What is PostgreSQL?
PostgreSQL (Postgres) is an open source object-relational database known for reliability and data integrity. ACID-compliant, it supports foreign keys, joins, views, triggers and stored procedures.
Overview of PostgreSQL Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.
TL;DR
docker run --name postgresql REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
Warning: This quick setup is only intended for development environments. You are encouraged to change the insecure default credentials and check out the available configuration options in the Configuration section for a more secure deployment.
Why use Bitnami Images?
- Bitnami closely tracks upstream source changes and promptly publishes new versions of this image using our automated systems.
- With Bitnami images the latest bug fixes and features are available as soon as possible.
- Bitnami containers, virtual machines and cloud images use the same components and configuration approach - making it easy to switch between formats based on your project needs.
- All our images are based on minideb -a minimalist Debian based container image that gives you a small base container image and the familiarity of a leading Linux distribution- or scratch -an explicitly empty image-.
- All Bitnami images available in Docker Hub are signed with Notation. Check this post to know how to verify the integrity of the images.
- Bitnami container images are released on a regular basis with the latest distribution packages available.
Looking to use PostgreSQL in production? Try VMware Tanzu Application Catalog, the commercial edition of the Bitnami catalog.
How to deploy PostgreSQL in Kubernetes?
Deploying Bitnami applications as Helm Charts is the easiest way to get started with our applications on Kubernetes. Read more about the installation in the Bitnami PostgreSQL Chart GitHub repository.
Bitnami containers can be used with Kubeapps for deployment and management of Helm Charts in clusters.
Why use a non-root container?
Non-root container images add an extra layer of security and are generally recommended for production environments. However, because they run as a non-root user, privileged tasks are typically off-limits. Learn more about non-root containers in our docs.
Supported tags and respective Dockerfile
links
Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags in our documentation page.
You can see the equivalence between the different tags by taking a look at the tags-info.yaml
file present in the branch folder, i.e bitnami/ASSET/BRANCH/DISTRO/tags-info.yaml
.
Subscribe to project updates by watching the bitnami/containers GitHub repo.
Get this image
The recommended way to get the Bitnami PostgreSQL Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry.
docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions in the Docker Hub Registry.
docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:[TAG]
If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the docker build
command. Remember to replace the APP
, VERSION
and OPERATING-SYSTEM
path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.
git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/APP:latest .
Persisting your database
If you remove the container all your data and configurations will be lost, and the next time you run the image the database will be reinitialized. To avoid this loss of data, you should mount a volume that will persist even after the container is removed.
For persistence you should mount a directory at the /bitnami/postgresql
path. If the mounted directory is empty, it will be initialized on the first run.
docker run \
-v /path/to/postgresql-persistence:/bitnami/postgresql \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or by modifying the docker-compose.yml
file present in this repository:
services:
postgresql:
...
volumes:
- /path/to/postgresql-persistence:/bitnami/postgresql
...
NOTE: As this is a non-root container, the mounted files and directories must have the proper permissions for the UID
1001
.
Connecting to other containers
Using Docker container networking, a PostgreSQL server running inside a container can easily be accessed by your application containers.
Containers attached to the same network can communicate with each other using the container name as the hostname.
Using the Command Line
In this example, we will create a PostgreSQL client instance that will connect to the server instance that is running on the same docker network as the client.
Step 1: Create a network
docker network create app-tier --driver bridge
Step 2: Launch the PostgreSQL server instance
Use the --network app-tier
argument to the docker run
command to attach the PostgreSQL container to the app-tier
network.
docker run -d --name postgresql-server \
--network app-tier \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
Step 3: Launch your PostgreSQL client instance
Finally we create a new container instance to launch the PostgreSQL client and connect to the server created in the previous step:
docker run -it --rm \
--network app-tier \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest psql -h postgresql-server -U postgres
Using a Docker Compose file
When not specified, Docker Compose automatically sets up a new network and attaches all deployed services to that network. However, we will explicitly define a new bridge
network named app-tier
. In this example we assume that you want to connect to the PostgreSQL server from your own custom application image which is identified in the following snippet by the service name myapp
.
