Configuration

Overview
This section explains how to completely configure a WorkflowGen database container. Everything is configurable via an environment variable.
This image is based on microsoft/mssql-server-windows-express (SQL Server 2017) for the Windows LTSC 2019 version, and on mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server (SQL Server 2019) for the Linux (Ubuntu 18.04) version.

To support Windows LTSC 2019, the base image has been rebuilt using the open sourced Dockerfile and hosted on Advantys' Docker Hub repository. Therefore, the actual base image is advantys/mssql-server-windows-express.

The Windows version of this image is intended for development and testing only. For production workloads, use the Linux version.
Environment variables
Variables specific to the base images
Some variables are available in the base images that provide functionalities related to SQL Server. For the Linux version, see the mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server Docker Hub page and the Configure SQL Server container images on Docker Microsoft article. For the Windows version, see the microsoft/mssql-server-windows-express Docker Hub page.
Some environment variables in the base images are required. For example, you have to provide a value for the SA_PASSWORD environment variable.
Variables specific to WorkflowGen
The WorkflowGen database container adds special environment variables to enable additional features related to WorkflowGen. The following table provides descriptions for each of them:
Variable
Description & values
WFGEN_DATABASE_NAME
The name of the WorkflowGen database
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Default value: WFGEN
WFGEN_DATABASE_CONTAINMENT
Sets the WorkflowGen database to contain database users for more portability (see contained database authentication Server Configuration Option for more information)
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Possible values: Y (default), N
WFGEN_DATABASE_USER_USERNAME
The username of the database user that has access to the WorkflowGen database
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Default value: WFGEN_USER
WFGEN_DATABASE_USER_PASSWORD
Required variable

