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Storage Guide

This guide covers persistent storage and database configuration for Drone deployments on Kubernetes.

Persistent Volume (PVC)​

By default, Drone uses a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) for stateful data (e.g., SQLite database, logs):

server:
  persistentVolume:
    enabled: true
    size: 8Gi
    storageClass: ""
    accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
  • Set enabled: false if using an external database (Postgres, MySQL).
  • Use existingClaim to use a pre-created PVC.

Database Backend​

Drone supports SQLite (default), Postgres, and MySQL. To use an external DB:

server:
  env:
    DRONE_DATABASE_DRIVER: postgres
  secrets:
    DRONE_DATABASE_DATASOURCE: "postgres://user:pass@host:5432/dbname?sslmode=disable"
  • Supported drivers: sqlite3, postgres, mysql
  • For production, use Postgres or MySQL.

Encryption Secret​

Set a database encryption secret for sensitive data:

server:
  secrets:
    DRONE_DATABASE_SECRET: <random-hex>

Generate with: openssl rand -hex 16

tip

Never store secrets in git. Use Kubernetes secrets or Helm --set for sensitive values.

Next Steps​