How to safely upgrade from postgresql 17 to 18 on kubernetes/helm install?

[binarydad]

I noticed in my helm install of 4.4.2, it includes postgresql 18, up from 17 currently. I'm aware of issues with this, as the data needs to be migrated (or backed up and restored). For those running this on a cluster, do you have a strategy to migrate from postgresql 17 to 18? Thanks.

[peterbaumert]

Having the same issue. I was under impression this would be handled by the chart itself if it upgrades postgres in a breaking way but i was wrong 🫥

If there is an easier way then manually export -> upgrade -> import, i would love to know as well

[binarydad]

I think I've noticed issues with the bitnami postgresql images no longer being available (at least the older tagged ones). I recently tried again, then did a helm rollback and the images couldn't be found. 🥴

Luckily one of my nodes had it cached, so after setting node affinity to THAT node, I could manually re-target.

Still, was hoping the chart or some sort of worker would be available to run a pg_upgrade. Currently trying to figure out a safe way to do a pg_dumpall and then import into the PVC claimed by the statefulset.

[binarydad]

I tried doing a pg_dump and then import the SQL file into a new PG 18 instance and it didn't work - lots of schema errors. I eventually gave up and started from scratch. Luckily my setup wasn't that big.

I can't believe more people aren't having this issue... I must be missing something.

[binarydad]

@peterbaumert, I ended up getting it to work by doing a pg_dumpall, removing the old instance, and reinstalling but targeting the same Netbox version (in my case Helm chart 7.1.0) for 4.4.1. However, doing this does move from postgresql 17 to 18, so all I had to do was copy my pg_dumpall file onto the postgresql pod and run a psql command to import it. i had to run this a couple times as there may have been some insertion failures (maybe a constraint? not sure).

In the end, I got it working with 4.4.1 and (as of now) postgresql 18. After that, all I had to do was update my helm install to use the latest chart version, and hence install netbox 4.4.4.

Hopefully this helps. Janky as hell, but it works. I recently did the same process for moving my nextcloud from postgresql 17 to 18. 🥴

[Delta1977]

Dump and import is the one solution

The other is linking to an external Postgres like Zalando or crunchydata wich build the upgrade routine into their Pods.

[ronnyek]

I'd say if its at all possible... see if you can run the CNPG.IO operator in helm/k8s. It handles high availability concerns and major version upgrades in almost a transparent way.

There is a pgautoupgrade docker image for cases where you have to run postgres in a docker container but want to be able to handle major version upgrades.

Finally, if neither of those are options, you could opt to do something like what pgautoupgrade does... (essentially deploy binaries for both source version and target version, and copy data folder, init a new db, fire pg_upgrade up, make the new folder $PGDATA, and cleanup work folders / artifacts)