version: '2'
networks:
app-tier:
driver: bridge
services:
postgresql:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
networks:
- app-tier
myapp:
image: 'YOUR_APPLICATION_IMAGE'
networks:
- app-tier
:
- Please update the YOUR_APPLICATION_IMAGE_ placeholder in the above snippet with your application image
- In your application container, use the hostname
postgresql
to connect to the PostgreSQL server
Launch the containers using:
docker-compose up -d
Configuration
Environment variables
Customizable environment variables
Name | Description | Default Value |
---|---|---|
POSTGRESQL_VOLUME_DIR | Persistence base directory | /bitnami/postgresql |
POSTGRESQL_DATA_DIR | PostgreSQL data directory | ${POSTGRESQL_VOLUME_DIR}/data |
POSTGRESQL_EXTRA_FLAGS | Extra flags for PostgreSQL initialization | nil |
POSTGRESQL_INIT_MAX_TIMEOUT | Maximum initialization waiting timeout | 60 |
POSTGRESQL_PGCTLTIMEOUT | Maximum waiting timeout for pg_ctl commands | 60 |
POSTGRESQL_SHUTDOWN_MODE | Default mode for pg_ctl stop command | fast |
POSTGRESQL_CLUSTER_APP_NAME | Replication cluster default application name | walreceiver |
POSTGRESQL_DATABASE | Default PostgreSQL database | postgres |
POSTGRESQL_INITDB_ARGS | Optional args for PostreSQL initdb operation | nil |
ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD | Allow password-less access | no |
POSTGRESQL_INITDB_WAL_DIR | Optional init db wal directory | nil |
POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST | PostgreSQL master host (used by slaves) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER | PostgreSQL master host port (used by slaves) | 5432 |
POSTGRESQL_NUM_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS | Number of PostgreSQL replicas that should use synchronous replication | 0 |
POSTGRESQL_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS_MODE | PostgreSQL synchronous replication mode (values: empty, FIRST, ANY) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_PORT_NUMBER | PostgreSQL port number | 5432 |
POSTGRESQL_ALLOW_REMOTE_CONNECTIONS | Modify pg_hba settings so users can access from the outside | yes |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE | PostgreSQL replication mode (values: master, slave) | master |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER | PostgreSQL replication user | nil |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USE_PASSFILE | Use PGPASSFILE instead of PGPASSWORD | no |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSFILE_PATH | Path to store passfile | ${POSTGRESQL_CONF_DIR}/.pgpass |
POSTGRESQL_SYNCHRONOUS_COMMIT_MODE | Enable synchronous replication in slaves (number defined by POSTGRESQL_NUM_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS) | on |
POSTGRESQL_FSYNC | Enable fsync in write ahead logs | on |
POSTGRESQL_USERNAME | PostgreSQL default username | postgres |
POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP | Enable LDAP for PostgreSQL authentication | no |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_URL | PostgreSQL LDAP server url (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_PREFIX | PostgreSQL LDAP prefix (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SUFFIX | PostgreSQL LDAP suffix (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SERVER | PostgreSQL LDAP server (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_PORT | PostgreSQL LDAP port (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SCHEME | PostgreSQL LDAP scheme (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_TLS | PostgreSQL LDAP tls setting (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_BASE_DN | PostgreSQL LDAP base DN settings (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_BIND_DN | PostgreSQL LDAP bind DN settings (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_BIND_PASSWORD | PostgreSQL LDAP bind password (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SEARCH_ATTR | PostgreSQL LDAP search attribute (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SEARCH_FILTER | PostgreSQL LDAP search filter (requires POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP=yes) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_INITSCRIPTS_USERNAME | Username for the psql scripts included in /docker-entrypoint.initdb | $POSTGRESQL_USERNAME |
POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD | Password for the PostgreSQL created user | nil |
POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_PASSWORD | Password for the PostgreSQL postgres user | nil |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD | Password for the PostgreSQL replication user | nil |
POSTGRESQL_INITSCRIPTS_PASSWORD | Password for the PostgreSQL init scripts user | $POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD |
POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_TLS | Whether to enable TLS for traffic or not | no |
POSTGRESQL_TLS_CERT_FILE | File containing the certificate for the TLS traffic | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TLS_KEY_FILE | File containing the key for certificate | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TLS_CA_FILE | File containing the CA of the certificate | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TLS_CRL_FILE | File containing a Certificate Revocation List | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TLS_PREFER_SERVER_CIPHERS | Whether to use the server TLS cipher preferences rather than the client | yes |
POSTGRESQL_SHARED_PRELOAD_LIBRARIES | List of libraries to preload at PostgreSQL initialization | pgaudit |
POSTGRESQL_PGAUDIT_LOG | Comma-separated list of actions to log with pgaudit | nil |
