NAME

       rt-serializer - Serialize an RT database to disk

SYNOPSIS

           rt-validator --check && rt-serializer

       This script is used to write out the entire RT database to disk, for later import into a
       different RT instance.  It requires that the data in the database be self-consistent, in
       order to do so; please make sure that the database being exported passes validation by rt-
       validator before attempting to use "rt-serializer".

       While running, it will attempt to estimate the number of remaining objects to be
       serialized; these estimates are pessimistic, and will be incorrect if "--no-users",
       "--no-groups", or "--no-tickets" are used.

       If the controlling terminal is large enough (more than 25 columns high) and the "gnuplot"
       program is installed, it will also show a textual graph of the queue size over time.

   OPTIONS
       --directory name
           The name of the output directory to write data files to, which should not exist yet;
           it is a fatal error if it does.  Defaults to "./$Organization:Date/", where
           $Organization is as set in RT_SiteConfig.pm, and Date is today's date.

       --force
           Remove the output directory before starting.

       --size megabytes
           By default, "rt-serializer" chunks its output into data files which are around 32Mb in
           size; this option is used to set a different threshold size, in megabytes.  Note that
           this is the threshold after which it rotates to writing a new file, and is as such the
           lower bound on the size of each output file.

       --no-users
           By default, all privileged users are serialized; passing "--no-users" limits it to
           only those users which are referenced by serialized tickets and history, and are thus
           necessary for internal consistency.

       --no-groups
           By default, all groups are serialized; passing "--no-groups" limits it to only system-
           internal groups, which are needed for internal consistency.

       --no-deleted
           By default, all tickets, including deleted tickets, are serialized; passing
           "--no-deleted" skips deleted tickets during serialization.

       --scrips
           No scrips or templates are serialized by default; this option forces all scrips and
           templates to be serialized.

       --acls
           No ACLs are serialized by default; this option forces all ACLs to be serialized.

       --no-tickets
           Skip serialization of all ticket data.

       --limit-queues
           Takes a list of queue IDs or names separated by commas. When provided, only that set
           of queues (and the tickets in them) will be serialized.

       --limit-cfs
           Takes a list of custom field IDs or names separated by commas. When provided, only
           that set of custom fields will be serialized.

       --hyperlink-unmigrated
           Replace links to local records which are not being migrated with hyperlinks.  The
           hyperlinks will use the serializing RT's configured URL.

           Without this option, such links are instead dropped, and transactions which had
           updated such links will be replaced with an explanatory message.

       --clone
           Serializes your entire database, creating a clone.  This option should be used if you
           want to migrate your RT database from one database type to another (e.g.  MySQL to
           Postgres).  It is an error to combine "--clone" with any option that limits object
           types serialized.  No dependency walking is performed when cloning. "rt-importer" will
           detect that your serialized data set was generated by a clone.

       --incremental
           Will generate an incremenal serialized dataset using the data stored in your
           IncrementalRecords database table.  This assumes that you have created that table and
           run RT using the Record_Local.pm shim as documented in "docs/incremental-export/".

       --gc n
           Adjust how often the garbage collection sweep is done; lower numbers are more
           frequent.  See "GARBAGE COLLECTION".

       --page n
           Adjust how many rows are pulled from the database in a single query.  Disable paging
           by setting this to 0.  Defaults to 100.

           Keep in mind that rows from RT's Attachments table are the limiting factor when
           determining page size.  You should likely be aiming for 60-75% of your total memory on
           an otherwise unloaded box.

       --quiet
           Do not show graphical progress UI.

       --verbose
           Do not show graphical progress UI, but rather log was each row is written out.

GARBAGE COLLECTION

       "rt-serializer" maintains a priority queue of objects to serialize, or searches which may
       result in objects to serialize.  When inserting into this queue, it does no checking if
       the object in question is already in the queue, or if the search will contain any results.
       These checks are done when the object reaches the front of the queue, or during periodic
       garbage collection.

       During periodic garbage collection, the entire queue is swept for objects which have
       already been serialized, occur more than once in the queue, and searches which contain no
       results in the database.  This is done to reduce the memory footprint of the serialization
       process, and is triggered when enough new objects have been placed in the queue.  This
       parameter is tunable via the "--gc" parameter, which defaults to running garbage
       collection every 5,000 objects inserted into the queue; smaller numbers will result in
       more frequent garbage collection.

       The default of 5,000 is roughly tuned based on a database with several thousand tickets,
       but optimal values will vary wildly depending on database configuration and size.  Values
       as low as 25 have provided speedups with smaller databases; if speed is a factor,
       experimenting with different "--gc" values may be helpful.  Note that there are
       significant boundary condition changes in serialization rate, as the queue empties and
       fills, causing the time estimates to be rather imprecise near the start and end of the
       process.

       Setting "--gc" to 0 turns off all garbage collection.  Be aware that this will bloat the
       memory usage of the serializer.  Any negative value for "--gc" turns off periodic garbage
       collection and instead objects already serialized or in the queue are checked for at the
       time they would be inserted.