Using Multiple AccuRev Servers

The simplest way to use AccuRev is to have a single repository, managed by a single AccuRev Server. The server process runs on a particular machine, and listens for client requests on a particular IP port. But it’s possible for an organization to have multiple servers running concurrently on different machines. Each server manages a separate repository, located on the server’s own machine; the servers and their repositories are completely independent (and unaware) of each other.

There are no special considerations, and no special procedures, for setting up multiple machines to run AccuRev Servers. You can install a server on as many hosts as desired (subject to license restrictions) within a local area or wide area network. The fact that AccuRev is installed on machines that are networked together is irrelevant; each installation is independent of all the others.

Setting Up Client Machines

Installing AccuRev on a machine creates a client configuration file, acclient.cnf, in the AccuRev executables directory. (That’s subdirectory bin of the location designated as the “Install Folder” or “Install Directory” during installation.) The configuration file specifies the network location of the IP port on which an instance of the AccuRev Server is listening for client requests. For example:

SERVERS = jupiter:4079

If more than one server has already been set up, you’ll need to specify one of them during the client installation. Check with a system administrator, or look at file acserver.cnf in the AccuRev executables directory on the machine where the server is installed, For example, the server machine’s acserver.cnf file might contain:

MASTER_SERVER = jupiter
PORT = 4079
...

You can modify the client configuration file at any time to identify additional AccuRev servers. For example, in a network where AccuRev servers are running on machines jupiter, venus, and pluto, each client machine’s acclient.cnf file might look like this:

SERVERS = jupiter:4079
SERVERS = venus:5050
SERVERS = pluto:6678

Each server’s IP port must be listed on a separate line (even though the keyword is “SERVERS”, not “SERVER”). The file must not contain any empty lines; be sure to check the end of the file.

The AccuRev GUI allows you to configure the contents of the acclient.cnf file via the Tools > Login dialog. See Using the Login Dialog for more information.

In what order should the servers be listed? For users of the AccuRev CLI (accurev), the order is important: by default, each AccuRev CLI command is directed to the server listed on the first line of the client configuration file. This implies that if you want to change the “active server” in the CLI, you need to rearrange the lines in your machine’s acclient.cnf file. This is quite doable, but cumbersome; the sections below describe a better way for CLI users to work with multiple AccuRev servers. For users of the AccuRev GUI, it doesn’t matter. The GUI’s Tools > Login command revises the acclient.cnf file, moving the line for the new active server to the beginning of the file.

Tip: The ACCUREV_SERVER environment variable influences which AccuRev Server the AccuRev GUI interacts with at startup time. See ENV_VARS of the AccuRev CLI User’s Guide for more information.

Workspaces and Servers

Each AccuRev workspace is associated with a particular AccuRev server: the workspace is attached to a particular stream, which belongs to a particular depot, which is managed by a particular server. When you execute a mkws command to create a new workspace, the command is directed to the server that is listed first in the machine’s acclient.cnf file. (You must use the –s option to specify a backing stream for the new workspace; this stream must belong to one of the depots managed by that particular server.) To access multiple workspaces on multiple servers, create a workspace configuration file as described in Working with Multiple Repositories of the CLI User’s Guide.

Note: It is more precise to describe the workspace’s association as being with a particular AccuRev repository, rather than with a particular AccuRev server. This workspace-to-repository association is permanent: AccuRev has no concept of associating an existing workspace with a different repository (or even with a different depot in the same repository). On the other hand, many of the details can change: you can rename a workspace; you can move a workspace to a different location in the file system or to a different machine; you can move a repository to a different machine.

Specifying a Server By Using the –H Option

For most commands in the accurev CLI program, you can specify the AccuRev server/repository to target on the command line, using the –H option:

accurev show -H pluto:6678 users

The –H option follows the command name — in this example, show — not the program name, accurev. The hostname/port-number argument to this option has the same form as in the acclient.cnf file.

This mechanism bypasses the acclient.cnf file, though the file must still exist. It does not override a specification in the wspaces file.