POSTGRESQL_PGAUDIT_LOG_CATALOG | Enable pgaudit log catalog (pgaudit.log_catalog setting) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_PGAUDIT_LOG_PARAMETER | Enable pgaudit log parameter (pgaudit.log_parameter setting) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_CONNECTIONS | Add a log entry per user connection | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_DISCONNECTIONS | Add a log entry per user disconnection | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_HOSTNAME | Log the client host name when accessing | nil |
POSTGRESQL_CLIENT_MIN_MESSAGES | Set log level of errors to send to the client | error |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_LINE_PREFIX | Set the format of the log lines | nil |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_TIMEZONE | Set the log timezone | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TIMEZONE | Set the timezone | nil |
POSTGRESQL_MAX_CONNECTIONS | Set the maximum amount of connections | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TCP_KEEPALIVES_IDLE | Set the TCP keepalive idle time | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TCP_KEEPALIVES_INTERVAL | Set the TCP keepalive interval time | nil |
POSTGRESQL_TCP_KEEPALIVES_COUNT | Set the TCP keepalive count | nil |
POSTGRESQL_STATEMENT_TIMEOUT | Set the SQL statement timeout | nil |
POSTGRESQL_PGHBA_REMOVE_FILTERS | Comma-separated list of strings for removing pg_hba.conf lines (example: md5, local) | nil |
POSTGRESQL_USERNAME_CONNECTION_LIMIT | Set the user connection limit | nil |
POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_CONNECTION_LIMIT | Set the postgres user connection limit | nil |
POSTGRESQL_WAL_LEVEL | Set the write-ahead log level | replica |
POSTGRESQL_DEFAULT_TOAST_COMPRESSION | Set the postgres default compression | nil |
POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD_ENCRYPTION | Set the passwords encryption method | nil |
POSTGRESQL_DEFAULT_TRANSACTION_ISOLATION | Set transaction isolation | nil |
POSTGRESQL_AUTOCTL_CONF_DIR | Path to the configuration dir for the pg_autoctl command | ${POSTGRESQL_AUTOCTL_VOLUME_DIR}/.config |
POSTGRESQL_AUTOCTL_MODE | pgAutoFailover node type, valid values [monitor, postgres] | postgres |
POSTGRESQL_AUTOCTL_MONITOR_HOST | Hostname for the monitor component | monitor |
POSTGRESQL_AUTOCTL_HOSTNAME | Hostname by which postgres is reachable | $(hostname --fqdn) |
Read-only environment variables
Name | Description | Value |
---|---|---|
POSTGRESQL_BASE_DIR | PostgreSQL installation directory | /opt/bitnami/postgresql |
POSTGRESQL_DEFAULT_CONF_DIR | PostgreSQL configuration directory | $POSTGRESQL_BASE_DIR/conf.default |
POSTGRESQL_CONF_DIR | PostgreSQL configuration directory | $POSTGRESQL_BASE_DIR/conf |
POSTGRESQL_MOUNTED_CONF_DIR | PostgreSQL mounted configuration directory | $POSTGRESQL_VOLUME_DIR/conf |
POSTGRESQL_CONF_FILE | PostgreSQL configuration file | $POSTGRESQL_CONF_DIR/postgresql.conf |
POSTGRESQL_PGHBA_FILE | PostgreSQL pg_hba file | $POSTGRESQL_CONF_DIR/pg_hba.conf |
POSTGRESQL_RECOVERY_FILE | PostgreSQL recovery file | $POSTGRESQL_DATA_DIR/recovery.conf |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_DIR | PostgreSQL logs directory | $POSTGRESQL_BASE_DIR/logs |
POSTGRESQL_LOG_FILE | PostgreSQL log file | $POSTGRESQL_LOG_DIR/postgresql.log |
POSTGRESQL_TMP_DIR | PostgreSQL temporary directory | $POSTGRESQL_BASE_DIR/tmp |
POSTGRESQL_PID_FILE | PostgreSQL PID file | $POSTGRESQL_TMP_DIR/postgresql.pid |
POSTGRESQL_BIN_DIR | PostgreSQL executables directory | $POSTGRESQL_BASE_DIR/bin |
POSTGRESQL_INITSCRIPTS_DIR | Init scripts directory | /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d |
POSTGRESQL_PREINITSCRIPTS_DIR | Pre-init scripts directory | /docker-entrypoint-preinitdb.d |
POSTGRESQL_DAEMON_USER | PostgreSQL system user | postgres |
POSTGRESQL_DAEMON_GROUP | PostgreSQL system group | postgres |
POSTGRESQL_USE_CUSTOM_PGHBA_INITIALIZATION | Initialize PostgreSQL with the custom, mounted pg_hba.conf file | no |
POSTGRESQL_AUTOCTL_VOLUME_DIR | The pg_autoctl home directory | ${POSTGRESQL_VOLUME_DIR}/pgautoctl |
POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_VOLUME_DIR | The pgbackrest home directory | ${POSTGRESQL_VOLUME_DIR}/pgbackrest |
POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_LOGS_DIR | The pgbackrest logs directory | ${POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_VOLUME_DIR}/logs |
POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_BACKUPS_DIR | The pgbackrest backups directory | ${POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_VOLUME_DIR}/backups |
POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_SPOOL_DIR | The pgbackrest spool directory | ${POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_VOLUME_DIR}/spool |
POSTGRESQL_PGBACKREST_CONF_FILE | The pgbackrest configuration file | ${POSTGRESQL_DATA_DIR}/pgbackrest.conf |
POSTGRESQL_FIRST_BOOT | Flag for startup (necessary for repmgr) | yes |
NSS_WRAPPER_LIB | Flag for startup (necessary for repmgr) | /opt/bitnami/common/lib/libnss_wrapper.so |
On container start
When the container is executed, it will execute the files with extension .sh
located at /docker-entrypoint-preinitdb.d
before initializing or starting postgresql.
In order to have your custom files inside the docker image you can mount them as a volume.
Passing extra command-line flags to PostgreSQL
Passing extra command-line flags to the postgresql service command is possible through the following env var:
POSTGRESQL_EXTRA_FLAGS
: Flags to be appended to thepostgres
startup command. No defaults
Initializing a new instance
When the container is executed for the first time, it will execute the files with extensions .sh
, .sql
and .sql.gz
located at /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
.
