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Administering
Learn how to administer the product.
Administering HCL VersionVault MultiSite
Learn to configure and manage the HCL VersionVault MultiSite environment to support development activities at different locations.
Packet transportation methods and configuration
The method you choose for transporting packets between replicas depends on connectivity. If your replicas do not have IP connectivity, you must use a file-based transport method. If your replicas have connectivity, you can use the store-and-forward facility.
File-based methods
File-based transport methods include electronic mail, ftp, and physical media (like CDs, magnetic tapes, and diskettes).
Electronic mail
You can use an existing electronic mail mechanism as the transport method for packets. On the sending end, compress and encode the packet and then send the resulting data to a specific electronic mail alias at the receiving site. On the receiving end, redirect the electronic mail alias to a script that decodes and decompresses the incoming information.

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.
- 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.
  - Introduction
    HCL VersionVault MultiSite adds a powerful capability to HCL VersionVault. With MultiSite, developers at different locations can use the same HCL VersionVault versioned object base (VOB). For HCL VersionVault, each location (site) has its own copy (replica) of the VOB. At any time, changes made in one replica can be sent in update packets to other replicas. You can manage replicas by using the command-line tools.
  - MultiSite operation
  - Implementation planning
    Before you install and use HCL VersionVaultHCL Compass MultiSite, you need to plan your implementation.
  - MultiSite command set
    This section summarizes the commands for HCL VersionVault MultiSite and HCL VersionVault that display HCL VersionVault MultiSite information. There are a series of MultiSite commands and API functions that display or modify MultiSite information.
  - Packet transportation methods and configuration
    The method you choose for transporting packets between replicas depends on connectivity. If your replicas do not have IP connectivity, you must use a file-based transport method. If your replicas have connectivity, you can use the store-and-forward facility.
    - File-based methods
      File-based transport methods include electronic mail, ftp, and physical media (like CDs, magnetic tapes, and diskettes).
      - Electronic mail
        You can use an existing electronic mail mechanism as the transport method for packets. On the sending end, compress and encode the packet and then send the resulting data to a specific electronic mail alias at the receiving site. On the receiving end, redirect the electronic mail alias to a script that decodes and decompresses the incoming information.
      - FTP
        The ftp utility can transport packets between replicas. On the sending end, the MultiSite administrator or a script creates and compresses the packet, and uses ftp to transfer the file to a location that is accessible by MultiSite administrators at other sites. Scripts at receiving sites poll the drop site, looking for any new files. When new files arrive, the scripts retrieve them using ftp, decompress them, and process them.
      - Physical media
        You can create packets as files, write them to a CD, magnetic tape, or diskette, and then send the media to another site. The mkreplica and syncreplica commands include the –out option, which places packets in physical files.
    - Store-and-forward
      The MultiSite store-and-forward facility (the shipping server) is a file-transfer service that automates the transport phase of replica creation and synchronization. It can handle packets of any size (up to the maximum packet size specified in the shipping.conf file on Linux™ and the UNIX™ system or the MultiSite Control Panel on Windows™), can route files through a series of MultiSite hosts (one hop at a time), and includes support for handling data-communications failures.
    - Store-and-forward through a firewall (Linux™ and the UNIX™ system only)
      By default, the store-and-forward facility (the shipping server) cannot operate through a firewall. Passing through a firewall is usually accomplished by granting access to specific ports for certain IP addresses. Because the shipping server picks any available port number on the sending and receiving replica hosts to make the connection, there is no single port number (or even small range of port numbers) to which special access can be granted.
  - Feature levels
    Feature levels allow different replica hosts in a VOB family to run different versions of HCL VersionVault. You can raise the feature level of either a single replica host or an entire VOB family.
  - Creating VOB replicas
    Before creating a replica, you must make decisions about branching, mastership, identities and permissions preservation, and method of packet delivery.
  - Replica synchronization
    Replica synchronization uses the same export-transport-import procedure that is used during replica creation.
  - Administering replicas
  - Using MultiSite for VOB backup and interoperability
    You can use HCL VersionVault MultiSite to back up a VOB and to provide access to VOBs in a heterogeneous network.
  - Troubleshooting MultiSite operations
    When you encounter a situation where running an HCL VersionVault MultiSite command produces an unexpected result, or produces a warning or error message, the information in this section can assist you in troubleshooting the problem.

Electronic mail

You can use an existing electronic mail mechanism as the transport method for packets. On the sending end, compress and encode the packet and then send the resulting data to a specific electronic mail alias at the receiving site. On the receiving end, redirect the electronic mail alias to a script that decodes and decompresses the incoming information.

To ensure that a electronic mail message is not too large to be delivered, you can specify the maximum size for a packet by using the -maxsize option, the shipping.conf file (Linux™ and the UNIX™ system), or the MultiSite Control Panel (Windows™).

Advantages:

Transport mechanism is well understood and widely available.
Little effort is required from the system administrator.

Disadvantages:

No control over routing of data.
Possibility that messages can be intercepted or lost without notification.
Less efficient than ftp or store-and-forward.

Note:

You can write scripts to automate electronic mail transport. The sending script creates the packets, compresses and encodes them, and divides them into multiple small packets so they are not too big for the electronic mail process. The script must mark the multiple packets with the correct sequencing. The script then sends the packets to an address at the target location or replica.
At the target location, the account that receives the packets redirects or pipes them to a process that reassembles, decodes, and uncompresses them and places them in the replica's storage bay.

MultiSite import commands handle out-of-sequence and missing packet problems, so your scripts do not have to address these issues.
Using ssh and scp (secure shell and secure copy) provides a secure way to move files through firewalls.
For security, you must encrypt the packets.

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