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Migrate from Heroku Postgres to Xata

Learn how to migrate your Heroku Postgres database to Xata using xata clone. Step-by-step instructions for enabling logical replication and configuring the migration.

Prerequisites

  • Heroku Postgres add-on
  • Heroku CLI installed
  • Xata account and project setup
  • Network access to your Heroku database

Install and Configure the Xata CLI

Install the Xata CLI:

curl -fsSL https://xata.io/install.sh | bash

Authenticate with your Xata account:

xata auth login

Get Connection String

Find Your Connection Details

  1. Using Heroku CLI:

    heroku config:get DATABASE_URL --app your-app-name

  2. Using Heroku Dashboard:

    • Go to Heroku Dashboard
    • Select your app
    • Go to "Resources" → "Heroku Postgres"
    • Click "Settings" → "View Credentials"

Connection String Format

Heroku connection strings typically look like this:

postgresql://your_username:your_password@your-heroku-host:5432/your_database?sslmode=require

Network Configuration

Public Access

Heroku Postgres databases are typically accessible from the internet:

  1. No additional configuration needed for public access
  2. SSL is required by default
  3. Connection limits may apply based on your plan

Private Access (Premium Plans)

If you're on a Premium plan with private access:

  1. Use Heroku Private Spaces
  2. Configure VPC peering if needed
  3. Run migration from within Heroku environment

Replicate Database Roles

Before migrating your data, you'll need to replicate the database roles from your source database to your Xata branch.

Extract Roles from Source Database

Connect to your source database and extract the role definitions:

-- Extract role definitions (run this on your source database)
SELECT 
    'CREATE ROLE ' || rolname || ' WITH ' ||
    CASE WHEN rolcanlogin THEN 'LOGIN ' ELSE 'NOLOGIN ' END ||
    CASE WHEN rolsuper THEN 'SUPERUSER ' ELSE 'NOSUPERUSER ' END ||
    CASE WHEN rolinherit THEN 'INHERIT ' ELSE 'NOINHERIT ' END ||
    CASE WHEN rolcreaterole THEN 'CREATEROLE ' ELSE 'NOCREATEROLE ' END ||
    CASE WHEN rolcreatedb THEN 'CREATEDB ' ELSE 'NOCREATEDB ' END ||
    CASE WHEN rolreplication THEN 'REPLICATION ' ELSE 'NOREPLICATION ' END ||
    CASE WHEN rolbypassrls THEN 'BYPASSRLS ' ELSE 'NOBYPASSRLS ' END ||
    'CONNECTION LIMIT ' || COALESCE(rolconnlimit, -1) || ';' as create_role_statement
FROM pg_roles 
WHERE rolname NOT LIKE 'pg_%'
ORDER BY rolname;

Apply Roles to Xata Branch

  1. Connect to your Xata branch:

    psql `xata branch url`

  2. Execute the role creation statements from the previous step

Initialize Xata Project

Set up your Xata project configuration:

xata init

Configure the Migration

Set up your clone configuration with optional anonymization:

# Set your source URL
export XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL="postgresql://your_username:your_password@your-heroku-host:5432/your_database?sslmode=require"

# Configure anonymization rules
xata clone config --source-url $XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL --mode prompt

Start the Migration

Begin the data transfer:

# Start the migration
xata clone start --source-url $XATA_CLI_SOURCE_POSTGRES_URL

Monitor Progress

Check the migration status:

xata clone status

Verification

After migration, verify your data:

  1. Connect to Xata Branch:

    psql `xata branch url`

  2. Check Data Integrity:

    -- Compare row counts
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM your_table;

-- Check sample data
SELECT * FROM your_table LIMIT 10;

  3. Test Relationships: Verify foreign key relationships work correctly

Next Steps