Making StackGres More Reliable with NVMe-over-TCP Storage on Simplyblock

StackGres makes it easier to run PostgreSQL in Kubernetes, combining orchestration, monitoring, backups, and high availability in one platform. However, even the best orchestration can’t overcome poor storage. Slow storage affects WAL archiving, replication, backups, and failovers, causing delays and reliability issues. 

Simplyblock solves this with NVMe-over-TCP, zone-resilient volumes, and live scalability, providing the storage reliability StackGres needs to ensure smooth PostgreSQL operations in Kubernetes, enabling teams to scale efficiently without performance bottlenecks.

Why Storage Bottlenecks Break Kubernetes-Native Postgres

StackGres simplifies Postgres HA and replication by handling it at the operator level. But if underlying storage struggles, even StackGres can’t save the day. WAL archiving stalls, replication lags, and backup jobs collide with queries. In Kubernetes, this translates into longer recovery times, slower autoscaling, and service interruptions.

With simplyblock, PostgreSQL’s storage layer is no longer the weak link. Every pod gets consistent NVMe-level performance, ensuring the StackGres operator can keep databases highly available without being slowed down by I/O bottlenecks.

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Keep StackGres fast and resilient with NVMe-backed volumes and cross-zone durability.
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Step 1: Provision Simplyblock Volumes for StackGres Pods

When deploying StackGres, the PostgreSQL pods need reliable persistent volumes. With simplyblock, you can provision NVMe-over-TCP volumes and mount them directly inside pods, ensuring consistent performance across all replicas and primaries.

sbctl pool create –name sg-pool

sbctl volume create –pool sg-pool –size 200Gi –name sg-data

mkfs.ext4 /dev/simplyblock/sg-data

mount /dev/simplyblock/sg-data /var/lib/postgresql/data

This setup gives StackGres clusters a high-performance foundation from day one, with durable volumes that work seamlessly in Kubernetes environments.

Step 2: Keep WAL Archiving Fast in Containerized Workloads

PostgreSQL relies on WAL (write-ahead logs) to guarantee durability and replication. In Kubernetes clusters managed by StackGres, WAL archiving can quickly become a bottleneck on standard storage. Slow WAL writes mean lagging replicas and delayed failovers.

Simplyblock ensures WAL files are written and archived at NVMe speed, even inside containerized workloads. This keeps replicas synced, reduces recovery time, and makes PostgreSQL more predictable inside Kubernetes.

Step 3: Run Backups and Monitoring Without Query Slowdowns

StackGres includes built-in monitoring and automated backups. Both are essential, but they generate additional I/O that competes with active queries. On traditional volumes, this leads to query slowdowns whenever backups run.

With simplyblock, PostgreSQL gets enough throughput to handle both production traffic and background jobs at once. Backups complete quickly, monitoring stays accurate, and queries continue running smoothly. This aligns directly with Kubernetes backup best practices in production clusters.

For more on monitoring in Kubernetes, refer to the StackGres Monitoring guide.

Step 4: Expand StatefulSet Storage Seamlessly as Clusters Grow

Kubernetes StatefulSets make scaling PostgreSQL simple with StackGres, but scaling storage is another story. Outgrowing a volume often means downtime or manual migration.

Simplyblock solves this by letting you resize persistent volumes live. PostgreSQL stays online, StackGres continues managing replicas, and the database simply gains more room to grow.

sbctl volume resize –name sg-data –size 400Gi

resize2fs /dev/simplyblock/sg-data

For teams running databases as a service, this flexibility ensures scaling is smooth and without operational disruption.

Step 5: Ensure HA and Failovers Work Smoothly Across Zones

StackGres automates failovers, but failovers in Kubernetes often involve rescheduling pods across zones. Traditional cloud volumes are zone-locked, which breaks attachments and interrupts availability.

Simplyblock volumes are zone-independent, so StackGres pods retain access to their data even when rescheduled across zones. Combined with reduction of RPO and RTO, this ensures failovers happen quickly and reliably, minimizing downtime.

For more on high availability, check out the StackGres High Availablity guide.

StackGres and Simplyblock – PostgreSQL Made Production-Ready

StackGres handles orchestration, backups, and HA for PostgreSQL on Kubernetes, but storage is the foundation that makes those features work. With simplyblock, PostgreSQL gets NVMe-over-TCP performance, zone-resilient volumes, and seamless scalability.

Together, StackGres and simplyblock make PostgreSQL clusters more reliable, more resilient, and easier to run in production Kubernetes environments.

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