# Source: https://infisical.com/docs/self-hosting/guides/mongo-to-postgres.md

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://infisical.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Migrate Mongo to Postgres

> Learn how to migrate Infisical from MongoDB to PostgreSQL.

This guide will provide step by step instructions on migrating your Infisical instance running on MongoDB to the newly released PostgreSQL version of Infisical.
The newly released Postgres version of Infisical is the only version of Infisical that will receive feature updates and patches going forward.

<Tip>
  If you have a small set of secrets, we recommend you to download the secrets and upload them to your new instance of Infisical instead of running the migration script.
</Tip>

## Prerequisites

Before starting the migration, ensure you have the following command line tools installed:

* [git](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git)
* [pg\_dump](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgrestore.html)
* [pg\_restore](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgdump.html)
* [mongodump](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/database-tools/mongodump/)
* [mongorestore](https://www.mongodb.com/docs/database-tools/mongorestore/)
* [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)

## Prepare for migration

<Steps>
  <Step title="Backup Production MongoDB Data">
    While the migration script will not mutate any MongoDB production data, we recommend you to take a backup of your MongoDB instance if possible.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Migration Mode">
    To prevent new data entries during the migration, set your Infisical instance to migration mode by setting the environment variable `MIGRATION_MODE=true` and redeploying your instance.
    This mode will block all write operations, only allowing GET requests. It also disables user logins and sets up a migration page to prevent UI interactions.
    <img src="https://mintlify.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/infisical/images/self-hosting/guides/mongo-postgres/mongo-migration.png" alt="migration mode" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start local instances of Mongo and Postgres databases">
    Start local instances of MongoDB and Postgres. This will be used in later steps to process and transform the data locally.

    To start local instances of the two databases, create a file called `docker-compose.yaml` as shown below.

    ```yaml docker-compose.yaml theme={"dark"}
      version: '3.1'

      services:
        mongodb:
          image: mongo
          restart: always
          environment:
            MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME: root
            MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD: example
          ports:
            - "27017:27017"
          volumes:
            - mongodb_data:/data/db

        postgres:
          image: postgres
          restart: always
          environment:
            POSTGRES_PASSWORD: example
          ports:
            - "5432:5432"
          volumes:
            - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

      volumes:
        mongodb_data:
        postgres_data:
    ```

    Next, run the command below in the same working directory where the `docker-compose.yaml` file resides to start both services.

    ```
    docker-compose up
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Dump MongoDB

To speed up the data transformation process, the first step involves transferring the production data from Infisical's MongoDB to a local machine.
This is achieved by creating a dump of the production database and then uploading this dumped data into a local Mongo instance.
By having a running local instance of the production database, we will significantly reduce the time it takes to run the migration script.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Dump MongoDB data to your local machine using">
    ```
    mongodump --uri=<your_mongo_prod_uri> --archive="mongodump-db" --db=<db name> --excludeCollection=auditlogs
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Restore this data to the local MongoDB instance">
    ```
    mongorestore --uri=mongodb://root:example@localhost:27017/ --archive="mongodump-db"
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Start the migration

Once started, the migration script will transform MongoDB data into an equivalent PostgreSQL format.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Clone Infisical Repository">
    Clone the Infisical MongoDB repository.

    ```
    git clone -b infisical/v0.46.11-postgres https://github.com/Infisical/infisical.git
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install dependencies for backend">
    ```
    cd backend
    ```

    ```
    npm install
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install dependencies for script">
    ```
    cd pg-migrator
    ```

    ```
      npm install
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Execute Migration Script">
    ```
      npm run migration
    ```

    When executing the above command, you'll be asked to provide the MongoDB connection string for the database containing your production Infisical data. Since our production Mongo data is transferred to a local Mongo instance, you should input the connection string for this local instance.

    ```
    mongodb://root:example@localhost:27017/<db-name>?authSource=admin
    ```

    <Tip>
      Remember to replace `<db-name>` with the name of the MongoDB database. If you are not sure the name, you can use [Compass](https://www.mongodb.com/products/tools/compass) to view the available databases.
    </Tip>

    Next, you will be asked to enter the Postgres connection string for the database where the transformed data should be stored.
    Input the connection string of the local Postgres instance that was set up earlier in the guide.

    ```
    postgres://infisical:infisical@localhost/infisical?sslmode=disable
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Store migration metadata">
    Once the script has completed, you will notice a new folder has been created called `db` in the `pg-migrator` folder.
    This folder contains meta data for schema mapping and can be helpful when debugging migration related issues.
    We highly recommend you to make a copy of this folder in case you need assistance from the Infisical team during your migration process.

    <Info>
      The `db` folder does not contain any sensitive data
    </Info>
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Finalizing Migration

At this stage, the data from the Mongo instance of Infisical should have been successfully converted into its Postgres equivalent.
The remaining step involves transferring the local Postgres database, which now contains all the migrated data, to your chosen production Postgres environment.
Rather than transferring the data row-by-row from your local machine to the production Postgres database, we will first create a dump file from the local Postgres and then upload this file to your production Postgres instance.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Dump from local PostgreSQL">
    ```
    pg_dump -h localhost -U infisical -Fc -b -v -f dumpfilelocation.sql -d infisical
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload to production PostgreSQL">
    ```
    pg_restore --clean -v -h <host> -U <db-user-name> -d <database-name> -j 2 dumpfilelocation.sql 
    ```

    <Tip>
      Remember to replace `<host>`, `<db-user-name>`, `<database-name>` with the corresponding details of your production Postgres database.
    </Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify Data Upload">
    Use a tool like Beekeeper Studio to confirm that the data has been successfully transferred to your production Postgres DB.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Post-Migration Steps

Once the data migration to PostgreSQL is complete, you're ready to deploy Infisical using the deployment method of your choice.
For guidance on deployment options, please visit the [self-hosting documentation](/self-hosting/overview).
Remember to transfer the necessary [environment variables](/self-hosting/configuration/envars) from the MongoDB version of Infisical to the new Postgres based Infisical; rest assured, they are fully compatible.

<Warning>
  The first deployment of Postgres based Infisical must be deployed with Docker image tag `v0.46.11-postgres`.
  After deploying this version, you can proceed to update to any subsequent versions.
</Warning>

## Important Notes

Infisical's [Docker Hub repository](https://hub.docker.com/r/infisical/infisical) uses different tagging conventions to indicate which database backend is used:

* **Before v0.46.11**
  * Infisical ran on MongoDB backend

* **After v0.46.11**
  * Version tags started to be suffixed with `-postgres`
  * Infisical transitioned to PostgreSQL backend

* **After v0.147.0**
  * Infisical remains on PostgreSQL backend
  * The `-postgres` suffix was removed from tags for brevity