diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4dce4bc4..6c0b20d3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ CHANGE: The protocol for determining valid client versions has been changed. Pre
 
 ## v0.4.48
 
+FEATURE: The controller configuration now supports a `disable_auto_migration` boolean in the `store` stanza. When set to `true`, the controller will not attempt to auto-migrate (or otherwise validate the migration state) of the underlying database. Leaving `disable_auto_migration` out, or setting it to false will retain the default behavior of auto-migrating when starting the zrok controller. The `zrok admin migrate` command will still perform a migration regardless of how this setting is configured in the controller configuration (https://github.com/openziti/zrok/issues/866)
+
 FIX: the Python SDK erroneously assumed the enabled zrok environment contained a config.json file, and was changed to only load it if the file was present (https://github.com/openziti/zrok/pull/853/).
 
 ## v0.4.47
diff --git a/cmd/zrok/adminMigrate.go b/cmd/zrok/adminMigrate.go
index d900b728..c58871e2 100644
--- a/cmd/zrok/adminMigrate.go
+++ b/cmd/zrok/adminMigrate.go
@@ -33,7 +33,12 @@ func (cmd *adminMigrate) run(_ *cobra.Command, args []string) {
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
+
 	logrus.Info(cf.Dump(inCfg, cf.DefaultOptions()))
+
+	// override the 'disable_auto_migration' setting... the user is requesting a migration here.
+	inCfg.Store.DisableAutoMigration = false
+
 	if _, err := store.Open(inCfg.Store); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
diff --git a/controller/store/frontend.go b/controller/store/frontend.go
index d0cbf678..a2608e80 100644
--- a/controller/store/frontend.go
+++ b/controller/store/frontend.go
@@ -44,39 +44,44 @@ func (str *Store) CreateGlobalFrontend(f *Frontend, tx *sqlx.Tx) (int, error) {
 }
 
 func (str *Store) GetFrontend(id int, tx *sqlx.Tx) (*Frontend, error) {
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
 	i := &Frontend{}
-	if err := tx.QueryRowx("select * from frontends where id = $1", id).StructScan(i); err != nil {
+	if err := utrx.QueryRowx("select * from frontends where id = $1", id).StructScan(i); err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting frontend by id")
 	}
 	return i, nil
 }
 
 func (str *Store) FindFrontendWithToken(token string, tx *sqlx.Tx) (*Frontend, error) {
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
 	i := &Frontend{}
-	if err := tx.QueryRowx("select frontends.* from frontends where token = $1 and not deleted", token).StructScan(i); err != nil {
+	if err := utrx.QueryRowx("select frontends.* from frontends where token = $1 and not deleted", token).StructScan(i); err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting frontend by name")
 	}
 	return i, nil
 }
 
 func (str *Store) FindFrontendWithZId(zId string, tx *sqlx.Tx) (*Frontend, error) {
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
 	i := &Frontend{}
-	if err := tx.QueryRowx("select frontends.* from frontends where z_id = $1 and not deleted", zId).StructScan(i); err != nil {
+	if err := utrx.QueryRowx("select frontends.* from frontends where z_id = $1 and not deleted", zId).StructScan(i); err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting frontend by ziti id")
 	}
 	return i, nil
 }
 
 func (str *Store) FindFrontendPubliclyNamed(publicName string, tx *sqlx.Tx) (*Frontend, error) {
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
 	i := &Frontend{}
-	if err := tx.QueryRowx("select frontends.* from frontends where public_name = $1 and not deleted", publicName).StructScan(i); err != nil {
+	if err := utrx.QueryRowx("select frontends.* from frontends where public_name = $1 and not deleted", publicName).StructScan(i); err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting frontend by public_name")
 	}
 	return i, nil
 }
 
 func (str *Store) FindFrontendsForEnvironment(envId int, tx *sqlx.Tx) ([]*Frontend, error) {
-	rows, err := tx.Queryx("select frontends.* from frontends where environment_id = $1 and not deleted", envId)
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
+	rows, err := utrx.Queryx("select frontends.* from frontends where environment_id = $1 and not deleted", envId)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting frontends by environment_id")
 	}
@@ -92,7 +97,8 @@ func (str *Store) FindFrontendsForEnvironment(envId int, tx *sqlx.Tx) ([]*Fronte
 }
 
 func (str *Store) FindPublicFrontends(tx *sqlx.Tx) ([]*Frontend, error) {
-	rows, err := tx.Queryx("select frontends.* from frontends where environment_id is null and reserved = true and not deleted")
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
+	rows, err := utrx.Queryx("select frontends.* from frontends where environment_id is null and reserved = true and not deleted")
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting public frontends")
 	}
@@ -108,7 +114,8 @@ func (str *Store) FindPublicFrontends(tx *sqlx.Tx) ([]*Frontend, error) {
 }
 
 func (str *Store) FindFrontendsForPrivateShare(shrId int, tx *sqlx.Tx) ([]*Frontend, error) {
-	rows, err := tx.Queryx("select frontends.* from frontends where private_share_id = $1 and not deleted", shrId)
+	utrx := tx.Unsafe()
+	rows, err := utrx.Queryx("select frontends.* from frontends where private_share_id = $1 and not deleted", shrId)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error selecting frontends by private_share_id")
 	}
diff --git a/controller/store/store.go b/controller/store/store.go
index 6779344b..05683dd3 100644
--- a/controller/store/store.go
+++ b/controller/store/store.go
@@ -22,9 +22,10 @@ type Model struct {
 }
 
 type Config struct {
-	Path          string `cf:"+secret"`
-	Type          string
-	EnableLocking bool
+	Path                 string `cf:"+secret"`
+	Type                 string
+	EnableLocking        bool
+	DisableAutoMigration bool
 }
 
 type Store struct {
@@ -57,8 +58,10 @@ func Open(cfg *Config) (*Store, error) {
 	dbx.MapperFunc(strcase.ToSnake)
 
 	store := &Store{cfg: cfg, db: dbx}
-	if err := store.migrate(cfg); err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error migrating database '%v'", cfg.Path)
+	if !cfg.DisableAutoMigration {
+		if err := store.migrate(cfg); err != nil {
+			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "error migrating database '%v'", cfg.Path)
+		}
 	}
 	return store, nil
 }
diff --git a/etc/ctrl.yml b/etc/ctrl.yml
index ef2403ee..18ffc4d0 100644
--- a/etc/ctrl.yml
+++ b/etc/ctrl.yml
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ reset_password:
 #store:
 #  path:                           "host=127.0.0.1 user=zrok password=zrok dbname=zrok"
 #  type:                           "postgres"
+#  disable_auto_migration:         true
 #
 store:
   path:                           zrok.db