New to KubeDB? Please start here.

Vertical Scale MSSQLServer Instances

This guide will show you how to use kubeDB-Ops-Manager to update the resources of a MSSQLServer instances.

Before You Begin

You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using kind.
Now, install KubeDB cli on your workstation and KubeDB operator in your cluster following the steps here. Make sure install with helm command including --set global.featureGates.MSSQLServer=true to ensure MSSQLServer CRD installation.
To configure TLS/SSL in MSSQLServer, KubeDB uses cert-manager to issue certificates. So first you have to make sure that the cluster has cert-manager installed. To install cert-manager in your cluster following steps here.
You should be familiar with the following KubeDB concepts:

To keep everything isolated, we are going to use a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial.

$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created

Note: YAML files used in this tutorial are stored in docs/examples/mssqlserver/scaling/vertical-scaling directory of kubedb/doc repository.

Apply Vertical Scaling on MSSQLServer

Here, we are going to deploy a MSSQLServer instance using a supported version by KubeDB operator. Then we are going to apply vertical scaling on it.

Find supported MSSQLServer Version:

When you have installed KubeDB, it has created MSSQLServerVersion CR for all supported MSSQLServer versions. Let’s check the supported MSSQLServer versions,

$ kubectl get mssqlserverversion
NAME        VERSION   DB_IMAGE                                                DEPRECATED   AGE
2022-cu12   2022      mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-CU12-ubuntu-22.04                3d21h
2022-cu14   2022      mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-CU14-ubuntu-22.04                3d21h

The version above that does not show DEPRECATED true is supported by KubeDB for MSSQLServer. You can use any non-deprecated version. Here, we are going to create a mssqlserver using non-deprecated MSSQLServer version 2022-cu12.

At first, we need to create an Issuer/ClusterIssuer which will be used to generate the certificate used for TLS configurations.

Create Issuer/ClusterIssuer

Now, we are going to create an example Issuer that will be used throughout the duration of this tutorial. Alternatively, you can follow this cert-manager tutorial to create your own Issuer. By following the below steps, we are going to create our desired issuer,

Start off by generating our ca-certificates using openssl,

openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout ./ca.key -out ./ca.crt -subj "/CN=MSSQLServer/O=kubedb"

Create a secret using the certificate files we have just generated,

$ kubectl create secret tls mssqlserver-ca --cert=ca.crt  --key=ca.key --namespace=demo 
secret/mssqlserver-ca created

Now, we are going to create an Issuer using the mssqlserver-ca secret that contains the ca-certificate we have just created. Below is the YAML of the Issuer CR that we are going to create,

apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Issuer
metadata:
 name: mssqlserver-ca-issuer
 namespace: demo
spec:
 ca:
   secretName: mssqlserver-ca

Deploy MSSQLServer:

In this section, we are going to deploy a MSSQLServer instance. Then, in the next section, we will update the resources of the database server using vertical scaling. Below is the YAML of the MSSQLServer CR that we are going to create,

apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: MSSQLServer
metadata:
  name: mssql-standalone
  namespace: demo
spec:
  version: "2022-cu12"
  replicas: 1
  storageType: Durable
  tls:
    issuerRef:
      name: mssqlserver-ca-issuer
      kind: Issuer
      apiGroup: "cert-manager.io"
    clientTLS: false
  podTemplate:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: mssql
          env:
            - name: ACCEPT_EULA
              value: "Y"
            - name: MSSQL_PID
              value: Evaluation # Change it 
  storage:
    storageClassName: "standard"
    accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
    resources:
      requests:
        storage: 1Gi
  deletionPolicy: WipeOut

Let’s create the MSSQLServer CR we have shown above,

$ kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.11.18/docs/examples/mssqlserver/scaling/vertical-scaling/mssql-standalone.yaml
mssqlserver.kubedb.com/mssql-standalone created

Check mssqlserver Ready to Scale:

