Dedicated databases

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Goal

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Prerequisites

• Dedicated switched on for your account
• A wallet balance or a saved card for billing

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Workflow

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Create

• name: 3 to 40 lowercase letters, digits and dashes. version: 15 to 18 (default 17).
• type is postgres. MySQL on Dedicated isn’t available yet and the API answers 403 for it.
• storage_gb: 10 to 1024. storage_max_gb is the autogrow limit (default twice storage_gb, at most 1024).
• master_username defaults to app_owner and database_name to app.
• backup_retention_days: 7 to 35 (default 7). This is how far back you can restore.
• maintenance_window: day 0 (Sunday) to 6 and a start minute after midnight. If you leave it out, we pick one for you.
• billing: monthly (default), yearly or hourly. standby: off (default), sync or async, with on_standby_loss degrade (default) or block. See Standby and high availability.
• deletion_protection: true refuses deletion until you turn it off.
• If no server has room for that size right now you get “We’re adding capacity for this database size, please try again shortly.” Nothing is charged.

{
  "name": "orders-db",
  "type": "postgres",
  "tier": "dedicated",
  "version": "17",
  "instance_class": "s-2vcpu-4gb",
  "storage_gb": 50,
  "storage_max_gb": 200,
  "backup_retention_days": 14,
  "billing": "monthly",
  "standby": "off",
  "deletion_protection": true,
  "maintenance_window": { "day_of_week": 0, "start_minute": 120 }
}

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Connect

• Apps on StackShift reach the database privately; bind it to your app and the connection variables are set at deploy.
• Each database has a direct endpoint and a pooled endpoint (PgBouncer). Use the pooled one for app traffic and the direct one for migrations.
• Connections always use TLS. Download the CA certificate from the database page and keep certificate checks on.
• Turn on public access for a laptop or an external service, preferably limited to your IP addresses.
• Extensions such as vector and postgis install with CREATE EXTENSION as the master user.

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Day-to-day

• Change size: stackshift database resize DATABASE --data '{"instance_class":"d-2vcpu-8gb","apply":"window"}'. The switch happens in your maintenance window (or now with "apply":"now"), and connections drop for a few seconds. Cancel a scheduled change with stackshift database resize-cancel DATABASE.
• Storage grows by itself before it fills up, without downtime, up to storage_max_gb. Raise the limit or grow it yourself with stackshift database storage DATABASE --data '{"storage_gb":100,"storage_max_gb":400}' (PATCH /api/v1/databases/{id}/storage). Growing storage by hand is a priced change, so you confirm the charge first.
• Stop, start and restart from the database page or with stackshift database stop|start|restart DATABASE. A stopped database starts again automatically after 7 days. Its storage is still billed while stopped.
• Change name, deletion_protection, backup_retention_days (7 to 35) or maintenance_window in place with stackshift database settings DATABASE --data '{"deletion_protection":false}' (PATCH /api/v1/databases/{id}). Leave out what you don’t want to change. Renaming works on every tier and never changes the database’s addresses; a name another database already uses is refused. The other three settings are Dedicated only. A size change waiting for the window moves with the new window.
• Tune PostgreSQL with parameter groups, choose the weekly window for updates, and move to a newer PostgreSQL version when you are ready. See Parameter groups, Maintenance window and updates, and PostgreSQL version upgrades.
• See what your database is busy with, and what happened to it, in Performance Insights and the events feed. Take a fast restore point before a risky change where it is offered.
• Deleting takes a final snapshot first unless you ask to skip it (?skip_final_snapshot=true). With deletion protection on, deletion is refused until you turn it off.

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Availability

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Expected result

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Common failures

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Related guides