diff --git a/inventory/host_vars/upstreamfirst.fedorainfracloud.org b/inventory/host_vars/upstreamfirst.fedorainfracloud.org
index 5e164da4fb..2c8aae52d5 100644
--- a/inventory/host_vars/upstreamfirst.fedorainfracloud.org
+++ b/inventory/host_vars/upstreamfirst.fedorainfracloud.org
@@ -55,7 +55,14 @@ new_pagure_db_admin_user: "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_db_admin_user }}"
 new_pagure_db_admin_pass: "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_db_admin_pass }}"
 new_pagure_db_user:  "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_db_user }}"
 new_pagure_db_pass:  "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_db_pass }}"
-new_pagure_db_host:  "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
+
+# there are two db hosts here to work around the pg_hba that's in postgres_server
+# we need to delegate postgres admin commands to a host that is remote from where
+# this playbook is run but have to use localhost for the application to run in the
+# case where we're using a local postgres instance
+new_pagure_db_host:  "127.0.0.1"
+new_pagure_db_command_host:  "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
+
 new_pagure_db_name:  "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_db_name }}"
 new_pagure_secret_key: "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_db_admin_user }}"
 new_pagure_secret_salt_email: "{{ upstreamfirst_pagure_secret_salt_email }}"
diff --git a/roles/pagure/upstreamfirst-frontend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/pagure/upstreamfirst-frontend/tasks/main.yml
index db5597c109..ba1441dfcc 100644
--- a/roles/pagure/upstreamfirst-frontend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/pagure/upstreamfirst-frontend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@
   - restart apache
 
 - name: create pagure database
-  delegate_to: "{{ new_pagure_db_host }}"
+  delegate_to: "{{ new_pagure_db_command_host }}"
   become: true
   become_user: postgres
   postgresql_db: db={{ new_pagure_db_name }}
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@
   - pagure
 
 - name: ensure pagure db user has access to database
-  delegate_to: "{{ new_pagure_db_host }}"
+  delegate_to: "{{ new_pagure_db_command_host }}"
   become: true
   become_user: postgres
   postgresql_user: db={{ new_pagure_db_name }} user={{ new_pagure_db_user }} password={{ new_pagure_db_pass }} role_attr_flags=NOSUPERUSER