The password of the database user that has access to the WorkflowGen database
WFGEN_DATABASE_FILE_PATH
Do not modify for Linux version
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Internal path to the .mdf and .ldf database files inside the container
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Default value:
Windows: C:\wfgen\sql
Linux: /var/opt/mssql/data
WFGEN_ADMIN_USERNAME
The username of the WorkflowGen administrative user
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Default value: wfgen_admin
WFGEN_ADMIN_PASSWORD
Required variable
​
The password of the WorkflowGen administrative user
WFGEN_AUTH_APPLICATION
Indicates if the authentication method of WorkflowGen is applicative or not
​
Possible values: Y (default), N
Format-based environment variables
Secrets
When using an orchestrator such as Kubernetes, you'll probably want to secure secrets using their built-in secret management tools. Follow the specific guide for your orchestrator to know how to create a secret.
For Kubernetes, see https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/.
It's recommended to inject secrets into WorkflowGen containers as files because they won't be exposed as environment variables and they'll be removed from the container when it's stopped or removed.
Secrets management is only possible using an orchestrator.
In order to get the secret value in the file, you need to suffix any environment variable you want to get the value of in this way with _FILE and set its value to the path of the file containing the secret. The container will then get the value in the file at the specified path and set the environment variable without the suffix with that value.
For example, let's say you want to set sa account password in SQL Server to strong(!)Pass using the environment variable SA_PASSWORD, but you want to use a secret for the value. All you have to do is suffix the environment variable name with _FILEso that it becomes SA_PASSWORD_FILE. Then, set the value of this variable to the path of the file containing the password.
📌 Example with Docker Swarm orchestrator
PowerShell
Bash
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# Create the secret for the license serial number
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'strong(!)Pass' | docker secret create SA_PASSWORD -
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​
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# Create the container service in Docker Swarm
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docker service create `
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    # ...
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    --env WFGEN_APP_SETTING_ApplicationSerialNumber_FILE=/run/secrets/SA_PASSWORD `
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    --secret SA_PASSWORD `
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    # ...
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    advantys/workflowgen-sql:7.18.3-ubuntu-18.04
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# Create the secret for the license serial number
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echo 'strong(!)Pass' | docker secret create SA_PASSWORD -
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​
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# Create the container service in Docker Swarm
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docker service create \
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    # ...
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    --env WFGEN_APP_SETTING_ApplicationSerialNumber_FILE=/run/secrets/SA_PASSWORD \
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    --secret SA_PASSWORD \
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    # ...
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    advantys/workflowgen-sql:7.18.3-ubuntu-18.04
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For Kubernetes, you would create a ConfigMap that complements your secret like this:
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apiVersion: v1
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kind: ConfigMap
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metadata:
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  name: database-config
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data:
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  SA_PASSWORD_FILE: /mnt/secrets/SA_PASSWORD
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---
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apiVersion: v1
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kind: Secret
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type: Opaque
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metadata:
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  name: database-secret
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data:
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  # "c3Ryb25nKCEpUGFzcwo=" is the base64-encoded value of "strong(!)Pass"
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  SA_PASSWORD: 'c3Ryb25nKCEpUGFzcwo='
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​
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Then, you would map the ConfigMap as environment variables and mount the secret as a volume like this:
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apiVersion: apps/v1
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kind: StatefulSet
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metadata:
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  name: wfgen-database
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spec:
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  selector:
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    matchLabels:
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      # ...
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  template:
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    metadata:
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      labels:
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        # ...
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    spec:
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      containers:
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        - name: database
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          image: advantys/workflowgen-sql:7.18.3-ubuntu-18.04
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          # ...
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          envFrom: # ConfigMap as environment variables
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            - configMapRef:
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                name: database-config
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          # ...
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          volumeMounts:
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            # ...
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            - mountPath: /mnt/secrets # Mount Secret as a volume
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              readOnly: true
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              name: secrets
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      volumes:
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        # ...
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        - name: secrets # Mount Secret as a volume
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            secret:
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              secretName: database-secret
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Using an orchestrator
Kubernetes
Kubernetes also has a built-in object called ConfigMap to manage pod configuration. See the Configure a Pod to Use a ConfigMap Kubernetes article for more information and how to use it. You should use this object to configure environment variables for WorkflowGen.
You can also manage sensitive information by protecting it further in the orchestrator in a secure area. See the Secrets Kubernetes article for more information and instructions on how to use it. You should use this object to protect sensitive information such as the WorkflowGen license key, usernames, passwords, cryptographic keys, API keys, etc.
Using an external configuration manager
Some popular configuration managers support Docker containers out-of-the-box. Here are a few links to their specific documentation to get you started:
Chef
​Docker Cookbook - Chef Supermarket​
​Chef and Kubernetes​
Ansible
​Ansible and Docker​
​k8s – Manage Kubernetes (K8s) objects​
Puppet
​Puppet in Docker: running Puppet on container-centric infrastructure​
​Installing Kubernetes with the (certified!) Puppet Kubernetes module​
About security features
The Linux version of the database has some security features that can be used to improve the overall security of the database. For more information on security features in SQL Server for Linux, see Configure SQL Server container images on Docker in the Microsoft SQL Server documentation.
The Windows version of the container doesn't have the security features of the Linux version. It's advised to use the Windows version only for development and testing purposes.
Performance & high availability
You can configure replication with this container, but you'll have to make a custom image. For more information about making a custom image, see the Custom Image page of this section. For more information about configuring replication in SQL Server, see Configure a SQL Server Availability Group for read-scale on Linux in the Microsoft documentation.
Use with Kubernetes
You should always deploy the database container within a StatefulSet so that each container has its own separated storage. It also ensures that each container has a unique DNS name inside the cluster so that it can be found easily by other containers. You can also configure each of the instances based on an incremental identifier so that you can set a read/write instance and several read-only instances. Here's an example of a simple StatefulSet deployment with the WorkflowGen database container:
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apiVersion: v1
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kind: Service
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metadata:
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  name: database
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spec:
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  type: ClusterIP
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  clusterIP: None
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  ports:
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    - port: 1433
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      targetPort: mssql
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      protocol: TCP
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      name: mssql
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  selector:
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    app.kubernetes.io/name: workflowgen
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    app.kubernetes.io/component: database
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---
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apiVersion: apps/v1
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kind: StatefulSet
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metadata:
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  name: database
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spec:
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  replicas: 1
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  serviceName: database
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  selector:
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    matchLabels:
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      app.kubernetes.io/name: workflowgen
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      app.kubernetes.io/component: database
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  template:
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    metadata:
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      labels:
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        app.kubernetes.io/name: workflowgen
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        app.kubernetes.io/component: database
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    spec:
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      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 10
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      nodeSelector:
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        kubernetes.io/os: linux
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      containers:
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        - name: database
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          image: advantys/workflowgen-sql:7.18.3-ubuntu-18.04
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          imagePullPolicy: Always
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          securityContext:
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            runAsUser: 0
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            runAsGroup: 0
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          resources:
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            requests:
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              memory: "1Gi"
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              cpu: "500m"
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            limits:
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              memory: "2Gi"
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              cpu: "1"
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          envFrom:
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            - configMapRef:
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                name: database-config
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          ports:
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            - name: mssql
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              containerPort: 1433
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          livenessProbe:
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            initialDelaySeconds: 30
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            timeoutSeconds: 5
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            exec:
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              command:
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                - pwsh
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                - -NoLogo
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                - -NoProfiles
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                - /usr/local/bin/healthcheck.ps1
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          readinessProbe:
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            initialDelaySeconds: 20
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            timeoutSeconds: 5
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            exec:
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              command:
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                - pwsh
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                - -NoLogo
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                - -NoProfiles
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                - /usr/local/bin/healthcheck.ps1
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          volumeMounts:
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            - mountPath: /var/opt/mssql
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              name: sqldata
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            - mountPath: /mnt/secrets
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              readOnly: true
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              name: secrets
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      volumes:
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        - name: secrets
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            secret:
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              secretName: database-sec
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  volumeClaimTemplates:
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    - metadata:
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        name: sqldata
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      spec:
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        accessModes:
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          - ReadWriteOnce
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        storageClassName: default
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        resources:
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          requests:
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            storage: 100Gi
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You can use this example as a starting point to configure multiple database containers. For more information about StatefulSets, see StatefulSets in the Kubernetes documentation. You might need custom code to be able to configure multiple instances properly. See the Custom Image page of this section for more information about how you can add custom code to the container.