Migrate a database

You can use the neo4j-admin database migrate command to migrate a Neo4j database from one store format to another or to a later MAJOR version of the same format.

A store format defines how the data of a database is stored on the file system.

As of Neo4j 5, the store format of a database is versioned with the MAJOR.MINOR scheme, independent of Neo4j versioning. An upgrade to the latest MINOR format version is an automatic operation performed on database startup. A migration to a higher MAJOR format version or another format is a manual action performed with the migrate command.

The store format for new databases can be set with the db.format configuration setting.

Syntax

The neo4j-admin database migrate has the following syntax:

neo4j-admin database migrate [-h] [--expand-commands]
                             [--force-btree-indexes-to-range]
                             [--verbose]
                             [--additional-config=<file>] [--pagecache=<size>]
                             [--to-format=standard|high_limit|aligned] <database>

The neo4j-admin database migrate command is run only on a stopped database.

Parameters

Table 1. neo4j-admin database migrate parameters
Parameter Description

<database>

Name of the database to migrate. Can contain * and ? for globbing. Note that * and ? have special meaning in some shells and might need to be escaped or used with quotes.

Options

The neo4j-admin database migrate command has the following options:

Table 2. neo4j-admin database migrate options
Option Description

--additional-config=<file>

Configuration file with additional configuration.

--expand-commands

Allow command expansion in config value evaluation.

--force-btree-indexes-to-range

Special option for automatically turning all BTREE indexes/constraints into RANGE. Be aware that RANGE indexes are not always the optimal replacement of BTREEs and performance may be affected while the new indexes are populated. See the Neo4j v5 migration guide online for more information. The newly created indexes will be populated in the background on the first database start up following the migration and users should monitor the successful completion of that process.

BTREE indexes are not supported in Neo4j 5 and the neo4j-admin database migrate command will remove all BTREE indexes and BTREE index-backed constraints. It is recommended to create valid replacements before migrating the database. For more information, see [Upgrade and Migration Guide → Prepare indexes.

-h, --help

Show this help message and exit.

--pagecache=<size>

The size of the page cache to use for the migration process. The general rule is that values up to the size of the database proportionally increase performance.

--to-format=standard|high_limit|aligned

Name of the format to migrate the store to. If the format is specified, the target database is migrated to the latest known combination of MAJOR and MINOR versions of the specified format. If not specified, the tool migrates the target database to the latest known combination of MAJOR and MINOR versions of the current format.

--verbose

Enable verbose output.

Example

The following example migrates the movies database to the latest known combination of MAJOR and MINOR versions of the high_limit format:

neo4j-admin database migrate --to-format=high_limit movies
Example output
2022-11-10 12:55:35.542+0000 INFO  [o.n.c.d.MigrateStoreCommand] Starting migration for database 'movies'
2022-11-10 12:55:36.061+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] 'record-aligned-1.1' has been identified as the current version of the store
2022-11-10 12:55:36.061+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] 'record-high_limit-1.1' has been identified as the target version of the store migration
2022-11-10 12:55:36.065+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Starting migration of database
2022-11-10 12:55:36.154+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating Store files (1/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:36.828+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.f.RecordFormatSelector] Selected RecordFormat:HighLimitV5_0[high_limit-1.1] record format from store $NEO4J_HOME/data/databases/movies/migrate
2022-11-10 12:55:36.828+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.f.RecordFormatSelector] Selected format from the store files: RecordFormat:HighLimitV5_0[high_limit-1.1]
2022-11-10 12:55:37.020+0000 INFO  [o.n.i.b.ImportLogic] Import starting
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.924+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:37.925+0000 INFO  [o.n.i.b.ImportLogic] Import completed successfully, took 903ms. Imported:
  171 nodes
  253 relationships
  564 properties
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating text-1.0 (2/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.515+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating range-1.0 indexes (3/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.516+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating Fulltext indexes (4/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating point-1.0 indexes (5/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:38.517+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating Token indexes (6/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:38.518+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Migrating text-2.0 (7/7):
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   10% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   20% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.519+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   30% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   40% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   50% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   60% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   70% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   80% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   90% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.520+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator]   100% completed
2022-11-10 12:55:38.628+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Starting transaction logs migration.
2022-11-10 12:55:38.660+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Transaction logs migration completed.
2022-11-10 12:55:38.696+0000 INFO  [o.n.k.i.s.StoreMigrator] Successfully finished migration of database, took 2s 631ms
2022-11-10 12:55:38.698+0000 INFO  [o.n.c.d.MigrateStoreCommand] Database migration completed successfully