Restoring db from Immich docker into Immich LXC

[Inderix]

Hello, bit new with working with databases and seeking help with how exactly to handle this.
I'm moving data from a broken and now gone CasaOS system with Immich to a shiny new Proxmox-based setup. I managed to recover the upload directory from the old instance, but I'm a bit stuck on how to move it into the LXC correctly. I've combed over Immich's docs for this, but I'm a bit over my head on what I'm looking at here.

I have a bunch of .gz files in /upload/backup from the old instance as well, the latest one decompressed into a .sql file, I imagine this is a database dump. I've already created an LXC using the immich community script. To be clear I'd like to use the default /opt/immich/upload directory, since the LXC is created on a very spacious drive, I just need a bit of a push in understanding postgres and how to perform the database import.

As for posts similar to my issue:
I've read over #5075 however its not clear to me what applies to my situation.
#5384 - my LXC instance seems to be missing the "postgres" command, I am unsure how to work around that.

in short; i am stupid and lost :(

I'm humbly coming to this community in hopes for an "explain it like im 5" kind of approach to getting this move in complete, I have some command line experience, I promise, I was just terribly unprepared for what I'd be getting into with Docker and database management.

[vhsdream]

Welcome @Inderix 😄

You're not the first one to ask for a guide related to this, since starting over can be painful if you're coming over from Docker. Before the helper-script was out, I had a patchwork LXC of Immich that I had cobbled together, and I wanted to switch to the script version while restoring the DB and using the Immich library I already had. But while I believe I did the DB restore just fine, I couldn't get the new Immich to see the library, and I eventually gave up and exported all the photos from the old library and re-uploaded them to the new.

I believe what you want to do is possible, I just haven't ventured to try again lately, especially since simply keeping up with the script changes takes up so much time as it is. It is something I plan to tackle eventually, though.

If anyone out there has already managed this, they are more than welcome to create a guide for it!

[Inderix]

In my case, with how many albums and the sheer number of photos/videos in the library uploading and manually re-organizing them really isn't too great of a choice due to the circumstances of the old server pretty much imploding. I would greatly appreciate a written guide showing how to import a db backup from a Docker instance into an LXC script instance.

[Azenki]

Found this project: https://github.com/epichfallen/ImmichSafe

don’t have time to check it out right now, anyone want to take a look?

[vhsdream]

This will only work on the Docker version of Immich:

[Azenki]

Ok, we can ignore it 😞

[PPaques]

I successfully migrated Immich from a Docker install to an LXC container. Here’s the roughly process that worked:

1. Prepare the LXC

• Install Immich in the LXC (using the official/community script or manual install).
• Stop the LXC:

pct stop 103   # replace 103 with your CT ID

2. Copy the upload library

Mount the LXC filesystem on the Proxmox host:

pct mount 103
# → mounted CT 103 in '/var/lib/lxc/103/rootfs'

Copy the library (use rsync if you prefer progress / resume):

cp -r /path/to/your/old/upload /var/lib/lxc/103/rootfs/opt/immich/upload
# or
rsync -avh --progress /path/to/your/old/upload/ /var/lib/lxc/103/rootfs/opt/immich/upload/

Fix ownership so the LXC can access the files (this maps to the unprivileged user inside the container):

chown -R 100000:100000 /var/lib/lxc/103/rootfs/opt/immich/upload

Note: This can take a long time on large libraries (≈2 hours for 680 GB with no progress output on hdd storage).

Unmount and start the container:

pct unmount 103
pct start 103

3. Fix ownership inside the LXC

Enter the LXC console as root and run:

chown -R immich:immich /opt/immich/upload

(This step is also slow on big libraries.)

4. Recreate the missing PostgreSQL role

The Docker install used a role that doesn’t exist by default in the LXC setup.

1. Get the database password:

cat /opt/immich/.env | grep DB_PASSWORD

2. Switch to the postgres user and open a shell:

su - postgres -c psql

3. Create the role (replace YOUR_DB_PASSWORD with the real value):

CREATE ROLE immiches WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'YOUR_DB_PASSWORD';
ALTER ROLE immiches CREATEDB;

4. Exit:

\q

5. Import the database dump

• Open the Immich web UI: http://<lxc-ip>:2283
• Go to the server administration / restore section and import your database dump.

Enjoy your restored Immich instance!