infra/docs/architecture/databases.md
Viktor Barzin 7dfe89a6e0 [redis] stabilise against node-crash flap cascade — RC1-RC5 fixes
Five compounding factors produced the 2026-04-22 flap cascade: soft
anti-affinity let 2/3 pods co-locate on k8s-node3 (which bounced
NotReady→Ready at 11:42Z and took quorum), aggressive sentinel/probe
timing amplified LUKS-encrypted LVM I/O stalls into spurious
+switch-master loops, HAProxy's 1s polling raced sentinel failovers
and routed writes to demoted masters, publish_not_ready_addresses=true
fed not-yet-ready pods into HAProxy DNS, and realestate-crawler-celery
CrashLoopBackOff closed the feedback loop.

Changes:
- Anti-affinity: preferred → required (one redis pod per node, hard)
- Sentinel down-after-ms 5000→15000, failover-timeout 30000→60000
- Redis + sentinel liveness: timeout 3→10, failure_threshold 3→5
- HAProxy: check inter 1s→2s / fall 2→3, timeout check 3s→5s
- Headless svc: publish_not_ready_addresses true→false

Post-rollout verification clean: 0 flaps, 0 +switch-master events,
0 celery ReadOnlyError in the 60s window after settle. Docs updated.
2026-04-22 15:59:00 +00:00

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Markdown

# Databases
## Overview
The cluster provides shared database services (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis) for multi-tenant workloads with automated credential rotation via Vault. PostgreSQL uses CloudNativePG (CNPG) with PgBouncer connection pooling, MySQL runs as an InnoDB Cluster with anti-affinity rules for stability, and Redis provides a shared cache layer. SQLite is used for per-app local storage with careful attention to filesystem compatibility.
## Architecture Diagram
```mermaid
graph TB
subgraph Apps
A1[trading-bot]
A2[apple-health-data]
A3[wrongmove]
A4[claude-memory-mcp]
end
subgraph PostgreSQL
A1 --> PGB[PgBouncer<br/>3 replicas]
A2 --> PGB
A4 --> PGB
PGB --> CNPG_RW[CNPG Primary<br/>pg-cluster-rw.dbaas]
CNPG_RW --> CNPG_R1[CNPG Replica 1]
end
subgraph MySQL
A3 --> MYC[MySQL InnoDB Cluster<br/>3 instances]
MYC --> LVM1[Proxmox-LVM Storage]
MYC -.anti-affinity.-> NODE1[Exclude k8s-node1<br/>GPU node]
end
subgraph Redis
A1 --> RED[Redis<br/>redis.redis.svc.cluster.local]
end
subgraph Vault
V[Vault DB Engine]
V -.7-day rotation.-> PGB
V -.7-day rotation.-> MYC
end
style CNPG_RW fill:#2088ff
style PGB fill:#4c9e47
style MYC fill:#f39c12
style RED fill:#dc382d
```
## Components
| Component | Version | Location | Purpose |
|-----------|---------|----------|---------|
| PostgreSQL (CNPG) | CloudNativePG (PostGIS 16: `postgis:16`) | `dbaas` namespace | Primary/replica cluster, auto-failover |
| PgBouncer | 3 replicas | `dbaas` namespace | Connection pooling for PostgreSQL |
| MySQL InnoDB Cluster | 8.4.4 | `dbaas` namespace | Multi-master MySQL cluster |
| Redis | Latest | `redis` namespace | Shared cache layer |
| Vault DB Engine | - | `vault` namespace | Automated credential rotation |
### Database Endpoints
| Service | Endpoint | Notes |
|---------|----------|-------|
| PostgreSQL (primary) | `pg-cluster-rw.dbaas.svc.cluster.local` | Always use this via PgBouncer |
| PgBouncer | `pgbouncer.dbaas.svc.cluster.local` | Connection pool (3 replicas) |
| MySQL | `mysql.dbaas.svc.cluster.local` | InnoDB Cluster VIP |
| Redis | `redis.redis.svc.cluster.local` | Shared instance |
| PostgreSQL (compat) | `postgresql.dbaas.svc.cluster.local` | Compatibility service, selects CNPG primary |
## How It Works
### PostgreSQL (CNPG + PgBouncer)
1. **CNPG Cluster**: Manages PostgreSQL primary and replicas
