New to KubeDB? Please start here.
Run HanaDB with Custom Configuration
KubeDB lets you supply a custom SAP HANA global.ini to tune the database. This guide shows how to set
custom configuration at creation time using a Secret. To change configuration on a running database,
see Reconfigure.
Note: The YAML files used in this tutorial are stored in docs/examples/hanadb/configuration folder in the GitHub repository kubedb/docs.
Before You Begin
- Install the KubeDB Provisioner and Ops-manager operators following the steps here.
- Create a namespace:
$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created
Overview
SAP HANA reads its configuration from global.ini. KubeDB supports overriding global.ini settings.
The custom values are merged into HANA’s global.ini — you only specify the sections and keys you
want to change. In this guide we lower the HANA memory budget by setting
[memorymanager] global_allocation_limit (in bytes).
Create a Configuration Secret
Put the custom global.ini in a Secret:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: hanadb-configuration
namespace: demo
stringData:
global.ini: |
[memorymanager]
global_allocation_limit = 8589934592
$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2026.6.19/docs/examples/hanadb/configuration/hanadb-configuration.yaml
secret/hanadb-configuration created
The key inside the secret must be global.ini. Here global_allocation_limit = 8589934592 caps the
HANA global allocation at 8 GiB.
Create a HanaDB Using the Configuration Secret
Reference the secret with spec.configuration.secretName:
apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: HanaDB
metadata:
name: hanadb-custom-config
namespace: demo
spec:
version: "2.0.82"
replicas: 1
configuration:
secretName: hanadb-configuration
storageType: Durable
storage:
storageClassName: local-path
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 64Gi
deletionPolicy: WipeOut
$ kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2026.6.19/docs/examples/hanadb/configuration/standalone-cus-conf.yaml
hanadb.kubedb.com/hanadb-custom-config created
Wait for the database to become Ready:
$ kubectl get hanadb.kubedb.com -n demo hanadb-custom-config
NAME VERSION STATUS AGE
hanadb-custom-config 2.0.82 Ready 24m
Verify the Configuration
Read the password and query M_INIFILE_CONTENTS to confirm HANA picked up the custom value:
$ HANA_PASSWORD="$(kubectl get secret hanadb-custom-config-auth -n demo -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d)"
$ kubectl exec -n demo hanadb-custom-config-0 -c hanadb -- /bin/sh -lc \
"source /usr/sap/HXE/HDB90/HDBSettings.sh; hdbsql -i 90 -d SYSTEMDB -u SYSTEM -p '$HANA_PASSWORD' \
\"SELECT LAYER_NAME, VALUE FROM M_INIFILE_CONTENTS WHERE FILE_NAME='global.ini' AND SECTION='memorymanager' AND KEY='global_allocation_limit'\""
LAYER_NAME,VALUE
"SYSTEM","8589934592"
"DEFAULT","0"
2 rows selected
The SYSTEM layer shows the custom value 8589934592 (8 GiB) merged into global.ini from the
configuration secret, overriding the DEFAULT layer.
Cleaning Up
$ kubectl delete hanadb.kubedb.com -n demo hanadb-custom-config
$ kubectl delete secret -n demo hanadb-configuration
$ kubectl delete ns demo
Next Steps
- Change configuration on a running database with Reconfigure.
- Review the HanaDB CRD.