diff --git a/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp b/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp
index c0ad0d43ff..8b0c67b710 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip/manifests/postgres_common.pp
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ class zulip::postgres_common {
                         "python-gevent",
                         "python-tz",
                         "python-dateutil",
-                        # dependencies for our wal-e backup system
-                        "python-boto",
-                        "lzop",
-                        "pv",
                         # our dictionary
                         "hunspell-en-us",
                         ]
diff --git a/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/postgres_common.pp b/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/postgres_common.pp
index 081b436464..8f48e68a77 100644
--- a/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/postgres_common.pp
+++ b/puppet/zulip_internal/manifests/postgres_common.pp
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 class zulip_internal::postgres_common {
   include zulip::postgres_common
 
+  $internal_postgres_packages = [# dependencies for our wal-e backup system
+                                 "python-boto",
+                                 "lzop",
+                                 "pv",
+                                 ]
+  package { $internal_postgres_packages: ensure => "installed" }
+
   exec {"pip_wal-e":
     command  => "/usr/bin/pip install git+git://github.com/zbenjamin/wal-e.git#egg=wal-e",
     creates  => "/usr/local/bin/wal-e",