In order to have your custom files inside the docker image you can mount them as a volume.
Setting the root password on first run
In the above commands you may have noticed the use of the POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD
environment variable. Passing the POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD
environment variable when running the image for the first time will set the password of the postgres
user to the value of POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD
(or the content of the file specified in POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD_FILE
).
docker run --name postgresql -e POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=password123 REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or by modifying the docker-compose.yml
file present in this repository:
services:
postgresql:
...
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=password123
...
Note! The postgres
user is a superuser and has full administrative access to the PostgreSQL database.
Refer to Creating a database user on first run if you want to set an unprivileged user and a password for the postgres
user.
Creating a database on first run
By passing the POSTGRESQL_DATABASE
environment variable when running the image for the first time, a database will be created. This is useful if your application requires that a database already exists, saving you from having to manually create the database using the PostgreSQL client.
docker run --name postgresql -e POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or by modifying the docker-compose.yml
file present in this repository:
services:
postgresql:
...
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database
...
Creating a database user on first run
You can also create a restricted database user that only has permissions for the database created with the POSTGRESQL_DATABASE
environment variable. To do this, provide the POSTGRESQL_USERNAME
environment variable.
docker run --name postgresql -e POSTGRESQL_USERNAME=my_user -e POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=password123 -e POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or by modifying the docker-compose.yml
file present in this repository:
services:
postgresql:
...
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_USERNAME=my_user
- POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=password123
- POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database
...
Note! When POSTGRESQL_USERNAME
is specified, the postgres
user is not assigned a password and as a result you cannot login remotely to the PostgreSQL server as the postgres
user. If you still want to have access with the user postgres
, please set the POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_PASSWORD
environment variable (or the content of the file specified in POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE
).
Auditing
The Bitnami PostgreSQL Image comes with the pgAudit module enabled by default. Thanks to this, audit information can be enabled in the container with these environment variables:
POSTGRESQL_PGAUDIT_LOG
: Comma-separated list with different operations to audit. Find in the official pgAudit documentation the list of possible values. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_PGAUDIT_LOG_CATALOG
: Session logging enabled in the case where all relations in a statement are in pg_catalog. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_LOG_CONNECTIONS
: Add log entry for logins. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_LOG_DISCONNECTIONS
: Add log entry for logouts. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_LOG_HOSTNAME
: Log the client hostname. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_LOG_LINE_PREFIX
: Define the format of the log entry lines. Find in the official PostgreSQL documentation the string parameters. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_LOG_TIMEZONE
: Set the timezone for the log entry timestamp. No defaults.
Session settings
The Bitnami PostgreSQL Image allows configuring several parameters for the connection and session management:
POSTGRESQL_USERNAME_CONNECTION_LIMIT
: If a user different frompostgres
is created, set the connection limit. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_CONNECTION_LIMIT
: Set the connection limit for thepostgres
user. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_STATEMENT_TIMEOUT
: Set the statement timeout. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TCP_KEEPALIVES_INTERVAL
: TCP keepalive interval. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TCP_KEEPALIVES_IDLE
: TCP keepalive idle time. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TCP_KEEPALIVES_COUNT
: TCP keepalive count. No defaults.
Configuring time zone
The Bitnami PostgreSQL Image allows configuring the time zone for PostgreSQL with the following environment variables:
POSTGRESQL_TIMEZONE
: Sets the time zone for displaying and interpreting time stamps.POSTGRESQL_LOG_TIMEZONE
: Sets the time zone used for timestamps written in the server log.
Modify pg_hba.conf
By default, the Bitnami PostgreSQL Image generates local
and md5
entries in the pg_hba.conf file. In order to adapt to any other requirements or standards, it is possible to change the pg_hba.conf file by:
- Mounting your own pg_hba.conf file in
/bitnami/postgresql/conf
- Using the
POSTGRESQL_PGHBA_REMOVE_FILTERS
with a comma-separated list of patterns. All lines that match any of the patterns will be removed. For example, if we want to remove alllocal
andmd5
authentication (in favour of hostssl only connections, for example), setPOSTGRESQL_PGHBA_REMOVE_FILTERS=local, md5
.
Preloading shared libraries
It is possible to modify the list of libraries that PostgreSQL will preload at boot time by setting the POSTGRESQL_SHARED_PRELOAD_LIBRARIES
. The default value is POSTGRESQL_SHARED_PRELOAD_LIBRARIES=pgaudit
. If, for example, you want to add the pg_stat_statements
library to the preload, set POSTGRESQL_SHARED_PRELOAD_LIBRARIES=pgaudit, pg_stat_statements
.
