Re: Postgres 12 update to new major version

On Fri, Jun 5, 2026 at 02:11:12PM +0200, Boris Dovčík wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I have a question regarding the update of the production database (multiple TB
> of data) from version 12 to higher major version. We would like to jump to 15
> or 16. DB is installed on a Linux server with one replica on another, it is not
> on cloud.
>
> First question is should we perform updates one by one? 12 -> 13 -> 14 etc. or
> is it viable to jump to 16 right away? (We have few functions but usually its
> plain tables)
>
> Second we are contemplating options for the update since we are limited with
> downtime. We could get 4 hours of downtime for the whole update (either via
> pg_update or dumps). We are not sure how to estimate the time for direct update
> or dumps. What would be the recommended way for it?
>
> One option we see could be logical replication to the new major version on a
> new machine, but we received feedback that in our setup it might not be
> recommendable. Does it make sense to try logical replica? What would be the
> downsides of it?

I think you want this web page:

https://www.postgresql.org/support/versioning/

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> https://momjian.us
EDB https://enterprisedb.com

Do not let urgent matters crowd out time for investment in the future.