How to install PostgreSQL database servers of different versions using docker-compose? A step-by-step guide

In this blog I'll demonstrate how to install PostgreSQL DB servers of version 12, 13, 14 and 15 on the same machine using docker compose. For illustration I will use Ubuntu 20.04

Docker compose orchestrates an environment to run multi-container Docker applications. It enables to bring multiple containers together to make an application. Docker compose makes use of a yaml file to define services that are later used to start and run the application with a single command.

Step #1 - Install docker-compose

Check the latest release of the docker compose by visiting https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.14.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose              

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

docker-compose --version

For example:

Docker Compose version v2.14.2

Step #2 - Prepare docker-compose.yaml file, describing the services that we want to run

cat docker-compose.yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  db12:
    image: postgres:12
    restart: always
    command: postgres -c shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements -c pg_stat_statements.track=all -c max_connections=200
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=myuser
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mypwd
    ports:
      - '5442:5432'
    volumes:
      - db12:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  db13:
    image: postgres:13
    restart: always
    command: postgres -c shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements -c pg_stat_statements.track=all -c max_connections=200
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=myuser
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mypwd
    ports:
      - '5443:5432'
    volumes:
      - db13:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  db14:
    image: postgres:14
    restart: always
    command: postgres -c shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements -c pg_stat_statements.track=all -c max_connections=200
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=myuser
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mypwd
    ports:
      - '5444:5432'
    volumes:
      - db14:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  db15:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: always
    command: postgres -c shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements -c pg_stat_statements.track=all -c max_connections=200
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=myuser
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mypwd
    ports:
      - '5445:5432'
    volumes:
      - db15:/var/lib/postgresql/data      
volumes:
  db12:
    driver: local
  db13:
    driver: local
  db14:
    driver: local
  db15:
    driver: local 

Step #3 - Build docker-compose

docker-compose up -d

For example:

docker-compose up -d
[+] Running 4/4
 ⠿ Container create_postgres_db_servers_docker_compose-db15-1  Started                                                  1.3s
 ⠿ Container create_postgres_db_servers_docker_compose-db12-1  Started                                                  1.4s
 ⠿ Container create_postgres_db_servers_docker_compose-db13-1  Started                                                  0.7s
 ⠿ Container create_postgres_db_servers_docker_compose-db14-1  Started                                                  1.4s
dmi@dmi-VirtualBox:~/create_postgres_db_servers_docker_compose$

Step #4 - Check connection to the created PostgreSQL DB servers.

Connection to the PostgreSQL DB server, version 12.13:

psql -h localhost -p 5442 -U myuser -d postgres -W
Password:
psql (15.1 (Ubuntu 15.1-1.pgdg20.04+1), server 12.13 (Debian 12.13-1.pgdg110+1))
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# select version();
                                                            version
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 PostgreSQL 12.13 (Debian 12.13-1.pgdg110+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 10.2.1-6) 10.2.1 20210110, 64-bit
(1 row)

postgres=#

Connection to the PostgreSQL DB server, version 15.1:

psql -h localhost -p 5445 -U myuser -d postgres -W
Password:
psql (15.1 (Ubuntu 15.1-1.pgdg20.04+1))
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# select version();
                                                           version
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 PostgreSQL 15.1 (Debian 15.1-1.pgdg110+1) on x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, compiled by gcc (Debian 10.2.1-6) 10.2.1 20210110, 64-bit
(1 row)

postgres=#

Conclusion

In this blog I've demonstrated how to install PostgreSQL DB servers of version 12, 13, 14 and 15 on the same machine using docker compose.