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Engine Guides

DB Provision Operator supports multiple database engines with a unified API.

Supported Engines

Engine Status Versions
PostgreSQL ✅ Stable 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
MySQL ✅ Stable 5.7, 8.0, 8.4
MariaDB ✅ Stable 10.5, 10.6, 10.11, 11.x
CockroachDB ✅ Stable 22.x, 23.x, 24.x
ClickHouse ✅ Stable 23.x, 24.x

Engine Comparison

Feature PostgreSQL MySQL MariaDB CockroachDB ClickHouse
Roles ✅ Native ✅ 8.0+ ✅ 10.0.5+ ✅ Native ✅ Native
Row-Level Security ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Extensions ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Schemas ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Default Privileges ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌
Backup pg_dump mysqldump mariadb-dump Native BACKUP SQL-based
Multi-Region ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ Built-in ❌
Distributed ❌ ❌ ❌ ✅ Built-in ✅ Built-in

Choosing an Engine

PostgreSQL

Best for:

  • Complex queries and analytics
  • JSON/JSONB document storage
  • Full-text search
  • Geographic data (PostGIS)
  • Strict data integrity requirements

MySQL

Best for:

  • Web applications
  • High-volume OLTP
  • Wide ecosystem support
  • Replication simplicity

MariaDB

Best for:

  • MySQL compatibility with enhancements
  • Open-source focus
  • Additional storage engines
  • Galera cluster support

CockroachDB

Best for:

  • Distributed SQL requirements
  • Multi-region deployments
  • Horizontal scalability
  • PostgreSQL wire compatibility
  • Strong consistency guarantees

ClickHouse

Best for:

  • Analytics and OLAP workloads
  • Time-series data
  • Columnar storage and real-time aggregation
  • High-volume data ingestion
  • Log and event analytics

Engine-Specific Features

PostgreSQL Only

spec:
  postgres:
    extensions:
      - name: uuid-ossp
      - name: pg_stat_statements
    schemas:
      - name: app
        owner: myapp_admin
    defaultPrivileges:
      - objectType: tables
        privileges: [SELECT]

MySQL/MariaDB

spec:
  mysql:
    charset: utf8mb4
    collation: utf8mb4_unicode_ci
    authPlugin: caching_sha2_password
    allowedHosts:
      - "10.0.0.%"

CockroachDB

CockroachDB uses PostgreSQL wire protocol but has a simpler configuration:

spec:
  engine: cockroachdb
  connection:
    host: cockroachdb.example.com
    port: 26257
    database: defaultdb
    sslMode: verify-full  # or disable for insecure mode

No Extensions or Schemas

CockroachDB does not support PostgreSQL extensions or custom schemas. Use it for distributed SQL without PostgreSQL-specific features.

ClickHouse

ClickHouse uses its native protocol with column-oriented storage:

spec:
  engine: clickhouse
  connection:
    host: clickhouse.example.com
    port: 9000  # native protocol
    database: default
  clickhouse:
    secure: true  # TLS for native protocol

No ALTER DATABASE or Default Privileges

ClickHouse does not support ALTER DATABASE, object ownership, default privileges, extensions, or schemas. Database engines (Atomic, Lazy, Replicated) are set at creation time and cannot be changed.

Connection Configuration

All engines use the same DatabaseInstance structure:

apiVersion: dbops.dbprovision.io/v1alpha1
kind: DatabaseInstance
metadata:
  name: my-database
spec:
  engine: postgres  # or mysql, mariadb, cockroachdb, clickhouse
  connection:
    host: database.example.com
    port: 5432  # 3306 for MySQL/MariaDB, 26257 for CockroachDB, 9000 for ClickHouse
    database: postgres  # mysql for MySQL/MariaDB, defaultdb for CockroachDB, default for ClickHouse
    secretRef:
      name: admin-credentials

Next Steps