Lost, lost, all lost

RT Users
1

We’ve just been badly bitten by RT 1 storing the ticket text
in /var/rt/transactions instead of in the mySQL database. For
reasons I chose not to go into, we don’t have a viable backup
of the directory (yes, yes, I know. bad bad bad).

Aside from trying to assemble all the missing content from email
trails spread out over 4 sysadmins and 500+ tickets (open and
resolved, or 100+ open), is there any other place RT might
possibly have stashed the data? Is there any hope of recovery?

Does RT 2 store ticket text in the database, or still use the filesystem as
if it were meant to be a database for this?

nomad
----------- - Lee “nomad” Damon -
work: nomad@ee.washington.edu
play: nomad@castle.org or castle!nomad
/
Sr. Systems Admin, UWEE SSLI Lab /
“Celebrate Diversity” / \

2

| Aside from trying to assemble all the missing content from email
| trails spread out over 4 sysadmins and 500+ tickets (open and
| resolved, or 100+ open), is there any other place RT might
| possibly have stashed the data? Is there any hope of recovery?
±–>8

No, unless your MTA has been saving things for you.

| Does RT 2 store ticket text in the database, or still use the filesystem
| as if it were meant to be a database for this?
±–>8

RT2 uses the database. Sometimes painfully, as the sad reality is that the
free databases suck really badly for this (and sucked far worse when RT1
was written, which is why it used the filesystem; and I have the impression
that many of the commercial RDBMSes aren’t enormously better).

brandon s. allbery [os/2][linux][solaris][freebsd] allbery@kf8nh.apk.net
system administrator [JAPH][WAY too many hats] allbery@ece.cmu.edu
electrical and computer engineering KF8NH
carnegie mellon university [linux: proof of the million monkeys theory]

3

Hi,

Sometimes painfully, as the sad reality is that the
free databases suck really badly for this (and sucked far worse when RT1

Could you elaborate on this? I’d like to know more of what you mean here…

was written, which is why it used the filesystem; and I have the
impression that many of the commercial RDBMSes aren’t enormously better).

Thanks,
Harold