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Administering
Learn how to administer the product.
Administering HCL VersionVault
Learn about performing administrative tasks for an HCL VersionVault community including managing software licenses, user and group accounts, VersionVault server and client hosts, shared data, and the network that connects them.
VOB administration
Because VOBs are the principal repository for artifacts under HCL VersionVault control, VOB administration is one of the HCL VersionVault administrator’s most important tasks.
VOB schema versions
Each VOB has a database schema version that defines the format of the VOB database and therefore determines the types of data and metadata that the VOB can store.
Information on reformatting using the semilive option
Semi-live reformatVOB (SLRV) allows customers to upgrade the VOB database to the newer schema versions without all the required downtime required by the standard HCL VersionVault reformatvob functionality.
How semi-live reformatVOB works
The semi-live reformatVOB process works by performing the reformatvob functionality in the background to minimize the amount of time the VOB is locked, or unavailable for users to perform their normal tasks.
Completing the semi-live reformatVOB process
Learn how to complete the semi-live reformatVOB process.

Administering
Learn how to administer the product.
- Administering HCL VersionVault
  Learn about performing administrative tasks for an HCL VersionVault community including managing software licenses, user and group accounts, VersionVault server and client hosts, shared data, and the network that connects them.
  - HCL VersionVault network planning and administration
  - License servers and license administration
    Most HCL VersionVault applications and commands (cleartool commands, for example, or GUIs such as the VersionVault Explorer) require a license to run.
  - Reconfiguring VersionVault to use a different JRE
    When you change the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for HCL VersionVault, you must reconfigure the product to make it work with the new JRE.
  - Administering the HCL VersionVault registry
    The HCL VersionVault registry is a central repository of information about shared resources such as VOBs and views.
  - HCL VersionVault network administration in mixed environments
    An HCL VersionVault environment that includes hosts that run Windows and hosts that run the UNIX system or Linux is said to be a mixed environment.
  - Overview of security considerations
    As an administrator, you are responsible for the security of your HCL VersionVault deployment.
  - VOB and view access control
    HCL VersionVault supports a rich set of access controls on versioned objects.
  - VOB administration
    Because VOBs are the principal repository for artifacts under HCL VersionVault control, VOB administration is one of the HCL VersionVault administrator’s most important tasks.
    - Access to VOB data and metadata
      VOB data must be accessed through a view. Most VOB metadata can be accessed directly by using HCL VersionVault GUIs and cleartool commands.
    - VOB types
      All VOBs have the same on-disk directory structure, and all have similar administrative requirements. However, certain VOBs might perform special functions.
    - Enabling atomic checkin operations
      When enabled, atomic checkin operations allow VOB users to specify that if a checkin operation should fail for one element specified by the checkin command, then it is to fail for all elements specified by the command.
    - Managing "evil twins"
      "Evil twins" are two elements of the same name that have been created in different versions of the same directory element. When the directory versions are merged, it is not clear which twin has been lost, nor even that the twins may be different versions that need to be merged.
    - VOB schema versions
      Each VOB has a database schema version that defines the format of the VOB database and therefore determines the types of data and metadata that the VOB can store.
      - Reformatting a VOB to a new schema
        When you upgrade a VOB server host to another version of HCL VersionVault, the VOB remains at the previous schema version until you reformat it to the newer schema version.
      - Information on reformatting using the semilive option
        Semi-live reformatVOB (SLRV) allows customers to upgrade the VOB database to the newer schema versions without all the required downtime required by the standard HCL VersionVault reformatvob functionality.
        How semi-live reformatVOB works
        The semi-live reformatVOB process works by performing the reformatvob functionality in the background to minimize the amount of time the VOB is locked, or unavailable for users to perform their normal tasks.
        Initiating the semi-live reformatVOB process
        Learn how to initiate the semi-live reformatVOB process.
        Completing the semi-live reformatVOB process
        Learn how to complete the semi-live reformatVOB process.
        Controlling the db_replay_server
        Learn how to control the db_replay_server process.
        Changes to cleartool desc vob:<vob_tag>
        A change is made to the output of the cleartool describe of a VOB.
        Semi-live reformatVOB completion cleanup steps
        Learn about the cleanup steps of the semi-live reformatVOB process.
        Restrictions and limitations of semi-live reformatVOB
        Understand the restrictions and limitations of the semi-live reformatVOB process.
        Command-line parameters to semi-live reformatVOB
        The semi-live reformatVOB procedure is controlled by the cleartool reformatvob -semilive <vob_stg_path> command.
        Example of prompts
        Consider an example of the prompts to understand the semi-live reformatVOB process.
    - VOB feature levels
      A VOB feature level is an integer that enables certain features in a release.
    - VOB host configuration guidelines
      Properly configured VOB hosts are essential to obtaining satisfactory HCL VersionVault performance.
    - Creating VOBs
      Any user with access to a suitable server host can create a VOB.
    - Automounting VOBs
