# Migrate Azure Database for PostgreSQL: Relational records

Move PostgreSQL data from Azure Database for PostgreSQL to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: a workspace-scoped table, an explicit state machine (draft to review to published) that rejects invalid transitions, and a cross-workspace read that returns nothing (transitions=true isolation=true).

## Source procedure:
Take a logical backup with `pg_dump -Fc` from an allowed network or private endpoint. Not migrated automatically: Microsoft Entra authentication, zone-redundant HA and PITR have no equivalent on the managed database. Cutover: Freeze writes with the user's go-ahead, take the final dump, restore, validate, redeploy with the managed DATABASE_URL, keep the Azure server until confirmed. Rollback: keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

## Representative Queries
- Migrate Azure Database for PostgreSQL: Relational records
- Where can I host Relational records?
- I need a component-scoped export/import or reconfiguration procedure for Relational records, with compatibility checks, verification, and rollback.

## Prerequisites
- Authorized access to the Azure Database 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 Azure Database for PostgreSQL provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: Microsoft Entra authentication, zone-redundant HA and PITR have no equivalent on the managed database.
2. **Source step 1**: Take a logical backup with `pg_dump -Fc` from an allowed network or private endpoint.
3. **Source step 2**: Check the engine major version, extensions, and server parameters 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.
    - Command: `ample database create --name <name> --engine postgres`
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/relational-records).
7. **Cut over**: Freeze writes with the user's go-ahead, take the final dump, restore, validate, redeploy with the managed DATABASE_URL, keep the Azure server 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
- Relational-records check from the destination example
- Data or object counts and checksums match the source

## Limitations
- Documentation only: nothing is executed automatically and no execution binding is offered.
- The source-side procedure is documented from Azure Database 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: Microsoft Entra authentication, zone-redundant HA and PITR 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.

## Cost Estimate
- Monthly Amount: **10.0 USD**
- Basis: Size prices from pricing.toml (loaded by the API) at build revision 1ac5595375130d45290090e82ed0f554ccd45405-dirty
- Components:
    - App server: quantity 1.0, monthly amount 5.0 USD
    - Managed PostgreSQL database: quantity 1.0, monthly amount 5.0 USD
- Note: Destination always-on monthly price of the tested sizes; apps auto-pause when idle. Source costs are unknown to Ample.

## Evidence Summary
- Kind: canary_run
- Summary: Destination side verified: the Express pattern fixture deployed on Ample (npm install, npm run build --if-present, npm run start on the node-22 template) and its checks passed (a workspace-scoped table, an explicit state machine (draft to review to published) that rejects invalid transitions, and a cross-workspace read that returns nothing (transitions=true isolation=true)). 
- Observed At: 2026-09-21

## Last Verified
- Last Verified At: 2026-09-21