KubeDB watches for MSSQLServer objects using Kubernetes API. When a MSSQLServer object is created, KubeDB will create a new PetSet, Services, and Secrets, etc. Now, watch MSSQLServer is going to be in Running state and also watch PetSet and its pod is created and going to be in Running state,

$ watch kubectl get ms,petset,pods -n demo
Every 2.0s: kubectl get ms,petset,pods -n demo                    

NAME                                      VERSION     STATUS   AGE
mssqlserver.kubedb.com/mssql-standalone   2022-cu12   Ready    4m7s

NAME                                            AGE
petset.apps.k8s.appscode.com/mssql-standalone   3m33s

NAME                     READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/mssql-standalone-0   1/1     Running   0          3m33s

Let’s check the mssql-standalone-0 pod’s mssql container’s resources, mssql container is the first container So it’s index will be 0.

$ kubectl get pod -n demo mssql-standalone-0 -o json | jq '.spec.containers[0].resources'
{
  "limits": {
    "memory": "4Gi"
  },
  "requests": {
    "cpu": "500m",
    "memory": "4Gi"
  }
}

Now, We are ready to apply a vertical scale on this mssqlserver database.

Vertical Scaling

Here, we are going to update the resources of the mssqlserver to meet up with the desired resources after scaling.

Create MSSQLServerOpsRequest:

In order to update the resources of your database, you have to create a MSSQLServerOpsRequest CR with your desired resources for scaling. Below is the YAML of the MSSQLServerOpsRequest CR that we are going to create,

apiVersion: ops.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
kind: MSSQLServerOpsRequest
metadata:
  name: mops-vscale-standalone
  namespace: demo
spec:
  type: VerticalScaling
  databaseRef:
    name: mssql-standalone
  verticalScaling:
    mssqlserver:
      resources:
        requests:
          memory: "5Gi"
          cpu: "1000m"
        limits:
          memory: "5Gi"

Here,

spec.databaseRef.name specifies that we are performing operation on mssql-standalone database.
spec.type specifies that we are performing VerticalScaling on our database.
spec.VerticalScaling.mssqlserver specifies the expected mssql container resources after scaling.

Let’s create the MSSQLServerOpsRequest CR we have shown above,

$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2024.11.18/docs/examples/mssqlserver/scaling/vertical-scaling/mops-vscale-standalone.yaml
mssqlserveropsrequest.ops.kubedb.com/mops-vscale-standalone created

Verify MSSQLServer resources updated successfully:

If everything goes well, KubeDB-Ops-Manager will update the resources of the PetSet’s Pod containers. After a successful scaling process is done, the KubeDB-Ops-Manager updates the resources of the MSSQLServer object.

First, we will wait for MSSQLServerOpsRequest to be successful. Run the following command to watch MSSQLServerOpsRequest CR,

$ watch kubectl get mssqlserveropsrequest -n demo mops-vscale-standalone
Every 2.0s: kubectl get mssqlserveropsrequest -n demo mops-vscale-standalone

NAME                     TYPE              STATUS       AGE
mops-vscale-standalone   VerticalScaling   Successful   3m22s

We can see from the above output that the MSSQLServerOpsRequest has succeeded. If we describe the MSSQLServerOpsRequest, we will see that the mssqlserver resources are updated.

