diff --git a/helm/polaris/ci/fixtures/persistence.yaml b/helm/polaris/ci/fixtures/persistence.yaml
index 9b6e6cab94..e1bcb29298 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/ci/fixtures/persistence.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/ci/fixtures/persistence.yaml
@@ -23,34 +23,6 @@ metadata:
   name: polaris-persistence
 type: Opaque
 stringData:
-  persistence.xml: |-
-    <persistence version="2.0" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence"
-      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
-      xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_0.xsd">
-      <persistence-unit name="polaris" transaction-type="RESOURCE_LOCAL">
-        <provider>org.eclipse.persistence.jpa.PersistenceProvider</provider>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelEntity</class>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelEntityActive</class>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelEntityChangeTracking</class>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelEntityDropped</class>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelGrantRecord</class>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelPrincipalSecrets</class>
-        <class>org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.models.ModelSequenceId</class>
-        <shared-cache-mode>NONE</shared-cache-mode>
-        <properties>
-          <property name="jakarta.persistence.jdbc.url"
-            value="jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/{realm}"/>
-          <property name="jakarta.persistence.jdbc.user" value="postgres"/>
-          <property name="jakarta.persistence.jdbc.password" value="postgres"/>
-          <property name="jakarta.persistence.schema-generation.database.action" value="create"/>
-          <property name="eclipselink.logging.level.sql" value="FINE"/>
-          <property name="eclipselink.logging.parameters" value="true"/>
-          <property name="eclipselink.persistence-context.flush-mode" value="auto"/>
-          <property name="eclipselink.connection-pool.default.initial" value="1" />
-          <property name="eclipselink.connection-pool.default.min" value="1" />
-          <property name="eclipselink.connection-pool.default.max" value="1" />
-          <property name="eclipselink.session.customizer" value="org.apache.polaris.extension.persistence.impl.eclipselink.PolarisEclipseLinkSessionCustomizer" />
-          <property name="eclipselink.transaction.join-existing" value="true" />
-        </properties>
-      </persistence-unit>
-    </persistence>
+  username: "postgres"
+  password: "postgres"
+  jdbcUrl: "jdbc:postgresql://postgres:5432/POLARIS"
diff --git a/helm/polaris/ci/persistence-values.yaml b/helm/polaris/ci/persistence-values.yaml
index 3d83874399..5f684d3500 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/ci/persistence-values.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/ci/persistence-values.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ logging:
       size: 50Mi
 
 persistence:
-  type: eclipse-link
-  eclipseLink:
+  type: relational-jdbc
+  relationalJdbc:
+    dbKind: postgres
     secret:
       name: polaris-persistence
diff --git a/helm/polaris/templates/configmap.yaml b/helm/polaris/templates/configmap.yaml
index 6d12fbd7e1..82443fdfec 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/templates/configmap.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/templates/configmap.yaml
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ data:
     {{- $_ = set $map "polaris.persistence.eclipselink.persistence-unit" .Values.persistence.eclipseLink.persistenceUnit -}}
     {{- $_ = set $map "polaris.persistence.eclipselink.configuration-file" (printf "%s/persistence.xml" .Values.image.configDir ) -}}
     {{- end -}}
+    {{- if eq .Values.persistence.type "relational-jdbc" -}}
+    {{- if .Values.persistence.relationalJdbc.dbKind -}}
+    {{- $_ = set $map "quarkus.datasource.db-kind" .Values.persistence.relationalJdbc.dbKind -}}
+    {{- end -}}
+    {{- end -}}
 
