Managed PostgreSQL (Planned)
Purpose: For platform engineers, explains the planned Managed PostgreSQL service — operator selection, capabilities, backup model, and timeline.
Status
Preview — Q2 2026 start, targeting Q3 2026 GA.
Operator selection between CloudNativePG and Zalando postgres-operator is in progress. Both candidates meet the selection criteria; final decision pending production validation.
Why PostgreSQL
- Most requested database from customers
- Required before CDC (Debezium captures from PostgreSQL)
- Mature operator ecosystem with two strong candidates
- Horizontal dependency for many application architectures
Included in v1
| Capability | Description |
|---|
| Cluster provisioning | Single-primary with streaming replicas |
| High availability | Automated failover (operator-managed) |
| Backup | Scheduled base backup + continuous WAL archiving |
| Point-in-time recovery | Restore to any WAL position within retention window |
| Rolling upgrades | Minor and major version upgrades with managed switchover |
| Connection pooling | PgBouncer sidecar or dedicated pool |
| Monitoring | Prometheus exporter + Grafana dashboards + alerting rules |
| TLS | cert-manager issued certificates for client and replication |
| Authentication | SCRAM-SHA-256, certificate-based |
| GitOps lifecycle | CRDs in Git, FluxCD reconciliation |
| Air-gap support | All images mirrorable |
Excluded from v1
| Capability | Rationale |
|---|
| Logical replication | Complexity; defer to CDC service (Q1 2027) |
| Multi-region | Requires cross-cluster networking; future scope |
| Read replicas with load balancing | Deferred pending demand signal |
| Custom extensions | Security review required per extension; curated list only |
| Managed PgBouncer (standalone) | Connection pooling via sidecar is sufficient for v1 |
Operator Comparison
| Criteria | CloudNativePG | Zalando postgres-operator |
|---|
| Maturity | GA, CNCF Sandbox | GA, production at Zalando |
| Backup | Barman-based, object storage | Logical + physical, S3/GCS/Azure |
| Failover | Automated, raft-based leader election | Automated via Patroni |
| Upgrades | In-place minor, managed major | In-place minor, managed major |
| CRD API | Cluster (single CRD) | postgresql + OperatorConfiguration |
| Monitoring | Built-in Prometheus exporter | Sidecar exporter |
| Community | Active, regular releases | Active, large user base |
| Air-gap | Standard images, no external calls | Standard images, no external calls |
Selection criteria: day-2 operations maturity, backup/PITR reliability, upgrade safety, CRD API stability, community activity.
Backup and Restore Model
| Operation | Mechanism | RPO |
|---|
| Base backup | Scheduled (daily default) to object storage | 24h (configurable) |
| WAL archiving | Continuous streaming to object storage | Seconds (near-zero) |
| Point-in-time recovery | Restore base + replay WAL to target timestamp | Seconds |
| Cluster clone | Create new cluster from backup | N/A |
Object storage backends: S3-compatible (MinIO in air-gap), or cloud provider object store.
Support Boundary
| openCenter Responsibility | Customer Responsibility |
|---|
| Operator deployment and upgrades | Database schema design |
| Cluster provisioning and HA | Application queries and indexes |
| Backup scheduling and retention | Data content and quality |
| Monitoring and alerting | Application connection management |
| TLS and credential rotation | Performance tuning (query-level) |
| Failover and recovery | Capacity planning input |
Naming
- Product:
openCenter Managed PostgreSQL
- Namespace:
data-postgres
- Blueprint:
managed-postgres-v1
- Helm release: per operator choice
See Naming Standards for full conventions.
Dependencies
| Dependency | Purpose |
|---|
| cert-manager | TLS certificates |
| kube-prometheus-stack | Metrics and alerting |
| Loki | Log aggregation |
| Kyverno | Policy enforcement |
| FluxCD | GitOps reconciliation |
| Object storage | Backup target (S3-compatible) |
| Velero | Operator state backup |
Timeline
| Milestone | Target |
|---|
| Operator selection finalized | Q2 2026 |
| Preview (backup/restore validated) | Q2 2026 |
| GA (full day-2 operations) | Q3 2026 |
Further Reading