$ kubectl describe mssqlserveropsrequest -n demo mops-vscale-standalone
Name:         mops-vscale-standalone
Namespace:    demo
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
API Version:  ops.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
Kind:         MSSQLServerOpsRequest
Metadata:
  Creation Timestamp:  2024-10-24T13:43:57Z
  Generation:          1
  Resource Version:    744508
  UID:                 68bcc122-2ad7-4ae0-ab72-1a3e01fd6f40
Spec:
  Apply:  IfReady
  Database Ref:
    Name:  mssql-standalone
  Type:    VerticalScaling
  Vertical Scaling:
    Mssqlserver:
      Resources:
        Limits:
          Cpu:     2
          Memory:  5Gi
        Requests:
          Cpu:     1
          Memory:  5Gi
Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:43:57Z
    Message:               MSSQLServer ops-request has started to vertically scaling the MSSQLServer nodes
    Observed Generation:   1
    Reason:                VerticalScaling
    Status:                True
    Type:                  VerticalScaling
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:44:24Z
    Message:               Successfully paused database
    Observed Generation:   1
    Reason:                DatabasePauseSucceeded
    Status:                True
    Type:                  DatabasePauseSucceeded
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:44:24Z
    Message:               Successfully updated PetSets Resources
    Observed Generation:   1
    Reason:                UpdatePetSets
    Status:                True
    Type:                  UpdatePetSets
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:44:29Z
    Message:               get pod; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
    Observed Generation:   1
    Status:                True
    Type:                  GetPod--mssql-standalone-0
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:44:29Z
    Message:               evict pod; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
    Observed Generation:   1
    Status:                True
    Type:                  EvictPod--mssql-standalone-0
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:45:04Z
    Message:               check pod running; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
    Observed Generation:   1
    Status:                True
    Type:                  CheckPodRunning--mssql-standalone-0
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:45:09Z
    Message:               Successfully Restarted Pods With Resources
    Observed Generation:   1
    Reason:                RestartPods
    Status:                True
    Type:                  RestartPods
    Last Transition Time:  2024-10-24T13:45:09Z
    Message:               Successfully completed the VerticalScaling for MSSQLServer
    Observed Generation:   1
    Reason:                Successful
    Status:                True
    Type:                  Successful
  Observed Generation:     1
  Phase:                   Successful
Events:
  Type     Reason                                                                Age    From                         Message
  ----     ------                                                                ----   ----                         -------
  Normal   Starting                                                              3m55s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Start processing for MSSQLServerOpsRequest: demo/mops-vscale-standalone
  Normal   Starting                                                              3m55s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Pausing MSSQLServer database: demo/mssql-standalone
  Normal   Successful                                                            3m55s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Successfully paused MSSQLServer database: demo/mssql-standalone for MSSQLServerOpsRequest: mops-vscale-standalone
  Normal   UpdatePetSets                                                         3m28s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Successfully updated PetSets Resources
  Warning  get pod; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0             3m23s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  get pod; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
  Warning  evict pod; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0           3m23s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  evict pod; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
  Warning  check pod running; ConditionStatus:False; PodName:mssql-standalone-0  3m18s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  check pod running; ConditionStatus:False; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
  Warning  check pod running; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0   2m48s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  check pod running; ConditionStatus:True; PodName:mssql-standalone-0
  Normal   RestartPods                                                           2m43s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Successfully Restarted Pods With Resources
  Normal   Starting                                                              2m43s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Resuming MSSQLServer database: demo/mssql-standalone
  Normal   Successful                                                            2m43s  KubeDB Ops-manager Operator  Successfully resumed MSSQLServer database: demo/mssql-standalone for MSSQLServerOpsRequest: mops-vscale-standalone

Now, we are going to verify whether the resources of the mssqlserver instance has updated to meet up the desired state, Let’s check,

$ kubectl get pod -n demo mssql-standalone-0 -o json | jq '.spec.containers[0].resources'
{
  "limits": {
    "memory": "5Gi"
  },
  "requests": {
    "cpu": "1",
    "memory": "5Gi"
  }
}

The above output verifies that we have successfully scaled up the resources of the MSSQLServer.

Cleaning Up

To clean up the Kubernetes resources created by this tutorial, run:

kubectl delete mssqlserver -n demo mssql-standalone
kubectl delete mssqlserveropsrequest -n demo mops-vscale-standalone
kubectl delete issuer -n demo mssqlserver-ca-issuer
kubectl delete secret -n demo mssqlserver-ca
kubectl delete ns demo

Next Steps

Detail concepts of MSSQLServer object.
Backup and Restore MSSQLServer databases using KubeStash.

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