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physical replication compatibilty

  • Jump to comment-1
    Jatinder Singh Sandhu<jitu.sandhu@gmail.com>
    Apr 15, 2026, 10:06 PM UTC
    Dear PostgreSQL Community,
    I am currently planning a major version upgrade from PostgreSQL 16 to
    PostgreSQL 17. I have three node patroni cluster. While I am aware that
    logical replication is the standard approach for cross-version migrations,
    I am curious about the feasibility of physical streaming replication in
    this specific scenario.
    Specifically, I would like to clarify:
    1. Is physical streaming replication backward compatible between these
two major versions?
2. Since many data files remain consistent between versions, is there
any supported method to leverage physical block-level replication to
minimize the initial data synchronization time before a cutover?
    I understand that WAL formats and system catalogs typically change between
    major releases, but I wanted to confirm if there are any modern workarounds
    or "late-binding" techniques available in the v17 ecosystem.
    Thank you for your time and expertise.
    Best regards,
    View in PostgreSQL Archives →
    • Jump to comment-1
      David G. Johnston<david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
      Apr 15, 2026, 10:17 PM UTC
      On Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 3:06 PM Jatinder Singh Sandhu <jitu.sandhu@gmail.com>
      wrote:
      Is physical streaming replication backward compatible between these two
      major versions?
      pg_upgrade can perform this kind of physical transfer upgrade.
      Physical replication is only reliable when the source and target are
      basically identical in platform and software. It cannot be expected to
      work between major versions.
      David J.
      View in PostgreSQL Archives →
    • Jump to comment-1
      Adrian Klaver<adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>
      Apr 15, 2026, 10:20 PM UTC
      On 4/15/26 3:06 PM, Jatinder Singh Sandhu wrote:
      Dear PostgreSQL Community,
      I am currently planning a major version upgrade from PostgreSQL 16 to > PostgreSQL 17. I have three node patroni cluster. While I am aware that > logical replication is the standard approach for cross-version > migrations, I am curious about the feasibility of physical streaming > replication in this specific scenario.
      Specifically, I would like to clarify:
      1. Is physical streaming replication backward compatible between these
      two major versions?
      2. Since many data files remain consistent between versions, is there
      any supported method to leverage physical block-level replication to
      minimize the initial data synchronization time before a cutover?
      I understand that WAL formats and system catalogs typically change > between major releases, but I wanted to confirm if there are any modern > workarounds or "late-binding" techniques available in the v17 ecosystem.
      Thank you for your time and expertise.
      I think you are looking for:
      https://www.postgresql.org/docs/17/pgupgrade.html
      In particular this:
      13. Upgrade streaming replication and log-shipping standby servers
      Whether that will play well with the Patroni cluster or not is not something I can comment on.
      It is covered below though:
      https://patroni.readthedocs.io/en/latest/existing_data.html#major-upgrade-of-postgresql-version
      Best regards,
      View in PostgreSQL Archives →