Import/Export development documentation
Troubleshooting and general development guidelines and tips for the Import/Export feature.
This document is originally based on the Import/Export 201 presentation available on YouTube.
Troubleshooting commands
Finds information about the status of the import and further logs using the JID:
# Rails console
Project.find_by_full_path('group/project').import_state.slice(:jid, :status, :last_error)
> {"jid"=>"414dec93f941a593ea1a6894", "status"=>"finished", "last_error"=>nil}
# Logs
grep JID /var/log/gitlab/sidekiq/current
grep "Import/Export error" /var/log/gitlab/sidekiq/current
grep "Import/Export backtrace" /var/log/gitlab/sidekiq/current
tail /var/log/gitlab/gitlab-rails/importer.log
Troubleshooting performance issues
Read through the current performance problems using the Import/Export below.
OOM errors
Out of memory (OOM) errors are normally caused by the Sidekiq Memory Killer:
SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_MAX_RSS = 2000000
SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_HARD_LIMIT_RSS = 3000000
SIDEKIQ_MEMORY_KILLER_GRACE_TIME = 900
An import status started
, and the following Sidekiq logs signal a memory issue:
WARN: Work still in progress <struct with JID>
Timeouts
Timeout errors occur due to the Gitlab::Import::StuckProjectImportJobsWorker
marking the process as failed:
module Gitlab
module Import
class StuckProjectImportJobsWorker
include Gitlab::Import::StuckImportJob
# ...
end
end
end
module Gitlab
module Import
module StuckImportJob
# ...
IMPORT_JOBS_EXPIRATION = 15.hours.to_i
# ...
def perform
stuck_imports_without_jid_count = mark_imports_without_jid_as_failed!
stuck_imports_with_jid_count = mark_imports_with_jid_as_failed!
track_metrics(stuck_imports_with_jid_count, stuck_imports_without_jid_count)
end
# ...
end
end
end
Marked stuck import jobs as failed. JIDs: xyz
+-----------+ +-----------------------------------+
|Export Job |--->| Calls ActiveRecord `as_json` and |
+-----------+ | `to_json` on all project models |
+-----------------------------------+
+-----------+ +-----------------------------------+
|Import Job |--->| Loads all JSON in memory, then |
+-----------+ | inserts into the DB in batches |
+-----------------------------------+
Problems and solutions
Problem | Possible solutions |
---|---|
Slow JSON loading/dumping models from the database | split the worker |
Batch export | |
Optimize SQL | |
Move away from ActiveRecord callbacks (difficult) |
|
High memory usage (see also some analysis | DB Commit sweet spot that uses less memory |
Netflix Fast JSON API may help | |
Batch reading/writing to disk and any SQL |
Temporary solutions
While the performance problems are not tackled, there is a process to workaround importing big projects, using a foreground import:
Foreground import of big projects for customers. (Using the import template in the infrastructure tracker)
Security
The Import/Export feature is constantly updated (adding new things to export), however
the code hasn't been refactored in a long time. We should perform a code audit (see
confidential issue https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/20720
).
to make sure its dynamic nature does not increase the number of security concerns.
Security in the code
Some of these classes provide a layer of security to the Import/Export.
The AttributeCleaner
removes any prohibited keys:
# AttributeCleaner
# Removes all `_ids` and other prohibited keys
class AttributeCleaner
ALLOWED_REFERENCES = RelationFactory::PROJECT_REFERENCES + RelationFactory::USER_REFERENCES + ['group_id']
def clean
@relation_hash.reject do |key, _value|
prohibited_key?(key) || !@relation_class.attribute_method?(key) || excluded_key?(key)
end.except('id')
end
...
The AttributeConfigurationSpec
checks and confirms the addition of new columns:
# AttributeConfigurationSpec
<<-MSG
It looks like #{relation_class}, which is exported using the project Import/Export, has new attributes:
Please add the attribute(s) to SAFE_MODEL_ATTRIBUTES if you consider this can be exported.
Otherwise, please blacklist the attribute(s) in IMPORT_EXPORT_CONFIG by adding it to its correspondent
model in the +excluded_attributes+ section.
SAFE_MODEL_ATTRIBUTES: #{File.expand_path(safe_attributes_file)}
IMPORT_EXPORT_CONFIG: #{Gitlab::ImportExport.config_file}
MSG
The ModelConfigurationSpec
checks and confirms the addition of new models:
# ModelConfigurationSpec
<<-MSG
New model(s) <#{new_models.join(',')}> have been added, related to #{parent_model_name}, which is exported by
the Import/Export feature.
If you think this model should be included in the export, please add it to `#{Gitlab::ImportExport.config_file}`.
Definitely add it to `#{File.expand_path(ce_models_yml)}`
to signal that you've handled this error and to prevent it from showing up in the future.
MSG
The ExportFileSpec
detects encrypted or sensitive columns:
# ExportFileSpec
<<-MSG
Found a new sensitive word <#{key_found}>, which is part of the hash #{parent.inspect}
If you think this information shouldn't get exported, please exclude the model or attribute in
IMPORT_EXPORT_CONFIG.
Otherwise, please add the exception to +safe_list+ in CURRENT_SPEC using #{sensitive_word} as the
key and the correspondent hash or model as the value.
Also, if the attribute is a generated unique token, please add it to RelationFactory::TOKEN_RESET_MODELS
if it needs to be reset (to prevent duplicate column problems while importing to the same instance).
IMPORT_EXPORT_CONFIG: #{Gitlab::ImportExport.config_file}
CURRENT_SPEC: #{__FILE__}
MSG
Versioning
Import/Export does not use strict SemVer, since it has frequent constant changes during a single GitLab release. It does require an update when there is a breaking change.
