path: root/doc/src/sgml/pgupgrade.sgml

<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/pgupgrade.sgml,v 1.5 2010/05/18 15:41:36 mha Exp $ -->

<sect1 id="pgupgrade">
 <title>pg_upgrade</title>

 <indexterm zone="pgupgrade">
  <primary>pg_upgrade</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <para>
  <application>pg_upgrade</> (formerly called pg_migrator) allows data
  stored in Postgres data files to be migrated to a later Postgres
  major version without the data dump/reload typically required for
  major version upgrades, e.g. from 8.4.7 to the current major release
  of Postgres.  It is not required for minor version upgrades, e.g.
  9.0.1 -> 9.0.4.
 </para>

 <sect2>
  <title>Supported Versions</title>

  <para>
   pg_upgrade supports upgrades from 8.3.X and later to the current
   major release of Postgres, including snapshot and alpha releases.

  </para>

 </sect2>

 <sect2>
  <title>Upgrade Steps</title>

  <orderedlist>
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Optionally move the old cluster
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If you are using a version-specific PostgreSQL install directory, e.g.
     /opt/PostgreSQL/8.4, you do not need to move the old cluster. The
     one-click installers all use version-specific install directories.
    </para>
 
    <para>    
     If your PostgreSQL install directory is not version-specific, e.g.
     /usr/local/pgsql, it is necessary to move the current Postgres install
     directory so it does not interfere with the new Postgres installation.
     Once the current Postgres server is shut down, it is safe to rename the
     Postgres install directory; assuming the old directory is
     /usr/local/pgsql, you can do:
 
<programlisting>
mv /usr/local/pgsql /usr/local/pgsql.old
</programlisting>
     to rename the directory.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If you are using tablespaces and migrating to 8.4 or earlier, there must
     be sufficient directory permissions to allow pg_upgrade to rename each
     tablespace directory to add a ".old" suffix.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     For PostgreSQL source installs, build the new PostgreSQL version
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Build the new Postgres source with configure flags that are compatible
     with the old cluster. pg_upgrade will check pg_controldata to make
     sure all settings are compatible before starting the upgrade.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Install the new Postgres binaries
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Install the new server's binaries and support files. You can use the
     same port numbers for both clusters, typically 5432, because the old and
     new clusters will not be running at the same time.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     For source installs, if you wish to install the new server in a custom
     location, use 'prefix':
 
<programlisting>
gmake prefix=/usr/local/pgsql.new install
</programlisting>
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Install <application>pg_upgrade</> and
     <application>pg_upgrade_support</> in the new PostgreSQL cluster
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Initialize the new PostgreSQL cluster
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Initialize the new cluster using initdb. Again, use compatible initdb
     flags that match the old cluster (pg_upgrade will check that too.) Many
     prebuilt installers do this step automatically. There is no need to
     start the new cluster.
    </para>
 
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Install custom shared object files (or DLLs)
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Install any custom shared object files (or DLLs) used by the old cluster
     into the new cluster, e.g. pgcrypto.so, whether they are from /contrib
     or some other source. Do not install the schema definitions, e.g.
     pgcrypto.sql --- these will be migrated from the old cluster.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Adjust authentication
    </para>
 
    <para>
     pg_upgrade will connect to the old and new servers several times,
     so you might want to set authentication to <literal>trust</> in
     <filename>pg_hba.conf</>, or if using <literal>md5</> authentication,
     use a <filename>pgpass</> file to avoid being prompted repeatedly
     for a password.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Stop both servers
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Make sure both database servers are stopped using on Unix, e.g.:
 
<programlisting>
pg_ctl --pgdata /opt/PostgreSQL/8.4 stop
pg_ctl --pgdata /opt/PostgreSQL/9.0 stop
</programlisting>
 
     or on Windows
 
<programlisting>
NET STOP postgresql-8.4
NET STOP postgresql-9.0
</programlisting>
 
     or
 
<programlisting>
NET STOP pgsql-8.3  (different service name)
</programlisting>
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Run pg_upgrade
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Always run the pg_upgrade binary in the new server, not the old one.
     pg_upgrade requires the specification of the old and new cluster's
     PGDATA and executable (/bin) directories. You can also specify separate
     user and port values, and whether you want the data linked instead of
     copied (the default). If you use linking, the migration will be much
     faster (no data copying), but you will no longer be able to access your
     old cluster once you start the new cluster after the upgrade. See
     pg_upgrade --help for a full list of options.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     For Windows users, you must be logged into an administrative account, and
     then start a shell as the 'postgres' user and set the proper path:
 
<programlisting>
RUNAS /USER:postgres "CMD.EXE"
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\9.0\bin;
</programlisting>
 
     and then run pg_upgrade with quoted directories, e.g.:
 
<programlisting>
pg_upgrade.exe
        --old-datadir "C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/8.4/data"
        --new-datadir "C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/9.0/data"
        --old-bindir "C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/8.4/bin"
        --new-bindir "C:/Program Files/PostgreSQL/9.0/bin"
</programlisting>
 
