Announcement: Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL 11.x end of support is February 29, 2024

From February 29, 2024, Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL-compatible edition will no longer support major version 11.x. Newer major versions are available. Per the Aurora Version Policy [1], we are providing 12 months notice to give you time to upgrade your database cluster(s). We recommend that you proactively upgrade your databases running Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL major version 11.x to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL 12 or higher at your convenience before February 29, 2024.

• If you plan to run your Aurora PostgreSQL 11 databases beyond March 31, you do not need to take any action. Your instance/cluster will be automatically enrolled into RDS Extended Support, and you will be billed for Extended Support starting April 1, 2024. You will not be charged for RDS Extended Support between March 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024. Note, if you are running a minor version other than 11.9 or 11.21, your database will be auto-upgraded to 11.21 starting on March 1st, 2024. If you do not want to be auto-upgraded to PostgreSQL 11.21, we recommend that you upgrade to this version manually before February 29, 2024.
• If you do not intend to run your PostgreSQL 11 databases beyond March 31, or you do not want to incur expenses for RDS Extended Support, we recommend you upgrade your PostgreSQL 11 databases to PostgreSQL 12 or higher by March 31, 2024. Consider using Amazon Blue/Green Deployments [8] to minimize risk and downtime during your major version upgrade.

How to Determine Which Instances are Running Aurora PostgreSQL 11.x

In the Amazon RDS console, you can see details about a database cluster, including the Aurora PostgreSQL version of instances in the cluster, by choosing Databases from the console's navigation pane. To view DB cluster information by using the AWS CLI, use the describe-db-clusters command. To view DB cluster information using the Amazon RDS API, use the DescribeDBClusters operation. [2] You can also query a database directly to get the version number by querying the aurora_version() system function i.e., "SELECT * FROM aurora_version();".

How to Upgrade to a New Major Version

You can initiate an upgrade of your database instance — either immediately or during your next maintenance window — to a newer major version of Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL using the AWS Management Console or the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI). The upgrade process will shut down the database instance, perform the upgrade, and restart the database instance. The database instance may be restarted multiple times during the upgrade process. While major version upgrades typically complete within the standard maintenance window, the duration of the upgrade depends on the number of objects within the database. To avoid any unplanned unavailability outside your maintenance window, we recommend that you first take a snapshot [3] or a fast database clone [4] of your database and test the upgrade to get an estimate of the duration. To learn more about upgrading PostgreSQL major versions in Aurora, review the Upgrading Database Versions page [5].

Please be aware of the following timeline:

• Now through February 29, 2024 - You can initiate upgrades of Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL 11.x instances to Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL 12 or higher at any time.
• Starting August 1, 2023, you will no longer be able to create new Aurora clusters or instances with Aurora PostgreSQL major version 11.x from either the AWS Console or the CLI. You can still add read replicas to existing Aurora PostgreSQL 11.x clusters and continue to apply changes to existing Aurora PostgreSQL 11.x instances, such as migrating to a Graviton2 R6g instance or changing instance configuration, until February 29, 2024.
• If you plan to run your Aurora PostgreSQL 11 databases beyond March 31, you do not need to take any action. Your instance/cluster will be automatically enrolled into RDS Extended Support, and you will be billed for Extended Support starting April 1, 2024. You will not be charged for RDS Extended Support between March 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024. Note, if you are running a minor version other than 11.9 or 11.21, your database will be auto-upgraded to 11.21 starting on March 1st, 2024. If you do not want to be auto-upgraded to PostgreSQL 11.21, we recommend that you upgrade to this version manually before February 29, 2024.
• If you do not intend to run your PostgreSQL 11 databases beyond March 31, or you do not want to incur expenses for RDS Extended Support, we recommend you upgrade your PostgreSQL 11 databases to PostgreSQL 12 or higher by March 31, 2024. Consider using Amazon Blue/Green Deployments [8] to minimize risk and downtime during your major version upgrade.
• For information on Extended Support, please see the Amazon Aurora User Guide [7]

If you have any questions or concerns, the AWS Support Team is available on AWS re:Post and via Premium Support [6]

[1]https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.VersionPolicy.html

[2] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/accessing-monitoring.html

[3] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/USER_CreateSnapshotCluster.html

[4] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Managing.Clone.html

[5] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/Aurora.Updates.html

[6] http://aws.amazon.com/support

[7] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/extended-support.html