pgadmin4/docs/en_US/import_export_servers.rst

.. _export_import_servers:

******************************
`Import/Export Servers`:index:
******************************

Server definitions (and their groups) can be exported to a JSON file and
re-imported to the same or a different system to enable easy pre-configuration
of pgAdmin. The ``setup.py`` script is used for this purpose.

.. note:: To export or import servers, you must use the Python interpreter that
        is normally used to run pgAdmin to ensure that the required Python
        packages are available. In most packages, this can be found in the
        Python Virtual Environment that can be found in the installation
        directory. When using platform-native packages, the system installation
        of Python may be the one used by pgAdmin.

Exporting Servers
*****************

To export the servers defined in an installation, simply invoke ``setup.py`` with
the ``--dump-servers`` command line option, followed by the name (and if required,
path) to the desired output file. By default, servers owned by the desktop mode
user will be dumped (pgadmin4@pgadmin.org by default - see the DESKTOP_USER
setting in ``config.py``). This can be overridden with the ``--user`` command
line option. There can be multiple configuations of pgAdmin on the same system.
To dump the servers from specific pgAdmin config DB file, ``--sqlite-path`` option
can be used. It is also recommended to use this option when running pgAdmin in
desktop mode. By default SQLITE_PATH setting in ``config.py`` is taken.
For example:

.. code-block:: bash

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --dump-servers output_file.json

    # or, to specify a non-default user name:

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --dump-servers output_file.json --user user@example.com

    # to specify a pgAdmin config DB file:

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --dump-servers output_file.json --sqlite-path /path/to/pgadmin4.db

To export only certain servers, use the ``--servers`` option and list one or
more server IDs. For example:

.. code-block:: bash

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --dump-servers output_file.json --server 1 2 5

Importing Servers
*****************

To import the servers defined in a JSON file, simply invoke ``setup.py`` with
the ``--load-servers`` command line option, followed by the name (and if required,
path) of the JSON file containing the server definitions. Servers will be owned
by the desktop mode user (pgadmin4@pgadmin.org by default - see the DESKTOP_USER
setting in ``config.py``). This can be overridden with the ``--user`` command
line option. There can be multiple configuations of pgAdmin on the same system.
The default behaviour is for the imported servers to be added to the existent list,
which might lead to duplicates. This can be overridden with the ``--replace`` command
line option, which will replace the list of servers with the newly imported one.
To load the servers into a specific pgAdmin config DB file, ``--sqlite-path`` option
can be used. It is also recommended to use this option when running pgAdmin in
desktop mode. By default SQLITE_PATH setting in ``config.py`` is taken. For example:

.. code-block:: bash

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --load-servers input_file.json

    # or, to replace the list of servers with the newly imported one:

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --load-servers input_file.json --replace

    # or, to specify a non-default user name to own the new servers:

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --load-servers input_file.json --user user@example.com

    # to specify a pgAdmin config DB file:

    /path/to/python /path/to/setup.py --load-servers input_file.json --sqlite-path /path/to/pgadmin4.db

If any Servers are defined with a Server Group that is not already present in
the configuration database, the required Group will be created.

JSON format
***********

The JSON file format used when importing or exporting servers is quite
straightforward and simply contains a list of servers, with a number of
attributes. The following attributes are required to be present in every server
definition: Name, Group, Port, Username, SSLMode, MaintenanceDB and one of Host,
HostAddr or Service.

Password fields cannot be imported or exported.

The following example shows both a minimally defined and a fully defined server:

.. code-block:: python

    {
        "Servers": {
            "1": {
                "Name": "Minimally Defined Server",
                "Group": "Server Group 1",
                "Port": 5432,
                "Username": "postgres",
                "Host": "localhost",
                "SSLMode": "prefer",
                "MaintenanceDB": "postgres"
            },
            "2": {
                "Name": "Fully Defined Server",
                "Group": "Server Group 2",
                "Host": "host.domain.com",
                "HostAddr": "192.168.1.2",
                "Port": 5432,
                "MaintenanceDB": "postgres",
                "Username": "postgres",
                "Role": "my_role_name",
                "SSLMode": "require",
                "Comment": "This server has every option configured in the JSON",
                "DBRestriction": "live_db test_db",
                "PassFile": "/path/to/pgpassfile",
                "SSLCert": "/path/to/sslcert.crt",
                "SSLKey": "/path/to/sslcert.key",
                "SSLRootCert": "/path/to/sslroot.crt",
                "SSLCrl": "/path/to/sslcrl.crl",
                "SSLCompression": 1,
                "Shared": false,
                "BGColor": "#ff9900",
                "FGColor": "#000000",
                "Service": "postgresql-10",
                "Timeout": 60,
                "UseSSHTunnel": 1,
                "TunnelHost": "192.168.1.253",
                "TunnelPort": 22,
                "TunnelUsername": "username",
                "TunnelAuthentication": 0
            }
        }
    }