# ImportExport
module Gitlab
module ImportExport
extend self
# For every version update, the version history in import_export.md has to be kept up to date.
VERSION = '0.2.4'
Version history
Check the version history for compatibility when importing and exporting projects.
When to bump the version up
If we rename model/columns or perform any format, we need to bump the version modifications in the JSON structure or the file structure of the archive file.
We do not need to bump the version up in any of the following cases:
- Add a new column or a model
- Remove a column or model (unless there is a DB constraint)
- Export new things (such as a new type of upload)
Every time we bump the version, the integration specs fail and can be fixed with:
bundle exec rake gitlab:import_export:bump_version
A quick dive into the code
import_export.yml
)
Import/Export configuration (The main configuration import_export.yml
defines what models can be exported/imported.
Model relationships to be included in the project import/export:
project_tree:
- labels:
- :priorities
- milestones:
- events:
- :push_event_payload
- issues:
- events:
# ...
Only include the following attributes for the models specified:
included_attributes:
user:
- :id
- :public_email
# ...
Do not include the following attributes for the models specified:
excluded_attributes:
project:
- :name
- :path
- ...
Extra methods to be called by the export:
# Methods
methods:
labels:
- :type
label:
- :type
Customize the export order of the model relationships:
# Specify a custom export reordering for a given relationship
# For example for issues we use a custom export reordering by relative_position, so that on import, we can reset the
# relative position value, but still keep the issues order to the order in which issues were in the exported project.
# By default the ordering of relations is done by PK.
# column - specify the column by which to reorder, by default it is relation's PK
# direction - specify the ordering direction :asc or :desc, default :asc
# nulls_position - specify where would null values be positioned. Because custom ordering column can contain nulls we
# need to also specify where would the nulls be placed. It can be :nulls_last or :nulls_first, defaults
# to :nulls_last
export_reorders:
project:
issues:
column: :relative_position
direction: :asc
nulls_position: :nulls_last
Conditional export
When associated resources are from outside the project, you might need to
validate that a user who is exporting the project or group can access these
associations. include_if_exportable
accepts an array of associations for a
resource. During export, the exportable_association?
method on the resource
is called with the association's name and user to validate if associated
resource can be included in the export.
For example:
include_if_exportable:
project:
issues:
- epic_issue
This definition:
- Calls the issue's
exportable_association?(:epic_issue, current_user: current_user)
method. - If the method returns true, includes the issue's
epic_issue
association for the issue.
Import
The import job status moves from none
to finished
or failed
into different states:
import_status: none -> scheduled -> started -> finished/failed
While the status is started
the Importer
code processes each step required for the import.
# ImportExport::Importer
module Gitlab
module ImportExport
class Importer
def execute
if import_file && check_version! && restorers.all?(&:restore) && overwrite_project
project
else
raise Projects::ImportService::Error.new(@shared.errors.join(', '))
end
rescue => e
raise Projects::ImportService::Error.new(e.message)
ensure
remove_import_file
end
def restorers
[repo_restorer, wiki_restorer, project_tree, avatar_restorer,
uploads_restorer, lfs_restorer, statistics_restorer]
end
The export service, is similar to the Importer
, restoring data instead of saving it.
Export
# ImportExport::ExportService
module Projects
module ImportExport
class ExportService < BaseService
def save_all!
if save_services
Gitlab::ImportExport::Saver.save(project: project, shared: @shared)
notify_success
else
cleanup_and_notify_error!
end
end
def save_services
[version_saver, avatar_saver, project_tree_saver, uploads_saver, repo_saver,
wiki_repo_saver, lfs_saver].all?(&:save)
end
Test fixtures
Fixtures used in Import/Export specs live in spec/fixtures/lib/gitlab/import_export
. There are both Project and Group fixtures.
There are two versions of each of these fixtures:
- A human readable single JSON file with all objects, called either
project.json
orgroup.json
. - A folder named
tree
, containing a tree of files inndjson
format. Please do not edit files under this folder manually unless strictly necessary.
The tools to generate the NDJSON tree from the human-readable JSON files live in the gitlab-org/memory-team/team-tools
project.
Project
Please use legacy-project-json-to-ndjson.sh
to generate the NDJSON tree.
The NDJSON tree looks like:
tree
├── project
│ ├── auto_devops.ndjson
│ ├── boards.ndjson
│ ├── ci_cd_settings.ndjson
│ ├── ci_pipelines.ndjson
│ ├── container_expiration_policy.ndjson
│ ├── custom_attributes.ndjson
│ ├── error_tracking_setting.ndjson
│ ├── external_pull_requests.ndjson
│ ├── issues.ndjson
│ ├── labels.ndjson
│ ├── merge_requests.ndjson
│ ├── milestones.ndjson
│ ├── pipeline_schedules.ndjson
│ ├── project_badges.ndjson
│ ├── project_feature.ndjson
│ ├── project_members.ndjson
│ ├── protected_branches.ndjson
│ ├── protected_tags.ndjson
│ ├── releases.ndjson
│ ├── services.ndjson
│ ├── snippets.ndjson
│ └── triggers.ndjson
└── project.json
Group
Please use legacy-group-json-to-ndjson.rb
to generate the NDJSON tree.
The NDJSON tree looks like this:
tree
└── groups
├── 4351
│ ├── badges.ndjson
│ ├── boards.ndjson
│ ├── epics.ndjson
│ ├── labels.ndjson
│ ├── members.ndjson
│ └── milestones.ndjson
├── 4352
│ ├── badges.ndjson
│ ├── boards.ndjson
│ ├── epics.ndjson
│ ├── labels.ndjson
│ ├── members.ndjson
│ └── milestones.ndjson
├── _all.ndjson
├── 4351.json
└── 4352.json
WARNING:
When updating these fixtures, please ensure you update both json
files and tree
folder, as the tests apply to both.