUsers
specifies whether user want to sync additional users to Pgpool.- And the
spec.terminationPolicy
field is Wipeout means that the database will be deleted without restrictions. It can also be “Halt”, “Delete” and “DoNotTerminate”.
Let’s check if the server is ready to use,
$ kubectl get pgpool -n demo pgpool
NAME TYPE VERSION STATUS AGE
pgpool kubedb.com/v1alpha2 4.5.0 Ready 53s
Once all of the above things are handled correctly then you will see that the following objects are created:
$ kubectl get all -n demo
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
pod/pgpool-0 1/1 Running 0 59s
pod/postgres-cluster-0 2/2 Running 0 5m7s
pod/postgres-cluster-1 2/2 Running 0 4m52s
pod/postgres-cluster-2 2/2 Running 0 4m52s
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
service/pgpool ClusterIP 10.96.81.203 <none> 9999/TCP 60s
service/pgpool-pods ClusterIP None <none> 9999/TCP 60s
service/postgres-cluster ClusterIP 10.96.252.10 <none> 5432/TCP,2379/TCP 5m7s
service/postgres-cluster-pods ClusterIP None <none> 5432/TCP,2380/TCP,2379/TCP 5m7s
service/postgres-cluster-standby ClusterIP 10.96.203.14 <none> 5432/TCP 5m7s
NAME READY AGE
statefulset.apps/postgres-cluster 3/3 5m7s
NAME TYPE VERSION AGE
appbinding.appcatalog.appscode.com/postgres-cluster kubedb.com/postgres 16.1 5m7s
NAME TYPE VERSION STATUS AGE
pgpool.kubedb.com/pgpool kubedb.com/v1alpha2 4.5.0 Ready 60s
NAME VERSION STATUS AGE
postgres.kubedb.com/postgres-cluster 16.1 Ready 5m7s
We have successfully deployed Pgpool in GKE. Now, we can use the
pgpool
service to use the database.
Connect via Pgpool
To connect via Pgpool we have to expose its service to localhost. KubeDB will create few Services to connect with the database. Let’s check the Services by following command,
$ kubectl get service -n demo
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
pgpool ClusterIP 10.96.81.203 <none> 9999/TCP 89s
pgpool-pods ClusterIP None <none> 9999/TCP 89s
postgres-cluster ClusterIP 10.96.252.10 <none> 5432/TCP,2379/TCP 5m48s
postgres-cluster-pods ClusterIP None <none> 5432/TCP,2380/TCP,2379/TCP 5m48s
postgres-cluster-standby ClusterIP 10.96.203.14 <none> 5432/TCP 5m48s
Here, we are going to use pgpool
Service to connect. Now, let’s port-forward the pgpool
Service to the port 9999
to local machine:
$ kubectl port-forward -n demo svc/pgpool 9999
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:9999 -> 9999
Insert Sample Data
Let’s read and write some sample data to the database via Pgpool,
$ psql --host=localhost --port=9999 --username=roy test
psql (12.18 (Ubuntu 12.18-0ubuntu0.20.04.1), server 16.1)
Type "help" for help.
test=> CREATE TABLE music(id int, artist varchar, name varchar);
CREATE TABLE
test=> INSERT INTO music VALUES(1, 'John Denver', 'Country Roads');
INSERT 0 1
test=> SELECT * FROM music;
id | artist | name
----+-------------+---------------
1 | John Denver | Country Roads
(1 row)
test=> exit
Verify Data in PostgreSQL
Here, we are going to exec into PostgreSQL pod to verify the inserted data through Pgpool.
$ kubectl exec -it -n demo postgres-cluster-0 -- bash
Defaulted container "postgres" out of: postgres, pg-coordinator, postgres-init-container (init)
postgres-cluster-0:/$ psql
psql (16.1)
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# \l
List of databases
Name | Owner | Encoding | Locale Provider | Collate | Ctype | ICU Locale | ICU Rules | Access privileges
---------------+----------+----------+-----------------+------------+------------+------------+-----------+-----------------------
kubedb_system | postgres | UTF8 | libc | en_US.utf8 | en_US.utf8 | | |
postgres | postgres | UTF8 | libc | en_US.utf8 | en_US.utf8 | | |
template0 | postgres | UTF8 | libc | en_US.utf8 | en_US.utf8 | | | =c/postgres +
| | | | | | | | postgres=CTc/postgres
template1 | postgres | UTF8 | libc | en_US.utf8 | en_US.utf8 | | | =c/postgres +
| | | | | | | | postgres=CTc/postgres
test | postgres | UTF8 | libc | en_US.utf8 | en_US.utf8 | | | =Tc/postgres +
| | | | | | | | postgres=CTc/postgres+
| | | | | | | | roy=CTc/postgres
(5 rows)
postgres=# \c test
You are now connected to database "test" as user "postgres".
test=# \dt
List of relations
Schema | Name | Type | Owner
--------+-------+-------+-------
public | music | table | roy
(1 row)
test=# SELECT * FROM music;
id | artist | name
----+-------------+---------------
1 | John Denver | Country Roads
(1 row)
test=# exit
postgres-cluster-0:/$ exit
exit
We’ve successfully access our PostgreSQL database through Pgpool. Click Kubernetes Pgpool Documentation for more detailed information.
We have made an in depth tutorial on Seamlessly Provision and Manage Pgpool on Kubernetes Using KubeDB. You can have a look into the video below:
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