matrix-docker-ansible-deploy/docs/importing-postgres.md

Importing an existing Postgres database from another installation (optional)

Run this if you'd like to import your database from a previous installation of Synapse. (don't forget to import your media_store files as well - see the importing-media-store guide).

Prerequisites

For this to work, the database name in Postgres must match what this playbook uses. This playbook uses a Postgres database name of homeserver by default (controlled by the matrix_postgres_db_name variable). If your database name differs, be sure to change matrix_postgres_db_name to your desired name and to re-run the playbook before proceeding.

The playbook supports importing Postgres dump files in text (e.g. pg_dump > dump.sql) or gzipped formats (e.g. pg_dump | gzip -c > dump.sql.gz).

Before doing the actual import, you need to upload your Postgres dump file to the server (any path is okay).

Importing

To import, run this command (make sure to replace <server-path-to-postgres-dump.sql> with a file path on your server):

ansible-playbook -i inventory/hosts setup.yml --extra-vars='server_path_postgres_dump=<server-path-to-postgres-dump.sql>' --tags=import-postgres

Note: <server-path-to-postgres-dump.sql> must be a file path to a Postgres dump file on the server (not on your local machine!).