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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.
Administering replicas
Implementing requests for mastership
To support development of VOB elements that cannot be merged, you can give developers the ability to request mastership of branches and branch types.
Requirements and recommendations
In order to enable requests for mastership in one or more replicas and for those requests to be handled efficiently, specific conditions must be met.

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.
  - 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 the CLI and native GUIs
    - Managing mastership
    - Implementing requests for mastership
      To support development of VOB elements that cannot be merged, you can give developers the ability to request mastership of branches and branch types.
      - Overview of a request for mastership
        When a developer requests mastership of a branch, the branch's mastership is transferred to the developer's current replica. When a developer requests mastership of a branch type, mastership of the branch type, along with mastership of all the instances of the branch type that have default mastership, is transferred to the developer's current replica.
      - Requirements and recommendations
        In order to enable requests for mastership in one or more replicas and for those requests to be handled efficiently, specific conditions must be met.
      - Planning your implementation
        Before enabling requests for mastership, the project managers and administrators at the different sites must make specific planning decisions about whether requests for mastership are allowed for specific replicas, branches, and branch types, and which developers are authorized to make requests for mastership.
      - Enabling requests for mastership
        To enable requests for mastership for the replicas in a VOB family, you must verify the feature level, add developers to the access control list, specify any objects for which you want to deny requests, and then enable requests at the replica level for each replica in the VOB family.
      - Enabling synchronous requests for mastership (SRFM)
        Synchronous request for mastership (SRFM) means that a request for mastership of a branch is issued synchronously with a checkout of that remotely mastered branch, providing a writable branch before branch mastership is acquired.
      - Customizing synchronization updates for mastership requests
        After a mastership request is processed at the master replica, sync_export_list is invoked to export an update packet to the replica at the requester's site. You can customize the export by specifying one or more of the options and arguments that are valid for sync_export_list, except for –replicas, which is always the replica at the requester's site.
      - Displaying mastership request settings
        To display the mastership request setting for a replica, branch type, or branch, use the describe command or the Mastership page in the Properties Browser (Windows®). These settings are also displayed in the Request Mastership Window on Windows.
      - Troubleshooting mastership requests
        MultiSite provides commands you can use to troubleshoot failed mastership requests. When a request fails, the error messages provide an indication of what happened and what can be done to fix the problem.
      - Serial development scenario
        This is an example of serial development using requests for mastership.
  - 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.

Requirements and recommendations

In order to enable requests for mastership in one or more replicas and for those requests to be handled efficiently, specific conditions must be met.

In order for you to enable requests for mastership in one or more replicas, the following requirements must be met:

The VOB family must be at feature level 2 or higher. (All replicas in the VOB family must be at feature level 2 or higher, even if you are not going to enable requests in all of the replicas.) For more information about feature levels, see Feature levels.
The HCL VersionVault client hosts and replica VOB server hosts all must have open, high-speed TCP/IP connections.
A request for mastership makes remote procedure calls (RPCs) directly to remote servers and fails if the hosts are not connected. If a site has a firewall, developers at that site cannot request mastership from replicas at other sites, and developers at other sites cannot request mastership of any branches mastered by a replica at a site with a firewall.
Each replica must master its own replica object.
If a replica does not master its own replica object, you cannot enable or disable mastership requests at the replica level. For information about reassigning mastership of the replica object, see Transferring mastership of a replica object.

For mastership requests to work efficiently, the following recommendations should be followed:

There should be no contention for branches or branch types among the sites. That is, only one person at a time requests mastership of a branch or branch type.
If two or more developers at different sites compete for mastership of objects, mastership always will be in flux. In this situation, the project leaders and administrators must determine whether the branch sharing strategy needs to be changed. Using requests for mastership is not a substitute for using good branching and merging practices.
The replicas should exchange update packets frequently.
Each replica needs current information about object mastership. If a replica is not up to date, requests for mastership from that replica cannot determine which replica masters the requested object. Also, if replicas exchange packets infrequently, a mastership request may cause the generation of a large update packet, which will take longer to generate and import.

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