# Kong gateway Kubernetes install problem

**URL:** <https://discuss.konghq.com/t/kong-gateway-kubernetes-install-problem/13717>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [September 8, 2025, 8:37am UTC](https://discuss.konghq.com/t/kong-gateway-kubernetes-install-problem/13717 "2025-09-08T08:37:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![edo\_nick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@edo\_nick](https://discuss.konghq.com/u/edo_nick)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 8:37am UTC](https://discuss.konghq.com/t/kong-gateway-kubernetes-install-problem/13717/1 "2025-09-08T08:37:53Z")

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What I have to do to avoid this problem

nginx: [warn] the “user” directive makes sense only if the master process runs with super-user privileges, ignored in /usr/local/kong/nginx.conf:7  
[error] 1#0: init\_by\_lua error: /usr/local/share/lua/5.1/kong/init.lua:661: [PostgreSQL error] failed to retrieve PostgreSQL server\_version\_num: authentication exchange unsuccessful

Thanks in advance

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**Author:** ![joedas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@joedas](https://discuss.konghq.com/u/joedas)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2025, 9:05pm UTC](https://discuss.konghq.com/t/kong-gateway-kubernetes-install-problem/13717/2 "2025-09-11T21:05:26Z")

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Hi,

This problem is usually the result of a bad password, though the wording seems to be slightly different between PG versions: [Home](https://support.konghq.com/support/s/article/Kong-Gateway-Error-PostgreSQL-error-failed-to-retrieve-PostgreSQL-server-version-num-authentication-exchange-unsuccessful)

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**Author:** ![edo\_nick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@edo\_nick](https://discuss.konghq.com/u/edo_nick)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 9:56am UTC](https://discuss.konghq.com/t/kong-gateway-kubernetes-install-problem/13717/3 "2025-09-16T09:56:25Z")

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Ok. I am sure that my pg\_password is good. But question is what kind of user/password Kong expects. I supply postgres admin user/password. Second question is how to supply kubernetes secret instead user/password.

It happend when migrations pre/postUpgrade is false.

Otherwise I got  
[error] 1#0: init\_by\_lua error: /usr/local/share/lua/5.1/kong/cmd/utils/migrations.lua:16: Database needs bootstrapping or is older than Kong 1.0.