Kubernetes Linkding with Persistent Storage

Overview

This project demonstrates how to deploy a stateful application on Kubernetes using PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) to ensure data durability across pod restarts.

The application used is Linkding, a self-hosted bookmark manager, deployed into its own namespace with persistent SQLite storage.

This lab was built and tested locally using Rancher Desktop (K3s), following production-grade Kubernetes storage patterns.

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Architecture Summary

• Namespace isolation (linkding)
• Deployment for application lifecycle management
• Service for internal access
• PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) for durable storage
• StorageClass: local-path (dynamic provisioning)

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Key Kubernetes Concepts Demonstrated

1. Stateless vs Stateful Containers

• Containers are ephemeral by default
• Application data is lost when pods restart unless persisted externally

2. PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC)

• Requests storage independently of pod lifecycle
• Automatically provisioned via StorageClass
• Bound to a PersistentVolume (PV)

3. Volume Mounting

• PVC mounted into container at /etc/linkding/data
• SQLite database persists across pod restarts

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Repository Structure

.
├── manifests/
│   ├── linkding/
│   │   ├── linkding.yaml                # Deployment + Service (no storage)
│   │   └── linkding-with-storage.yaml   # PVC + Deployment + Service
│   └── nginx/                           # Earlier learning artifacts
├── screenshots/
│   ├── 01-pods-running.png
│   ├── 02-pvc-bound.png
│   ├── 02-describe-pvc.png
│   ├── 03-container-data-dir.png
│   ├── 03-sqlite-data-persisted.png
│   └── 04-linkding-ui.png
└── README.md

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Deployment

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace linkding

# Deploy with persistent storage
kubectl apply -f manifests/linkding/linkding-with-storage.yaml -n linkding

# Verify pods and PVC
kubectl get pods -n linkding
kubectl get pvc -n linkding

# Access Linkding UI
kubectl port-forward svc/linkding -n linkding 9090:9090

Open http://localhost:9090 in your browser.

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Evidence

Pods Running

PVC Bound

PVC Details

Container Data Directory

SQLite Data Persisted

Linkding UI

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What This Demonstrates

• Kubernetes namespace isolation for workload separation
• Stateful application deployment using PVCs
• Dynamic storage provisioning via StorageClass
• Production-grade volume mounting patterns
• Data persistence validation across pod restarts