Setting up a streaming replication
A Streaming replication cluster can easily be setup with the Bitnami PostgreSQL Docker Image using the following environment variables:
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE
: Replication mode. Possible valuesmaster
/slave
. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER
: The replication user created on the master on first run. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD
: The replication users password. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_FILE
: Path to a file that contains the replication users password. This will override the value specified inPOSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD
. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST
: Hostname/IP of replication master (slave parameter). No defaults.POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER
: Server port of the replication master (slave parameter). Defaults to5432
.
In a replication cluster you can have one master and zero or more slaves. When replication is enabled the master node is in read-write mode, while the slaves are in read-only mode. For best performance its advisable to limit the reads to the slaves.
Step 1: Create the replication master
The first step is to start the master.
docker run --name postgresql-master \
-e POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=master \
-e POSTGRESQL_USERNAME=my_user \
-e POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=password123 \
-e POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database \
-e POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=my_repl_user \
-e POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=my_repl_password \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
In this command we are configuring the container as the master using the POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=master
parameter. A replication user is specified using the POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER
and POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD
parameters.
Step 2: Create the replication slave
Next we start a replication slave container.
docker run --name postgresql-slave \
--link postgresql-master:master \
-e POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=slave \
-e POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST=master \
-e POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER=5432 \
-e POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=my_repl_user \
-e POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=my_repl_password \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
In the above command the container is configured as a slave
using the POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE
parameter. Before the replication slave is started, the POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST
and POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER
parameters are used by the slave container to connect to the master and replicate the initial database from the master. The POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER
and POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD
credentials are used to authenticate with the master. In order to change the pg_hba.conf
default settings, the slave needs to know if POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD
is set.
With these two commands you now have a two node PostgreSQL master-slave streaming replication cluster up and running. You can scale the cluster by adding/removing slaves without incurring any downtime.
: The cluster replicates the master in its entirety, which includes all users and databases.
If the master goes down you can reconfigure a slave to act as the master and begin accepting writes by creating the trigger file /tmp/postgresql.trigger.5432
. For example the following command reconfigures postgresql-slave
to act as the master:
docker exec postgresql-slave touch /tmp/postgresql.trigger.5432
: The configuration of the other slaves in the cluster needs to be updated so that they are aware of the new master. This would require you to restart the other slaves with
--link postgresql-slave:master
as per our examples.
With Docker Compose the master-slave replication can be setup using:
version: '2'
services:
postgresql-master:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
ports:
- '5432'
volumes:
- 'postgresql_master_data:/bitnami/postgresql'
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=master
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=repl_user
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=repl_password
- POSTGRESQL_USERNAME=my_user
- POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=my_password
- POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database
postgresql-slave:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
ports:
- '5432'
depends_on:
- postgresql-master
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=slave
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=repl_user
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=repl_password
- POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST=postgresql-master
- POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=my_password
- POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER=5432
volumes:
postgresql_master_data:
Scale the number of slaves using:
docker-compose up --detach --scale postgresql-master=1 --scale postgresql-slave=3
The above command scales up the number of slaves to 3
. You can scale down in the same way.
: You should not scale up/down the number of master nodes. Always have only one master node running.
Synchronous commits
By default, the slave instances are configured with asynchronous replication. In order to guarantee more data stability (at the cost of some performance), it is possible to set synchronous commits (i.e. a transaction commit will not return success to the client until it has been written in a set of replicas) using the following environment variables.
POSTGRESQL_SYNCHRONOUS_COMMIT_MODE
: Establishes the type of synchronous commit. The available options are:on
,remote_apply
,remote_write
,local
andoff
. The default value ison
. For more information, check the official PostgreSQL documentation.POSTGRESQL_NUM_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS
: Establishes the number of replicas that will enable synchronous replication. This number must not be above the number of slaves that you configure in the cluster.
With Docker Compose the master-slave replication with synchronous commits can be setup as follows:
version: '2'
services:
postgresql-master:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
ports:
- '5432'
volumes:
- 'postgresql_master_data:/bitnami/postgresql'
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=master
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=repl_user
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=repl_password
- POSTGRESQL_USERNAME=my_user
- POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD=my_password
- POSTGRESQL_DATABASE=my_database
- POSTGRESQL_SYNCHRONOUS_COMMIT_MODE=on
- POSTGRESQL_NUM_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS=1
volumes:
- '/path/to/postgresql-persistence:/bitnami/postgresql'
postgresql-slave:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
ports:
- '5432'
depends_on:
- postgresql-master
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=slave
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=repl_user
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=repl_password
- POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST=postgresql-master
- POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER=5432
postgresql-slave2:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
ports:
- '5432'
depends_on:
- postgresql-master
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE=slave
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER=repl_user
- POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD=repl_password
- POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST=postgresql-master
- POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER=5432
In the example above, commits will need to be written to both the master and one of the slaves in order to be accepted. The other slave will continue using asynchronous replication. Check it with the following SQL query:
postgres=# select application_name as server, state,
postgres-# sync_priority as priority, sync_state
postgres-# from pg_stat_replication;
| server | state | priority | sync_state |
|-------------|-----------|----------|------------|
| walreceiver | streaming | 0 | sync |
| walreceiver | streaming | 0 | async |
Note: For more advanced setups, you can define different replication groups with the
application_name
parameter, by setting thePOSTGRESQL_CLUSTER_APP_NAME
environment variable.
