# Esrally command line parameters

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/esrally-command-line-parameters/250507>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** rally\
**Created:** [September 30, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/esrally-command-line-parameters/250507 "2020-09-30T13:02:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oleg\_Ruchovets](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/oleg_ruchovets/32/60137_2.png) [@Oleg\_Ruchovets](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Oleg_Ruchovets)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/esrally-command-line-parameters/250507/1 "2020-09-30T13:02:47Z")

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Hello,  
I am running a set of rally tests and I would like to preserve data/index and run next time with existing data in elastic.

I tried to use --preserve-install=true option but it is not accepted.  
**esrally: error: argument --preserve-install: ignored explicit argument 'true'**

running just --preserve-install remove the entire index.  
esrally --pipeline=benchmark-only --track=eventdata --track-repository=eventdata --challenge=bulk-update --track-params=bulk\_size:10000,bulk\_indexing\_clients:32 --target-hosts=localhost:9200 --client-options="timeout:240" **--preserve-install**

what is the way to pass the parameters to the esrally to preserve the index?

Also, running Rally this way:  
**nohup** esrally --pipeline=benchmark-only --track=eventdata --track-repository=eventdata --challenge=bulk-update --track-params=bulk\_size:10000,bulk\_indexing\_clients:32 --target-hosts=localhost:9200 --client-options="timeout:240" --kill-running-processes \> **/dev/null 2\>&1&**

What is the way to track rally progress? running rally without background it prints the progress information to the console but how to track the optput in case of nohup?

Thanks

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dliappis](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dliappis/32/56174_2.png) [@dliappis](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dliappis)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2020, 7:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/esrally-command-line-parameters/250507/2 "2020-10-01T07:04:58Z")

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> [@Oleg\_Ruchovets](#):
>
> what is the way to pass the parameters to the esrally to preserve the index?

You need to skip the operation that deletes the index.  
To find the name of that operation, apart from looking at the [challenge itself](https://github.com/elastic/rally-eventdata-track/blob/e23b994e69b7b3ff8b0d386aa3b9a0a37f3e597d/eventdata/challenges/bulk-update.json#L9-L15), you should familiarize yourself with the [info subcommand](https://esrally.readthedocs.io/en/stable/command_line_reference.html#info).

Then you can use e.g. `esrally info --track-repository=eventdata --track=eventdata --challenge=bulk-update`

Once you've identified the name of the operation that deletes the index, you can specify that together with [exclude-tasks](https://esrally.readthedocs.io/en/stable/command_line_reference.html#exclude-tasks).

> [@Oleg\_Ruchovets](#):
>
> Also, running Rally this way:  
> **nohup** esrally --pipeline=benchmark-only --track=eventdata --track-repository=eventdata --challenge=bulk-update --track-params=bulk\_size:10000,bulk\_indexing\_clients:32 --target-hosts=localhost:9200 --client-options="timeout:240" --kill-running-processes \> **/dev/null 2\>&1&**
> 
> What is the way to track rally progress? running rally without background it prints the progress information to the console but how to track the optput in case of nohup?

You are redirecting the output to `>/dev/null` so you are losing the contents, which otherwise, had you redirected to a file you might be able to reference (even though, the interactive progress would look messed in a text file).

Why do you run with nohup? Can't you run esrally within a screen or tmux session to ensure it stays running even after you disconnect and re-attach the session later?

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 7:05am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/esrally-command-line-parameters/250507/3 "2020-10-29T07:05:08Z")

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