- Primary: `pg-cluster-rw.dbaas.svc.cluster.local`
- Auto-failover on primary failure
- Replicas for read scaling
2. **PgBouncer**: Connection pooling layer (3 replicas)
- Apps connect to PgBouncer, not directly to PostgreSQL
- Reduces connection overhead
- Load balances across PgBouncer instances
3. **Credential Rotation**: Vault DB engine rotates credentials every 7 days
- Apps fetch credentials from Vault on startup
- Vault manages rotation lifecycle
**Used by**:
- trading-bot
- apple-health-data (health)
- linkwarden
- affine
- woodpecker
- claude-memory-mcp
- 5 active PG roles
### MySQL InnoDB Cluster
1. **Cluster Topology**: 3 MySQL instances with auto-recovery
- Multi-master replication
- Automatic split-brain resolution
2. **Storage**: Proxmox-LVM persistent volumes
- Thin-provisioned LVM on Proxmox hosts
- Block-level storage with proper write guarantees
3. **Anti-Affinity**: Excludes k8s-node1 (GPU node)
- Pods scheduled to node2, node3, node4, etc.
- Keeps database workloads off the GPU-dedicated node
4. **Resource Allocation**: 2Gi request / 3Gi limit
- Right-sized based on VPA recommendations
**Used by**:
- wrongmove (realestate-crawler)
- speedtest
- codimd
- nextcloud
- shlink
- grafana
- technitium (DNS query logs via QueryLogsMySqlApp plugin)
### Redis
Single shared cluster for all 17 consumers (Immich, Authentik, Nextcloud, Paperless, Dawarich Sidekiq, Traefik, etc.). HAProxy (3 replicas, PDB minAvailable=2) is the sole client-facing path — clients talk only to `redis-master.redis.svc.cluster.local:6379` and HAProxy health-checks backends via `INFO replication`, routing only to `role:master`.
**Architecture**:
3 pods in StatefulSet `redis-v2`, each co-locating redis + sentinel + redis_exporter, using `docker.io/library/redis:8-alpine` (8.6.2). HAProxy (3 replicas, PDB minAvailable=2) routes clients to the current master via 1s `INFO replication` tcp-checks. Full context behind the April 2026 rework in beads `code-v2b`.
- 3 redis pods + 3 co-located sentinels (quorum=2). Odd sentinel count eliminates split-brain.
- **Pod anti-affinity is `required` (hard)** — each redis pod must land on a distinct node. Soft anti-affinity previously let the scheduler co-locate 2/3 pods on the same node; when that node (`k8s-node3`) went `NotReady→Ready` at 11:42 UTC on 2026-04-22 it took 2 redis pods with it and the cluster lost quorum. Cluster-wide PV `nodeAffinity` matches one zone (`topology.kubernetes.io/region=pve, zone=pve`), so PVCs rebind freely on reschedule.
- `podManagementPolicy=Parallel` + init container that regenerates `sentinel.conf` on every boot by probing peer sentinels for consensus master (priority: sentinel vote → peer role:master with slaves → deterministic pod-0 fallback). No persistent sentinel runtime state — can't drift out of sync with reality (root cause of 2026-04-19 PM incident).
- redis.conf has `include /shared/replica.conf`; the init container writes either an empty file (master) or `replicaof <master> 6379` (replicas), so pods come up already in the right role — no bootstrap race.
- **Sentinel hostname persistence**: `sentinel resolve-hostnames yes` + `sentinel announce-hostnames yes` in the init-generated sentinel.conf are mandatory — without them, sentinel stores resolved IPs in its rewritten config, and pod-IP churn on restart breaks failover. The MONITOR command itself must be issued with a hostname and the flags must be active before MONITOR, otherwise sentinel stores an IP that goes stale the next time the pod is deleted.
