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Neo4j Vertical Scaling Overview

This page explains how KubeDB Ops-manager updates Neo4j pod resources using Neo4jOpsRequest.

Before You Begin

• You should be familiar with Neo4j.
• You should be familiar with Neo4jOpsRequest.

How Vertical Scaling Works

The following diagram shows how KubeDB Ops-manager performs vertical scaling for a Neo4j database. Open the image in a new tab to see the enlarged version.

The vertical scaling process consists of the following steps:

For a Neo4jOpsRequest with spec.type: VerticalScaling, KubeDB Ops-manager:

1. Validates CPU/memory values from spec.verticalScaling.server.resources.
2. Pauses conflicting reconciliations.
3. Applies updated requests/limits to Neo4j server pods.
4. Performs controlled restarts where necessary.
5. Waits for pods to become healthy with new resources.
6. Marks the request Successful after reconciliation.

Vertical Scaling Modes

KubeDB actuates vertical scaling in one of two modes, selected through the spec.verticalScaling.mode field of the Neo4jOpsRequest:

• Restart (default): The operator patches the PetSet with the new resources and restarts the Pods (one at a time, honoring the database’s failover rules) so they come back with the updated CPU and Memory. This works on every Kubernetes cluster.
• InPlace: The operator resizes the running containers in place using the Kubernetes in-place Pod resize (pods/resize subresource) — no Pod restart, so scaling happens without downtime or failover. If a Node cannot accommodate the new resources (the resize is reported Infeasible), the operator automatically falls back to the Restart behavior for that Pod.

If spec.verticalScaling.mode is omitted, it defaults to Restart.

Note: InPlace mode relies on the Kubernetes InPlacePodVerticalScaling feature gate, which is enabled by default from Kubernetes v1.33. On older clusters, or when the feature gate is disabled, use Restart mode.

Next Step

Follow the detailed guide: Scale Neo4j Vertically.