#Introduction

#CloudNativePG Introduction

CloudNativePG (CNPG) is a Kubernetes-native PostgreSQL operator originally developed by EDB and donated to the CNCF (currently a Sandbox project). Unlike older PostgreSQL operators that wrap Patroni and require a separate distributed consensus store (etcd, ZooKeeper), CNPG implements primary/standby coordination directly in the operator using Kubernetes primitives. This significantly reduces failover time, eliminates an external dependency, and aligns the operational model with cloud-native standards.

CNPG manages the full PostgreSQL lifecycle on Kubernetes: deployment, configuration, scaling, automated failover, backup, point-in-time recovery, rolling upgrades, and connection pooling. PostgreSQL versions 14 through 18 are supported.

#Alauda build of CloudNativePG Introduction

Alauda build of CloudNativePG packages CNPG as an Alauda Container Platform (ACP) bundle. The operator code is the upstream CNPG project; the Alauda distribution adds:

• Air-gapped operation: PostgreSQL container images, extensions, and PgBouncer images mirrored to build-harbor.alauda.cn and consumed via ACP's image-rewrite admission. The bundle's POSTGRES_IMAGE_NAME and PGBOUNCER_IMAGE_NAME defaults are pre-baked to mirror tags so the upstream community quickstart works zero-edit on air-gapped clusters.
• Image-rewrite tolerance: the operator's ENABLE_IMAGE_REWRITE_TOLERANCE flag is enabled by default, so admission-time image rewriting (mirror substitution) does not trigger phantom rollouts.
• L5 RBAC: a cpaas:middleware-cnpg:business-ns:{admin,edit,view,backup,restore} role family wired into the ACP namespace-admin / namespace-developer aggregation chain.
• OLM packaging: bundle published to ACP's platform catalog source via standard violet push. Tracked through the artifacts repository (release-4.3 branch) for inclusion in ACP 4.3 release artifacts.
• Multi-architecture: amd64 + arm64 for operator, plugin, bundle, and PostgreSQL container images.

#Key Features

• Kubernetes-native HA: primary/standby coordination via the operator, no Patroni or etcd. Failover typically completes in single-digit seconds.
• Multi-version PostgreSQL: PG 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 shipped with the bundle. standard (with extensions) and minimal variants per major version.
• Bundled extensions: pgaudit, pgvector available from a shared ClusterImageCatalog for PostgreSQL 18.
• Backup/restore: integration with Barman Cloud plugin (separate sibling package) for object-storage backup with point-in-time recovery.
• Connection pooling: dedicated Pooler CR backing PgBouncer.
• Replication topology: synchronous and asynchronous replicas; minSyncReplicas/maxSyncReplicas for availability tuning.
• Logical replication: declarative Publication and Subscription CRs (no manual SQL).
• Image catalogs: ImageCatalog and ClusterImageCatalog CRs let cluster operators centralize PostgreSQL image versions.
• Multi-architecture: amd64 + arm64 across the full image set.

#Differences from upstream CNPG

#When to use this distribution

Use Alauda CloudNativePG when:

• You are running PostgreSQL on Alauda Container Platform.
• Your environment is air-gapped or has restricted egress to public container registries.
• You want operator pods, PostgreSQL pods, and extensions to all resolve from a single internal mirror registry.
• You need RBAC integration with the ACP namespace-admin / namespace-developer aggregation model.

For non-ACP Kubernetes clusters or environments with unrestricted internet access, the upstream CNPG distribution from cloudnative-pg.io is appropriate.