Configure Operator environment variables

You can configure the Percona Operator for MySQL by setting environment variables on the Operator Deployment. This lets you tune Operator behavior without rebuilding images.

You can set environment variables in the following ways:

• For installations with kubectl, edit the Operator Deployment manifest (deploy/bundle.yaml / deploy/operator.yaml or deploy/bundle-cw.yaml / deploy/operator-cw.yaml in the percona-server-mysql-operator repository) before you apply it. You can also change the existing Deployment with kubectl patch or kubectl edit.
• For Helm installations, you can set environment variables through Helm values. Use the ps-operator chart values .
• For OpenShift installations that use OLM, configure environment variables in the Subscription.

Available environment variables

LOG_STRUCTURED

Controls whether Operator logs are structured (JSON) or plain text.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"false"	"true"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: LOG_STRUCTURED
    value: "true"

Structured logs work well with tools such as jq . See also Check the logs.

LOG_LEVEL

Sets the verbosity of Operator logs.

Value type	Default	Example
string	INFO	DEBUG

Valid values are:

• VERBOSE or DEBUG — Most verbose; VERBOSE also enables additional diagnostic output in some code paths.
• ERROR — Error messages only.
• INFO — Standard informational messages (default).

Any other value falls back to INFO with a message in the log.

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: LOG_LEVEL
    value: DEBUG

WATCH_NAMESPACE

Specifies which namespaces the Operator watches for PerconaServerMySQL and related custom resources.

By default, the value is set to the Operator’s own namespace from the metadata.namespace option via a downward API fieldRef:

- name: WATCH_NAMESPACE
  valueFrom:
    fieldRef:
      apiVersion: v1
      fieldPath: metadata.namespace

Value type	Default	Example
string	See below	ns-one,ns-two or ""

Accepted values:

• If set to a comma-separated list, the Operator watches those specific namespaces. The namespace list must include the namespace where the Operator itself is deployed. Use this approach for the multi-namespace deployment.
• If set to an empty string (""), the Operator watches all namespaces.

When you deploy the Operator in cluster-wide mode, it should be associated with the appropriate ClusterRole.

Example configuration:

env:
 - name: WATCH_NAMESPACE
   value: "mysql,mysql-dev,mysql-prod"

MAX_CONCURRENT_RECONCILES

Sets the number of concurrent workers that reconcile PerconaServerMySQL and related custom resources in parallel. Useful when you manage multiple clusters with a single Operator. See Configure concurrency for a cluster reconciliation.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"1"	"2"

The value must be a positive integer. The Operator fails to start if the value is not a valid integer or is less than or equal to 0.

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: MAX_CONCURRENT_RECONCILES
    value: "2"

DISABLE_TELEMETRY

Disables anonymous telemetry data collection by the Operator. For what is collected when telemetry is enabled, see Telemetry.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"false"	"true"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: DISABLE_TELEMETRY
    value: "true"

PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_ENABLED

Controls whether the Operator runs leader election. Leader election ensures only one Operator instance manages resources when multiple replicas run. Set this to "false" only when the Deployment has one replica.

When this variable is set, it overrides the --leader-elect container argument. When this variable is unset, the Operator uses that argument.

When you disable leader election, the Operator stops renewing the Lease. The existing Lease object stays in the namespace.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"true"	"false"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_ENABLED
    value: "false"

PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_LEASE_NAME

Sets the name of the Lease object that stores the leader lock. The Operator creates this Lease in the Operator namespace. The name must be a valid DNS subdomain. Leave empty to use the default 08db2feb.percona.com.

When you change the name, the Operator creates a new Lease. The previous Lease stays in the namespace.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"08db2feb.percona.com"	"my-lease"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_LEASE_NAME
    value: "my-lease"

PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_LEASE_DURATION

Sets how long another Operator replica waits after the last successful renewal before it takes leadership. Use a duration such as 60s or 2m. Increase this value when leader election fails because of high latency or limited resources.

The lease duration must be greater than the renew deadline.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"60s"	"90s"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_LEASE_DURATION
    value: "90s"

PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_RENEW_DEADLINE

Sets how long the current leader retries renewing the Lease before it gives up leadership. Use a duration such as 40s.

The renew deadline must be greater than the retry period multiplied by 1.2.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"40s"	"60s"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_RENEW_DEADLINE
    value: "60s"

PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_RETRY_PERIOD

Sets how long the Operator waits between leader election attempts. Use a duration such as 10s.

Value type	Default	Example
string	"10s"	"15s"

Example configuration:

env:
  - name: PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_RETRY_PERIOD
    value: "15s"

Update environment variables

Using kubectl patch

You can update environment variables in an existing Operator Deployment by applying a patch. To keep existing environment variables, you must specify the full list of them.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Get the current environment variables:

   kubectl get deployment percona-server-mysql-operator -n <operator-namespace> -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].env}' | jq
   

2. Update the deployment. This example command keeps downward API for WATCH_NAMESPACE and sets LOG_LEVEL to DEBUG:

   kubectl patch deployment percona-server-mysql-operator -n <operator-namespace> \
     --type='json' \
     -p='[{"op": "replace", "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/env", "value": [
       {"name": "LOG_STRUCTURED", "value": "false"},
       {"name": "LOG_LEVEL", "value": "DEBUG"},
       {"name": "WATCH_NAMESPACE", "valueFrom": {"fieldRef": {"apiVersion": "v1",     "fieldPath": "metadata.namespace"}}},
       {"name": "MAX_CONCURRENT_RECONCILES", "value": "1"},
       {"name": "DISABLE_TELEMETRY", "value": "false"},
       {"name": "PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_ENABLED", "value": "true"},
       {"name": "PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_LEASE_NAME", "value": "08db2feb.percona.com"},
       {"name": "PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_LEASE_DURATION", "value": "60s"},
       {"name": "PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_RENEW_DEADLINE", "value": "40s"},
       {"name": "PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_RETRY_PERIOD", "value": "10s"}
     ]}]'
   

Adjust the list to match your current Deployment (for example cluster-wide WATCH_NAMESPACE with a string value instead of valueFrom). Starting with version 1.3.0, keep the PSO_LEADER_ELECTION_* entries in the list.

Using kubectl edit

You can also edit the Deployment directly:

kubectl edit deployment percona-server-mysql-operator -n <operator-namespace>

Then modify the env section in the container specification, save, and exit. Kubernetes rolls out a new ReplicaSet for the Operator Pod.

After you change environment variables, the Operator Pod restarts with the new settings.

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Last update: October 6, 2026
Created: October 6, 2026