KubeCon Recap: Why Teams Need On-Demand Database Expertise

Last week at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Salt Lake City, we introduced Crystal DBA AutoDBA, our AI-powered database expert for PostgreSQL, and debuted our new chat-based experience. What distinguishes Crystal DBA is how easy it is for everyone on the team to get actionable insights about databases—without needing deep PostgreSQL expertise. Once you connect it to Slack, every developer, site reliability engineer, or DevOps engineer has instant access to indexing recommendations, help managing capacity, or advice on tuning vacuuming and other complex subsystems. Beyond showing off what Crystal DBA can do, KubeCon gave us the chance to hear directly from the people managing databases at scale. Here are the big takeaways from our conversations with database engineers, DevOps professionals, and technical leaders.

Key Takeaways

Crystal DBA is different—it solves database problems but it’s not another database. Crystal DBA is an AI expert that helps teams get more from their existing databases, helping keep them running smoothly, save costs, and save time. Attendees appreciated the distinction and were curious about how Crystal DBA could expand to support many more platforms in the future.

PostgreSQL is thriving—but teams manage “a whole lot of databases.” While PostgreSQL is still a top database choice, most organizations run multiple databases. Each database has its quirks and challenges, which makes managing them all a headache and the ability to have deep expertise across all of them impossible. This reinforced our vision for Crystal DBA: democratizing database-specific expertise and expanding beyond PostgreSQL in the future. Attendees loved the idea of bringing the same AI-powered expertise to other platforms to make managing multi-database environments easier.

Database problems are constant—and exhausting. Database teams told us they’re spending way too much time putting out fires: troubleshooting slow queries, fixing capacity issues, or dealing with performance bottlenecks at the worst possible moments. Crystal DBA’s ability to deliver real-time alerts and AI-based recommendations struck a chord. Teams liked the idea of moving from firefighting to proactive management, allowing them to focus on innovation instead of constantly reacting to problems.

Observability is great—but teams need action. Metrics are important, but what teams really need are insights that lead to action. That’s where Crystal DBA shines—by combining observability with AI-powered recommendations, it gives teams clear next steps to fix problems or optimize performance quickly.

Debuting Our Chat-Based Database Expert

At KubeCon, we showed off Crystal DBA’s chat-based interface, designed to make interacting with your database as easy as having a conversation. You can ask Crystal DBA questions like:

• How healthy is my database?
• What was my peak CPU usage in the last 24 hours?
• What indexes should I add to this query?
• When will I need to increase the provisioned IOPS on this managed database?

Crystal DBA delivers answers and metrics through Slack or your local terminal, so your team can get the information they need wherever they work. Combined with proactive alerts, this new way of interacting with databases resonated with attendees. Everyone gets access to on-demand PostgreSQL expertise—no matter their skill level.

FAQs We Heard at KubeCon

Can Crystal DBA work with managed PostgreSQL services?

Yes! Crystal DBA supports Amazon RDS, GCP, and on-premises PostgreSQL. Azure PostgreSQL support is coming soon.

How does Crystal DBA handle security?

Crystal DBA connects with read-only access, ensuring no sensitive data leaves your environment. With appropriate hardware, you can even run it on-prem using locally hosted LLM.

Does Crystal DBA send alerts?

Yes, Crystal DBA delivers real-time alerts via Slack to help you stay ahead of issues like slow queries or capacity limits.

Does Crystal DBA make changes to my database?

No, Crystal DBA operates in an advisory role. It provides recommendations based on metrics and AI analysis, leaving you in control of implementing changes. This ensures you maintain full oversight of your database operations.

Is Crystal DBA open-source?

We offer a free download and an open-source version of Crystal DBA. Our commercial products add team collaboration, and advanced optimizations, and support from our in-house database experts.

Looking Ahead

KubeCon validated what we’ve always believed: database teams need more than metrics—they need actionable insights and on-demand expertise to get the most out of their databases.

Thank You, KubeCon!

To everyone who stopped by our booth—thank you for your questions, insights, and feedback. If we missed you, it’s not too late to connect!

Schedule a Demo to see how Crystal DBA can make your database operations smarter and simpler.