promote_server

The promote_server program migrates a derived object's data container file from private storage to shared storage. When clearmake or omake winks in a derived object (DO) that was previously unshared, it invokes promote_server to copy the data container file from view-private storage to a VOB storage pool.

The destination storage pool is determined by the DO's path name. By definition, this path name is under a VOB tag; that is, the DO is in some VOB directory. The DO storage pool to which the directory element is assigned is the destination of the promotion. (On UNIX® or Linux® systems, some build scripts create multiple hard links, in different directories, to a derived object. In this case, the data container is promoted to the storage pool of only one of the directories.)

clearmake or omake invokes promote_server by making a request to the VersionVault master server, albd_server. promote_server runs as the owner of the view in which the data container to be copied resides (UNIX® and Linux®) or as the user VersionVault (Windows®), which guarantees read access to the data container.

After promoting a DO, the promote_server remains active for several minutes to ensure that subsequent promotions from the same view are processed with the least overhead. During this time, the promote_server remains associated with the view from which the DO was promoted; if two users try to promote DOs from the same view, at the same time, they share (serially) the same promote_server.

clearmake, omake, view_scrubber