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Version: 8.10 (unreleased)

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.

caution

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, and that 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​

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​

  1. Configure drivers and connections.
  2. Review operations and maintenance for backup, upgrades, troubleshooting, and tuning.
  3. Review secondary storage architecture for backend trade-offs and manual production architecture for manual deployment topology guidance.