Please help, upgrade issue from RT 5.0.4 to 6.0.1

Paul_O_Rorke1 · November 26, 2025, 4:49pm

isn’t that what rt-server is supposed to do though?

If I do that, it creates the DB OK and even tells me I have successfully logged in but I get returned to the login screen:

@rt6:~/rt-6.0.2$ sudo make initialize-database
/usr/bin/perl -I/opt/rt6/local/lib -I/opt/rt6/lib sbin/rt-setup-database --action init --prompt-for-dba-password
In order to create or update your RT database, this script needs to connect to your mysql instance on localhost (port ‘’) as root
Please specify that user’s database password below. If the user has no database
password, just press return.
Password:
Working with:
Type: mysql
Host: localhost
Port:
Name: rt6
User: root
DBA: root
Now creating a mysql database rt6 for RT.
Done.
Now populating database schema.
Done.
Now inserting database ACLs.
[34514] [Wed Nov 26 16:41:08 2025] [warning]: DatabaseUser is root. Skipping… (/opt/rt6/etc/acl.mysql:13)
Done.
Now inserting RT core system objects.
Done.
Now inserting data.
Done inserting data.
Done.
pauldamianororke@rt6:~/rt-6.0.2$ sudo /opt/rt6/sbin/rt-server --port 8080
[34679] [Wed Nov 26 16:41:45 2025] [info]: Successful login for root from 154.5.66.51 (/opt/rt6/sbin/../lib/RT/Interface/Web.pm:1026)
[34682] [Wed Nov 26 16:43:25 2025] [info]: Successful login for root from 154.5.66.51 (/opt/rt6/sbin/../lib/RT/Interface/Web.pm:1026)
[34684] [Wed Nov 26 16:44:02 2025] [error]: FAILED LOGIN for from 154.5.66.51 (/opt/rt6/sbin/../lib/RT/Interface/Web.pm:1021)
[34685] [Wed Nov 26 16:44:13 2025] [info]: Successful login for root from 154.5.66.51 (/opt/rt6/sbin/../lib/RT/Interface/Web.pm:1026)

All I see is this:

I do not understand what the purpose of rt-server is if it can’t connect to the database server and create the DB and schema.

knation · November 26, 2025, 4:59pm

No RT server is to run the web server, since you may need additional permissions to create the DB that’s why it prompts you for the RT database admin password. But once the DB is created rt-server should be able to connect as you can see by hitting the login page successfully.

Since you’re using HTTP and not HTTPS you will need to set:

Set( $WebSecureCookies,0 );

Paul_O_Rorke1 · November 26, 2025, 5:22pm

OK - well in the end I got past it by NOT using rt-server.

Clearly my stubbornness on insisting on using rt-server to set up the DB was the root of my frustration. I really appreciate the help from everyone on here. While I dd not get rt-server working as expected it is a moot point now.

My shiny new (empty) RT6:

Regarding the https, with Apache I do use https and certificate from Letsencrypt.

It seems RT is expecting to not use HTTPS? Is there a config option to address this?

I really appreciate the help I have found here. Thank you all.

knation · November 26, 2025, 5:39pm

It will be the configurations around the expected port and domain:

Paul_O_Rorke1 · November 26, 2025, 6:13pm

Thank you @knation

#$WebPort

If we’re running as a superuser, run on port 80. Otherwise, pick a high port for this user.

443 is default port for https protocol.

is what I needed. It’s looking good now. Again, the help is very much appreciated.

Paul_O_Rorke1 · December 1, 2025, 10:35pm

I had the same issues as @Imam_Toufique with
make upgrade-database
after doing
make -initialize-database

so this was the route I went to import the MySQL DB:

At first it appeared as though it was going well, but it did stop at 4.5.2 complaining that the Table ‘rt6.sessions’ doesn’t exist.

My dump used the command

mysqldump -u root -p'xxxxxxxxx' rtdb --ignore-table=rtdb.sessions --single-transaction

I’ve successfully used that for years but of course that was restoring to the original 4.4.2. If my dump is ignoring the sessions table why would it be trying to use it on
make upgrade-database

Restoring the DB doesn’t complain, just the upgrade.

What might be a better dump command on an old 4.4.2 DB so it has what make upgrade-database expects?

