diff --git a/.cicd/test.sh b/.cicd/test.sh
index 5878ead2..78f8e10f 100755
--- a/.cicd/test.sh
+++ b/.cicd/test.sh
@@ -166,6 +166,15 @@ function check_creates_template() {
   check_string_existence "--set modules.text2vec-aws.enabled=true --set modules.text2vec-aws.envSecrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=key --set modules.text2vec-aws.envSecrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=secret" "name: AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID"
   check_string_existence "--set modules.text2vec-aws.enabled=true --set modules.text2vec-aws.envSecrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=key --set modules.text2vec-aws.envSecrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=secret" "name: AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY"
 
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=3 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-0,weaviate-1,weaviate-2\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=8 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=3" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-0,weaviate-1,weaviate-2\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=1 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=1" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-0\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=4 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=4" "name: RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT" "value: \"4\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=4 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=4" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-0,weaviate-1,weaviate-2,weaviate-3\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=10 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=4" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-0,weaviate-1,weaviate-2,weaviate-3\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=10 --set env.RAFT_JOIN=weaviate-100" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-100\""
+  check_setting_has_value "--set replicas=10 --set env.RAFT_JOIN=weaviate-100 --set env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT=1" "name: RAFT_JOIN" "value: \"weaviate-100\""
+
   _settingPassageQueryOn="--set modules.text2vec-contextionary.enabled=false --set modules.text2vec-transformers.passageQueryServices.passage.enabled=true --set modules.text2vec-transformers.passageQueryServices.query.enabled=true"
   check_setting_has_value "$_settingPassageQueryOn" "name: TRANSFORMERS_PASSAGE_INFERENCE_API" "value: http://transformers-inference-passage.default.svc.cluster.local.:8080"
   check_setting_has_value "$_settingPassageQueryOn" "name: TRANSFORMERS_QUERY_INFERENCE_API" "value: http://transformers-inference-query.default.svc.cluster.local.:8080"
diff --git a/weaviate/templates/_helpers.tpl b/weaviate/templates/_helpers.tpl
index c332b07b..e2f89675 100644
--- a/weaviate/templates/_helpers.tpl
+++ b/weaviate/templates/_helpers.tpl
@@ -158,3 +158,31 @@ Usage:
     {{- printf "priorityClassName: %s" $priorityClassName -}}
   {{- end -}}
 {{- end -}}
+
+
+{{/*
+Raft cluster configuration settings
+*/}}
+{{- define "raft_configuration" -}}
+  {{- $replicas := .Values.replicas | int -}}
+  {{- $voters := .Values.env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT | int -}}
+  {{- if gt $voters $replicas  -}}
+    {{- fail "env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT value cannot be greater than replicas value" -}}
+  {{- end -}}
+  {{- if empty .Values.env.RAFT_JOIN -}}
+    {{- $nodes := list -}}
+    {{- range $i := until $voters -}}
+      {{- $node_name := list -}}
+      {{- $node_name = append $node_name "weaviate" -}}
+      {{- $node_name = append $node_name $i -}}
+      {{- $nodes = append $nodes (join "-" $node_name) -}}
+    {{- end -}}
+          - name: RAFT_JOIN
+            value: "{{ join "," $nodes }}"
+  {{- else -}}
+    {{- $votersCount := len (split "," .Values.env.RAFT_JOIN) -}}
+    {{- if not (eq $votersCount $voters)  -}}
+      {{- fail "env.RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT value needs to be equal to number of env.RAFT_JOIN nodes" -}}
+    {{- end -}}
+  {{- end -}}
+{{- end -}}
diff --git a/weaviate/templates/weaviateStatefulset.yaml b/weaviate/templates/weaviateStatefulset.yaml
index 1eacfe71..f035526d 100644
--- a/weaviate/templates/weaviateStatefulset.yaml
+++ b/weaviate/templates/weaviateStatefulset.yaml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ metadata:
     app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: helm
 spec:
   replicas: {{ .Values.replicas }}
+  podManagementPolicy: {{ .Values.podManagementPolicy }}
   updateStrategy:
 {{ toYaml .Values.updateStrategy | indent 4}}
   serviceName: {{ .Values.service.name }}-headless
@@ -98,6 +99,7 @@ spec:
           - name: DEFAULT_VECTORIZER_MODULE
             value: {{ index .Values "modules" "default_vectorizer_module" | trim }}
           {{ template "enabled_modules" . }}
+          {{ template "raft_configuration" . }}
           {{- if index .Values "modules" "text2vec-transformers" "enabled" }}
           - name: TRANSFORMERS_INFERENCE_API
             value: http://{{ index .Values "modules" "text2vec-transformers" "fullnameOverride" }}.{{ .Release.Namespace }}.svc.{{ .Values.clusterDomain }}:8080
diff --git a/weaviate/values.yaml b/weaviate/values.yaml
index 9d6145b4..f983aaf7 100644
--- a/weaviate/values.yaml
+++ b/weaviate/values.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ image:
   # of weaviate. In accordance with Infra-as-code, you should pin this value
   # down and only change it if you explicitly want to upgrade the Weaviate
   # version.
-  tag: 1.22.5
+  tag: 1.22.6
   repo: semitechnologies/weaviate
   # Image pull policy: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/containers/images/#image-pull-policy
   pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ initContainers:
 # to cases where no data is imported yet. Scaling down after importing data may
 # break usability. Full dynamic scalability will be added in a future release.
 replicas: 1
+
+# Define how pods will be created. Possible values: OrderedReady | Parallel
+# OrderedReady - pods will be created one after another
+# Parallel - all pods will be created at once
+podManagementPolicy: Parallel
 updateStrategy:
   type: RollingUpdate
 resources: {}
@@ -223,6 +228,27 @@ debug: false
 env:
   CLUSTER_GOSSIP_BIND_PORT: 7000
   CLUSTER_DATA_BIND_PORT: 7001
+
+  # Set RAFT cluster expected number of voter nodes at bootstrap
+  RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT: 1
+  # RAFT_HEARTBEAT_TIMEOUT: 1
+  # RAFT_ELECTION_TIMEOUT: 1
+  # Control how often raft checks if it should perform a snapshot
+  # RAFT_SNAPSHOT_INTERVAL: 120
+  # Number of outstanding log entries before performing a snapshot
+  # RAFT_SNAPSHOT_THRESHOLD: 8192
+  # Set RAFT cluster bootstrap timeout (in seconds), default is 10 (seconds)
+  # RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_TIMEOUT: 10
+
+  # Set manually RAFT voter nodes.
+  # RAFT_JOIN value is automatically generated by "raft_configuration"
+  # template, but if someone wants to set this value manually then it can be done
+  # by setting RAFT_JOIN environment variable, example: RAFT_JOIN: "weaviate-0,weaviate-1"
+  # Please notice that in this case RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT setting needs to be also adjusted manually
+  # to match the number of RAFT voters, so if there are 2 nodes set using RAFT_JOIN variable
+  # then RAFT_BOOTSTRAP_EXPECT needs to be equal 2 also.
+  # RAFT_JOIN: "weaviate-0"
+
   # The aggressiveness of the Go Garbage Collector. 100 is the default value.
   GOGC: 100