diff --git a/setup/start/mysql.cnf b/setup/start/mysql.cnf
index e4c061b75..8339fa901 100644
--- a/setup/start/mysql.cnf
+++ b/setup/start/mysql.cnf
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 performance_schema=OFF
 max_connections=50
 # on ec2, without this we get a sporadic connection drop when doing the initial migration
-max_allowed_packet=64M
+max_allowed_packet=32M
 
 # https://mathiasbynens.be/notes/mysql-utf8mb4
 character-set-server = utf8mb4
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ collation-server = utf8mb4_unicode_ci
 [mysqldump]
 quick
 quote-names
-max_allowed_packet  = 64M
+max_allowed_packet  = 16M
 default-character-set = utf8mb4
 
 [mysql]