Perforce Helix

Table of Contents

1. Overview
2. Module Description - What the module does and why it is useful
3. Usage - Configuration options and additional functionality
4. Limitations - OS compatibility, etc.

Overview

This module is used to manage various Perforce Helix components that are available as Linux packages.

Module Description

Helix is a version management system that incorporates a combination of services.

Introduction to Perforce Helix

Specifically, this module manages the command-line tool (p4), server (p4d), broker (p4broker) and proxy (p4p). Detailed administration information for these components can be found in the online guides below:

• Helix Administration Guide
• Helix Multi-Site Deployment Guide

Usage

Classes

helix::client

The simplest way to get the helix client installed is by including the class:

include helix::client

The class does provide a pkgname parameter that can be used to change the package that will be installed.

class { 'helix::client':
  pkgname => 'helix-cli',
}

The p4 executable is installed at /opt/perforce/bin/p4. For convenience, a symbolic link is created to make p4 available on everyone's path: /usr/bin/p4 -> /opt/perforce/bin/p4

helix::server

The simplest way to get the helix server installed is by including the class:

include helix::server

The class does provide a pkgname parameter that can be used to change the package that will be installed.

class { 'helix::server':
  pkgname => 'helix-p4d',
}

helix::broker

The simplest way to get the helix broker installed is by including the class:

include helix::broker

The class does provide a pkgname parameter that can be used to change the package that will be installed.

class { 'helix::server':
  pkgname => 'helix-broker',
}

helix::proxy

The simplest way to get the helix proxy installed is by including the class:

include helix::proxy

The class does provide a pkgname parameter that can be used to change the package that will be installed.

class { 'helix::proxy':
  pkgname => 'helix-proxy',
}

Defined Types

helix::server_instance

A p4d instance can be configured using the helix::server_instance type.

At a minimum, the p4port must be specified.

Before declaring a helix::server_instance, ensure that you include the helix::server base class (this will make sure the relevant packages are installed).

include helix::server

helix::server_instance { 'server1':
  p4port => '1666',
}

The following attributes are supported:

• p4port (required) - the port for the server. This should be in P4PORT format protocol:hostname:port, for example ssl::1666
• p4root (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/root) - location for the metadata databases
• p4depots (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/depots) - location for the depot root
• p4log (default /var/log/perforce/${title}_server.log) - location of the server log file
• p4journal (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/checkpoints/journal) - location of the journal file
• p4ssl (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/ssl) - directory that contains the ssl certificate and key
• osuser (default perforce) - user owner of the server
• osgroup (default perforce) - group owner of the server
• ensure (default running) - state of the service [running, stopped]
• enabled (default true) - flag indicating whether or not the service should be enabled
• p4dctl (defaulted to OS-specific path) - path to the p4dctl executable

helix::broker_instance

A p4broker instance can be configured using the helix::broker_instance type.

At a minimum, the p4brokerport and p4brokertarget parameters must be specified.

Before declaring a helix::broker_instance, ensure that you include the helix::broker base class (this will make sure the relevant packages are installed).

include helix::broker

helix::broker_instance { 'broker1':
  p4brokerport   => '1667',
  p4brokertarget => 'perforce:1666',
}

The following attributes are supported:

• p4brokerport (required) - listen port for the broker. This should be in P4PORT format protocol:hostname:port, for example ssl::1666
• p4brokertarget (required) - target port -- the port of the p4d -- that the broker will use. This should be in P4PORT format protocol:hostname:port, for example perforce:1666
• directory (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}) - directory that will contain the broker configuration file
• p4ssl (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/ssl) - directory that contains the ssl certificate and key
• logfile (default /var/log/perforce/${title}_broker.log) - location of the log file for the server
• debuglevel (default 1) - level of logging information (1-3)
• adminname (default Perforce Admins) - administrator's name (used for information purposes)
• adminphone (default 999/911) - administrator's phone (used for information purposes)
• adminemail (default perforce-admins@example.com) - administrator's email (used for information purposes)
• serviceuser (default undef) - service user perforce account name
• ticketfile (default undef) - location of the ticketfile
• redirection (default selective) - redirection mode to use -- selective or pedantic.
• commands (default []) - an array of commands to intercept
• osuser (default perforce) - user owner of the server
• osgroup (default perforce) - group owner of the server
• ensure (default running) - state of the service [running, stopped]
• enabled (default true) - flag indicating whether or not the service should be enabled
• p4dctl (defaulted to OS-specific path) - path to the p4dctl executable

helix::proxy_instance

A p4proxy instance can be configured using the helix::proxy_instance type.

At a minimum, the p4proxyport and p4proxytarget parameters must be specified.

Before declaring a helix::proxy_instance, ensure that you include the helix::proxy base class (this will make sure the relevant packages are installed).

include helix::proxy

helix::proxy_instance { 'proxy1':
  p4proxyport   => '1666',
  p4proxytarget => 'perforce:1666',
}

The following attributes are supported:

• p4proxyport (required) - listen port for the broker. This should be in P4PORT format protocol:hostname:port, for example 1666
• p4proxytarget (required) - listen port for the broker. This should be in P4PORT format protocol:hostname:port, for example perforce:1666
• cachedir (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/cache) - directory where depot files will be cached
• p4ssl (default /opt/perforce/servers/${title}/ssl) - directory that contains the ssl certificate and key
• logfile (default /var/log/perforce/${title}_proxy.log) - location of the log file for the server
• osuser (default perforce) - user owner of the server
• osgroup (default perforce) - group owner of the server
• ensure (default running) - state of the service [running, stopped]
• enabled (default true) - flag indicating whether or not the service should be enabled
• p4dctl (defaulted to OS-specific path) - path to the p4dctl executable

Limitations

This module is only supported on Linux (RedHat and Ubuntu), as those are the only packages available from the Perforce Helix distribution.

2016-05-08 - Release 0.2.2

Updated redhat.pp class to check for existence of Perforce yum configuration

2016-05-08 - Release 0.2.1

Updated debian.pp class to check for existence of Perforce apt configuration

2016-05-08 - Release 0.2.0

A few updates to address some issues with this module and the latest version of Perforce Helix.

• configured defined resources to have a p4dctl parameter
• in params.pp, defaulted p4dctl to /usr/sbin/p4dctl on RedHat systems and /usr/bin/p4dctl on Debian systems.
• added some additional checks in the defined resources for valid parameter values
• added beaker testing for Centos 7

2015-12-20 - Release 0.1.0

Summary

This is the initial release. Mostly functional, some documentation still needed.

Right now, the release can:

• install and configure the Helix CLI package (p4)
• install and configure the Helix Server package (p4d)
• install and configure the Helix Broker package (p4broker)
• install and configure the Helix Proxy package (p4p)

For the p4d, p4broker, and p4proxy classes, there are associated defined types to create instances of the services:

• helix::server_instance
• helix::broker_instance
• helix::proxy_instance