Versions and upgrades

Plexivo Postgres offers PostgreSQL 17, the recommended version, and PostgreSQL 18. Updates within a version arrive in your maintenance window. Moving to a newer major version is a guided upgrade you start when you are ready.

Versions you can choose#

The Maintenance tab shows the version a database is Running, how long it is Supported until, and the Next update.

Updates within a version#

Security and bug-fix releases, such as 17.11, are applied for you in your weekly maintenance window, after an email telling you what and when. When one is ready you can also choose Apply now. See Maintenance and patches.

Upgrade to a newer major version#

When a newer version is offered, the Maintenance tab says it is available and shows Upgrade. The upgrade page checks your database, backs it up, upgrades it and verifies it for you.

1. Review the checks. Plexivo reads your database without changing anything and lists what needs attention, each with what to do. Choose Check again after a fix.
2. Read What happens. It shows how long the backup, the offline step and the whole upgrade should take for a database like yours.
3. Choose when. Now, or Maintenance window for your next one.
4. Confirm. Type the database’s name and choose Upgrade to PostgreSQL 18, or Schedule the upgrade. You can cancel a scheduled upgrade until it starts.

The checks#

• Database is running, healthy and has no other change in progress.
• Ready for a major upgrade. If the database needs a newer update of its version first, the check offers to apply it.
• Backups are working.
• Extensions are supported on the new version.
• No logical replication slots and no prepared transactions.
• Column types can be upgraded.
• No damaged databases.
• Room on the volume: an upgrade needs free space, so it stops at 85% full and warns from 70%.
• Standby and replicas, which are rebuilt, and open connections, which are closed when it starts.

What happens#

1. The checks run again. If one fails, nothing changes.
2. A full backup is taken while the database keeps serving.
3. The database goes offline while it is upgraded.
4. It starts on the new version at the same address, with the same user and password.
5. Extensions are updated, the standby and replicas are rebuilt, and the first backup on the new version is taken.

If the upgrade does not complete, the database goes back to its old version automatically, with its data unchanged.

The way back#

A major upgrade cannot be undone in place. The backup taken first is the way back: restore it from the Backups tab into a new database on the old version, for as long as your backups are kept. You can restore to any moment before the upgrade started, onto the old version, or after it finished, onto the new one.

Next steps#