Introduction

This guide provides instructions on exporting data from Cerb to a neutral JSON format.

This process is used to migrate data from Cerb to another application, or to merge multiple Cerb installations.

• Requirements
• Installation
• Configuration
• Customizations
  • ID Mapping
  • Scope
• Exporting
• Example

Requirements

Before you begin, verify you have:

• Access to a copy of your Cerb database
• Access to a copy of your Cerb storage/ directory
• PHP CLI installed on your server/machine

Installation

Copy the cerb-package-exporter.php script to a directory on your server:

curl -O "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cerb/cerb-release/v10.4/install/extras/impex/cerb-package-exporter.php"

Configuration

In the same directory, create a config.json file:

{
	"exporter": {
		"source": "Cerb10",
		"options": {
			"db_host": "localhost",
			"db_name": "cerb",
			"db_user": "root",
			"db_pass": "",
			"mask_prefix": "",
			"storage_path": "/path/to/cerb/storage/"
		}
	}
}

• exporter.options.db_host is the server (IP or hostname) containing your Cerb database
• exporter.options.db_name is the name of your Cerb database
• exporter.options.db_user is the user account with access to your Cerb database
• exporter.options.db_pass is the password of your database user
• exporter.options.storage_path is the full path to the storage/ directory from your Cerb installation

Customizations

ID Mapping

The script is designed to be modified to meet the specific needs of your project.

Several functions can be implemented to map record IDs between the source and destination:

• mapGroupBucketIds($group_id, $bucket_id)
• mapCustomFieldId($id)
• mapWorkerId($id)
• mapTimeTrackingActivityId($id)

For instance, to merge two Cerb instances, you would map from source groups/buckets/workers to records in the destination. The default JSON format can be directly imported into a Cerb instance as packages.

Scope

Edit the _exportTickets() function to control what ticket data will be exported: export only from specific groups/buckets, for specific organizations/owners, etc.

Edit $ticket_json to control the exported JSON format: replace group/bucket IDs with names, etc.

Exporting

By default, the script will export your ticket data (tickets, messages, comments, and attachments). You may elect to also export data for workers and organizations.

In the directory where you installed cerb-package-exporter.php, run the following command:

php cerb-package-exporter.php -c config.json -o output

You will see output as your data exports. A large dataset will be broken up into multiple subdirectories.

Example

03-tickets-000001/000000001.json:

{
    "package": {
        "name": "Ticket #1",
        "revision": 1,
        "requires": {
            "cerb_version": "10.4.9",
            "plugins": []
        },
        "configure": {
            "prompts": [],
            "placeholders": [],
            "options": {
                "disable_events": true
            }
        }
    },
    "records": [
        {
            "uid": "ticket_1",
            "_context": "ticket",
            "mask": "DEMO-001",
            "subject": "What is Cerb?",
            "importance": 50,
            "status": "open",
            "created": 1591945350,
            "updated": 1591950726,
            "participants": "a.costa@fiaflux.example",
            "group_id": 1,
            "bucket_id": 4,
            "owner_id": 2,
            "org": "Fiaflux Software"
        },
        {
            "uid": "message_1",
            "_context": "message",
            "ticket_id": "{{{uid.ticket_1}}}",
            "created": 1591945350,
            "is_outgoing": 0,
            "sender": "a.costa@fiaflux.example",
            "response_time": 0,
            "hash_header_message_id": "3eda2ef8f4f0459c8e24b909e3068a8c54a2bfe6",
            "headers": "To: noreply@cerb.example\nFrom: a.costa@fiaflux.example\nSubject: What is Cerb?\nDate: Fri, 12 Jun 2020 07:02:30 +0000\nContent-Type: text\/plain; charset=utf-8\nMessage-Id: <demo1.msg1@cerb.example>\n",
            "content": "My team needs something like Cerb. How should I pitch it to our management team?\n\n- Alessio\n"
        },
        {
            "uid": "message_2",
            "_context": "message",
            "ticket_id": "{{{uid.ticket_1}}}",
            "created": 1591950726,
            "is_outgoing": 1,
            "sender": "noreply@cerb.example",
            "response_time": 5376,
            "hash_header_message_id": "b45e8e5fd1f07457d4c188bb4ae9bad421b27ff3",
            "headers": "To: a.costa@fiaflux.example\nFrom: noreply@cerb.example\nSubject: Re: What is Cerb?\nDate: Fri, 12 Jun 2020 08:32:06 +0000\nContent-Type: text\/plain; charset=utf-8\nMessage-Id: <demo1.msg2@cerb.example>\n",
            "content": "> How should I pitch [Cerb] to our management team?\n\nHi Alessio,\n\nCerb helps you build and automate workflows; it improves team collaboration; and it can replace several other apps and services to reduce your costs.\n\nYour team only needs a web browser to use it, and they have the freedom to work from anywhere.\n\nYou have the flexibility to run Cerb on your own servers or as a fully managed service in the cloud.\n",
            "worker_id": 2
        }
    ]
}