How to upgrade our databases to a newer major engine version for PostgreSQL RDS instances
Hi re:Post,
Thank you for your time and help.
We have a recommendation to upgrade our databases to a newer major engine version for our PostgreSQL RDS instances.
We'd like to do it during the next maintenance window on October 20th. I'm having trouble figuring out how to set this up via the RDS console. I've done a similar exercise in the past when updating our certificates during a maintenance window but I can't seem to find how to do this now for the db engine upgrade. I'm probably looking right at it ! ;)
Drilling down into (1) db instance, Under "Maintenance and Backups",
I see "New Operating System update is available" and "system-update"
That does not seem like the same update mentioned at the top of this post, ie " we recommend upgrading your databases to a newer major engine version".
Recommendation Info
Summary
Your PostgreSQL 12 databases are approaching end of standard support, and will be charged for RDS Extended Support starting March 1, 2025. To avoid the additional charges due to RDS Extended Support, we recommend upgrading your databases to a newer major engine version before February 28, 2025. To learn more about the RDS Extended Support pricing, refer to the pricing page.
Downtime
Downtime isn't required to apply this recommendation.
Also we'd like to update our PostgreSQL dbs before we convert our RDS instances to Reserved Instances from On-Demand instances.
Please advise!
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Donald
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Thank you for your question about upgrading your PostgreSQL RDS instances to a newer major engine version. I'd be happy to provide some guidance on this process.
First, it's important to understand that major version upgrades for PostgreSQL databases in Amazon RDS are not automatic and cannot be scheduled for a maintenance window. This is because major version upgrades can contain database changes that are not backward-compatible with existing applications. As a result, you must manually perform major version upgrades of your databases.
The "New Operating System update" and "system-update" you see under "Maintenance and Backups" are not related to the database engine upgrade. These refer to operating system updates managed by Amazon RDS, which are separate from database engine upgrades.
To upgrade your PostgreSQL RDS instances to a newer major version, you need to follow these steps:
- Prepare for the upgrade:
- Ensure you have a version-compatible parameter group ready.
- Check that your database's instance class is compatible with the target PostgreSQL version.
- Perform necessary checks for unsupported usage, invalid databases, and required extension upgrades.
- Take a backup of your database.
- Initiate the upgrade:
- Go to the Amazon RDS console.
- Select the DB instance you want to upgrade.
- Choose "Modify" from the Actions menu.
- In the "DB engine version" section, select the target major version you want to upgrade to.
- Choose when to apply the modifications (immediately or during the next maintenance window).
- Review and confirm the changes.
- Monitor the upgrade process:
- The upgrade process will take some time, during which your database will be unavailable.
- After the upgrade, verify that your applications are working correctly with the new version.
It's highly recommended to test the upgrade process on a copy of your production database before performing it on your actual production instance. This allows you to identify any potential issues and estimate the downtime required for the upgrade.
Regarding your plan to convert to Reserved Instances, it's a good idea to complete the major version upgrade before making that change. This ensures that your Reserved Instances will be based on the updated configuration.
Remember, after the major version upgrade, you'll need to manually upgrade most PostgreSQL extensions using the ALTER EXTENSION UPDATE command.
Lastly, keep in mind that once you upgrade to a new major version, you cannot revert to the previous version. If you need to go back, you would have to restore from a pre-upgrade snapshot.
I hope this information helps you plan and execute your PostgreSQL major version upgrade. Let me know if you have any further questions!
Sources
Upgrades of the RDS for PostgreSQL DB engine - Amazon Relational Database Service
How to perform a major version upgrade for RDS for PostgreSQL - Amazon Relational Database Service
Upgrading PostgreSQL extensions in RDS for PostgreSQL databases - Amazon Relational Database Service
