Use pgactive for rolling major version upgrades in Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

The article discusses using pgactive for performing rolling major version upgrades in Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, offering a method to minimize downtime and complexity during database version transitions.

• Pgactive enables active-active replication between different PostgreSQL versions
• Allows seamless database upgrades with minimal application interruption
• Supports multi-tenant environments by selectively replicating specific schemas or databases
• Provides built-in conflict detection and resolution mechanisms
• Enables easy rollback to the previous database version if needed

The solution involves setting up replication between the source (v14.12) and target (v16.3) databases, configuring pgactive parameters, and gradually shifting application traffic to the new database version.

Key benefits include reduced downtime, flexible migration strategies, and the ability to progressively upgrade applications in multi-tenant environments.