Postgres major version upgrades v1.3

Major version upgrades allow you to access new features, enhancements, and performance improvements introduced in the latest version of PostgreSQL. However, they may include changes that are not backward-compatible, requiring careful planning and validation.

Major version upgrades typically occur annually and can bring significant advancements, such as new SQL functionality, enhanced performance, or improved compatibility with modern standards.

To ensure a smooth upgrade process, it's essential to test your applications and extensions against the new version and review the release notes for deprecated or modified features.

With Hybrid Manager (HM), users can manage major version upgrades at their discretion. Once a new major version has been validated and published, it soon becomes available in HM's image library, enabling controlled upgrades for existing clusters.

While major upgrades offer significant benefits, they require careful preparation.

It is strongly recommended to perform a full backup of your cluster and validate a comprehensive recovery plan before proceeding. This ensures you can restore your data if any compatibility or operational issues arise during the upgrade process.

Major version upgrades by database cluster type

You can easily upgrade Postgres major versions on any supported cluster type:

• Single node and High Availability clusters can be upgraded using the in-place, offline upgrade procedure.

• Advanced High Availability (AHA) and Distributed High Availability (DHA) clusters support an in-place, online, upgrade procedure.

• Alternatively, DHA clusters also support zero-downtime major upgrades using a blue-green deployment approach.

Rollback considerations

There is no automatic rollback available for major version upgrades and performing a downgrade is not recommended. To undo the major upgrade, restore from the latest backup in a new cluster running the preferred major version and switching application workloads over to the new cluster. You can then delete the PG major upgraded cluster or troubleshoot it further.