Upgrading a Postgres Installation

You can use the pgedge repository to upgrade an existing pgEdge Enterprise Postgres installation to a newer minor or major version of Postgres:

A minor version upgrade (for example, from 18.0 to 18.1) replaces the packages in place.
A major version upgrade (for example, from 17 to 18) installs the new version beside the old one and migrates your data with pg_upgrade.

Before you start an upgrade, take a recent backup so that you can revert to your previous version if needed.

Hint

The host must have the current repository package and an installed repository certificate before you upgrade. If you installed the pgedge repository before March 1, 2026, first follow the steps in Updating an Existing Repository. If you're moving from community Postgres, see Migrating to pgEdge Enterprise Postgres instead.

The examples on this page upgrade Postgres 18 to a newer minor version, and Postgres 17 to Postgres 18; replace the versions in the sample commands with the correct versions for your host.

Performing a Minor Version Upgrade

Minor versions of Postgres share the same data directory format, so a minor version upgrade installs the newer packages and restarts the server.

Note

If the host is a node in a Spock cluster, upgrade Spock first with the steps in Upgrading Spock. Those steps disable Auto-DDL across the cluster before you upgrade the extension.

The following commands refresh the package lists, upgrade the installed packages, and restart the Postgres 18 cluster:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo systemctl restart postgresql@18-main

The apt-get upgrade command upgrades every package with a newer version available, including packages from other repositories. To review the pgEdge packages that apt-get upgrade will update, run the apt list --upgradable | grep pgedge command before you upgrade.

To confirm the new version, use the command:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "SELECT version();"

Performing a Major Version Upgrade

A new major version of Postgres uses a different data directory format, so you install the new version beside the old one and use pg_upgrade to migrate your data.

Hint

The steps on this page upgrade a single server. If your server is a node in a Spock cluster, reach out to pgEdge support for assistance if needed.

Install the same extensions for the new version that your databases use on the old version; pg_upgrade fails its compatibility check if an extension's library is missing. To install the complete set of pgEdge packages for the new version, use the pgedge-enterprise-all-18 package.

The pg_upgradecluster command creates the new cluster, copies its configuration, and runs pg_upgrade for you. Use the following steps to upgrade from Postgres 17 to Postgres 18:

Install the Postgres 18 packages with the commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y pgedge-enterprise-postgres-18

Remove the empty Postgres 18 cluster that the installation created automatically; pg_upgradecluster needs to create the cluster itself. Before you remove the cluster, make sure that the cluster holds no data you want to keep. Use the command:
```
sudo pg_dropcluster 18 main --stop
```
Upgrade the Postgres 17 cluster with the following command. The --method=upgrade option uses pg_upgrade to migrate the data:
```
sudo pg_upgradecluster --method=upgrade 17 main
```
The command stops the Postgres 17 cluster, creates and upgrades the Postgres 18 cluster, and starts the new cluster on the old cluster's port. The command also gives the new cluster the same data checksum setting as the old cluster, so you don't need to match the setting yourself.
Confirm that the Postgres 18 cluster is online with the command:
```
sudo pg_lsclusters
```

Update your PATH to use the Postgres 18 binaries; for example:

echo 'export PATH=/usr/lib/postgresql/18/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
. ~/.bashrc

When you have confirmed that the new cluster works, remove the old cluster with the following command, and then remove the Postgres 17 packages:

sudo pg_dropcluster 17 main