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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.
HCL VersionVault network planning and administration
HCL VersionVault server processes
HCL VersionVault is a distributed application. Many of its operations involve several host computers and several server processes on each host.

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
    - Administrator responsibilities
      An HCL VersionVault administrator is typically responsible for host and network administration, data administration, user administration, and license administration.
    - Hosts and host administration
      HCL VersionVault is a distributed application with a client/server architecture. Many operations involve programs and data on more than one host. These topics describe the types of hosts you might have in your HCL VersionVault community and explains how each type of host is used.
    - Licensing and license administration
      An administrator typically sets up license server hosts, administers license keys and establishes license use policies. Users typically configure licensing on their own computers when they install HCL VersionVault.
    - Data storage and data administration
      Repository maintenance is a critical aspect of HCL VersionVault administration.
    - Views
      All users in an HCL VersionVault community require access to one or more views to do their work.
    - User and group administration
      Access to VOBs and views is controlled by means of users and groups. When an HCL VersionVault application attempts an operation in a VOB or view, its credentials, which include the name and primary group of the user who started the application, are evaluated to determine whether the operation is permitted.
    - HCL VersionVault server processes
      HCL VersionVault is a distributed application. Many of its operations involve several host computers and several server processes on each host.
      - albd_server process
        When a client program needs access to a service (a VOB or view server, for example) on an HCL VersionVault server host, it uses a remote procedure call (RPC) to send a request to the albd_server process on that host. The albd_server starts the requested service if it is not already started, and provides the service's port number to the client. Thereafter, the client communicates directly with the service.
      - admin_server process
        The HCL VersionVault administration server (admin_server) is invoked as needed by the host’s albd_server process. This short-lived server performs miscellaneous administrative support functions.
      - credmap_server process
        The credentials mapping server, credmap_server, runs on any HCL VersionVault host that is configured to support local VOBs and views. This server handles credentials mapping in environments where users access a common set of VOBs and views from computers running different supported operating systems.
      - view_server process
        A view_server is a long-lived process that manages activity in a particular view.
      - vob_server process
        For each VOB, a long-lived vob_server process runs on the VOB host. The vob_server manipulates data in the VOB storage pools in response to requests from client processes.
      - db_server process
        The db_server processes manage VOB database transactions on a host in response to requests from client programs.
      - vobrpc_server process
        Each VOB server host runs one or more vobrpc_server processes for each of its VOBs.
      - lockmgr process
        On Windows hosts that are VOB servers, a lock manager arbitrates transaction requests to all VOB databases on that host.
    - Server logs
      Each HCL VersionVault server process maintains a log on the host where it runs. Because an error returned by a command entered on the local host can generate a log entry on a remote host, HCL VersionVault provides two remote log retrieval tools: the cleartool getlog command and the Server Logs node of the HCL VersionVault Administration Console.
    - Starting and stopping HCL VersionVault
      HCL VersionVault usually starts and stops when an HCL VersionVault host starts up or shuts down, using the startup and shutdown conventions for the platform type. These topics describe how to stop or start HCL VersionVault services manually.
    - HCL VersionVault and network-attached storage devices
      Any network-attached storage (NAS) device can provide storage for ordinary files that are created and used by HCL VersionVault (release areas, for example, or the remote storage pools supported by HCL VersionVault hosts running Linux or the UNIX system). In addition, several NAS devices can provide storage, when properly configured and used, for all VOB and view storage.
    - DHCP requirements
      HCL VersionVault is compatible with most DHCP configurations, although it has a few special requirements that you must be aware of.
    - Requirements for hosts with multiple network interfaces
      Hosts that have multiple network interfaces require additional configuration to work with HCL VersionVault.
    - HCL VersionVault and the NFS automounter
      HCL VersionVault is compatible with the NFS automount facility that is supported on Linux and the UNIX system, though certain guidelines apply.
  - 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.
  - 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.

HCL VersionVault server processes

HCL VersionVault is a distributed application. Many of its operations involve several host computers and several server processes on each host.

These servers do not usually need to be explicitly configured, started, stopped, or managed. The information in these topics is intended to help you understand status and error messages that these servers generate, to access server logs, and to understand the role each server process plays in an HCL VersionVault network.

Two server processes— albd_server and admin_server—run on every host that has been configured to support local VOBs and views, regardless of whether any VOBs or views have been created on the host. Other server processes are started as necessary to manage any VOBs and views that reside on the host.

Note: No HCL VersionVault server processes run on an HCL VersionVault client host or on an HCL VersionVault host that has been configured with no support for local VOBs and views.

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