Workflow for disconnecting the view from the network


The disconnect view task of the disconnected use workflow follows the update view task and precedes the work in the view task.

Disconnecting a view on a UNIX system or Linux

If the view is located on a laptop or removable storage device, disconnect the device from the network; reconnect the removable media to a remote computer.

If you do not have a storage device with satisfactory read/write performance, use a standard UNIX or Linux copy command to copy files from your view to the storage media and from the storage media to the remote computer. To prevent copied files from being identified as hijacked, use cp command options to preserve file times. For example: 

cp -Rp

Disconnecting a view on a Windows system

How you disconnect the view depends on which hardware configuration you use.

Hardware configuration: view on a laptop

If the view is located on a laptop, deactivate the DevOps Code ClearCase® integration with Windows Explorer and other developer tools before you disconnect the view. Most DevOps Code ClearCase operations communicate with various DevOps Code ClearCase servers. Even if you install view server software on your host, almost any time you start a DevOps Code ClearCase operation (even an operation as simple as displaying the DevOps Code ClearCase pop-up menu in Windows Explorer), your host must connect to the DevOps Code ClearCase license server. The DevOps Code ClearCase integration with Microsoft Visual Studio attempts to connect to the license server periodically. If you are disconnected from the network, the application that attempts to connect to the license server for DevOps Code ClearCase locks for several seconds until it returns an error message. Although the application does not fail, such interruptions are unnecessary.

Hardware configuration: view on a removable storage device

If the view is located on a removable storage device, disconnect the removable storage device from the network computer and reconnect the media to the remote computer.

Hardware configuration: view copied to a storage device

If you do not have a storage device with satisfactory read/write performance, use the xcopy command to copy files from your view to the storage media and from the storage media to the remote computer as follows: 

xcopy path\snapshot-view-directory destination [ /D [:m-d-y] | /M ] /S /K /R
For example, 
xcopy c:\Library\pat_v1.4_cropcircle e:\temp /D /S /K /R
The command options accomplish the following:
  • The /D option instructs xcopy to copy only the files that have changed, which is useful if you frequently alternate between the network computer and the computer that is disconnected from the network. Use /D if you configured the Update Tool to set the time stamp of updated files to the time at which the files are loaded into the view. You can view or change the Update Tool time stamp option on the Advanced tab of the Start Update window..

    If you set the Update Tool to create time stamps based on the version-creation time, consider using the /M option, which causes xcopy to copy the files with the archive attribute set. The /M option is less reliable than the /D option, because some applications alter the archive attribute without writing the file.

  • The /S option instructs xcopy to copy all subdirectories of the snapshot view.
  • The /K option keeps the read-only file attribute as established by DevOps Code ClearCase operations.
  • The /R option allows xcopy to overwrite read-only files.