diff --git a/migrations/20160430062446-eventlog-add-table.js b/migrations/20160430062446-eventlog-add-table.js
index c848e36ba..87e02f747 100644
--- a/migrations/20160430062446-eventlog-add-table.js
+++ b/migrations/20160430062446-eventlog-add-table.js
@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
 exports.up = function(db, callback) {
     var cmd = "CREATE TABLE eventlog(" +
             "id VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL," +
-            "source JSON," +
+            "source TEXT," +
             "creationTime TIMESTAMP," +
             "action VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL," +
-            "data JSON," +
+            "data TEXT," +
             "PRIMARY KEY (id))";
 
     db.runSql(cmd, function (error) {
diff --git a/migrations/20170731073447-eventlog-alter-data-and-source.js b/migrations/20170731073447-eventlog-alter-data-and-source.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1d043bda7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/20170731073447-eventlog-alter-data-and-source.js
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// we used to have JSON as the db type for those two, however mariadb does not support it
+// and we never used any JSON related features, but have the TEXT pattern everywhere
+// This ensures all old cloudrons will have the columns altered
+
+exports.up = function(db, callback) {
+    db.runSql('ALTER TABLE eventlog MODIFY data TEXT', [], function (error) {
+        if (error) console.error(error);
+
+        db.runSql('ALTER TABLE eventlog MODIFY source TEXT', [], function (error) {
+            if (error) console.error(error);
+
+            callback(error);
+        });
+    });
+};
+
+exports.down = function(db, callback) {
+    db.runSql('ALTER TABLE eventlog MODIFY data TEXT', [], function (error) {
+        if (error) console.error(error);
+
+        db.runSql('ALTER TABLE eventlog MODIFY source TEXT', [], function (error) {
+            if (error) console.error(error);
+
+            callback(error);
+        });
+    });
+};
diff --git a/migrations/schema.sql b/migrations/schema.sql
index a276bff61..a4ad763b8 100644
--- a/migrations/schema.sql
+++ b/migrations/schema.sql
@@ -116,8 +116,8 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS backups(
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS eventlog(
     id VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL,
     action VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL,
-    source JSON, /* { userId, username, ip }. userId can be null for cron,sysadmin */
-    data JSON, /* free flowing json based on action */
+    source TEXT, /* { userId, username, ip }. userId can be null for cron,sysadmin */
+    data TEXT, /* free flowing json based on action */
     creationTime TIMESTAMP, /* FIXME: precision must be TIMESTAMP(2) */
 
     PRIMARY KEY (id));
diff --git a/src/eventlogdb.js b/src/eventlogdb.js
index f08a394ef..9cf0c98a2 100644
--- a/src/eventlogdb.js
+++ b/src/eventlogdb.js
@@ -20,10 +20,11 @@ var assert = require('assert'),
 
 var EVENTLOGS_FIELDS = [ 'id', 'action', 'source', 'data', 'creationTime' ].join(',');
 
-// until mysql module supports automatic type coercion
 function postProcess(eventLog) {
+    // usually we have sourceJson and dataJson, however since this used to be the JSON data type, we don't
     eventLog.source = safe.JSON.parse(eventLog.source);
     eventLog.data = safe.JSON.parse(eventLog.data);
+
     return eventLog;
 }