diff --git a/.env b/.env
index f35d49c..8ae4660 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -30,3 +30,12 @@ DATA_VOLUME_HOST=jupyterhub-data
 
 # Data volume container mount point
 DATA_VOLUME_CONTAINER=/data
+
+# Name of JupyterHub postgres database data volume
+DB_VOLUME_HOST=jupyterhub-db-data
+
+# Postgres volume container mount point
+DB_VOLUME_CONTAINER=/var/lib/postgresql/data/jupyterhub
+
+# The name of the postgres database containing JupyterHub state
+POSTGRES_DB=jupyterhub
diff --git a/Dockerfile.jupyterhub b/Dockerfile.jupyterhub
index f3056a0..3f7a3ec 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.jupyterhub
+++ b/Dockerfile.jupyterhub
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 # Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
 FROM jupyterhub/jupyterhub-onbuild:0.7.2
 
-# Install dockerspawner and its dependencies
-RUN /opt/conda/bin/pip install \
+# Install dockerspawner, oauth, postgres
+RUN /opt/conda/bin/conda install psycopg2=2.7 && \
+    /opt/conda/bin/conda clean -tipsy && \
+    /opt/conda/bin/pip install \
     oauthenticator==0.5.* \
     dockerspawner==0.7.*
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 72d12b4..b2bd66e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,10 +10,15 @@ network:
 
 volumes:
 	@docker volume inspect $(DATA_VOLUME_HOST) >/dev/null 2>&1 || docker volume create --name $(DATA_VOLUME_HOST)
+	@docker volume inspect $(DB_VOLUME_HOST) >/dev/null 2>&1 || docker volume create --name $(DB_VOLUME_HOST)
 
 self-signed-cert:
 	# make a self-signed cert
 
+secrets/postgres.env:
+	@echo "Generating postgres password in $@"
+	@echo "POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(shell openssl rand -hex 32)" > $@
+
 secrets/jupyterhub.crt:
 	@echo "Need an SSL certificate in secrets/jupyterhub.crt"
 	@exit 1
@@ -36,7 +41,7 @@ else
 	cert_files=
 endif
 
-check-files: userlist $(cert_files)
+check-files: userlist $(cert_files) secrets/oauth.env secrets/postgres.env
 
 pull:
 	docker pull $(DOCKER_NOTEBOOK_IMAGE)
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 8943af3..7c3e7d1 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -5,10 +5,25 @@
 version: "2"
 
 services:
+  hub-db:
+    image: postgres:9.5
+    container_name: jupyterhub-db
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
+      PGDATA: ${DB_VOLUME_CONTAINER}
+    env_file:
+      - secrets/postgres.env
+    volumes:
+      - "db:${DB_VOLUME_CONTAINER}"
+
   hub:
+    depends_on:
+      - hub-db
     build:
       context: .
       dockerfile: Dockerfile.jupyterhub
+    restart: always
     image: jupyterhub
     container_name: jupyterhub
     volumes:
@@ -19,6 +34,8 @@ services:
       - "data:${DATA_VOLUME_CONTAINER}"
     ports:
       - "443:443"
+    links:
+      - hub-db
     environment:
       # All containers will join this network
       DOCKER_NETWORK_NAME: ${DOCKER_NETWORK_NAME}
@@ -28,10 +45,12 @@ services:
       DOCKER_NOTEBOOK_DIR: ${DOCKER_NOTEBOOK_DIR}
       # Using this run command (optional)
       DOCKER_SPAWN_CMD: ${DOCKER_SPAWN_CMD}
-      # Required to authenticate users using GitHub OAuth
-      GITHUB_CLIENT_ID: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID}
-      GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET}
-      OAUTH_CALLBACK_URL: ${OAUTH_CALLBACK_URL}
+      # Postgres db info
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
+      POSTGRES_HOST: hub-db
+    env_file:
+      - secrets/postgres.env
+      - secrets/oauth.env
     command: >
       jupyterhub -f /srv/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py
 
@@ -39,6 +58,9 @@ volumes:
   data:
     external:
       name: ${DATA_VOLUME_HOST}
+  db:
+    external:
+      name: ${DB_VOLUME_HOST}
 
 networks:
   default:
diff --git a/jupyterhub_config.py b/jupyterhub_config.py
index 84dbce5..dc925dd 100644
--- a/jupyterhub_config.py
+++ b/jupyterhub_config.py
@@ -57,10 +57,16 @@ c.GitHubOAuthenticator.oauth_callback_url = os.environ['OAUTH_CALLBACK_URL']
 
 # Persist hub data on volume mounted inside container
 data_dir = os.environ.get('DATA_VOLUME_CONTAINER', '/data')
-c.JupyterHub.db_url = os.path.join('sqlite:///', data_dir, 'jupyterhub.sqlite')
+
 c.JupyterHub.cookie_secret_file = os.path.join(data_dir,
     'jupyterhub_cookie_secret')
 
+c.JupyterHub.db_url = 'postgresql://postgres:{password}@{host}/{db}'.format(
+    host=os.environ['POSTGRES_HOST'],
+    password=os.environ['POSTGRES_PASSWORD'],
+    db=os.environ['POSTGRES_DB'],
+)
+
 # Whitlelist users and admins
 c.Authenticator.whitelist = whitelist = set()
 c.Authenticator.admin_users = admin = set()