diff --git a/setup/container/mysql.cnf b/setup/container/mysql.cnf
index 8133cb899..eaba3f248 100644
--- a/setup/container/mysql.cnf
+++ b/setup/container/mysql.cnf
@@ -5,3 +5,6 @@
 [mysqld]
 performance_schema=OFF
 max_connections=50
+# on ec2, without this we get a sporadic connection drop when doing the initial migration
+max_allowed_packet=32M
+