---
title: High Availability
---

High availability (HA) minimizes downtime in the event of failures and is crucial for production deployments. To achieve high availability, you need to have
[ParadeDB Enterprise](/deploy/enterprise) deployed inside a [CNPG Kubernetes cluster](/deploy/self-hosted/kubernetes).

## How High Availability Works

In a highly available configuration, ParadeDB deploys as a cluster of Postgres instances. One instance is designated as the **primary** while the other instances are designated as
**standby** instances. The primary server sends write-ahead logs (WAL) to the standby servers, which replicate the primary by replaying these logs.

If the primary server goes down, a standby server is promoted to become the new primary server. This process is called failover.

For a thorough architecture overview, please consult the [CloudNativePG Architecture documentation](https://cloudnative-pg.io/documentation/1.18/architecture/).

## Enable High Availability

Prior to starting the CNPG cluster, modify the `values.yaml` file to increase the number of instances.

```yaml ParadeDB Enterprise
type: paradedb-enterprise
mode: standalone

cluster:
  instances: 3
  storage:
    size: 256Mi
```

The number of replicas is equal to `instances - 1`. Having at least `3` instances guarantees that a standby will be available even while a failover process is occurring.