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Zero-downtime Postgres major upgrades

Physical2logical + PAUSE/RESUME technique for true zero-downtime, reversible, zero-data-loss Postgres major version upgrades. Battle-tested on mission-critical clusters with dozens of terabytes of data and 100,000s TPS.

Three critical guarantees​

Our solution delivers all three essential characteristics for enterprise-grade major upgrades for Postgres:

  • Zero downtime
  • Reversible
  • Zero data loss (in both directions)

The problem​

Traditional Postgres major version upgrades require:

  • Hours of downtime for multi-terabyte databases if you want to properly test things (otherwise, operations like ANALYZE can take significant time and are not automated)
  • Complete database shutdown during pg_upgrade
  • Irreversible process — no easy way back if issues arise
  • Hard to test and verify procedures for various issues like incompatibilities
  • Risks of plan flips and performance regressions after upgrade

Our solution: Four-component approach​

A complete system:

  • Reliable, safe, battle-proven physical2logical conversion technique for zero data loss
  • PgBouncer's PAUSE/RESUME for true zero-downtime connection management
  • Reverse replication enabling full reversibility — go back if needed with zero data loss
  • Extensive testing before deployment including for plan flips and compatibility issues

Case studies​

Get preview access​

This solution is fully developed and battle-tested. We're offering preview access to select enterprise customers.