Configure and use PVC snapshots¶

This document provides step-by-step instructions for configuring and using Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) Snapshots with Percona Operator for PostgreSQL on Kubernetes.

For a high-level explanation of PVC snapshots, please refer to the PVC snapshot support chapter.

Amazon EKS users

If you run your cluster on Amazon EKS, refer to the Set up PVC snapshots on EKS tutorial. EKS requires specific addons, a gp3 storage class, and a matching VolumeSnapshotClass before you can use PVC snapshots.

Prerequisites¶

To use PVC snapshots, ensure you have the following prerequisites met:

Your Kubernetes cluster must have a CSI driver that supports Volume Snapshots
For example, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with pd.csi.storage.gke.io, or Amazon EKS with ebs.csi.aws.com. Check what driver you have with:
```
kubectl get csidriver
```
Your Kubernetes cluster must have VolumeSnapshot CRDs installed. Most managed Kubernetes providers include these by default. Verify by running:
```
kubectl get crd | grep volumesnapshots 
```
Expected output
```
volumesnapshots.snapshot.storage.k8s.io
```
At least one VolumeSnapshotClass must exist and be compatible with the storage class used by your PostgreSQL data volumes. Check it with:
```
kubectl get volumesnapshotclasses
```
If you don’t have one, you can add it yourself. Refer to the Add a VolumeSnapshotClass section.
You must enable the BackupSnapshots feature gate for the Percona Operator for PostgreSQL deployment. Refer to the Enable the feature gate section for details.

Before you start¶

Check the prerequisites and limitations

Clone the Operator repository to be able to edit manifests:

git clone -b v2.9.0 https://github.com/percona/percona-postgresql-operator

Export the namespace where you run your cluster as an environment variable:
```
export NAMESPACE=<namespace>
```

Configuration¶

Enable the feature gate¶

If you have the Operator Deployment up and running, you can edit the deploy/operator.yaml manifest. If you deploy the Operator from scratch, edit the deploy/bundle.yaml manifest.

Edit the deploy/operator.yaml or deploy/bundle.yaml and set the PGO_FEATURE_GATES environment variable for the Operator Deployment to "BackupSnapshots=true":

spec:
  containers:
  - name: percona-postgresql-operator
    env:
    - name: PGO_FEATURE_GATES
      value: "BackupSnapshots=true"

Apply the configuration:

kubectl apply -f deploy/operator.yaml -n $NAMESPACE

or

kubectl apply --server-side -f deploy/bundle.yaml -n $NAMESPACE

Add a VolumeSnapshotClass¶

If your Kubernetes cluster doesn’t have a VolumeSnapshotClass that matches your CSI driver, create one.

Create a VolumeSnapshotClass configuration file with the following configuration:

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)OpenShift

volume-snapshot-class.yaml

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
metadata:
  name: gke-snapshot-class
driver: pd.csi.storage.gke.io
deletionPolicy: Delete

volume-snapshot-class.yaml

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
metadata:
  name: aks-snapshot-class
driver: disk.csi.azure.com
deletionPolicy: Delete

volume-snapshot-class.yaml

apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
metadata:
  name: openshift-snapshot-class
driver: ebs.csi.aws.com
deletionPolicy: Delete

Create the VolumeSnapshotClass resource:

kubectl apply -f volume-snapshot-class.yaml

Expected output

volumesnapshotclass.snapshot.storage.k8s.io/gke-snapshot-class created

Configure PVC snapshots in your cluster¶

You must reference the VolumeSnapshotClass in your cluster Custom Resource.

Check the name of the VolumeSnapshotClass that works with your storage. You can list available classes with:

kubectl get volumesnapshotclasses

Sample output

NAME                 DRIVER                  DELETIONPOLICY   AGE
gke-snapshot-class   pd.csi.storage.gke.io   Delete           42s

Edit the deploy/cr.yaml Custom Resource. Reference the Storage Class that supports the VolumeSnapshot API in the spec.instances.[]dataVolumeClaimSpec.storageClassName option. The Operator then uses this storage class when it creates the cluster.

Here’s the example configuration:
```
spec:
  instances:
  - name: instance1
    dataVolumeClaimSpec: 
      storageClassName: standard
      accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: 1Gi
```
Edit the deploy/cr.yaml Custom Resource and add the volumeSnapshots subsection under backups. Specify these keys:
- className - the name of the VolumeSnapshotClass
- mode - how to make backups. offline is currently the only supported mode.
```
spec:
  backups:
    volumeSnapshots:
      className: <name-of-your-volume-snapshot-class>
      mode: offline
```

Apply the configuration to update the cluster:

kubectl apply -f deploy/cr.yaml -n $NAMESPACE

Once configured, snapshots are created automatically when you make a manual on-demand backup or when a scheduled backup runs.

Last update: April 1, 2026
Created: March 26, 2026