diff --git a/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml b/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml
index 65ad828e08..5771478134 100644
--- a/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml
+++ b/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
     service: name="fedmsg-hub" state=stopped
 
   - name: Upgrade the database
-    command: /usr/bin/alembic upgrade head
+    command: /usr/bin/alembic -c /usr/share/fmn.lib/alembic.ini upgrade head
     args:
       chdir: /usr/share/fmn.lib/
     async: 20000
diff --git a/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini b/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini
index 64cc36ff51..49c7b6bd2d 100644
--- a/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini
+++ b/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 [alembic]
 # path to migration scripts
-script_location = alembic
+script_location = /usr/share/fmn.lib/alembic/
 
 # template used to generate migration files
 # file_template = %%(rev)s_%%(slug)s