docs: announce release 1.28.0-rc1 (#382)

Closes #381

Signed-off-by: Gabriele Bartolini <gabriele.bartolini@enterprisedb.com>

Author: gbartolini

content/releases/cloudnative-pg-1-28.0-rc1-released/58364dde1adc4a0a8.37186404-2048x1445.jpg

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+---
+title: "CloudNativePG 1.28.0 RC1 Released!"
+date: 2025-11-07
+draft: false
+authors:
+ - gbartolini
+image:
+    url: 58364dde1adc4a0a8.37186404-2048x1445.jpg
+    attribution: from <a href="https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/58364dde1a/">Saurabh</a>
+tags:
+ - release
+ - postgresql
+ - postgres
+ - kubernetes
+ - k8s
+ - cloudnativepg
+ - preview
+ - cnpg
+ - FailoverQuorum
+ - FDW
+ - ForeignData
+summary: "The CloudNativePG community is excited to announce the first release candidate of CloudNativePG 1.28! This preview promotes quorum-based failover to a stable feature and introduces declarative management for Foreign Data Wrappers. Join us in testing these updates to shape the final release."
+---
+
+The CloudNativePG Community is thrilled to announce the first release candidate
+of CloudNativePG 1.28! This preview release provides an opportunity to explore
+new features and enhancements before the final version is officially launched.
+While refinements may still occur, here’s a look at what’s new.
+
+## Key Features
+
+### Quorum-Based Failover Promoted to Stable
+
+The quorum-based failover feature, introduced experimentally in 1.27, has been
+promoted to a stable API. This data-driven failover mechanism is now configured
+via the `spec.postgresql.synchronous.failoverQuorum` field, graduating from the
+previous `alpha.cnpg.io/failoverQuorum` annotation. This enhances
+[failover safety and data durability](/documentation/preview/failover/#quorum-based-failover)
+for high-availability clusters.
+
+### Declarative Foreign Data Management
+
+We introduced comprehensive declarative management for Foreign Data Wrappers
+(FDW) by extending the `Database` CRD. This feature adds the `.spec.fdws`
+and `.spec.servers` fields, allowing you to
+[manage FDW extensions and foreign servers](/documentation/preview/database_crd/#foreign-data-wrappers)
+directly from the `Database` resource.
+This work was implemented by Ying Zhu ([@EdwinaZhu](https://github.com/EdwinaZhu))
+as part of the [LFX Mentorship Program 2025 Term 2](https://mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org/project/53fa853e-b5fa-4d68-be71-f005c75aea89).
+
+## There’s More…
+
+Explore other improvements in this release, including:
+
+- Introduced granular control over [fine-grained security contexts](/documentation/preview/cluster_spec/#security-contexts),
+  allowing `securityContext` at the pod level and `containerSecurityContext`
+  for individual containers.
+- Allowed providing [custom TLS for PgBouncer](/documentation/preview/pooler_spec/#custom-tls)
+  for both client-to-pooler and pooler-to-server connections,
+  taking precedence over operator-generated certificates.
+- Added optional [TLS support for the operator's metrics server](/documentation/preview/operator_config/#metrics-tls),
+  enabled via the `METRICS_CERT_DIR` environment variable.
+- Enabled the `cnpg report operator` command to work with
+  [minimal, least-privileged access](/documentation/preview/cnpg_plugin/#report),
+  gracefully handling permission errors.
+- Introduced the `alpha.cnpg.io/unrecoverable=true` annotation to
+  [automatically delete and recreate a replica pod](/documentation/preview/instance_management/#unrecoverable-replicas)
+  and its PVCs.
+
+Dive into the full details in the
+[release notes for 1.28 RC1](https://cloudnative-pg.io/documentation/preview/release_notes/v1.28/).
+
+## Testing
+
+The stability of each CloudNativePG release relies on the community’s
+engagement. Testing your workloads with this release candidate helps
+identify bugs and regressions early.
+
+- View the [open issues for the 1.28 release](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/milestone/29).
+- Report bugs directly on [GitHub](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/issues/new/choose).
+
+## Release Timeline
+
+CloudNativePG 1.28 RC1 is the first in a series of release candidates.
+Additional release candidates may follow as needed before the final release,
+currently planned for the second half of November.
+
+# Join the Community
+
+[Connect with our community on your preferred platform](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg?tab=readme-ov-file#communications)!
+
+Thank you for your continued support of CloudNativePG. Your contributions help 
+us advance the Kubernetes-native PostgreSQL experience.