# Is it possible for gateway settings to be stored on an external database? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** docker\ **Created:** [July 17, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442 "2026-07-17T13:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![derek.delizo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/derek.delizo/32/84136_2.png) [@derek.delizo](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/derek.delizo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/1 "2026-07-17T13:46:30Z")
I come from a Full Stack developer background and was thinking how for frontend applications the state and settings are retrieved from the database on the backend. I recall that ignition 8.1 stored gateway settings in .idb files, which are just sqlite databases, and was wondering is it possible to move that sqlite database to be outside the ignition container? That way ignition gateways could be stateless and when booting they can get their settings from the database server. This could make it easier for changes to be stored without the need for making gateway backups. It also would make deployments with ignition containers a lot more flexible because they can get the information they need from a single source of truth. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/2 "2026-07-17T13:57:03Z")
We moved away from storing config in SQLite in 8.3… You _could_ mount that idb or config directory elsewhere, but external databases as in other databases that aren’t SQLite - probably not. ---
**Author:** ![derek.delizo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/derek.delizo/32/84136_2.png) [@derek.delizo](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/derek.delizo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/3 "2026-07-17T13:58:07Z")
I understand that its being moved away from, are you saying its impossible to do that now? Or is there support in the ignition sdk to implement a solution like this? ---
**Author:** ![Noah\_Burnette](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/noah_burnette/32/83777_2.png) [@Noah\_Burnette](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Noah_Burnette)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/4 "2026-07-17T13:59:12Z")
Hi Derek, 8.3 configuration moved to the filesystem so you can point a volume mount to the configuration folder. > **[Ignition Version Control Example​ - Version and Source Control Guide | Ignition...](https://www.docs.inductiveautomation.com/docs/8.3/tutorials/version-control-guide#ignition-version-control-example)** > > 💡Have feedback for this page? Let us know on the IA Forum. | Learn more about best practices for setting up version control in Ignition. When I used VCS for 8.1, each gateway had a gateway backup (.gwbk) although I had to rip out all of the projects, themes, and tags so when we restarted the gateway, it didn't overwrite any changes. If you are curious: > [@Using Git with Docker](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/using-git-with-docker/114227/4): > > Hi Brian, Are you using 8.1 or 8.3? For 8.1, there are some significant steps I had to take to be able to version ignition reliably. I would recommend using a docker compose with volume mounts to point your data/projects to a directory in the git repo like your-repo/ignition. That will get you 80% there. It will version all of your views, scripts and other plain text files related to your projects. The last 20% is the hard part. I personally use the [tag cicd module](https://github.com/design-group/ignition-tag-cicd-module) to store the UDTs in data/pr… ---
**Author:** ![Noah\_Burnette](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/noah_burnette/32/83777_2.png) [@Noah\_Burnette](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Noah_Burnette)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/5 "2026-07-17T14:01:49Z")
Shouldn't need the SDK to do what you are proposing. ---
**Author:** ![derek.delizo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/derek.delizo/32/84136_2.png) [@derek.delizo](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/derek.delizo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/6 "2026-07-17T15:23:52Z")
> [@Is it possible for gateway settings to be stored on an external database?](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/4): > > Hi Derek, 8.3 configuration moved to the filesystem so you can point a volume mount to the configuration folder. When I used VCS for 8.1, each gateway had a gateway backup (.gwbk) although I had to rip out all of the projects, themes, and tags so when we restarted the gateway, it didn't overwrite any changes. If you are curious: I know you can do a bind mount, but that doesn't work for the deployment I am trying to do. Bind mounts require the container is on the same machine or VM as the container. This doesn't work for cluster deployments. We are using HashiCorp nomad for our container orchestrator. The ignition gateways are built into docker images based on the files in the git repo. Git is used to track the changes for each gateway and act as a source of truth. At the same time it makes it difficult to get the changes from the container back to the VM do to the structure of the git repository. If the gateway settings were stored in a central database it would add a lot more flexibility to deploying updated images because they could get their settings from the database and could be deployed anywhere in the cluster. ---
**Author:** ![Noah\_Burnette](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/noah_burnette/32/83777_2.png) [@Noah\_Burnette](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Noah_Burnette)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 4:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/7 "2026-07-17T16:13:36Z")
Thanks for the response, I don't have specifics so feel free to include more information. > Bind mounts require the container is on the same machine or VM as the container Could you not use a network backed persistent volume instead? If a node fails, you can reattach the volume to the replacement node. (I don't know how this behaves with licensing) > The ignition gateways are built into docker images based on the files in the git repo Can you clarify what you mean by this? Are you referring to the versionable resources like scripts, views, etc? Or the entirety of the gateway configuration is built into the image? > Git is used to track the changes for each gateway and act as a source of truth. At the same time it makes it difficult to get the changes from the container back to the VM due to the structure of the git repository. Correct me if I'm wrong, if you're trying to synchronize production runtime changes from the container back into Git, then the **running gateway** is the source of truth for the configuration. ```python GitOps dev -> commit & push -> git -> deploy -> prod Runtime Changes prod -> config change -> commit & push -> git ``` With 8.3, deployment modes and overrides make it more feasible for Git to **actually** be the source of truth. > If the gateway settings were stored in a central database it would add a lot more flexibility to deploying updated images. Even if this was possible, I would be wary of this approach because it introduces a SPOF. Your source of truth would **still** be split between said database and the git repo and would break on the 8.3 upgrade. Have you considered upgrading to 8.3? It's getting quite stable with the recent bug fixes. Hope this helps! ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/is-it-possible-for-gateway-settings-to-be-stored-on-an-external-database/116442/8 "2026-07-17T17:12:55Z")
The canonical way to do this (as of 8.3) is to deliver container configuration that should be immutable via the special `external` configuration (which the gateway knows not to touch). We have no interest in going back to a single canonical 'database' model for gateway configuration, and honestly you're the first person I've ever heard ask for it.