Upgrading PostgreSQL Version for Self-Hosted Spacelift

When upgrading your self-hosted Spacelift installation, you may need to update your PostgreSQL version to meet current requirements. This article explains how to handle PostgreSQL version upgrades in both CloudFormation and Terraform deployments.

PostgreSQL Version Requirements

Spacelift requires PostgreSQL 14 or higher for self-hosted installations. While earlier versions may work, we recommend using PostgreSQL 16.x as this is the version we test against internally.

Updating PostgreSQL Version in CloudFormation

To update your PostgreSQL version in CloudFormation, you'll need to modify two sections in your infra-db.yaml template:

1. Update the engine version parameter:

   DBPostgresEngineVersion:
     Type: String
     Default: "14.15"
     Description: The Aurora Postgres Engine Version to use
   

2. Create a new parameter group with the correct family:

   DBClusterParameterGroup:
     Type: AWS::RDS::DBClusterParameterGroup
     DeletionPolicy: Retain
     Properties:
       DBClusterParameterGroupName: spacelift14  # Use a new name when upgrading
       Description: Spacelift core product database
       Family: aurora-postgresql14
       Parameters:
         statement_timeout: "120000"
   

Updating PostgreSQL Version in Terraform

If using the official Terraform AWS module for self-hosted Spacelift, you can specify the PostgreSQL version through the postgres_version variable. The module defaults to version 16.6.

Best Practices

• Always backup your database before performing version upgrades

• Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first if possible

• Schedule upgrades during maintenance windows

• Use the latest minor version within your chosen major version for security updates