Migration from H2 to Production Databases in Spring Boot

October 17, 2025

#1

This guide shows how to migrate a Spring Boot project from H2 to a production database such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.

1. Current Setup with H2

In application.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:testdb
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.h2.Driver
spring.datasource.username=sa
spring.datasource.password=
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update

2. Replace H2 with Production Database

For MySQL, update configuration:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mydb
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
spring.datasource.username=root
spring.datasource.password=secret
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.database-platform=org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect

For PostgreSQL:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver
spring.datasource.username=postgres
spring.datasource.password=secret
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.database-platform=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect

3. Update Dependencies

Add database driver in pom.xml:
MySQL:

<dependency>
  <groupId>mysql</groupId>
  <artifactId>mysql-connector-j</artifactId>
</dependency>

PostgreSQL:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
  <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
</dependency>

4. Verify Schema

Ensure entities map correctly. Use spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=validate to avoid accidental schema changes.

5. Test the Migration

Run the app and confirm that data is stored in the production DB instead of H2.