Migrate to a new server

You can migrate your Funkwhale installation if you are setting up a new server. This can be useful if you are moving to a different hosting provider or upgrading your server.

In this guide we refer to your servers like this:

Original server

The server on which you are running Funkwhale.

Destination server

The server to which you want to move your Funkwhale installation.

Note

Make sure you back up your data before proceeding. This ensures you don’t lose anything during the migration.

Requirements

To get started with your new setup, you need to do the following:

• Set up SSH access between both servers.

• Install rsync on the destination server.

1. Install Funkwhale on your destination server

Before you move your data, you need to install Funkwhale on your destination server.

Debian

On your destination server, follow the installation guide. Skip the following steps:

• Don’t enable the unaccent and citext extensions when you set up the database.

• Don’t run the funkwhale-manage migrate command to migrate the database.

• Don’t create a superuser.

Once you have finished the installation, stop the Funkwhale services. These shouldn’t be running when you copy your existing data over.

sudo systemctl stop funkwhale.target

Docker

On your destination server, follow the installation guide. Skip the following steps:

• Don’t run the funkwhale-manage migrate command to migrate the database.

• Don’t create a superuser.

Once you have finished the installation, stop the Funkwhale services. These shouldn’t be running when you copy your existing data over.

docker compose stop

2. Create a database backup

You need to create a database backup on your original server so that you can migrate your database. To do this, run the following command:

Debian

sudo -u postgres -H pg_dump funkwhale > /srv/funkwhale/dump.sql

Docker

docker compose exec postgres pg_dumpall -c -U postgres > dump.sql

3. Copy files to your destination server

Next, you can copy your files from your original server to your destination server. You need to copy the following data:

• Your .env file.

• The database backup.

• The /srv/funkwhale/data/media directory.

• The /srv/funkwhale/data/music directory.

To do this:

1. Log in to your destination server.

2. Export your server hostname or IP address and your user name on the server. In this example, the IP address is 123.123.123.123 and the username is funkwhale.

   export ORIGIN="123.123.123.123"
   export USERNAME="funkwhale"
   

3. Use rsync to copy the information to your destination server.

   rsync -a $username@$origin:/srv/funkwhale/data/media/ /srv/funkwhale/data/media/ rsync -a #Copy the media folder
   $username@$origin:/srv/funkwhale/data/music/ /srv/funkwhale/data/music/  rsync -a  # Copy the music folder
   $username@$origin:/srv/funkwhale/config/.env /srv/funkwhale/config/ rsync -a  # Copy the .env file
   $username@$origin:/srv/funkwhale/dump.sql /srv/funkwhale/ # Copy your database backup
   

4. Restore your database backup

When you’ve copied everything to the destination server, you need to import your database backup. To do this:

Debian

Run the following on your destination server:

sudo psql -d funkwhale dump.sql

When the import finishes, run the funkwhale-manage migrate command to set up the database.

cd /srv/funkwhale
venv/bin/funkwhale-manage migrate

Docker

You need to initialize the postgres container on your destination server. To do this:

1. Export the permissions and create an init.sql database dump.

   echo "CREATE DATABASE "funkwhale" WITH ENCODING 'utf8'; \
   CREATE USER funkwhale; \
   GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE funkwhale TO funkwhale;" > init.sql # Create an init.sql file with the correct permissions
   
   docker compose run --rm postgres psql -U postgres -d postgres < "init.sql" # Import the init.sql file
   

2. Import your database backup.

   docker compose run --rm postgres psql -U postgres -d postgres < "dump.sql"
   

3. When the import finishes, run the funkwhale-manage migrate command to set up the database.

   docker compose run --rm api funkwhale-manage migrate
   

5. Check your DNS settings

Before you start Funkwhale on your destination server, check your DNS changes have propagated. Once your hostname is pointing to your destination server’s IP address, proceed to the next step.

6. Start your new Funkwhale installation

Once you confirm DNS points to your destination server, start the Funkwhale services:

Debian

sudo systemctl start funkwhale.target

Docker

docker compose up -d

That’s it! You’ve migrated your Funkwhale instance to a new server.