- **Failover timing (tuned 2026-04-22)**: `sentinel down-after-milliseconds=15000` + `sentinel failover-timeout=60000`. Redis liveness probe `timeout_seconds=10, failure_threshold=5`; sentinel liveness probe same. LUKS-encrypted LVM + BGSAVE fork can briefly stall master I/O >5s, which under the old 5s/30s sentinel timings + 3s/3 probes induced spurious `+sdown``+odown``+switch-master` cycles every 1-2 minutes. The new values absorb normal BGSAVE pauses without triggering failover.
- **HAProxy check smoothing (tuned 2026-04-22)**: `check inter 2s fall 3 rise 2` (was `1s / 2 / 2`) + `timeout check 5s` (was `3s`). The aggressive 1s polling used to race sentinel failovers — during a legitimate promote, HAProxy could catch the old master serving `role:slave` in the 1-3s window before re-probing the new master, leaving the backend empty and clients receiving `ReadOnlyError`.
- **Headless service `publish_not_ready_addresses=false`** (flipped 2026-04-22). Previously `true` meant HAProxy's DNS resolver saw not-yet-ready pods during rollouts, compounding the check-race above. Sentinel peer discovery is unaffected because sentinels announce to each other explicitly via `sentinel announce-hostnames yes`.
- Memory: master + replicas `requests=limits=768Mi`. Concurrent BGSAVE + AOF-rewrite fork can double RSS via COW, so headroom must cover it. `auto-aof-rewrite-percentage=200` + `auto-aof-rewrite-min-size=128mb` tune down rewrite frequency.
- Persistence: RDB (`save 900 1 / 300 100 / 60 10000`) + AOF `appendfsync=everysec`. Disk-wear analysis on 2026-04-19 (sdb Samsung 850 EVO 1TB, 150 TBW): Redis contributes <1 GB/day cluster-wide 40+ year runway at the 20% TBW budget.
- `maxmemory=640mb` (83% of 768Mi limit), `maxmemory-policy=allkeys-lru`.
- Weekly RDB backup to NFS (`/srv/nfs/redis-backup/`, Sunday 03:00, 28-day retention, pushes Pushgateway metrics).
- Auth disabled this phase NetworkPolicy is the isolation layer. Enabling `requirepass` + rolling creds to all 17 clients is a planned follow-up.
**Observability** (redis-v2 only): `oliver006/redis_exporter:v1.62.0` sidecar per pod on port 9121, auto-scraped via Prometheus pod annotation. Alerts: `RedisDown`, `RedisMemoryPressure`, `RedisEvictions`, `RedisReplicationLagHigh`, `RedisForkLatencyHigh`, `RedisAOFRewriteLong`, `RedisReplicasMissing`, `RedisBackupStale`, `RedisBackupNeverSucceeded`.
**Why this design** four incidents in April 2026 drove the rework: (a) 2026-04-04 service selector routed reads+writes to master+replica causing `READONLY` errors; (b) 2026-04-19 AM master OOMKilled during BGSAVE+PSYNC with the 256Mi limit too tight for a 204 MB working set under COW amplification; (c) 2026-04-19 PM sentinel runtime state drifted (only 2 sentinels, no majority) and routed writes to a slave; (d) 2026-04-22 five-factor flap cascade soft anti-affinity let 2/3 pods co-locate on `k8s-node3`, node bounced NotReadyReady and took quorum with it; aggressive sentinel/probe timing (5s/30s + 3s/3) amplified disk-I/O stalls under LUKS-encrypted LVM into spurious `+switch-master` loops; HAProxy's 1s polling raced sentinel failovers and routed writes to demoted masters; `publish_not_ready_addresses=true` fed not-yet-ready pods into HAProxy DNS; downstream `realestate-crawler-celery` CrashLoopBackOff closed the feedback loop. See beads epic `code-v2b` for the full plan and linked challenger analyses.
