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AWS Documentation » Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) » User Guide for Aurora » Working with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL » Upgrading an Aurora PostgreSQL DB Cluster Engine Version
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Upgrading an Aurora PostgreSQL DB Cluster Engine Version

Amazon Aurora provides newer versions of each supported database engine so you can keep your DB cluster up-to-date. Newer versions can include bug fixes, security enhancements, and other improvements for the database engine. When Amazon Aurora supports a new version of a database engine, you can choose how and when to upgrade your database DB clusters.

There are two kinds of upgrades: major version upgrades and minor version upgrades. In general, a major engine version upgrade can introduce changes that are not compatible with existing applications. In contrast, a minor version upgrade includes only changes that are backward-compatible with existing applications.

Note

Aurora PostgreSQL does not currently support in-place major version upgrades. To migrate a database from one major version to another you can use dump and load tools such as the PostgreSQL utilities pg_dump and pg_restore.

The version numbering sequence is specific to each database engine. For example, Aurora PostgreSQL 9.6 and 10.5 are major engine versions and upgrading from any 9.6 version to any 10.x version is a major version upgrade. Aurora PostgreSQL version 9.6.8 and 9.6.9 are minor versions and upgrading from 9.6.8 to 9.6.9 is a minor version upgrade. To determine the version of an Aurora DB cluster, follow the instructions in Amazon Aurora Updates.

Manually Upgrading the Minor Engine Version

To perform a minor version upgrade of an Aurora PostgreSQL DB cluster, use the following instructions for the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the RDS API.

Console

To upgrade the engine version of a DB cluster by using the console

  1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon RDS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/rds/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Databases, and then choose the DB cluster that you want to upgrade.

  3. Choose Modify. The Modify DB cluster page appears.

  4. For DB engine version, choose the new version.

  5. Choose Continue and check the summary of modifications.

  6. To apply the changes immediately, choose Apply immediately. Choosing this option can cause an outage in some cases. For more information, see Modifying an Amazon Aurora DB Cluster.

  7. On the confirmation page, review your changes. If they are correct, choose Modify Cluster to save your changes.

    Alternatively, choose Back to edit your changes, or choose Cancel to cancel your changes.

AWS CLI

To upgrade the engine version of a DB cluster, use the CLI modify-db-cluster command. Specify the following parameters:

  • --db-cluster-identifier – the name of the DB cluster.

  • --engine-version – the version number of the database engine to upgrade to. For information about valid engine versions, use the AWS CLI describe-db-engine-versions command.

  • --no-apply-immediately – apply changes during the next maintenance window. To apply changes immediately, use --apply-immediately.

Example

For Linux, OS X, or Unix:

aws rds modify-db-cluster \
    --db-cluster-identifier mydbcluster \
    --engine-version new_version \
    --no-apply-immediately

For Windows:

aws rds modify-db-cluster ^
    --db-cluster-identifier mydbcluster ^
    --engine-version new_version ^
    --no-apply-immediately
RDS API

To upgrade the engine version of a DB cluster, use the ModifyDBCluster action. Specify the following parameters:

  • DBClusterIdentifier – the name of the DB cluster, for example mydbcluster.

  • EngineVersion – the version number of the database engine to upgrade to. For information about valid engine versions, use the DescribeDBEngineVersions operation.

  • ApplyImmediately – whether to apply changes immediately or during the next maintenance window. To apply changes immediately, set the value to true. To apply changes during the next maintenance window, set the value to false.

Automatically Upgrading the Minor Engine Version

A minor engine version is an update to a DB engine version within a major engine version. For example, a major engine version might be 9.6 with the minor engine versions 9.6.11 and 9.6.12 within it.

If you want Amazon Aurora to upgrade the DB engine version of a database automatically, you can enable auto minor version upgrades for the database. When a minor engine version is designated as the preferred minor engine version, each database that meets both of the following conditions is upgraded to the minor engine version automatically:

  • The database is running a minor version of the DB engine that is lower than the preferred minor engine version.

  • The database has auto minor version upgrade enabled.

You can control whether auto minor version upgrade is enabled for a DB instance when you perform the following tasks:

When you perform these tasks, you can control whether auto minor version upgrade is enabled for the DB cluster in the following ways:

  • Using the console, set the Auto minor version upgrade option.

  • Using the AWS CLI, set the --auto-minor-version-upgrade|--no-auto-minor-version-upgrade option.

  • Using the RDS API, set the AutoMinorVersionUpgrade parameter.

To determine whether a maintenance update, such as a DB engine version upgrade, is available for your DB cluster, you can use the console, AWS CLI, or RDS API. You can also upgrade the DB engine version manually and adjust the maintenance window. For more information, see Maintaining an Amazon Aurora DB Cluster.