*** NOTE: These instructions should be considered deprecated. In GitLab 10.0 we will be releasing new migration instructions using [pgloader](http://pgloader.io/).
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last_updated:2017-10-05
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# Migrating GitLab from MySQL to Postgres
*Make sure you view this [guide from the `master` branch](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/master/doc/update/mysql_to_postgresql.md#migrating-gitlab-from-mysql-to-postgres) for the most up to date instructions.*
# Migrating from MySQL to PostgreSQL
If you are replacing MySQL with Postgres while keeping GitLab on the same server all you need to do is to export from MySQL, convert the resulting SQL file, and import it into Postgres. If you are also moving GitLab to another server, or if you are switching to omnibus-gitlab, you may want to use a GitLab backup file. The second part of this documents explains the procedure to do this.
> **Note:** This guide assumes you have a working Omnibus GitLab instance with
> MySQL and want to migrate to bundled PostgreSQL database.
## Export from MySQL and import into Postgres
## Prerequisites
Use this if you are keeping GitLab on the same server.
First, we'll need to enable the bundled PostgreSQL database with up-to-date
schema. Next, we'll use [pgloader](http://pgloader.io) to migrate the data
from the old MySQL database to the new PostgreSQL one.
# Install gems for PostgreSQL (note: the line below states '--without ... mysql')
sudo -u git -H bundle install --without development test mysql --deployment
``` bash
sudo gitlab-ctl stop
```
sudo service gitlab start
```
1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` to enable bundled PostgreSQL:
## Converting a GitLab backup file from MySQL to Postgres
**Note:** Please make sure to have Python 2.7.x (or higher) installed.
```
postgresql['enable'] = true
```
GitLab backup files (`<timestamp>_gitlab_backup.tar`) contain a SQL dump. Using the lanyrd database converter we can replace a MySQL database dump inside the tar file with a Postgres database dump. This can be useful if you are moving to another server.
1. Edit `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` to use the bundled PostgreSQL. Please check
all the settings beginning with `db_`, such as `gitlab_rails['db_adapter']`
and alike. You could just comment all of them out so that we'll just use
the defaults.
```
# Stop GitLab
sudo service gitlab stop
1. [Reconfigure GitLab] for the changes to take effect:
``` bash
sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
```
1. Start Unicorn and PostgreSQL so that we could prepare the schema:
``` bash
sudo gitlab-ctl start unicorn
sudo gitlab-ctl start posgresql
```
1. Run the following commands to prepare the schema:
``` bash
sudo gitlab-rake db:create db:migrate
```
1. Stop Unicorn in case it's interfering the next step: