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What is the official maintenance and deprecation status of the mcr.microsoft.com/azure-oss-db-tools/pgbouncer-sidecar Docker image?

Gaurav Agrawal 0 Reputation points
2026-03-27T14:33:46.75+00:00

Hello Azure Database team,

I am reaching out to inquire about the active development and support status of the officially published PgBouncer sidecar Docker image: mcr.microsoft.com/azure-oss-db-tools/pgbouncer-sidecar (available on Docker Hub as microsoft/azure-oss-db-tools-pgbouncer-sidecar).

We have noticed that the image has not been updated in over two years. Additionally, it appears to be built on an outdated version of Alpine Linux (v3.8.5) and an older version of PgBouncer (v1.13), which raises security and vulnerability compliance concerns for production workloads running on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

Could you please clarify:

Is this image officially deprecated or abandoned?

Will there be any future updates or security patches for this specific image repository?

  1. Does Microsoft have an officially recommended alternative, or should we migrate to standard community images (e.g., edoburu/pgbouncer), does it safe to use in production?

Thank you in advance for your guidance!

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  1. Martin Dimovski 1,711 Reputation points
    2026-03-30T17:25:15.82+00:00

    Hi,

    I don’t see a public Microsoft statement saying this image is officially deprecated. Microsoft’s current PostgreSQL connection-pooling guidance still mentions a PgBouncer sidecar proxy image published in Microsoft Container Registry, so it is still referenced in Microsoft documentation. https://dotnet.territoriali.olinfo.it/en-us/azure/postgresql/connectivity/concepts-connection-pooling-best-practices

    That said, I also don’t see any public support-lifecycle or servicing commitment for this specific image, and the Docker Hub page shows it hasn’t been updated for a long time.

    For production, Microsoft’s most current and actively documented recommendation is the built-in PgBouncer feature in Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server. https://dotnet.territoriali.olinfo.it/en-us/azure/postgresql/connectivity/concepts-pgbouncer

    So my practical reading is: the image is still documented, but I would not assume an active patching commitment unless Microsoft confirms it directly. If you need a definitive yes/no on deprecation or future updates, the safest route is to open a Microsoft support case.

    Hope this helps

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