> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ghost.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What Databases Are Supported In Production?

> MySQL 8 is the only supported database in production.

***

As a small team developing open source software that is free to use, we provide a narrow set of environments that are officially supported to keep maintenance manageable. Ghost is built for use with Ubuntu, MySQL 8, nginx and Node.js LTS.

MySQL 8 provides features that are optimal for Ghost installations, including the ability to store JSON, and features that help us deliver performance improvements.

If database interoperability is something that you are passionate about, consider supporting the [knex](https://github.com/knex/knex) project.

## How to check your current database in production

* Use `ghost ls` to locate your install and navigate to its location.

* Run `ghost config database.client` this should output `sqlite3` or `mysql`.

* If it says mysql, run `mysql --version` to find the details of your mysql install.

## How to update MySQL 5 to MySQL 8

When upgrading from MySQL 5, you'll need to change your Ghost table collations to the new default of `utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci`. Running the following command will generate a set of `ALTER TABLE` commands needed to correct your database:

`mysql <database> -u <username> -p -B --disable-column-names -h localhost -e 'SELECT CONCAT("ALTER TABLE ",TABLE_SCHEMA,".",TABLE_NAME," CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci; ", "ALTER TABLE ",TABLE_SCHEMA,".",TABLE_NAME," CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci;") AS alter_sql FROM information_schema.TABLES WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = database();'`

Once you have the alter table commands, run:

`mysql <database> -u <username> -p 'set foreign_key_checks=0; <ALTER TABLE COMMANDS> set foreign_key_checks=1;'`

## How to migrate from MariaDB to MySQL 8

We strongly recommend migrating from MariaDB to MySQL 8 —[a helpful guide can be found here](https://forum.ghost.org/t/how-to-migrate-from-mariadb-10-to-mysql-8/29575).

## How to migrate from SQLite3

We strongly recommend switching to MySQL 8 by performing a full [reinstall of Ghost](/reinstall).