Delete a Postgres Cluster

There are many reasons you may want to delete a PostgreSQL cluster, and a few different questions to consider, such as do you want to permanently delete the data or save it for later use?

The PostgreSQL Operator offers several different workflows for deleting a cluster, from wiping all assets, to keeping PVCs of your data directory, your backup repository, or both.

Delete Everything

Deleting everything in a PostgreSQL cluster is a simple as using the pgo delete cluster command. For example, to delete the hippo cluster:

pgo delete cluster hippo

This command launches a Job that uses the pgo-rmdata container to delete all of the Kubernetes objects associated with this PostgreSQL cluster. Once the pgo-rmdata Job finishes executing, all of your data, configurations, etc. will be removed.

Keep Backups

If you want to keep your backups, which can be used to restore your PostgreSQL cluster at a later time (a popular method for cloning and having sample data for your development team to use!), use the --keep-backups flag! For example, to delete the hippo PostgreSQL cluster but keep all of its backups:

pgo delete cluster hippo --keep-backups

This keeps the pgBackRest PVC which follows the pattern <clusterName>-hippo-pgbr-repo (e.g. hippo-pgbr-repo) and any PVCs that were created using the pgdump method of pgo backup.

Keep the PostgreSQL Data Directory

You may also want to keep your PostgreSQL cluster data directory, which is the core of your database, but remove any actively running Pods. This can be accomplished with the --keep-data flag. For example, to keep the data directory of the hippo cluster:

pgo delete cluster hippo --keep-data

Once the pgo-rmdata Job completes, your data PVC for hippo will still remain, but you will be unable to access it unless you attach it to a new PostgreSQL instance. The easiest way to access your data again is to create a PostgreSQL cluster with the same name:

pgo create cluster hippo

and the PostgreSQL Operator will re-attach your PVC to the newly running cluster.

Next Steps

We’ve covered the fundamental lifecycle elements of the PostgreSQL Operator, but there is much more to learn! If you’re curious about how things work in the PostgreSQL Operator and how to perform daily tasks, we suggest you continue with the following sections:

• Architecture
• Common pgo Client Tasks

The tutorial will now go into some more advanced topics. Up next, learn how to secure connections to your PostgreSQL clusters with TLS.