     {{- /* File IO */ -}}
     {{- $_ = set $map "polaris.file-io.type" .Values.fileIo.type -}}
diff --git a/helm/polaris/templates/deployment.yaml b/helm/polaris/templates/deployment.yaml
index a444cc5076..d6fec4c1e1 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -72,11 +72,20 @@ spec:
           {{- end }}
           image: "{{ tpl .Values.image.repository . }}:{{ tpl .Values.image.tag . | default .Chart.Version }}"
           imagePullPolicy: {{ tpl .Values.image.pullPolicy . }}
-          {{ if or .Values.storage.secret.name .Values.extraEnv -}}
+          {{ if or .Values.storage.secret.name .Values.persistence.relationalJdbc.secret.name .Values.extraEnv -}}
           env:
             {{- include "polaris.secretToEnv" (list .Values.storage.secret "awsAccessKeyId" "polaris.storage.aws.access-key") | indent 12 -}}
             {{- include "polaris.secretToEnv" (list .Values.storage.secret "awsSecretAccessKey" "polaris.storage.aws.secret-key") | indent 12 -}}
             {{- include "polaris.secretToEnv" (list .Values.storage.secret "gcpToken" "polaris.storage.gcp.token") | indent 12 -}}
+            {{- if and ( eq .Values.persistence.type "relational-jdbc" ) .Values.persistence.relationalJdbc.secret.name }}
+            {{- range $key, $envVar := dict "username" "username" "password" "password" "jdbcUrl" "jdbc.url" }}
+            - name: quarkus.datasource.{{ $envVar }}
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: {{ $.Values.persistence.relationalJdbc.secret.name }}
+                  key: {{ $key }}
+            {{- end }}
+            {{- end }}
             {{- if .Values.extraEnv -}}
             {{- tpl (toYaml .Values.extraEnv) . | nindent 12 -}}
             {{- end -}}
diff --git a/helm/polaris/tests/configmap_test.yaml b/helm/polaris/tests/configmap_test.yaml
index 562adad220..875469dac5 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/tests/configmap_test.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/tests/configmap_test.yaml
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ tests:
       - matchRegex: { path: 'data["application.properties"]', pattern: "polaris.persistence.eclipselink.persistence-unit=polaris" }
       - matchRegex: { path: 'data["application.properties"]', pattern: "polaris.persistence.eclipselink.configuration-file=/deployments/config/persistence.xml" }
 
+  - it: should configure relational-jdbc persistence
+    set:
+      persistence: { type: "relational-jdbc", relationalJdbc: { secret: { name: "polaris-persistence" } } }
+    asserts:
+      - matchRegex: { path: 'data["application.properties"]', pattern: "polaris.persistence.type=relational-jdbc" }
+
   - it: should configure file-io
     set:
       fileIo.type: "custom"
diff --git a/helm/polaris/tests/deployment_test.yaml b/helm/polaris/tests/deployment_test.yaml
index 1d457adef5..00c5eb52cd 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/tests/deployment_test.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/tests/deployment_test.yaml
@@ -1020,6 +1020,35 @@ tests:
                       - key: custom.xml
                         path: persistence.xml
 
+  - it: should set relational-jdbc persistence environment variables
+    set:
+      persistence: { type: "relational-jdbc", dbKind: postgres, relationalJdbc: { secret: { name: "polaris-persistence" } } }
+    asserts:
+      - contains:
+          path: spec.template.spec.containers[0].env
+          content:
+            name: quarkus.datasource.username
+            valueFrom:
+              secretKeyRef:
+                name: polaris-persistence
+                key: username
+      - contains:
+          path: spec.template.spec.containers[0].env
+          content:
+            name: quarkus.datasource.password
+            valueFrom:
+              secretKeyRef:
+                name: polaris-persistence
+                key: password
+      - contains:
+          path: spec.template.spec.containers[0].env
+          content:
+            name: quarkus.datasource.jdbc.url
+            valueFrom:
+              secretKeyRef:
+                name: polaris-persistence
+                key: jdbcUrl
+
   - it: should configure volume for file logging
     set:
       logging.file.enabled: true
diff --git a/helm/polaris/values.yaml b/helm/polaris/values.yaml
index 5cf964f20c..28cc1bb025 100644
--- a/helm/polaris/values.yaml
+++ b/helm/polaris/values.yaml
@@ -521,8 +521,18 @@ features:
 
 # -- Polaris persistence configuration.
 persistence:
-  # -- The type of persistence to use. Two built-in types are supported: in-memory and eclipse-link.
-  type: eclipse-link  # in-memory
+  # -- The type of persistence to use. Two built-in types are supported: in-memory and relational-jdbc.
+  # The eclipse-link type is also supported but is deprecated.
+  type: in-memory  # relational-jdbc
+  # -- The configuration for the relational-jdbc persistence manager.
+  relationalJdbc:
+    # -- The type of database to use. Valid values are: h2, postgres.
+    dbKind: postgres  # h2
+    # -- The secret name to pull the database connection properties from.
+    secret:
+      # -- The secret name to pull the database connection properties from.
+      name: ~
+
   # -- The configuration for the eclipse-link persistence manager.
   eclipseLink:
     # -- The secret name to pull persistence.xml from.