### SQLite (Per-App)
**Apps using SQLite**:
- headscale
- vaultwarden
- plotting-book
- holiday-planner
- priority-pass
**Critical**: SQLite on NFS is unreliable
- NFS lacks proper `fsync()` support
- Causes database corruption under load
- **Solution**: Use Proxmox-LVM volumes for SQLite apps
### Vault Database Engine
**Rotation Schedule**: 7 days (604800s)
**PostgreSQL Rotation**:
- health (apple-health-data)
- linkwarden
- affine
- woodpecker
- claude_memory
**MySQL Rotation**:
- speedtest
- wrongmove
- codimd
- nextcloud
- shlink
- grafana
- technitium (password synced to Technitium DNS app via CronJob every 6h)
**Excluded from Rotation**:
- authentik (uses PgBouncer, incompatible)
- crowdsec (Helm-baked credentials)
- Root users (manual management)
**How Rotation Works**:
1. Vault rotates the MySQL user's password (static role, 7-day period)
2. ExternalSecrets Operator syncs new password to K8s Secret (15-min refresh)
3. Apps read from K8s Secret via `secret_key_ref` env vars
4. Special case: Technitium stores its MySQL connection in internal app config, so a CronJob pushes the rotated password to the Technitium API every 6 hours
## Configuration
### Terraform Shared Variables
Always use shared variables, never hardcode endpoints:
```hcl
variable "postgresql_host" {
default = "pgbouncer.dbaas.svc.cluster.local"
}
variable "mysql_host" {
default = "mysql.dbaas.svc.cluster.local"
}
variable "redis_host" {
default = "redis.redis.svc.cluster.local"
}
```
### Vault Paths
**PostgreSQL Dynamic Credentials**:
```
database/creds/postgres-<app>-role
```
**MySQL Dynamic Credentials**:
```
database/creds/mysql-<app>-role
```
**Static Credentials** (non-rotated):
```
secret/data/mysql/root
secret/data/postgres/root
```
### Version Pinning
**Diun Monitoring Disabled** for database images to prevent unwanted version bumps:
- MySQL: pinned version in Terraform
- PostgreSQL: pinned CNPG operator version
- Redis: pinned image tag
**Rationale**: Database upgrades require careful planning and testing
### Example Terraform Stack (PostgreSQL)
```hcl
resource "vault_database_secret_backend_role" "app" {
backend = "database"
name = "postgres-myapp-role"
db_name = "postgres"
creation_statements = [
"CREATE USER \"{{name}}\" WITH PASSWORD '{{password}}' VALID UNTIL '{{expiration}}';",
"GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE myapp TO \"{{name}}\";"
]
default_ttl = 604800 # 7 days
max_ttl = 604800
}
resource "kubernetes_secret" "db_creds" {
metadata {
name = "myapp-db"
namespace = "default"
}
data = {
host = var.postgresql_host
database = "myapp"
# App fetches username/password from Vault at runtime
}
}
```
## Decisions & Rationale
### Why CNPG Instead of Postgres Operator?
**Alternatives considered**:
1. **Zalando Postgres Operator**: Mature but complex
2. **Bitnami PostgreSQL Helm**: Simple but manual failover
3. **CNPG (chosen)**: Kubernetes-native, auto-failover, active development
**Benefits**:
- Native Kubernetes CRDs
- Automatic failover and recovery
- Active community and updates
- Better resource efficiency than Zalando
### Why PgBouncer for PostgreSQL?
- Reduces connection overhead (apps create many connections)