LDAP authentication
In order to use LDAP authentication you need to enable it setting the environment variable POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_LDAP
to yes
.
There are two ways of setting up the LDAP configuration:
- By configuring
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_URL
, where you can configure all the associated parameters in the URL. - Setting up the parameters
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_xxxx
independently.
The LDAP related parameters are:
POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SERVER
: IP addresses or names of the LDAP servers to connect to. Separated by spaces.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_PORT
: Port number on the LDAP server to connect toPOSTGRESQL_LDAP_SCHEME
: Set toldaps
to use LDAPS. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_TLS
: Set to1
to use TLS encryption. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_PREFIX
: String to prepend to the user name when forming the DN to bind. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SUFFIX
: String to append to the user name when forming the DN to bind. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_BASE_DN
: Root DN to begin the search for the user in. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_BIND_DN
: DN of user to bind to LDAP. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_BIND_PASSWORD
: Password for the user to bind to LDAP. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SEARCH_ATTR
: Attribute to match against the user name in the search. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_SEARCH_FILTER
: The search filter to use when doing search+bind authentication. Default to none.POSTGRESQL_LDAP_URL
: URL to connect to, in the format:ldap[s]://host[:port]/basedn[?[attribute][?[scope][?[filter]]]]
.
For more information refer to Postgresql LDAP auth configuration documentation.
Securing PostgreSQL traffic
PostgreSQL supports the encryption of connections using the SSL/TLS protocol. Should you desire to enable this optional feature, you may use the following environment variables to configure the application:
POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_TLS
: Whether to enable TLS for traffic or not. Defaults tono
.POSTGRESQL_TLS_CERT_FILE
: File containing the certificate file for the TLS traffic. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TLS_KEY_FILE
: File containing the key for certificate. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TLS_CA_FILE
: File containing the CA of the certificate. If provided, PostgreSQL will authenticate TLS/SSL clients by requesting them a certificate (see ref). No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TLS_CRL_FILE
: File containing a Certificate Revocation List. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_TLS_PREFER_SERVER_CIPHERS
: Whether to use the server’s TLS cipher preferences rather than the client’s. Defaults toyes
.
When enabling TLS, PostgreSQL will support both standard and encrypted traffic by default, but prefer the latter. Below there are some examples on how to quickly set up TLS traffic:
-
Using
docker run
$ docker run \ -v /path/to/certs:/opt/bitnami/postgresql/certs \ -e ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD=yes \ -e POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_TLS=yes \ -e POSTGRESQL_TLS_CERT_FILE=/opt/bitnami/postgresql/certs/postgres.crt \ -e POSTGRESQL_TLS_KEY_FILE=/opt/bitnami/postgresql/certs/postgres.key \ REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
-
Modifying the
docker-compose.yml
file present in this repository:services: postgresql: ... environment: ... - POSTGRESQL_ENABLE_TLS=yes - POSTGRESQL_TLS_CERT_FILE=/opt/bitnami/postgresql/certs/postgres.crt - POSTGRESQL_TLS_KEY_FILE=/opt/bitnami/postgresql/certs/postgres.key ... volumes: ... - /path/to/certs:/opt/bitnami/postgresql/certs ...
Alternatively, you may also provide this configuration in your custom configuration file.
Configuration file
The image looks for postgresql.conf
file in /opt/bitnami/postgresql/conf/
. You can mount a volume at /bitnami/postgresql/conf/
and copy/edit the postgresql.conf
file in the /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/
. The default configurations will be populated to the conf/
directory if it’s empty.
/path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/
└── postgresql.conf
0 directories, 1 file
As PostgreSQL image is non-root, you need to set the proper permissions to the mounted directory in your host:
sudo chown 1001:1001 /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/
Step 1: Run the PostgreSQL image
Run the PostgreSQL image, mounting a directory from your host.
docker run --name postgresql \
-v /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/:/bitnami/postgresql/conf/ \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or using Docker Compose:
version: '2'
services:
postgresql:
image: 'REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest'
ports:
- '5432:5432'
volumes:
- /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/:/bitnami/postgresql/conf/
Step 2: Edit the configuration
Edit the configuration on your host using your favorite editor.
vi /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/postgresql.conf
Step 3: Restart PostgreSQL
After changing the configuration, restart your PostgreSQL container for changes to take effect.
docker restart postgresql
or using Docker Compose:
docker-compose restart postgresql
Refer to the server configuration manual for the complete list of configuration options.
