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Database and Volume Configuration

Learn how to configure database storage and backup snapshots for the managed Postgres cluster used by Control Center.

Control Center provisions a managed Postgres cluster to provide databases for deployed Vaadin applications. It is essential to configure reliable storage and snapshot capabilities for this database to ensure data durability and safe backups.

Why It Matters

All application data managed by Control Center is persisted in Kubernetes volumes. How these volumes are created, stored, and backed up depends on the storage class and volume-snapshot class used in the cluster. Choosing the right class is critical for:

  • Ensuring high availability and data durability

  • Supporting volume snapshots for scheduled backups

  • Avoiding data loss in case of node failure or cluster issues

When installing Control Center, explicitly specify the storage and snapshot classes along with the size to allocate for the volume, using these Helm values:

Source code
my-values.yaml
postgres:
  size: 1Gi
  storageClass: ...
  volumeSnapshotClass: ...

The correct class names depend on your cluster provider. To see the available options:

Source code
Terminal
kubectl get storageclass
Source code
Terminal
kubectl get volumesnapshotclass

The default size of the volume allocated for Postgres data is 1Gi. To allocate a different size, set the postgres.size value when installing Control Center. The value must use Go-style quantity syntax, refer to the Go documentation for details.

Important
 Once the volume size is set and the Postgres cluster is deployed, the size can be increased but not reduced. Shrinking a volume is not supported by most Kubernetes storage providers and would require manual intervention or data migration.

Cloud Provider Configuration

When deploying Control Center on a managed Kubernetes service, it’s important to configure the appropriate StorageClass and VolumeSnapshotClass to ensure reliable data persistence and backup capabilities. Below are the recommended settings for common cloud providers.

DigitalOcean Kubernetes

DigitalOcean Kubernetes provides built-in support for persistent block storage and Container Storage Interface (CSI)-based volume snapshots, both of which are required for Control Center’s database provisioning and backup features.

The platform defines a single class for both purposes:

  • StorageClass: do-block-storage

  • VolumeSnapshotClass: do-block-storage

This class provisions DigitalOcean volumes backed by SSDs and supports volume snapshots, making it suitable for production use.

To confirm that the correct classes are available in your cluster:

Source code
Terminal
kubectl get storageclass
kubectl get volumesnapshotclass

To install Control Center with these settings, add the following to the values:

Source code
my-values.yaml
postgres:
  storageClass: do-block-storage
  volumeSnapshotClass: do-block-storage

Local Development

Control Center also supports database provisioning and backup snapshots in local clusters such as Minikube. Volume snapshot support must be enabled explicitly, and the correct storage and snapshot classes configured.

To learn how to enable this and install Control Center locally with the right values, refer to Data Storage and Backup for Local Clusters.

Restoring from a Backup

Control Center can be installed by restoring the Postgres cluster from a previously created backup. This allows all application databases and their data to be recovered and reused in a new or clean cluster.

To list the available backups:

Source code
Terminal
kubectl get backups -n vaadin

This will show output like:

Source code
NAME                           AGE     CLUSTER                   METHOD           PHASE
hourly-backup-20250417200000   90m     control-center-postgres   volumeSnapshot   completed
hourly-backup-20250417210000   30m     control-center-postgres   volumeSnapshot   completed

To restore from an existing backup, specify the name of the backup resource using the Helm value:

Source code
my-values.yaml
postgres:
  storageClass: ...
  volumeSnapshotClass: ...
  restoreFromBackup: "hourly-backup-20250417210000"

Then install Control Center with the desired backup:

Source code
Terminal
helm install control-center oci://docker.io/vaadin/control-center \
  --namespace vaadin --create-namespace \
  --values my-values.yaml

This performs a full restore of the Postgres cluster, including all managed databases, users, and data present at the time the backup was created.

Important

Restoring from a backup replaces the contents of the Postgres cluster. Only use this option when setting up a new Control Center instance or when intentionally recovering an existing one.