Postgresql upgradation from 16 to 18

Question

Postgresql upgradation from 16 to 18

Bobby John 60

Trying to upgrade the postgresql from 16 to 18. Can you help us here ?

Error as below:

{

"code": "MajorVersionUpgradeFailedPrecheck",

"message": "The major version upgrade failed precheck. Upgrading extension hypopg in database postgres from source version 15 to target version 18 is not supported. Refer documentation - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/postgresql/flexible-server/concepts-major-version-upgrade#extension-limitations"

}

#postresql

SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 1,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-31T07:06:34.7166667+00:00

Hi **Bobby John,
**I hope you had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and I hope this information has been helpful! If you still have questions, please let us know what is needed in the comments so the question can be answered.
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-03-31T10:42:20.3433333+00:00

hi @SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI ,

No such extension exists in the database.
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-03-31T14:33:21.3833333+00:00

We cant drop all extensions - the ones which are still there are as below:

plpgsql

postgres_fdw

uuid-ossp

citext
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-03-31T18:20:28.39+00:00
We further dropped postgres_fdw and tried to upgrade. Still it failed.
Below is the details of error:

Earlier in prod instance, it happened similarly, where the final fix was a schedule service maintenance from your end. Can we try that ?

===========================================================================
{

"code": "DeploymentFailed",

"target":

"message": "At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/arm-deployment-operations for usage details.",

"details": [

{ "code": "ResourceDeploymentFailure", "target": "message": "The resource write operation failed to complete successfully, because it reached terminal provisioning state 'Failed'." } ``` ] }
SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 1,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-01T15:42:25.8933333+00:00

Hi **Bobby John,
Thank you for sharing the details. Please be assured that we are currently working on addressing the issue. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-04-07T13:43:21.85+00:00

Hi,

We fixed the issue.

We added hypopg to azure.extensions

We saved the change and restarted the server

We dropped the extension

We Upgraded the version from 15 to 18.

2 answers

Your answer

SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 1,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-31T07:06:34.7166667+00:00

Hi **Bobby John,
**I hope you had a chance to review the information shared earlier, and I hope this information has been helpful! If you still have questions, please let us know what is needed in the comments so the question can be answered.
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-03-31T10:42:20.3433333+00:00

hi @SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI ,

No such extension exists in the database.
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-03-31T14:33:21.3833333+00:00

We cant drop all extensions - the ones which are still there are as below:

plpgsql

postgres_fdw

uuid-ossp

citext
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-03-31T18:20:28.39+00:00

We further dropped postgres_fdw and tried to upgrade. Still it failed.
Below is the details of error:

Earlier in prod instance, it happened similarly, where the final fix was a schedule service maintenance from your end. Can we try that ?

===========================================================================
{

"code": "DeploymentFailed",

"target":

"message": "At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/arm-deployment-operations for usage details.",

"details": [

{ "code": "ResourceDeploymentFailure", "target": "message": "The resource write operation failed to complete successfully, because it reached terminal provisioning state 'Failed'." } ``` ] }
SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 1,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-01T15:42:25.8933333+00:00

Hi **Bobby John,
Thank you for sharing the details. Please be assured that we are currently working on addressing the issue. We appreciate your patience and understanding.
Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-04-07T13:43:21.85+00:00

Hi,

We fixed the issue.

We added hypopg to azure.extensions

We saved the change and restarted the server

We dropped the extension

We Upgraded the version from 15 to 18.

Answer 1

SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 1,600 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Bobby John,
The upgrade is blocked because unsupported extensions are present.

hypopg is a non‑persistent utility extension
Such extensions must be dropped before a major version upgrade
This is by design in Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Action required:

DROP EXTENSION hypopg;

Run the upgrade, then re‑create the extension after upgrade if it’s supported on PostgreSQL 18.

Hope this helps. If you have any follow-up questions, please let me know. I would be happy to help.

Please do not forget to "Accept Answer" and "up-vote" wherever the information provided helps you, as this can be beneficial to other community members.

Bobby John 60 Reputation points

2026-04-07T14:44:09.85+00:00

Hi Sai,

This is not the exact steps to resolve the question. We wanted to connect with you and close the issue at the earliest, but you guys were not available too. It was a hopeless wait time - where we decided to explore from internet search results. It is sad though its a paid service you guys didnt help much.

I was continuously saying we are unable to drop the extension what ever way we tried other than the answer we have provided/found from the internet.
SAI JAGADEESH KUDIPUDI 1,600 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-07T15:12:31.47+00:00

Hi Bobby John,
Apologies for the confusion earlier. The issue was resolved after the extension was dropped. We had recommended dropping the extension before, but at that time an error occurred.

Answer 2

The precheck is failing because the hypopg extension is present. hypopg is a non-persistent utility extension and must be dropped before an in-place major version upgrade, then recreated afterward.

To proceed with the upgrade from PostgreSQL 16 to 18 on Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server:

Connect to the server as an admin role.
For each database where hypopg is installed (the error shows at least postgres):
```
   
   DROP EXTENSION IF EXISTS hypopg;
```
Re-run the in-place major version upgrade (via Portal or az postgres flexible-server upgrade).
After the upgrade completes successfully, reconnect to each database that needs hypopg and recreate it if it is supported on the target version:
```
   
   CREATE EXTENSION hypopg;
```

If any other blocking extensions are present (for example timescaledb or postgres_fdw), they must also be removed before retrying the upgrade.

References:

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Postgresql upgradation from 16 to 18

2 answers

Your answer