Amazon Aurora supports in-place upgrades from PostgreSQL 11 to 12

Starting today, you can perform an in-place upgrade of your Amazon Aurora database cluster from PostgreSQL major version 11 to 12. Instead of backing up and restoring the database to the new version, you can upgrade with just a few clicks in the Amazon RDS Management Console or by using the AWS SDK or CLI.

PostgreSQL 12 includes better index management, improved partitioning capabilities, and the ability to execute JSON path queries per SQL/JSON specifications. It also enables nondeterministic collations that support case-insensitive and accent-insensitive comparisons for ICU provided collations, most common-value statistics for improved query plans, creation of generated columns that compute values with an expression, and many additional features.

To upgrade, select the "Modify" option on the AWS Management Console corresponding to the DB cluster you want to upgrade, choose the version of Aurora PostgreSQL 12 you want to upgrade to, and proceed with the wizard. The upgrade will be applied immediately (if you select the "Apply Immediately" option) or during your next maintenance window (by default). Note that in either case, your database will be unavailable for a few minutes as the upgrade completes and your database instances are rebooted. Please review the Aurora documentation to learn more. The feature is available in all regions supported by Aurora Aurora PostgreSQL.

Amazon Aurora combines the performance and availability of high-end commercial databases with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of open source databases. It provides up to three times better performance than the typical PostgreSQL database, together with increased scalability, durability, and security. For more information, please visit the Amazon Aurora product page. To get started with Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL, take a look at our getting started page.