startview

Starts or connects to the view_server process of a dynamic view or to the rview _agent of an automatic view

Applicability

Product

Command type

VersionVault

cleartool subcommand

VersionVault Remote Client

rcleartool subcommand

Platform

UNIX

Linux

Windows

Synopsis

startview view-tag [ ... ]

Description

Prerequisite: The dynamic or automatic view that is being started must already have a view tag in the network's view tag registry file. See the mkview and mktag reference pages.

The startview command enables processes on the local host to access a view, as follows:

  • Establishes a connection between the local host's MVFS (VersionVault multiversion file system) and the dynamic view's view_server process or the automatic view's rview_agent.
  • Creates a view tag entry in the local host's viewroot directory. If a view_server process or rview_agent is not already running, startview invokes one on the host where the view storage area physically resides.

On UNIX and Linux, the default name of the viewroot directory is /view for a dynamic view and /rview for an automatic view. (See the init_ccase reference page for more information.) On Windows, it is drive M:\ for a dynamic view and R:\ for an automatic view.

Thus, starting a view that has been registered with view tag main creates the directory entry /view/main, /rview/main, M:\main, or R:\main. After this directory entry is created, any process on the local host can access the view through view-extended pathnames.

The view's view tag must already be registered, which is accomplished either at view creation time (with a mkview command) or subsequently (with mktag -view).

Note: startview is not applicable to snapshot or web views.

When to use startview

Both mkview and mktag invoke startview. Typically, startview is used to establish view-extended naming access. There are two main cases:

  • Because mkview and mktag invoke startview on the local host only, remote users of a dynamic view who want only view-extended naming access must use startview.
  • After your system has been stopped and restarted (see the Examples section), both local and remote users of a dynamic view can use startview to reestablish view-extended naming access.
Note: For UNIX and Linux users, setview also invokes startview, if necessary. Therefore, it is rarely necessary to invoke startview explicitly. startview is used to establish view-extended naming access without creating a process that is set to the view (as happens with setview).

Restrictions

None.

Options and arguments

Specifying the view

Default
None.
view-tag ...
One or more currently registered view tags (that is, view tags visible to lsview).

Examples

The UNIX system and Linux examples in this section are written for use in csh. If you use another shell, you might need to use different quoting and escaping conventions.

The Windows examples that include wildcards or quoting are written for use in cleartool interactive mode. If you use cleartool single-command mode, you might need to change the wildcards and quoting to make your command interpreter process the command appropriately.

In cleartool single-command mode, cmd-context represents the UNIX system and Linux shells or Windows command interpreter prompt, followed by the cleartool command. In cleartool interactive mode, cmd-context represents the interactive cleartool prompt.

  • The dynamic view anne_Rel2 is registered, but its view_server process went down in a system crash. On a Windows system, restart anne_Rel2, and make it the working directory view.

    cmd-context startview anne_Rel2
    C:\> M:
    M:\> cd \anne_Rel2\vob_pr2

  • Create a dynamic view on the local UNIX or Linux host, and establish view-extended naming access to the view on host3.

    cmd-context  mkview -tag mainRel2 /view_store/mainRel2.vws
    Created view.
    Host-local path: host2:/view-store/mainRel2.vws
    Global path: /net/host2/view-store/mainRel2.vws
    It has the following rights:
    User : anne : rwx
    Group: dev :
    % rsh host3 cleartool startview mainRel2

    On host3, enter the following command:

    cmd-context  startview mainRel2