CloudNativePG: Running PostgreSQL in Kubernetes Without the Pain

Short summary

CloudNativePG is a production-grade Kubernetes operator for PostgreSQL, but hardened clusters with admission controllers (Kyverno, OPA Gatekeeper) often hang silently during bootstrap. The root cause is invisible: the initdb Job fails policy validation, but errors appear on Job/Pod events, not the Cluster resource. Solution: exclude CNPG-managed resources using the cnpg.io/cluster label selector in your admission policies, and verify RBAC grants necessary permissions.

• •CNPG bootstrap failures are silent: check Job and Pod events, not the Cluster resource
• •Root cause is usually admission controller blocking the bootstrap Pod, not database misconfiguration
• •Solution: exclude CNPG-managed resources (cnpg.io/cluster label) from restrictive admission policies

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