Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2026 16:08:31 -0400
From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
To: Boris =?utf-8?B?RG92xI3DrWs=?= <bdovcik@gmail.com>
Cc: pgsql-general@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Postgres 12 update to new major version
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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@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

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