---
title: Migrate data from self-hosted TimescaleDB to MST | Tiger Data Docs
description: Migrate a self-hosted TimescaleDB database to Managed Service for TimescaleDB
---

You can migrate your data from self-hosted TimescaleDB to Managed Service for TimescaleDB and automate most of the common operational tasks.

Each MST service has a database named `defaultdb`, and a default user account named `tsdbadmin`. You use MST Console to create additional users and databases using the `Users` and `Databases` tabs.

You can switch between different plan sizes in Managed Service for TimescaleDB. However, during the migration process, choose a plan size that has the same storage size or slightly larger than the currently allocated plan. This allows you to limit the downtime during the migration process and have sufficient compute and storage resources.

Depending on your database size and network speed, migration can take a very long time. During this time, any new writes that happen during the migration process are not included. To prevent data loss, turn off all the writes to the source self-hosted TimescaleDB database before you start migration.

Before migrating for production, do a cold run without turning off writes to the source self-hosted TimescaleDB database. This gives you an estimate of the time the migration process takes, and helps you to practice migrating without causing downtime to your customers.

If you prefer the features of Tiger Cloud, you can easily [migrate your data](/docs/migrate/live-migration/index.md) from an MST service to a Tiger Cloud service.

## Before you begin

- Set up the migration machine:

  You run the migration commands on the migration machine. It must have enough disk space to hold the dump file.

  - Install the PostgreSQL [`pg_dump`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgdump.html) and [`pg_restore`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-pgrestore.html) utilities on a migration machine.
  - Install a client to connect to self-hosted TimescaleDB and Managed Service for TimescaleDB. These instructions use [`psql`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-psql.html), but any client works.

- [Create a target MST service](/docs/deploy/mst/create-mst-service/index.md):

  Provision your target MST service with enough space for all your data.

- On the source self-hosted TimescaleDB and the target MST service, ensure that you are running:

  - The same major version of PostgreSQL. For information, see [upgrade PostgreSQL](/docs/deploy/self-hosted/upgrades/upgrade-pg/index.md).
  - The same major version of TimescaleDB. For more information, see [upgrade TimescaleDB to a major version](/docs/deploy/self-hosted/upgrades/major-upgrade/index.md).

## Migrate your data to an MST service

To move your data from self-hosted TimescaleDB instance to a MST service, run the following commands from your migration machine:

1. **Take offline the applications that connect to the source**

   The duration of migration is proportional to the amount of data stored in your database. By disconnecting your app from your database, you avoid possible data loss.

2. **Set your connection strings**

   These variables hold the connection information for the source self-hosted TimescaleDB instance and the target MST service:

   Terminal window

   ```
   export SOURCE="postgres://<user>:<password>@<source host>:<source port>/<db_name>"
   export TARGET="postgres://tsdbadmin:<password>@<host>:<port>/defaultdb?sslmode=require"
   ```

3. **Dump the data from your source service**

   Terminal window

   ```
   pg_dump -d "$SOURCE" --no-owner -Fc -v -f dump.bak
   ```

4. **Restore the data to your target service**

   1. Put your target MST service in the right state for restoring:

      Terminal window

      ```
      psql -d "$TARGET" -c "SELECT timescaledb_pre_restore();"
      ```

   2. Upload your data to the target MST service:

      Terminal window

      ```
      pg_restore -d "$TARGET" --jobs 4 -Fc dump.bak
      ```

      The `--jobs` option specifies the number of CPUs to use to dump and restore the database concurrently.

   3. Return your target MST service to normal operations:

      Terminal window

      ```
      psql -d "$TARGET" -c "SELECT timescaledb_post_restore();"
      ```

5. **Update table statistics**

   Connect to your new database and update your table statistics by running [`ANALYZE`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/sql-analyze.html) on your entire dataset:

   Terminal window

   ```
   psql -d "$TARGET" -c "ANALYZE;"
   ```

To migrate from multiple databases, you repeat this migration procedure one database after another.

## Troubleshooting

If you see the following errors during migration, you can safely ignore them. The migration still runs successfully.

- For `pg_dump`:

  Terminal window

  ```
  pg_dump: warning: there are circular foreign-key constraints on this table:
  pg_dump: hypertable
  pg_dump: You might not be able to restore the dump without using --disable-triggers or temporarily dropping the constraints.
  pg_dump: Consider using a full dump instead of a --data-only dump to avoid this problem.
  pg_dump: NOTICE:  hypertable data are in the chunks, no data will be copied
  DETAIL:  Data for hypertables are stored in the chunks of a hypertable so COPY TO of a hypertable will not copy any data.
  HINT:  Use "COPY (SELECT * FROM <hypertable>) TO ..." to copy all data in hypertable, or copy each chunk individually.
  ```

- For `pg_restore`:

  Terminal window

  ```
  pg_restore: while PROCESSING TOC:
  pg_restore: from TOC entry 4142; 0 0 COMMENT EXTENSION timescaledb
  pg_restore: error: could not execute query: ERROR:  must be owner of extension timescaledb
  Command was: COMMENT ON EXTENSION timescaledb IS 'Enables scalable inserts and complex queries for time-series data';
  ```