Amazon RDS Update – PostgreSQL 9.4.1 Now Available

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) makes it easy for you to set up, operate, and scale a MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, or Oracle relational database in the cloud.

Today we are adding support for version 9.4.1 of PostgreSQL to RDS. Among other features, this version allows you to store JSON data in a compact, decomposed binary format known as jsonb. Data stored in this format is significantly faster to process and can also be indexed. It does not preserve extraneous white space or the textual order of keys within objects. For more information, read the PostgreSQL documentation on JSON Types.

You can launch an RDS Database Instance running this version of PostgreSQL from the RDS Console, RDS APIs, or the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). Here’s how you do it from the Console:

The new support for jsonb data will give you the power to create applications that make use of data that consists of a combination of static fields that are well known and dynamic values (perhaps from external applications or devices) that are not fully known or understood in advance.

This new version of PostgreSQL is available now and you can start using it today. In order to upgrade, you will need to create a SQL dump, launch a new instance that is running 9.4.1, and then restore the dump.

To learn more about the full set of enhancements and bug fixes that are present in the 9.4 series, take a look at the release notes.

— Jeff;