How AltexSoft Accelerated Migration of 5,000 Databases for a Hospitality BI Platform

AltexSoft’s team tested two data transfer methods. The first used an ODBC driver—a standard interface for direct database-to-database migration—but it moved data in small batches, resulting in performance issues. We then switched to a bulk workflow: MS SQL exported data into files on separate servers, the scripts applied the required transformations, and PostgreSQL loaded everything in one go. This cut migration time for a small database from about 30 minutes to just 5–10 seconds, so we adopted this approach.

Initially, the client handled the migration one database at a time. They needed a more scalable solution that would allow entire tenants to be moved in a single step. We created a detailed plan to ensure a fast, seamless transition so customers wouldn’t notice the underlying database switch. The plan also included bringing all client databases to a unified, up-to-date version—since different customers were running on different schemas—and accounted for the fact that the client was actively releasing new features during the process. 

As part of the migration project, we updated an internal tool used for database operations such as merging, splitting, and creating backups. The utility required additional development to align it with the upcoming changes. We also modified the data source package. The original component enabled .NET applications to communicate with SQL Server. We replaced this layer and adapted the existing codebase to work with PostgreSQL.