Allow settings to be loaded from files other than the default postgresql.conf
Apart of using a custom postgresql.conf
, you can include files ending in .conf
from the conf.d
directory in the volume at /bitnami/postgresql/conf/
. For this purpose, the default postgresql.conf
contains the following section:
##------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## CONFIG FILE INCLUDES
##------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## These options allow settings to be loaded from files other than the
## default postgresql.conf.
include_dir = 'conf.d' # Include files ending in '.conf' from directory 'conf.d'
In your host, you should create the extended configuration file under the conf.d
directory:
mkdir -p /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/conf.d/
vi /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/conf.d/extended.conf
If you are using your custom postgresql.conf
, you should create (or uncomment) the above section in your config file, in this case the /path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/
structure should be something like
/path/to/postgresql-persistence/conf/
├── conf.d
│ └── extended.conf
└── postgresql.conf
1 directory, 2 files
Specifying initdb arguments
Specifying extra initdb arguments can easily be done using the following environment variables:
POSTGRESQL_INITDB_ARGS
: Specifies extra arguments for the initdb command. No defaults.POSTGRESQL_INITDB_WAL_DIR
: Defines a custom location for the transaction log. No defaults.
docker run --name postgresql \
-e POSTGRESQL_INITDB_ARGS="--data-checksums" \
-e POSTGRESQL_INITDB_WAL_DIR="/bitnami/waldir" \
REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or by modifying the docker-compose.yml
file present in this repository:
services:
postgresql:
...
environment:
- POSTGRESQL_INITDB_ARGS=--data-checksums
- POSTGRESQL_INITDB_WAL_DIR=/bitnami/waldir
...
Stopping settings
You can control the parameters used to stop postgresql in the initialization process by using:
POSTGRESQL_PGCTLTIMEOUT
that will set the timeout for thepg_ctl
command.POSTGRESQL_SHUTDOWN_MODE
that will indicate the shutdown mode used.
Installing extra locales
The Dockerfile provides two arguments to configure extra locales at build time:
WITH_ALL_LOCALES
: Enable all supported locales. Default: noEXTRA_LOCALES
: Comma separated list of extra locales to enable. No defaults
For example, to build an image with support for the es_ES.UTF-8 UTF-8
locale, you can add the following argument to your build command:
docker build --build-arg EXTRA_LOCALES="es_ES.UTF-8 UTF-8" ...
Environment variables aliases
The Bitnami PostgreSQL container allows two different sets of environment variables. Please see the list of environment variable aliases in the next table:
Environment Variable | Alias |
---|---|
POSTGRESQL_USERNAME | POSTGRES_USER |
POSTGRESQL_DATABASE | POSTGRES_DB |
POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD | POSTGRES_PASSWORD |
POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD_FILE | POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE |
POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_PASSWORD | POSTGRES_POSTGRES_PASSWORD |
POSTGRESQL_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE | POSTGRES_POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE |
POSTGRESQL_PORT_NUMBER | POSTGRES_PORT_NUMBER |
POSTGRESQL_INITDB_ARGS | POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS |
POSTGRESQL_INITDB_WAL_DIR | POSTGRES_INITDB_WAL_DIR |
POSTGRESQL_DATA_DIR | PGDATA |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_USER | POSTGRES_REPLICATION_USER |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE | POSTGRES_REPLICATION_MODE |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD | POSTGRES_REPLICATION_PASSWORD |
POSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_FILE | POSTGRES_REPLICATION_PASSWORD_FILE |
POSTGRESQL_CLUSTER_APP_NAME | POSTGRES_CLUSTER_APP_NAME |
POSTGRESQL_MASTER_HOST | POSTGRES_MASTER_HOST |
POSTGRESQL_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER | POSTGRES_MASTER_PORT_NUMBER |
POSTGRESQL_NUM_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS | POSTGRES_NUM_SYNCHRONOUS_REPLICAS |
POSTGRESQL_SYNCHRONOUS_COMMIT_MODE | POSTGRES_SYNCHRONOUS_COMMIT_MODE |
POSTGRESQL_SHUTDOWN_MODE | POSTGRES_SHUTDOWN_MODE |
IMPORTANT: Changing the
POSTGRES_USER
will not change the owner of the database that will continue being thepostgres
user. In order to change the database owner, please access usingpostgres
as user ($ psql -U postgres ...
) and execute the following command:
alter database POSTGRES_DATABASE owner to POSTGRES_USER;
It is possible to change the user that PostgreSQL will use to execute the init scripts. To do so, use the following environment variables:
Environment variable | Description |
---|---|
POSTGRESQL_INITSCRIPTS_USERNAME | User that will be used to execute the init scripts |
POSTGRESQL_INITSCRIPTS_PASSWORD | Password for the user specified in POSTGRESQL_INITSCRIPT_USERNAME |
Default toast compression
The default toast compression is pglz
, but you can modify it by setting the environment variable POSTGRES_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION
with the desired value. For example: POSTGRES_DEFAULT_COMPRESSION='lz4'
.
Logging
The Bitnami PostgreSQL Docker image sends the container logs to the stdout
. To view the logs:
docker logs postgresql
or using Docker Compose:
docker-compose logs postgresql
You can configure the containers logging driver using the --log-driver
option if you wish to consume the container logs differently. In the default configuration docker uses the json-file
driver.