     Once started, pg_upgrade will verify the two clusters are compatible
     and then do the migration. You can use pg_upgrade <option>--check</>
     to perform only the checks, even if the old server is still
     running. pg_upgrade <option>--check</> will also outline any
     manual adjustments you will need to make after the migration.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Obviously, no one should be accessing the clusters during the migration.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If an error occurs while restoring the database schema, pg_upgrade will
     exit and you will have to revert to the old cluster as outlined in step
     #15 below. To try pg_upgrade again, you will need to modify the old
     cluster so the pg_upgrade schema restore succeeds. If the problem is a
     /contrib module, you might need to uninstall the /contrib module from
     the old cluster and install it in the new cluster after the migration,
     assuming the module is not being used to store user data.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Restore <filename>pg_hba.conf</>
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If you modified <filename>pg_hba.conf</> to use <literal>trust</>,
     restore its original authentication settings.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Post-Migration processing
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If any post-migration processing is required, pg_upgrade will issue
     warnings as it completes. It will also generate script files that must
     be run by the administrator. The script files will connect to each
     database that needs post-migration processing. Each script should be
     run using:
 
<programlisting>
psql --username postgres --file script.sql postgres
</programlisting>
 
     The scripts can be run in any order and can be deleted once they have
     been run.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     In general it is unsafe to access tables referenced in rebuild scripts
     until the rebuild scripts have run to completion; doing so could yield
     incorrect results or poor performance. Tables not referenced in rebuild
     scripts can be accessed immediately.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Statistics
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Because optimizer statistics are not transferred by pg_upgrade, you will
     be instructed to run a command to regenerate that information at the end
     of the migration.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Delete old cluster
    </para>
 
    <para>
     Once you are satisfied with the upgrade, you can delete the old
     cluster's data directories by running the script mentioned when
     pg_upgrade completes. You will need to manually delete the old install
     directories, e.g. /bin, /share.
    </para>
   </listitem>
 
   <listitem>
    <para>
     Reverting to old cluster
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If, after running pg_upgrade, you wish to revert to the old cluster,
     there are several options.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If you ran pg_upgrade with <option>--check</>, no modifications
     were made to the old cluster and you can re-use it anytime.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If you ran pg_upgrade with <option>--link</>, the data files
     are shared between the old and new cluster. If you started
     the new cluster, the new server has written to those shared
     files and it is unsafe to use the old cluster.
    </para>
 
    <para>
     If you ran pg_upgrade <emphasis>without</>_ <option>--link</>
     or did not start the new server, the old cluster was not
     modified except that an <literal>.old</> suffix was appended
     to <filename>$PGDATA/global/pg_control</> and perhaps tablespace
     directories. To reuse the old cluster, remove the ".old"
     suffix from <filename>$PGDATA/global/pg_control</>. and, if
     migrating to 8.4 or earlier, remove the tablespace directories
     created by the migration and remove the ".old" suffix from
     the tablespace directory names; then you can restart the old
     cluster.
    </para>
 
   </listitem>
  </orderedlist>
 
  </sect2>
 
  <sect2>
  <title>Limitations In Migrating <emphasis>from</> PostgreSQL 8.3</title>
 
 
  <para>
   pg_upgrade will not work for a migration from 8.3 if a user column
   is defined as:
   <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      a <type>tsquery</> data type
     </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      data type <type>name</> and is not the first column
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </para>

  <para>
   You must drop any such columns and migrate them manually.
  </para>
 
  <para>
   pg_upgrade will require a table rebuild if:
   <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      a user column is of data type tsvector
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </para>
 
  <para>
   pg_upgrade will require a reindex if:
   <itemizedlist>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      an index is of type hash or gin
     </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
     <para>
      an index uses <function>bpchar_pattern_ops</>
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </para>
 
  <para>
   Also, the default datetime storage format changed to integer after
   Postgres 8.3. pg_upgrade will check that the datetime storage format
   used by the old and new clusters match. Make sure your new cluster is
   built with the configure flag <option>--disable-integer-datetimes</>.
  </para>
 
  <para>
   For Windows users, note that due to different integer datetimes settings
   used by the one-click installer and the MSI installer, it is only
   possible to upgrade from version 8.3 of the one-click distribution to
   version 8.4 of the one-click distribution. It is not possible to upgrade
   from the MSI installer to the one-click installer.
  </para>
 
  <para>  
   All failure, rebuild, and reindex cases will be reported by pg_upgrade
   if they affect your installation; post-migration scripts to rebuild
   tables and indexes will be automatically generated. 
  </para>
 
  <para>
   For deployment testing, create a schema-only copy of the old cluster,
   insert dummy data, and migrate that. 
  </para>
 
  <para>  
   If you want to use link mode and you don't want your old cluster
   to be modified when the new cluster is started, make a copy of the
   old cluster and migrate that with link mode. To make a valid copy
   of the old cluster, use <application>rsync</> to create a dirty
   copy of the old cluster while the server is running, then shut down
   the old server and run rsync again to update the copy with any
   changes to make it consistent.
  </para>
 
 </sect2>
 
</sect1>