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.