diff --git a/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml b/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml
index af6e845f55..3f65b52943 100644
--- a/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml
+++ b/playbooks/manual/upgrade/fmn.yml
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@
     yum: name="python-fmn*" state=latest
     when: not testing
   - name: yum update FMN packages from testing repo
-    yum: name="python-fmn*" state=latest enablerepo=infrastructure-testing
+    yum: pkg={{ item }} state=latest enablerepo=infrastructure-testing
+    with_items:
+      - python-fmn
+      - python-fmn-sse
+      - python-fmn-web
     when: testing
 
 - name: verify the frontend and stop it
@@ -77,6 +81,7 @@
 
   - name: Upgrade the database
     command: /usr/bin/alembic -c /usr/share/fmn.lib/alembic.ini upgrade head
+    when: env != "staging"
     args:
       chdir: /usr/share/fmn.lib/
 
diff --git a/roles/notifs/backend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/notifs/backend/tasks/main.yml
index 1675fb54d6..59d5b8ad17 100644
--- a/roles/notifs/backend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/notifs/backend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -13,6 +13,16 @@
   - notifs
   - notifs/backend
 
+- name: install backend and sse packages
+  yum: pkg={{ item }} state=present
+  with_items:
+  - python-fmn
+  - python-fmn-sse
+  when: env == "staging"
+  tags:
+  - notifs
+  - notifs/backend
+
 - name: copy database configuration
   template: >
     src={{ item }} dest=/etc/fedmsg.d/{{ item }}
@@ -25,10 +35,35 @@
   - notifs
   - notifs/backend
 
+- name: Install fmn SSE configuration
+  template: >
+    src={{ item }} dest=/etc/fedmsg.d/{{ item }}
+    owner=fedmsg group=fedmsg mode=0600
+  with_items:
+  - fmn.sse.py
+  when: env == "staging"
+  notify:
+  - restart fedmsg-hub
+  tags:
+  - notifs
+  - notifs/backend
+
 - name: copy the alembic configuration for DBAs
   template: >
     src=alembic.ini dest=/usr/share/fmn.lib/alembic.ini
     owner=root group=sysadmin-dba mode=0660
+  when: env != "staging"
+  notify:
+  - restart fedmsg-hub
+  tags:
+  - notifs
+  - notifs/backend
+
+- name: copy the alembic configuration for DBAs
+  template: >
+    src=alembic.ini dest=/usr/share/fmn/alembic.ini
+    owner=root group=sysadmin-dba mode=0660
+  when: env == "staging"
   notify:
   - restart fedmsg-hub
   tags:
diff --git a/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini b/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini
index 49c7b6bd2d..df1506d215 100644
--- a/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini
+++ b/roles/notifs/backend/templates/alembic.ini
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@
 
 [alembic]
 # path to migration scripts
+{% if env == 'staging' %}
+script_location = /usr/share/fmn/alembic/
+{% else %}
 script_location = /usr/share/fmn.lib/alembic/
+{% endif %}
 
 # template used to generate migration files
 # file_template = %%(rev)s_%%(slug)s
diff --git a/roles/notifs/backend/templates/fmn.sse.py b/roles/notifs/backend/templates/fmn.sse.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8c078b6c43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/notifs/backend/templates/fmn.sse.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+config = {
+
+    # SSE
+    "fmn.sse.pika.host": "localhost",
+    "fmn.sse.pika.port": 5672,
+    "fmn.sse.pika.msg_expiration": 3600000,  # 1 hour in ms
+
+    # SSE Web server configuration
+    "fmn.sse.webserver.tcp_port": 8080,
+    # A list of interfaces to listen to ('127.0.0.1', for example); if none
+    # are specified the server listens on all available interfaces.
+    'fmn.sse.webserver.interfaces': [],
+
+    # A regular expression using the standard Python re syntax that defines a
+    # whitelist of queues exposed by the SSE server.
+    'fmn.sse.webserver.queue_whitelist': '.+\.id\.fedoraproject\.org$',
+
+    # A regular expression using the standard Python re syntax that defines a
+    # blacklist for queues exposed by the SSE server. Any queue name that is
+    # matched by the regular expression will return a HTTP 403 to the client.
+    #
+    # Note: This is applied _after_ the whitelist so if the queue is matched
+    # by both regular expressions, the queue _will not_ be served.
+    'fmn.sse.webserver.queue_blacklist': None,
+
+    # The value to use with the 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' HTTP header
+    'fmn.sse.webserver.allow_origin': '*',
+
+    # Define how many messages to prefetch from the AMQP server
+    'fmn.sse.pika.prefetch_count': 5,
+}