Migrate using Docker Compose

This runbook migrates a running Anchore Enterprise v5.x Docker Compose deployment to v6.1 or later. It assumes the commands are run on the host where the deployment lives. Before you begin, read the migration overview to understand what the migration does and what you need in place.

Rather than editing your existing v5.x docker-compose.yaml file in place, this guide has you start from a clean copy of the v6.1 reference compose file and move your data into it.

The migration has two parts: we safely migrate the underlying PostgreSQL database from PostgreSQL 13 to PostgreSQL 17, and we then move the actual Anchore Enterprise application images from v5.x to v6.1. Starting from the v6.1 template takes care of both at once — the template already runs PostgreSQL 17, and once your data is restored into it, Anchore Enterprise upgrades its own database schema automatically on first boot.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Confirm the deployment is currently running a supported Anchore Enterprise v5.x release. Check the Recommended Component Versions table in the Release Notes for the version you’re moving from.
• Docker and Docker Compose installed and up to date.
• A valid license.yaml.
• Ensure sufficient disk space exists for database backups, temporary migration files, and the additional PostgreSQL volume — a full second copy of your database’s data directory, plus the export file, at minimum.
• A maintenance window — you will need to stop the deployment and writes to the database before the final export in Step 5 so no data is missed.

Migration Procedure

Step 1: Stop All Services

docker compose down --remove-orphans

This begins the downtime window.

Step 2: Back Up Your Existing Configuration

Before making any changes, back up the existing docker-compose.yaml and, optionally, the Docker volumes. Please file away the backup of the file somewhere safe so that you do not accidentally use/delete it.

cp docker-compose.yaml docker-compose-v5.yaml.bak

Step 3: Set Up a New Deployment Directory

Create a separate directory for the v6.1 deployment. Do not reuse your v5.x deployment directory. This method keeps the two deployments, and their compose projects, independent until you’re ready to retire v5.x.

mkdir anchore-enterprise-v6 && cd anchore-enterprise-v6

Step 4: Download the v6.x Deployment Files

Your new v6.x directory will need a new v6.1 formatted docker-compose.yaml file, your license file which we can copy from the old v5.x directory, and a Dockerfile that we also provide for download from our official documentation site for building the new Postgres 17 Database:

curl -sSfL https://docs.anchore.com/current/docs/deployment/docker_compose/docker-compose.yaml > docker-compose.yaml
curl -sSfL https://docs.anchore.com/current/docs/deployment/docker_compose/Dockerfile.anchore-db > Dockerfile.anchore-db
cp /path/to/your/v5-license.yaml ./license.yaml

Step 5: Configure Secrets

Follow Step 4: Configure Secrets in the standard deployment guide to set POSTGRES_PASSWORD, ANCHORE_ADMIN_PASSWORD, ANCHORE_AUTH_SECRET, and ANCHORE_DB_PASSWORD. These are fresh secrets for the new deployment — they do not need to match the values your v5.x deployment used.

Step 6: Start Only the New Database

docker compose up -d anchore-db

Wait for it to report healthy before continuing:

docker compose ps anchore-db

Step 7: Export the v5.x Database

From your v5.x deployment directory, stop writes and export the database - we are going to export it to our new v6 deployment directory and then from there you can decide where you want to move it to after the migration is complete:

docker compose exec -T anchore-db pg_dump -U postgres -Fc -d postgres -f /tmp/anchore-v5-export.dump
docker compose cp anchore-db:/tmp/anchore-v5-export.dump path/to/v6-deployment/anchore-v5-export.dump

Step 8: Restore the Data into the New Database

From your new v6.x deployment directory run the below command to restore data from the export that you previously took from the old database into the new database:

docker compose exec -T anchore-db pg_restore -U postgres -d postgres --clean --if-exists --no-owner < ./anchore-v5-export.dump

Step 9: Start the Full v6.x Deployment

Again, from inside the new v6.x deployment directory run the below to bring up the full v6 deployment:

docker compose up -d

Anchore Enterprise performs its own database schema migration in-process on first boot, upgrading your restored v5.x data to the v6.1 schema automatically — no separate migration command is needed.

Step 10: Validate the Upgrade

Retire the Old v5.x Deployment (Optional)

Once the upgrade is validated and you feel comfortable and confident you won’t need to roll back, you can take the real final (but completely optional!) step of removing the v5.x deployment’s volume backup. Our recommendation is to retain the database dump file, the original compose file, and the volume backup until the upgraded deployment has been fully validated in production.

docker volume rm <your-old-db-volume-name>

Downtime Expectations

This migration requires application downtime during the database export and restore.Downtime duration depends on database size, disk performance, and system resources.