A step-by-step guide to migrating a PostgreSQL 17 cluster managed by Crunchy
PGO v6 to PostgreSQL 18 under CloudNativePG. Two paths are covered: a fully
declarative offline migration using CloudNativePG’s built-in pg_dump import,
and an online migration using native PostgreSQL logical replication for a
near-zero-downtime cutover.
Yesterday, David Steele announced the end of life of pgBackRest — a PostgreSQL backup tool he maintained for thirteen years. The reasons are structural, not personal, and they are a reminder of a pattern we see too often in open-source infrastructure. This article reflects on what that means, on the architectural rivalry between pgBackRest and Barman, and on why CloudNativePG users can take confidence from both the project’s CNCF governance and the virtuous cycle of commercial support that sustains it.
This article examines how managed database services deliberately suppress access to the physical replication stream, turning operational convenience into permanent lock-in. It makes the case for a cloud-neutral stack — PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, and CloudNativePG — as the only architecture that returns full operational sovereignty to the organisation that owns the data.
In this article I walk you through the journey of adding the pg_crash
extension to the new CloudNativePG extensions project. It explores the
transition from legacy standalone repositories to a unified, Dagger-powered
build system designed for PostgreSQL 18 and beyond. By focusing on the Image
Volume feature and minimal operand images, the post provides a step-by-step
guide for community members to contribute and maintain their own extensions
within the CloudNativePG ecosystem.
2025 marked a historic turning point for CloudNativePG, headlined by its
acceptance into the CNCF sandbox and a subsequent application for incubation.
Throughout the year, the project transitioned from a high-performance operator
to a strategic architectural partner within the cloud-native ecosystem,
collaborating with projects like Cilium and Keycloak. Key milestones included
the co-development of the extension_control_path feature for PostgreSQL
18, revolutionising extension management via OCI images, and the General
Availability of the Barman Cloud Plugin. With nearly 880 commits (marking five
consecutive years of high-velocity development) and over 132 million downloads,
CloudNativePG has solidified its position as the standard for declarative,
resilient, and sovereign PostgreSQL on Kubernetes.
This blog post recaps my eventful participation in KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2025 in Atlanta, highlighting the key decision by maintainers to formally apply for CNCF Incubation for the CloudNativePG operator. I had the pleasure of delivering three presentations: a CNPG Lightning Talk focused on community contribution; a deep-dive with Yoshiyuki Tabata on implementing modern PostgreSQL authorisation using Keycloak and OAuth for robust database security; and a session with Jeremy Schneider introducing the new quorum-based consistency feature in CNPG 1.28 for safer cluster reconfigurations. Links to the videos of all three talks are shared within the full article.
For many Postgres DBAs, Kubernetes feels like a new, complex world. But what
if your existing skills were the key to unlocking it? This article demystifies
cloud-native Postgres by revealing a first handful of kubectl and kubectl cnpg commands that act as your direct translator.
I’ll move past the intimidating YAML to focus on the practical, imperative
commands you’ll actually use to troubleshoot, inspect, and even perform a
production switchover. You’ll see how your core DBA work maps directly to this
new environment, helping you build the confidence to take the next step into
the cloud-native world.
This CNPG Recipe explores the latest enhancements to CloudNativePG’s software supply chain and image management. Learn how our new, fully controlled build process—complete with Snyk scanning, image signing, and SBOMs—delivers smaller, more secure PostgreSQL images. We also detail how to leverage the newly streamlined image catalogs for simplified, declarative cluster management and safer fleet-wide upgrades in Kubernetes.
PostgreSQL 18 is officially released, packed with improvements for
performance, authentication, operations, and security. In this article, I’ll
show you how to run it on Kubernetes from day one with CloudNativePG. I will
summarise key new features like asynchronous I/O and OAuth 2.0, as well as the
extension_control_path parameter. This is a simple but critical feature for
operational control in cloud-native environments, and one our team at
CloudNativePG and EDB was proud to help contribute to PostgreSQL. You’ll see how
this reflects our close collaboration with the upstream community, learn about
our new half-sized minimal container image, and be able to follow my
guide to deploy your first cluster today.
In this article, I explore how CloudNativePG 1.27 enhances PostgreSQL liveness probes, including primary isolation checks that mitigate split-brain scenarios and integrate seamlessly with Kubernetes. We also discuss how these improvements lay the groundwork for advanced features like quorum-based failover while maintaining stability, safety, and community-driven decision-making.