diff --git a/backend/k8sman.py b/backend/k8sman.py
index 426deb4d..e057dc11 100644
--- a/backend/k8sman.py
+++ b/backend/k8sman.py
@@ -56,6 +56,14 @@ class K8SManager:
         self.requests_mem = os.environ["CRAWLER_REQUESTS_MEM"]
         self.limits_mem = os.environ["CRAWLER_LIMITS_MEM"]
 
+        self.crawl_volume = {"name": "crawl-data"}
+        # if set, use persist volume claim for crawls
+        crawl_pv_claim = os.environ.get("CRAWLER_PV_CLAIM")
+        if crawl_pv_claim:
+            self.crawl_volume["persistentVolumeClaim"] = {"claimName": crawl_pv_claim}
+        else:
+            self.crawl_volume["emptyDir"] = {}
+
         self.loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
         self.loop.create_task(self.run_event_loop())
         self.loop.create_task(self.init_redis(self.redis_url))
@@ -742,7 +750,7 @@ class K8SManager:
                                     ],
                                 },
                             },
-                            {"name": "crawl-data", "emptyDir": {}},
+                            self.crawl_volume,
                         ],
                         "restartPolicy": "Never",
                         "terminationGracePeriodSeconds": self.grace_period,
diff --git a/chart/templates/configmap.yaml b/chart/templates/configmap.yaml
index fda9e224..fce00d0a 100644
--- a/chart/templates/configmap.yaml
+++ b/chart/templates/configmap.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ data:
   CRAWLER_REQUESTS_MEM: "{{ .Values.crawler_requests_memory }}"
   CRAWLER_LIMITS_MEM: "{{ .Values.crawler_limits_memory }}"
 
+  {{- if .Values.crawler_pv_claim }}
+  CRAWLER_PV_CLAIM: "{{ .Values.crawler_pv_claim }}"
+  {{- end }}
+
   REDIS_URL: "{{ .Values.redis_url }}"
 
   REDIS_CRAWLS_DONE_KEY: "crawls-done"
diff --git a/chart/templates/frontend.yaml b/chart/templates/frontend.yaml
index 36de9892..065572f5 100644
--- a/chart/templates/frontend.yaml
+++ b/chart/templates/frontend.yaml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ spec:
     matchLabels:
       app: {{ .Values.name }}
       role: frontend
-  replicas: 1
+  replicas: {{ .Values.nginx_num_replicas | default 1 }}
   template:
     metadata:
       labels:
diff --git a/chart/values.yaml b/chart/values.yaml
index cc43db5a..68325e8c 100644
--- a/chart/values.yaml
+++ b/chart/values.yaml
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ api_limits_memory: "192Mi"
 nginx_image: "nginx"
 nginx_pull_policy: "IfNotPresent"
 
+nginx_num_replicas: 1
+
 nginx_requests_cpu: "3m"
 nginx_limits_cpu: "10m"
 
@@ -98,6 +100,10 @@ crawler_pull_policy: "IfNotPresent"
 
 crawler_namespace: "crawlers"
 
+# optional: enable to use a persist volume claim for all crawls
+# can be enabled to use a multi-write shared filesystem
+# crawler_pv_claim: "nfs-shared-crawls"
+
 # num retries
 crawl_retries: 3