Maintenance
Upgrade this image
Bitnami provides up-to-date versions of PostgreSQL, including security patches, soon after they are made upstream. We recommend that you follow these steps to upgrade your container.
Step 1: Get the updated image
docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or if you’re using Docker Compose, update the value of the image property to REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
.
Step 2: Stop and backup the currently running container
Stop the currently running container using the command
docker stop postgresql
or using Docker Compose:
docker-compose stop postgresql
Next, take a snapshot of the persistent volume /path/to/postgresql-persistence
using:
rsync -a /path/to/postgresql-persistence /path/to/postgresql-persistence.bkp.$(date +%Y%m%d-%H.%M.%S)
Step 3: Remove the currently running container
docker rm -v postgresql
or using Docker Compose:
docker-compose rm -v postgresql
Step 4: Run the new image
Re-create your container from the new image.
docker run --name postgresql REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/postgresql:latest
or using Docker Compose:
docker-compose up postgresql
Notable Changes
9.6.16-centos-7-r71, 10.11.0-centos-7-r72, 11.6.0-centos-7-r71, and 12.1.0-centos-7-r72
9.6.16-centos-7-r71
,10.11.0-centos-7-r72
,11.6.0-centos-7-r71
, and12.1.0-centos-7-r72
are considered the latest images based on CentOS.- Standard supported distros: Debian & OEL.
9.6.15-r93, 9.6.15-ol-7-r108, 9.6.15-centos-7-r107, 10.10.0-r923, 10.10.0-ol-7-r106, 10.10.0-centos-7-r107, 11.5.0-r89, 11.5.0-centos-7-r103, 11.5.0-ol-7-r108, 12.0.0-r21, 12.0.0-centos-7-r34 and 12.0.0-ol-7-r32
- Adds LDAP authentication support
9.6.15-r82, 9.6.15-ol-7-r92, 9.6.15-centos-7-r91, 10.10.0-r82, 10.10.0-ol-7-r90, 10.10.0-centos-7-r91, 11.5.0-r80, 11.5.0-centos-7-r87, 11.5.0-ol-7-r92, 12.0.0-r11, 12.0.0-centos-7-r17 and 12.0.0-ol-7-r17
- Adds Postgis extension to postgresql, version 2.3.x to Postgresiql 9.6 and version 2.5 to 10, 11 and 12.
9.6.12-r70, 9.6.12-ol-7-r72, 10.7.0-r69, 10.7.0-ol-7-r71, 11.2.0-r69 and 11.2.0-ol-7-r71
- Decrease the size of the container. It is not necessary Node.js anymore. PostgreSQL configuration moved to bash scripts in the rootfs/ folder.
- This container is backwards compatible with the previous versions, as the mount folders remain unchanged.
- The
POSTGRESQL_PASSWORD
variable must be passed to the slaves so they generate the properpg_hba.conf
admission rules.
9.6.11-r66, 9.6.11-ol-7-r83, 10.6.0-r68, 10.6.0-ol-7-r83, 11.1.0-r62 and 11.1.0-ol-7-r79
- The PostgreSQL container can be configured using two sets of environment variables. For more information, check Environment variables aliases
9.6.11-r38, 10.6.0-r39 and 11.1.0-r34
- The PostgreSQL container now contains options to easily configure synchronous commits between slaves. This provides more data stability, but must be configured with caution as it also has a cost in performance. For more information, check Synchronous Commits.
9.6.9-r19 and 10.4.0-r19
- The PostgreSQL container has been migrated to a non-root user approach. Previously the container ran as the
root
user and the PostgreSQL daemon was started as thepostgres
user. From now on, both the container and the PostgreSQL daemon run as user1001
. As a consequence, the data directory must be writable by that user. You can revert this behavior by changingUSER 1001
toUSER root
in the Dockerfile.
9.5.3-r5
- The
POSTGRES_
prefix on environment variables is now replaced byPOSTGRESQL_
POSTGRES_USER
parameter has been renamed toPOSTGRESQL_USERNAME
.POSTGRES_DB
parameter has been renamed toPOSTGRESQL_DATABASE
.POSTGRES_MODE
parameter has been renamed toPOSTGRESQL_REPLICATION_MODE
.
9.5.3-r0
- All volumes have been merged at
/bitnami/postgresql
. Now you only need to mount a single volume at/bitnami/postgresql
for persistence. - The logs are always sent to the
stdout
and are no longer collected in the volume.
Using docker-compose.yaml
Please be aware this file has not undergone internal testing. Consequently, we advise its use exclusively for development or testing purposes. For production-ready deployments, we highly recommend utilizing its associated Bitnami Helm chart.
If you detect any issue in the docker-compose.yaml
file, feel free to report it or contribute with a fix by following our Contributing Guidelines.
Contributing
We’d love for you to contribute to this container. You can request new features by creating an issue or submitting a pull request with your contribution.
Issues
If you encountered a problem running this container, you can file an issue. For us to provide better support, be sure to fill the issue template.
License
Copyright © 2025 Broadcom. The term “Broadcom” refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
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