Migrate Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL: Text search over records

Summary

Move PostgreSQL data from Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: a generated tsvector column with a GIN index, ranked websearch queries and a negative query returning nothing (search=ok). Source procedure: Take a logical backup with pg_dump -Fc from a network location that can reach the instance. Not migrated automatically: Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, IAM authentication, PITR and Performance Insights have no equivalent on the managed database. Cutover: Freeze writes at the source with the user's go-ahead, take the final dump, restore, validate, redeploy with the managed DATABASE_URL, keep RDS until confirmed. Rollback: keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

Workload

Text search over records

Migration source

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

Prerequisites

• Authorized access to the Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL source and its export tooling
• An inventory of every component in scope and out of scope
• A validated backup or copy before any cutover
• An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read

Workflow Steps

1. Inventory the source
   List what Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, IAM authentication, PITR and Performance Insights have no equivalent on the managed database.

2. Source step 1
   Take a logical backup with pg_dump -Fc from a network location that can reach the instance.

3. Source step 2
   Check the engine major version, extensions and parameter-group settings the app depends on.

4. Source step 3
   Restore into a scratch managed database first and compare row counts.

5. Provision and restore
   Deploy the app once so a managed PostgreSQL 16 database exists (or create one with ample database create --engine postgres), then restore the dump with pg_restore using its connection string; keep migrations idempotent.

6. Validate before cutover
   Run the app's own checks and, for data, compare counts and checksums; the example checks are the pattern self-tests (/p/text-search-over-records).

7. Cut over
   Freeze writes at the source with the user's go-ahead, take the final dump, restore, validate, redeploy with the managed DATABASE_URL, keep RDS until confirmed.

8. Rollback
   Point DNS or configuration back to the source. The source was never modified; deletion is a separate, user-executed step after validation.

Success Checks

• Destination app responds on its public URL
  Kind: http_get Path: /
  Expect: ample canary express patterns

• Text-search-over-records check from the destination example
  Kind: http_get Path: /p/text-search-over-records Expect: see the pattern fixture checks

• Data or object counts and checksums match the source
  Kind: manual Expect: operator comparison before cutover

Limitations

• Documentation only: nothing is executed automatically and no execution binding is offered.
• The source-side procedure is documented from Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL's standard tooling and was not executed in this catalog's evidence; the destination side was verified with the pattern fixture.
• No full source-product parity is claimed: Multi-AZ failover, read replicas, IAM authentication, PITR and Performance Insights have no equivalent on the managed database.
• Verified on the node-22 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; region, compliance and request-duration limits are unknown.
• Managed PostgreSQL 16 only; extensions, connection limits and backup or restore procedures on the managed side are not verified beyond the pattern checks.