Here is the output:

@rt6:~/rt-6.0.2$ sudo make upgrade-database[sudo] password for pauldamianororke:/usr/bin/perl -I/opt/rt6/local/lib -I/opt/rt6/lib sbin/rt-setup-database --action upgrade --prompt-for-dba-passwordIn order to create or update your RT database, this script needs to connect to your  mysql instance on localhost (port ‘’) as rootPlease specify that user’s database password below. If the user has no databasepassword, just press return.Password:Working with:Type:   mysqlHost:   localhostPort:Name:   rt6User:   rt_userDBA:    rootEnter RT version you’re upgrading from: 4.4.2

Going to apply following upgrades:

```
4.4.5
```
```
4.4.6
```
```
4.5.0
```
```
4.5.1
```
```
4.5.2
```
```
4.5.3
```
```
4.5.4
```
```
4.5.5
```
```
4.5.6
```
```
4.5.7
```
```
4.5.8
```
```
5.0.2
```
```
5.0.3
```
```
5.0.4
```
```
5.0.5
```
```
5.0.6
```
```
5.0.8
```
```
5.9.0
```
```
5.9.1
```
```
5.9.2
```
```
5.9.3
```
```
5.9.4
```
```
5.9.5
```
```
5.9.6
```
```
5.9.7
```
```
6.0.1
```

Enter RT version if you want to stop upgrade at some point,or leave it blank if you want apply above upgrades:

IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TO BACK UP BEFORE THIS STEP

Proceed [y/N]:yProcessing 4.4.5Now inserting data.Processing 4.4.6Now inserting database indexes.Processing 4.5.0Now populating database schema.Processing 4.5.1Now populating database schema.Processing 4.5.2Now populating database schema.[1206] [Mon Dec  1 22:05:15 2025] [critical]: DBD::mysql::st execute failed: Table ‘rt6.sessions’ doesn’t exist at /home/pauldamianororke/rt-6.0.2/sbin/../lib/RT/Handle.pm line 556. (/home/pauldamianororke/rt-6.0.2/sbin/../lib/RT.pm:409)DBD::mysql::st execute failed: Table ‘rt6.sessions’ doesn’t exist at /home/pauldamianororke/rt-6.0.2/sbin/../lib/RT/Handle.pm line 556.make: *** [Makefile:396: upgrade-database] Error 9

Imam_Toufique · December 1, 2025, 11:29pm

Just to mention here that the upgrade-database does not show 6.0.2 as an upgradeable option. RT dev team should address that ?

thanks.

Paul_O_Rorke1 · December 3, 2025, 10:21pm

So I need to give a shout out to Keri at Best Practical Sales, I reached out for help with this and she got me the answer I was looking for.

It was documented and I missed it. For anyone that is interested, my dumps were using
--ignore-table=rtdb.sessions
which is appropriate for restoring to the same database, but in order to complete the upgrade I needed to still export the sessions table schema as documented here: System administration/Database - RT 6.0.2 Documentation - Best Practical

Specifically I needed to add

mysqldump --default-character-set=utf8mb4 rt6 --tables sessions --no-data --single-transaction;

With that the process was simple,

Dump the DB without session data but with the session table schema:
( mysqldump --default-character-set=utf8mb4 rt6 --tables sessions --no-data --single-transaction; \ mysqldump --default-character-set=utf8mb4 rt6 --ignore-table rt6.sessions --single-transaction ) \ | gzip > rt-`date +%Y%m%d`.sql.gz
Run /opt/rt6/sbin/rt-setup-database --action create,acl to create a clean database without the RT6 additional tables that make initialize-database does.
Import the database with gunzip -c rt-20251203.sql.gz | mysql -u root -p rt6
Upgrade the DB with sudo make upgrade-database
End result was a success:
…
Now inserting data.
Processing 6.0.1
Now inserting data.
Done.

I really want to say a big thank you to all who helped.

locateparcels · December 9, 2025, 1:19pm

That’s a very helpful solution — thanks for sharing. I ran into exactly the same “Table ‘SavedSearches’ already exists” error during my RT 5.0.4 → 6.0.1 upgrade. Skipping the make initialize-database step and instead restoring the schema (including the empty sessions table) + then running /opt/rt6/sbin/rt-setup-database --action create,acl, importing the dump and doing make upgrade-database worked perfectly for me as well. If someone else hits this problem: make sure the session-table schema is imported (without data), then upgrade.