      HCL VersionVault supports automounting Versioned Object Bases (VOBs). This feature is relevant to users of VersionVault dynamic views only. VOB automounting can be configured on Linux and Solaris systems only.
    - Replacing a VOB server host for a NAS device
      When you locate VOB storage on a NAS device, you can easily replace the VOB host for any VOB on the NAS device with another VOB host of the same architecture without actually moving the VOB storage.
    - Troubleshooting VOB access problems
      Several common problems can prevent access to VOBs.
    - Making a VOB inaccessible
      To make a VOB inaccessible, lock it or remove its tag.
    - Removing a VOB
      Removing a VOB destroys all of its data. Do not remove a VOB unless the data that it contains is no longer valuable.
    - The VOB storage directory
      This topic describes the contents of a VOB storage directory. An understanding of these contents can be useful to anyone responsible for VOB storage maintenance.
    - VOB storage management
      VOB storage grows in proportion to the number of developers who use the VOB and the rate at which they create and change artifacts in it.
    - Creating additional storage for a VOB
      After you have created a VOB, you can create as many additional storage pools as you need and adjust their contents as necessary. On hosts running Linux or the UNIX system, you can also create remote storage pools.
  - VOB datatypes and administrative VOB hierarchies
    There are many types of VOB metadata. Some are unique to a particular VOB, but many must be managed consistently across a group of VOBs that store related artifacts (components of a UCM project, for example). These topics introduce VOB metadata and describe how to use administrative VOB hierarchies to simplify sharing of type objects among related VOBs.
  - Moving VOBs and relocating VOB data
    HCL VersionVault includes tools for moving data and metadata to another VOB and for moving entire VOBs to another disk or host. You may need to use these tools to reorganize VOB directories, redistribute data storage, or rebalance server loads.
  - Views and view administration
    A view provides a workspace where users access versions of file and directory elements that are under HCL VersionVault control. Views can also contain view-private file system objects (such as ordinary files and directories) that are not under HCL VersionVault control.
  - Backing up critical HCL VersionVault data
    Like all databases, VOBs, views, and the HCL VersionVault registry have special backup and restore requirements.
  - Restoring critical HCL VersionVault data
    If you have implemented a sound backup strategy for HCL VersionVault data, it should be easy to restore that data, if necessary.
  - Periodic maintenance
    Periodic attention to storage management and repository integrity is an important administrative function. These topics describe VOB and view storage management tasks, the checkvob utility, and the HCL VersionVault scheduler, which you can use to automate many periodic maintenance chores.
  - Importing data
    HCL VersionVault includes several utilities for importing data from other configuration management systems or directly from the file system itself.
  - Troubleshooting
    These topics cover a variety of procedures that administrators might need to follow to find and fix problems.
  - Improving client host performance
  - Improving VOB host performance
  - Configuring cross-platform file-system access
  - HCL VersionVault and Windows® domains
  - Configuring non-VersionVault access on Linux® or the UNIX system
    You can configure an HCL VersionVault host running Linux® or the UNIX system to support access to VOBs and dynamic views from computers that do not run HCL VersionVault.
  - Configuring HCL VersionVault for high availability
  - Estimating VOB size
    If you can estimate the number of elements, versions, and derived objects that a VOB will ultimately contain, you can compute a very rough estimate of the size of a VOB that can accommodate them. VOB storage includes a database and pools. On Windows®, the database and pools must reside on a single disk partition. On Linux® or the UNIX system, the pools can be located on a different partition or host, using symbolic links.
  - Administering the VersionVault WAN server
  - About VersionVault WAN server parallel view loading
  - Administering and using CMI task-provider integrations
    HCL VersionVault supports integrations with task providers such as HCL Compass through the Change Management Interface (CMI). The integrations require some configuration tasks, after which you can work with UCM activities or base VersionVault branches that are associated with the tasks.
- Administering platforms for HCL VersionVault
  Learn how to perform HCL VersionVault administrative tasks on supported platforms.
- Administering HCL VersionVault MultiSite
  Learn to configure and manage the HCL VersionVault MultiSite environment to support development activities at different locations.

Completing the semi-live reformatVOB process

Learn how to complete the semi-live reformatVOB process.

Note: Semi-live reformatVOB is a Technology Preview feature.

About this task

The semi-live reformatVOB process takes a couple of minutes to many minutes to complete depending on how many outstanding transactions must be processed. Before starting the complete process, use the cleartool reforamtvob -semilive -status <vob_stg_path> command to see the number of transactions that must be processed.

Procedure

To complete the semi-live reformatVOB process:

The administrator executes the command:
cleartool reformatvob -semilive -complete <vob_stg_path>
VOB is now locked to prevent any further changes.
A Complete message is sent to the db_replay_server, which instructs the db_replay_server to replay all the outstanding transactions and then exit.
When all the transactions are completed, cleartool stops all the processes using this database and then move the database directories:
1. Existing db directory is moved to db.pre-semilive.<month>.<day>.
2. Directory db.semilive with a schema 81 database, is moved to db.
The VOB is unlocked and ready for use.

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