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Copy data between databases: a Golang kata

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Posted on 22.12.2022
Last updated on 04.12.2024
Image by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
Refill!

Table of contents

This time I had a task of transferring some data between two Postgres instances, and I decided to go with a script.

👉 Note: Clearly, it takes a while to write code in Go, even knowing the syntax and packages by heart. That is, in case if, by chance, you know Node or Python, it would make sense to make use of this technology for making one-purpose scripts instead, because the development cycle there is objectively shorter.

Having a script for that kind of tasks is normally considered to be an overkill. If one wishes to copy data from one table to another, they just use the select-insert SQL syntax. Alternatively, the pg_dump and psql can be used to copy entire tables.

In my cases I needed to copy data between two database instances, potentially with some intricate logic implemented, so the thing was more similar to a migration script. Here is what I ended up with, give or take some styling and omitting all business-related stuff.

# Copier class

The core class is presented in the listing below. The code is quite self-explanatory.

👉 📃  internal/copier/copier.go
package copier
import (
"context"
"database/sql"
"fmt"
"github.com/gocraft/dbr/v2"
"github.com/gocraft/dbr/v2/dialect"
"github.com/google/uuid"
"github.com/lib/pq"
"github.com/luna-duclos/instrumentedsql"
)
const (
// TableName holds the name of the table which contains elements we copy
TableName = "elements"
)
type Options struct {
SrcDBPort int32
SrcDBUser string
SrcDBPassword string
DstDBPort int32
DstDBUser string
DstDBPassword string
}
// Element describes a structure of an element we copy.
// The field types could be as well just interface{}, because I simply copy-paste it, not manipulating.
type Element struct {
ID string `db:"id"`
Title string `db:"title"`
}
type Copier struct {
options *Options
}
func New(options *Options) *Copier {
return &Copier{
options: options,
}
}
// CopyElements copies elements under given IDs from the source database to a destination database
func (c *Copier) CopyElements(ids []string) error {
srcDB, dstDB, err := c.makeConnections()
if err != nil {
return err
}
defer srcDB.Close()
defer dstDB.Close()
srcDBSession := srcDB.NewSession(nil)
dstDBSession := dstDB.NewSession(nil)
// for the destination table session we create a transaction,
// so in case if there is a problem, the entire operation gets rolled back
dstDBTransaction, err := dstDBSession.Begin()
if err != nil {
return err
}
defer dstDBTransaction.RollbackUnlessCommitted()
ctx := context.Background()
processed := 0
for _, id := range ids {
// for every ID we get an element from the source database
// absence of en element is not an error
element, err := c.getElementByID(ctx, srcDBSession, id)
if err != nil {
fmt.Printf("Could not read element with id %s\n", id)
return err
}
if element.ID == "" {
fmt.Printf("Could not read element with id %s: element not found\n", id)
continue
}
fmt.Printf("Copying element %s\n", id)
err = c.saveElement(ctx, dstDBTransaction, element)
if err != nil {
fmt.Printf("Could not create an element with id %s\n", element.ID)
return err
}
processed += 1
}
err = dstDBTransaction.Commit()
if err != nil {
return err
}
fmt.Printf("Done. Items processed: %d\n", processed)
return nil
}
// getElementByID returns an element from the source database, by it's ID
func (c *Copier) getElementByID(ctx context.Context, session *dbr.Session, id string) (element *Element, err error) {
_, err = session.
Select("*").
From(TableName).
Where("id = ?", id).
LoadContext(ctx, &element)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
return element, nil
}
// saveElement saves a given element to the destination database
func (c *Copier) saveElement(ctx context.Context, session *dbr.Tx, element *Element) error {
columns := []string{"id", "title"}
// to avoid primary key collisions, the ID column must be different
element.ID = uuid.New().String()
err := session.InsertInto(TableName).Columns(columns...).Record(element).LoadContext(ctx, &element.ID)
if err != nil {
return err
}
return nil
}
// makeConnections creates two connections: for a database to read from, and for a database to write to
func (c *Copier) makeConnections() (srcDBConn *dbr.Connection, dstDBConn *dbr.Connection, err error) {
sql.Register("instrumented-postgres", instrumentedsql.WrapDriver(&pq.Driver{}))
// making a connection to an instance we read from
srcDB, err := c.makeConnection(c.makeDBInfo(c.options.SrcDBPort, c.options.SrcDBUser, c.options.SrcDBPassword))
if err != nil {
return nil, nil, err
}
// making a connection to an instance we write to
dstDB, err := c.makeConnection(c.makeDBInfo(c.options.DstDBPort, c.options.DstDBUser, c.options.DstDBPassword))
if err != nil {
srcDB.Close()
return nil, nil, err
}
return srcDB, dstDB, nil
}
// makeDBInfo returns a connection string for a chosen instance
func (c *Copier) makeDBInfo(port int32, user string, password string) string {
return fmt.Sprintf(
"host=localhost port=%d user=%s password=%s dbname=test sslmode=disable",
port,
user,
password,
)
}
// makeConnection makes a connection using a provided connection string
func (c *Copier) makeConnection(dbInfo string) (*dbr.Connection, error) {
// make a connection, using a specific driver
dbConnection, err := sql.Open("instrumented-postgres", dbInfo)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
// check if the connection is really there
err = dbConnection.Ping()
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
// create a dbr wrapping connection
return &dbr.Connection{
DB: dbConnection,
Dialect: dialect.PostgreSQL,
EventReceiver: &dbr.NullEventReceiver{},
}, nil
}
The code is licensed under the MIT license

