How to Fix the pg_dump "aborting because of server version mismatch" Error?

When using pg_dump to back up a Vultr Managed PostgreSQL cluster, you may encounter the following error:

pg_dump: error: aborting because of server version mismatch

This occurs when the version of pg_dump on your local machine does not match the PostgreSQL server version. pg_dump is designed to be compatible with the server version it connects to, and using an older client with a newer server can lead to compatibility issues.

To confirm whether a version mismatch exists, first check the PostgreSQL server version by connecting to your Vultr Managed Database cluster:

$ psql postgres://<username>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<database> -c "SELECT version();"

Next, check the version of your local pg_dump client:

$ pg_dump --version

If the versions do not align, you will need to upgrade your pg_dump client to match the server version before running your backup command.