How to do a Postgres Database Migration – Tips from LaunchDarkly

In this interview with Justin Caballero from LaunchDarkly, we discussed their migration from PostgreSQL to CockroachDB. The motivation for the move was to improve scalability and resilience of their database infrastructure. They used feature flags to gradually roll out CockroachDB alongside their existing PostgreSQL setup, allowing them to monitor performance and correctness before fully migrating. The migration process involved converting SQL queries to ensure they performed well on CockroachDB. Justin also mentioned that handling JSON data in CockroachDB has been straightforward. LaunchDarkly currently runs CockroachDB on EC2 instances using traditional infrastructure as code management, but may consider Kubernetes in the future. The key takeaway from this migration is to keep SQL queries simple and use feature flags for gradual rollouts when migrating databases.