feat: change default value of startDelay to 3600 (#2847)

IMPORTANT: The default value of `startDelay` has now been
changed to 3600 seconds, equivalent of 1 hour.

Previously, it was set to 30 seconds.

This patch also replaces the livenessProbe's initial delay with a
more proper Kubernetes startup probe to deal with the start of
a Postgres server. Both the startup probe and the higher default
time should improve the self-healing capabilities of larger Postgres
deployments where the default value of 30 seconds was not
sufficient for example to complete a crash recovery operation,
causing infinite restarts.

Closes #2843 

Signed-off-by: Tao Li <tao.li@enterprisedb.com>
Signed-off-by: YanniHu1996 <yantian.hu@enterprisedb.com>
Signed-off-by: Armando Ruocco <armando.ruocco@enterprisedb.com>
Signed-off-by: Gabriele Bartolini <gabriele.bartolini@enterprisedb.com>
Co-authored-by: YanniHu1996 <yantian.hu@enterprisedb.com>
Co-authored-by: Armando Ruocco <armando.ruocco@enterprisedb.com>
Co-authored-by: Gabriele Bartolini <gabriele.bartolini@enterprisedb.com>

api/v1/cluster_types.go

@@ -265,8 +265,10 @@ type ClusterSpec struct {
 	WalStorage *StorageConfiguration `json:"walStorage,omitempty"`
 
 	// The time in seconds that is allowed for a PostgreSQL instance to
-	// successfully start up (default 30)
-	// +kubebuilder:default:=30
+	// successfully start up (default 3600).
+	// The startup probe failure threshold is derived from this value using the formula:
+	// ceiling(startDelay / 10).
+	// +kubebuilder:default:=3600
 	// +optional
 	MaxStartDelay int32 `json:"startDelay,omitempty"`
 
@@ -981,6 +983,11 @@ const (
 	// is gracefully shutdown during a switchover.
 	// It is greater than one year in seconds, big enough to simulate an infinite timeout
 	DefaultMaxSwitchoverDelay = 3600
+
+	// DefaultStartupDelay is the default value for startupDelay, startupDelay will be used to calculate the
+	// FailureThreshold of startupProbe, the formula is `FailureThreshold = ceiling(startDelay / periodSeconds)`,
+	// the minimum value is 1
+	DefaultStartupDelay = 3600
 )
 
 // PostgresConfiguration defines the PostgreSQL configuration
@@ -2381,7 +2388,7 @@ func (cluster *Cluster) GetMaxStartDelay() int32 {
 	if cluster.Spec.MaxStartDelay > 0 {
 		return cluster.Spec.MaxStartDelay
 	}
-	return 30
+	return DefaultStartupDelay
 }
 
 // GetMaxStopDelay get the amount of time PostgreSQL has to stop

config/crd/bases/postgresql.cnpg.io_clusters.yaml

@@ -3010,9 +3010,11 @@ spec:
                 - metadata
                 type: object
               startDelay:
-                default: 30
-                description: The time in seconds that is allowed for a PostgreSQL
-                  instance to successfully start up (default 30)
+                default: 3600
+                description: 'The time in seconds that is allowed for a PostgreSQL
+                  instance to successfully start up (default 3600). The startup probe
+                  failure threshold is derived from this value using the formula:
+                  ceiling(startDelay / 10).'
                 format: int32
                 type: integer
               stopDelay:

docs/src/cloudnative-pg.v1.md

@@ -1451,7 +1451,9 @@ user by setting it to <code>NULL</code>. Enabled by default.</p>
 </td>
 <td>
    <p>The time in seconds that is allowed for a PostgreSQL instance to
-successfully start up (default 30)</p>
+successfully start up (default 3600)
+The startup probe failure threshold is derived from this value using the formula:
+ceiling(startDelay / 10).</p>
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr><td><code>stopDelay</code><br/>

pkg/specs/pods.go

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ package specs
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"math"
 	"reflect"
 	"strconv"
 
@@ -81,6 +82,12 @@ const (
 
 	// ReadinessProbePeriod is the period set for the postgres instance readiness probe
 	ReadinessProbePeriod = 10
+
+	// StartupProbePeriod is the period set for the postgres instance startup probe
+	StartupProbePeriod = 10
+
+	// LivenessProbePeriod is the period set for the postgres instance liveness probe
+	LivenessProbePeriod = 10
 )
 
 // EnvConfig carries the environment configuration of a container
@@ -184,6 +191,17 @@ func createPostgresContainers(cluster apiv1.Cluster, envConfig EnvConfig) []core
 			Env:             envConfig.EnvVars,
 			EnvFrom:         envConfig.EnvFrom,
 			VolumeMounts:    createPostgresVolumeMounts(cluster),
+			StartupProbe: &corev1.Probe{
+				FailureThreshold: getStartupProbeFailureThreshold(cluster.GetMaxStartDelay()),
+				PeriodSeconds:    StartupProbePeriod,
+				TimeoutSeconds:   5,
+				ProbeHandler: corev1.ProbeHandler{
+					HTTPGet: &corev1.HTTPGetAction{
+						Path: url.PathHealth,
+						Port: intstr.FromInt32(int32(url.StatusPort)),
+					},
+				},
+			},
 			ReadinessProbe: &corev1.Probe{
 				TimeoutSeconds: 5,
 				PeriodSeconds:  ReadinessProbePeriod,
@@ -194,14 +212,9 @@ func createPostgresContainers(cluster apiv1.Cluster, envConfig EnvConfig) []core
 					},
 				},
 			},
-			// From K8s 1.17 and newer, startup probes will be available for
-			// all users and not just protected from feature gates. For now
-			// let's use the LivenessProbe. When we will drop support for K8s
-			// 1.16, we'll configure a StartupProbe and this will lead to a
-			// better LivenessProbe (without InitialDelaySeconds).
 			LivenessProbe: &corev1.Probe{
-				InitialDelaySeconds: cluster.GetMaxStartDelay(),
-				TimeoutSeconds:      5,
+				PeriodSeconds:  LivenessProbePeriod,
+				TimeoutSeconds: 5,
 				ProbeHandler: corev1.ProbeHandler{
 					HTTPGet: &corev1.HTTPGetAction{
 						Path: url.PathHealth,
@@ -241,6 +254,15 @@ func createPostgresContainers(cluster apiv1.Cluster, envConfig EnvConfig) []core
 	return containers
 }
 
+// getStartupProbeFailureThreshold get the startup probe failure threshold
+// FAILURE_THRESHOLD = ceil(startDelay / periodSeconds) and minimum value is 1
+func getStartupProbeFailureThreshold(startupDelay int32) int32 {
+	if startupDelay <= StartupProbePeriod {
+		return 1
+	}
+	return int32(math.Ceil(float64(startupDelay) / float64(StartupProbePeriod)))
+}
+
 // CreateAffinitySection creates the affinity sections for Pods, given the configuration
 // from the user
 func CreateAffinitySection(clusterName string, config apiv1.AffinityConfiguration) *corev1.Affinity {

pkg/specs/pods_test.go

@@ -829,3 +829,13 @@ var _ = Describe("PodSpec drift detection", func() {
 		Expect(specsMatch).To(BeFalse())
 	})
 })
+
+var _ = Describe("Compute startup probe failure threshold", func() {
+	It("should take the minimum value 1", func() {
+		Expect(getStartupProbeFailureThreshold(5)).To(BeNumerically("==", 1))
+	})
+
+	It("should take the value from 'startDelay / periodSeconds'", func() {
+		Expect(getStartupProbeFailureThreshold(109)).To(BeNumerically("==", 11))
+	})
+})