# Helpers

There was also a bunch of helpers to prompt a user for passwords and read CSV data.

👉 📃  internal/util/util.go
package util
import (
"encoding/csv"
"fmt"
"os"
"golang.org/x/term"
)
func PromptUser(prompt string) string {
fmt.Print(prompt + ": ")
input, _ := term.ReadPassword(0)
fmt.Print("\n")
return string(input)
}
func ReadCSV(filePath string) ([]string, error) {
file, err := os.Open(filePath)
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
defer file.Close()
csvReader := csv.NewReader(file)
rows, err := csvReader.ReadAll()
if err != nil {
return nil, err
}
var records []string
for _, row := range rows {
records = append(records, row[0])
}
return records, nil
}
The code is licensed under the MIT license

# Putting everything together

To make everything neat and closer to an actual application, I wrapped the whole thing with a CLI command manager.

👉 📃  cmd/main.go
package main
import (
"fmt"
"os"
"strconv"
"copydata/internal/copier"
"copydata/internal/util"
"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
)
func main() {
app := &cli.App{
Name: "copy-data",
Usage: "Just another Golang kata",
Commands: []*cli.Command{
{
Name: "copy",
Aliases: []string{"c"},
Usage: "Copy data from one db instance to another",
Flags: []cli.Flag{
&cli.StringFlag{
Name: "file",
Usage: "File containing a list of IDs",
},
&cli.StringFlag{
Name: "src-port",
Value: "54321",
Usage: "Source instance port",
},
&cli.StringFlag{
Name: "src-user",
Value: "test",
Usage: "Source database user",
},
&cli.StringFlag{
Name: "dst-port",
Value: "54322",
Usage: "Destination instance port",
},
&cli.StringFlag{
Name: "dst-user",
Value: "test",
Usage: "Destination database user",
},
},
Action: func(cCtx *cli.Context) error {
filePath := cCtx.String("file")
srcPort := cCtx.String("src-port")
srcUser := cCtx.String("src-user")
srcPassword := util.PromptUser("Source database password")
dstPort := cCtx.String("dst-port")
dstUser := cCtx.String("dst-user")
dstPassword := util.PromptUser("Destination database password")
srcPortNumber, err := strconv.Atoi(srcPort)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
dstPortNumber, err := strconv.Atoi(dstPort)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
idList, err := util.ReadCSV(filePath)
copierInstance := copier.New(&copier.Options{
SrcDBPort: int32(srcPortNumber),
SrcDBUser: srcUser,
SrcDBPassword: srcPassword,
DstDBPort: int32(dstPortNumber),
DstDBUser: dstUser,
DstDBPassword: dstPassword,
})
err = copierInstance.CopyElements(idList)
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
return nil
},
},
},
}
if err := app.Run(os.Args); err != nil {
panic(err)
}
}
The code is licensed under the MIT license

Well, there is actually not much to add to this. A pretty straight-forward example of how to work with databases in Go and create a simple CLI application. The code is by tradition here. Hope the article was helpful to whoever read it :)

# A bonus for GCP users

If you are using GCP, there is a lovely tool called cloud_sql_proxy by Google. It allows forwarding a connection to a CloudDB instance into a local TCP port. All you need is to have a service account armed and ready, and boom: saves a lot of time and hassle.

$
cloud_sql_proxy -instances=<PROJECT_NAME>:<REGION>:<CLOUDDB_INSTANCE_NAME>=tcp:<LOCAL_PORT>
The code is licensed under the MIT license

Avatar

Sergei Gannochenko

Business-oriented fullstack engineer, in ❤️ with Tech.
Golang, React, TypeScript, Docker, AWS, Jamstack.
19+ years in dev.