Database Server Options

Each Self Managed Commerce environment requires a dedicated database. This topic guides you through the database configuration options for the Self Managed Commerce database.

Introduction

Jenkins jobs included in CloudOps for Kubernetes enable you to provision database servers and configure Self Managed Commerce stacks to use those servers, or to simply configure Self Managed Commerce stacks to use a database server that you already have. The following database options are supported.

• Provision and use a containerized MySQL database service.
• Provision and use an Amazon PostgresSQL RDS service.
• Provision and use an Amazon Aurora RDS MySQL service.
• Reuse an existing MySQL or PostgresSQL service.
• Use a MySQL or PostgresSQL service that you configure outside of CloudOps for Kubernetes.

note

MySQL 5.7 support is deprecated as of Cloudops for Kubernetes release 3.2, and will be removed in a future release. Oracle ended standard support for MySQL 5.7 in October 2023, and AWS will end standard support for MySQL 5.7 Aurora instances in October 2024.

When support for MySQL 5.7 is removed from CloudOps for Kubernetes, support for both containerized MySQL 5.7 and for Amazon RDS Aurora MySQL 5.7 will be removed.

CloudOps for Kubernetes users who are on MySQL 5.7 are encouraged to migrate to MySQL 8.0 or PostgreSQL 14. The Self-Managed Commerce application development team has shared related information at Migrating off of MySQL 5.7.

Creating Containerized MySQL Server

To create a containerized MySQL server, run the create-or-delete-mysql-container job.

note

Containerized databases are not suitable for Self Managed Commerce environments that require a resilient database service. The database and data are stored on an Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volume with no redundency. This option does not support using Amazon RDS tools to perform database backup and restore.

The below types of containerized database deployments can be provisioned with the create-or-delete-mysql-container Jenkins job.

• MySQL 8.0 containerized Kubernetes deployments.

  important

  MySQL 8.0 container support requires the following.

  • CloudOps for Kubernetes release 3.1.x or higher, and
  • Elastic Path docker release 4.5.x or higher.
  • Elastic Path Self-Managed Commerce release 8.3.x or higher.

• MySQL 5.7 containerized Kubernetes deployments (deprecated).

The Kubernetes Service created for the MySQL server is of ClusterIP type and there is no Ingress for it. By default, the MySQL container is only accessible from other containers in the same namespace.

The database name, username and password are randomly generated. You indicate which Self Managed Commerce stack will use the database by specifying the corresponding value in the kubernetesNickname Jenkins parameter when you run the Jenkins job. The necessary database information is stored in a Kubernetes Secret, in the Kubernetes namespace specified by kubernetesNickname.

See the job in your Jenkins server for more detailed usage information.

Creating a Cloud Database Server

To create an Amazon managed database server or cluster, run the create-and-manage-database-server job. The Amazon managed database services created by this job are highly available and multi-AZ, support backup and restore using RDS tooling, and are suitable for staging and production environments.

The below types of Amazon managed database services can be provisioned using the create-and-manage-database-server Jenkins job.

• Amazon RDS Aurora MySQL 8.0 cluster, with default and standby nodes in separate Availability Zones
• Amazon RDS Aurora MySQL 5.7 cluster, with default and standby nodes in separate Availability Zones (deprecated).
• Amazon PostgresSQL RDS 14.x instance, with a standby instance in a separate Availability Zone.

note

PostgresSQL and MySQL 8.0 are only supported with Self Managed Commerce version 8.3 and later.

The database instances are configured to use the private subnets that were created along with your EKS cluster. By default, each node is db.r5.xlarge. Each node has four vCPUs and 32 GB RAM. The server is configured for geo-redundant daily backups that are preserved for 14 days.

The database name, username and password are randomly generated. You indicate which Self Managed Commerce stack will use the database by specifying the corresponding value in the kubernetesNickname Jenkins parameter when you run the Jenkins job. The necessary database information is stored in a Kubernetes Secret, in the Kubernetes namespace specified by kubernetesNickname.

The job sets the server settings for Aurora MySQL RDS clusters:

character_set_server=UTF8MB4
tx_isolation=READ-COMMITTED

The job sets the server settings for PostgresSQL RDS servers:

default_transaction_isolation=read committed

See the job in your Jenkins server for more detailed usage information.

Using an Existing Database Server

To configure a Self Managed Commerce stack to use a database server that you already have, run the use-existing-database-server Jenkins job . The database server can be one that you created using the provided Jenkins jobs, or it could be one that you created outside of CloudOps for Kubernetes. The following database types are supported.

• MySQL 8.0
• PostgresSQL 14.x
• MySQL 5.7 (deprecated)

note

PostgresSQL and MySQL 8.0 are only supported with Self Managed Commerce version 8.3 and later.

tip

Use this approach if you want to host multiple Self Managed Commerce databases on one database server or cluster.

tip

Use this approach if you want to use a database configuration that cannot be created using the Jenkins jobs provided with CloudOps for Kubernetes.

When using this option you are responsible to ensure that network connectivity is sufficient for the Self Managed Commerce services to connect to the database server.

You indicate which Self Managed Commerce stack will use the database by specifying the corresponding value in the kubernetesNickname Jenkins parameter when you run the Jenkins job. The necessary database information is stored in a Kubernetes Secret, in the Kubernetes namespace specified by kubernetesNickname.

See the job in your Jenkins server for more detailed usage information.

The Kubernetes Database Secret

The Self Managed Commerce services of a given Commerce stack use configuration information stored in a Kubernetes secret to identify which database and database server to use. Each Self Managed Commerce stack has its own database secret, in the stack's Kubernetes namespace. When you run one of the database related Jenkins jobs, that job will create (or update) the Kubernetes secret in the namespace specified by Jenkins parameter kubernetesNickname. For more information about the database secret, see Database Connectivity and Credentials.

Related Links

• Populate the Self Managed Commerce Database
• Database Connectivity and Credentials