Manual installation with RDBMS
Install Camunda 8 Self-Managed manually on a VM, bare-metal server, or standalone Java runtime while using a relational database (RDBMS) as secondary storage.
Manual installation is not supported for Kubernetes. If you run on Kubernetes, use the Helm charts.
Manual deployment data flow
For backend trade-offs and production architecture decisions, see secondary storage architecture.
In this manual deployment path, the Orchestration Cluster reads from a single configured secondary storage type: RDBMS. However, the Zeebe Broker can export to multiple targets simultaneously. If you deploy Optimize, configure both the RDBMS exporter (for Orchestration Cluster operations) and an Elasticsearch/OpenSearch exporter for Optimize.
Key points:
- Operate, Tasklist, and Admin use the Orchestration Cluster API rather than reading directly from secondary storage. The Orchestration Cluster API reads from the configured secondary storage (RDBMS).
- Optimize requires Elasticsearch or OpenSearch and reads and writes directly to it.
- The Zeebe Broker can export to multiple targets simultaneously to support this architecture.
Supported installation targets
- VM-based deployments
- Bare-metal installations
- Standalone Java application deployments
Prerequisites
- Supported RDBMS: See RDBMS support policy.
- JDBC drivers: See RDBMS configuration.
- Schemas and scripts: Use the bundled SQL or Liquibase scripts for schema creation and upgrades. See access SQL and Liquibase scripts.
When to choose manual installation
Choose manual installation when you run Camunda 8 on VMs, bare metal, or a standalone Java runtime and need full control over the operating system, networking, and lifecycle management.
If you run on Kubernetes, use Helm charts. For local development or evaluation, consider Camunda 8 Run.
Supported features
The Orchestration Cluster is fully supported with RDBMS secondary storage for workflow execution, instance monitoring, and user task management.
Get started
Production architecture
Reference architecture for deploying Camunda 8 Self-Managed in production using an external RDBMS as secondary storage.
Configuration
Configure drivers, connection parameters, and schema initialization for manual RDBMS installations.
Operations and maintenance
Backup, restore, upgrade, troubleshoot, tune, and secure RDBMS for manual Camunda installations.