Upgrade and Maintenance

PostgreSQL upgrades

IONOS CLOUD performs regular updates and patches on your PostgreSQL database cluster to maintain security and stability. These updates include minor PostgreSQL patches and operating system updates.

Most updates apply without service interruption. In some cases, a brief restart of the PostgreSQL instance is necessary for the changes to take effect. Any such restarts occur only during the scheduled weekly four-hour maintenance window.

When your cluster only contains one replica, you might experience a short downtime during this maintenance window, while your database instance is being updated. In a replicated cluster, we only update standbys, but we might perform a switchover to change the leader node. In PostgreSQL v2, you configure the maintenance window via the maintenanceWindow property when creating or updating a cluster. For more information, see Update a PostgreSQL Cluster or, for v1, Setting Maintenance Windows.

To upgrade from an earlier PostgreSQL release, data must be migrated using pg_dumpall, pg_upgrade, or logical replication.

Considerations: Updates to a new minor version are always backward compatible. Such updates are done during the maintenance window with no additional actions from the user side.

Major version upgrades

Caution: Major changes of the PostgreSQL version are irreversible and can fail. You should read the official migration guide and test major version upgrades with an appropriate development cluster first.

You can upgrade your PostgreSQL version using either the DCD or the v2 API.

Availability considerations

During the upgrade process, the database may become temporarily unavailable for a short duration. The exact downtime depends on factors such as cluster size and workload.

To minimize the impact on applications and users, it is strongly recommended to schedule the upgrade during a Maintenance Window, which is a predefined time designated for system updates and operational tasks.

Prerequisites

• Test the upgrade on the development cluster with similar or the same data by creating a new database cluster as a clone of your existing cluster.
• Prepare for a downtime during the major version upgrade.
• Ensure the database cluster has enough available storage. While the upgrade is space-efficient and does not copy the data directory, some temporary data is written to disk.

Before upgrading to major PostgreSQL versions, verify and ensure that the migration does not impact your operations. IONOS CLOUD does not assume responsibility for your data or utilized functionality during this process.

Note: According to the official PostgreSQL Documentation, new major versions can introduce user-visible incompatibilities that may require application changes.

Supported versions

Starting with version 10, PostgreSQL moved to a yearly release schedule, where each major version is supported for 5 years after initial release. For more information, refer to the PostgreSQL Documentation. We strive to support new versions as soon as possible.

Note: PostgreSQL v2 supports versions 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. PostgreSQL v1 supports versions 14, 15, and 16 only.