zalando / zalando/postgres-operator

Use local Unix domain socket connection for password sync

Open
#221 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

enhancement felix-wishlist
Dominant language
Go
Stars
5.2k
Forks
1.1k
Avg merge
2d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
3

Description

Instead of trying to use a superuser connection, the operator could exec psql in database pods to sync passwords, which would use a local connection through the PostgreSQL Unix domain socket. This would allow the operator to sync passwords even if the superuser secret is not consistent with a running cluster's state, which in turn would remove the need to preserve secrets upon cluster deletion, and simplify the process of restoring backups.

This may have a very low priority as the current workaround of not deleting secrets is effective.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by examining the password-sync entry point and how Kubernetes exec invokes psql in database pods. Verify the local PostgreSQL Unix domain socket approach against the existing superuser connection and secret-handling flow. Done means passwords sync without the superuser secret being consistent or preserved after cluster deletion, with backup restoration still working.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
kubernetes, postgresql
Domain
databases, infrastructure
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.