title: Google CloudSQL for PostgreSQL HA cluster downtime due to maintenance without failover
body: <p>This morning we experienced a downtime of a little over 5 minutes on our Google CloudSQL for PostgreSQL High Available (HA) cluster. This was during the maintenance period that Google requires you to provide.</p>
  
  <p>Google is clear on why they need the maintenance window (see <a href="https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/instance-settings#maintenance-window-2ndgen" rel="noreferrer">here</a>). What struck us was the duration of the downtime and that no failover was performed.</p>
  
  <p>The documentation is clear on that the maintenance is performed on an instance (and not on the cluster as a whole). So why was the fallback not performed like is documented <a href="https://cloud.google.com/sql/docs/mysql/high-availability#failover-overview" rel="noreferrer">here</a>? It could take up to 60 seconds, they say. But it took a little over 5 minutes.</p>
  
  <p>And then again; it is a scheduled maintenance. Automated failover should not have to take place if you anticipate. </p>
  
  <p>Did we misinterpret the documentation, do we have unrealistic expectations or did we misconfigure our application?</p>