- Load balances across PgBouncer replicas
- Essential for apps that don't implement connection pooling
- Required for Vault DB engine compatibility with some apps
### Why MySQL InnoDB Cluster?
**Alternatives considered**:
1. **Single MySQL instance**: No HA
2. **Galera Cluster**: Complex, split-brain issues
3. **InnoDB Cluster (chosen)**: Built-in multi-master, auto-recovery
**Benefits**:
- Native MySQL HA solution
- Automatic split-brain resolution
- Simpler than Galera
### Why Block Storage for Databases?
- NFS lacks proper `fsync()` support (causes SQLite corruption)
- Proxmox-LVM provides block-level storage with proper write guarantees
- Lower latency than NFS for database workloads
### Why 7-Day Credential Rotation?
- Balance between security (shorter is better) and operational overhead
- 7 days allows ample time to debug issues before next rotation
- Reduces rotation-related disruptions while maintaining security hygiene
### Why Shared Redis (Not Per-App)?
- Most apps use Redis for ephemeral data (caching, sessions)
- Over-provisioning Redis wastes memory
- Shared instance sufficient for current load
- Can migrate to per-app if needed
## Troubleshooting
### PostgreSQL: "Too many connections"
**Cause**: Apps connecting directly to PostgreSQL instead of PgBouncer
**Fix**:
```bash
# Check PgBouncer is running
kubectl get pods -n dbaas | grep pgbouncer
# Verify apps use pgbouncer.dbaas, not pg-cluster-rw
kubectl get configmap <app-config> -o yaml | grep postgres
```
### PostgreSQL: Primary Failover Not Working
**Cause**: CNPG controller not running or network partition
**Fix**:
```bash
# Check CNPG operator
kubectl get pods -n cnpg-system
# Check cluster status
kubectl get cluster -n dbaas
# Manually trigger failover (last resort)
kubectl cnpg promote pg-cluster-2 -n dbaas
```
### MySQL: Pod Stuck on Excluded Node
**Cause**: Anti-affinity rule not applied (should exclude k8s-node1)
**Fix**:
```bash
# Check pod affinity rules
kubectl get pod <mysql-pod> -n dbaas -o yaml | grep -A 10 affinity
# Delete pod to reschedule
kubectl delete pod <mysql-pod> -n dbaas
```
### MySQL: Pod Scheduled on GPU Node
**Cause**: Anti-affinity rule not preventing scheduling on k8s-node1
**Fix**:
```bash
# Check pod affinity rules
kubectl get pod <mysql-pod> -n dbaas -o yaml | grep -A 10 affinity
# Delete pod to reschedule away from node1
kubectl delete pod <mysql-pod> -n dbaas
```
### SQLite: Database Corruption
**Cause**: SQLite on NFS volume
**Fix**:
```bash
# Check volume type
kubectl get pv | grep <app>
# If NFS, migrate to proxmox-lvm:
# 1. Create proxmox-lvm PVC
# 2. Backup SQLite database
# 3. Restore to proxmox-lvm volume
# 4. Update app to use new volume
```
### Vault Rotation: "User already exists"
**Cause**: Previous rotation failed to clean up
**Fix**:
```bash
# Connect to database
kubectl exec -it <mysql-pod> -n dbaas -- mysql -u root -p
# List users
SELECT user, host FROM mysql.user WHERE user LIKE 'v-root-%';
# Drop stale users
DROP USER 'v-root-postgres-<hash>'@'%';
# Retry rotation
vault read database/rotate-root/postgres
```
### Redis: Out of Memory
**Cause**: No eviction policy configured
**Fix**:
```bash
# Connect to Redis
kubectl exec -it redis-0 -n redis -- redis-cli
# Set eviction policy
CONFIG SET maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru
# Persist config
CONFIG REWRITE
```
### App Can't Connect: "Connection refused"
**Cause**: Service endpoint not reachable or PgBouncer not running
**Fix**:
```bash
# Check service endpoints
kubectl get endpoints pgbouncer -n dbaas
kubectl get endpoints postgresql -n dbaas
# Update app to use pgbouncer
kubectl set env deployment/<app> DB_HOST=pgbouncer.dbaas.svc.cluster.local
```
## Related
- [CI/CD Pipeline](./ci-cd.md) Database credentials in CI/CD
- [Multi-Tenancy](./multi-tenancy.md) Per-user database provisioning
- Runbook: `../runbooks/database-failover.md` Manual failover procedures
- Runbook: `../runbooks/vault-rotation-troubleshooting.md` Debug credential rotation
- Vault documentation: Database secrets engine
- CNPG documentation: Cluster configuration