p4 servers

Synopsis

Display list of all server specifications or evaluate replication status.

A user with operator privileges may execute p4 servers and p4 servers -J.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] servers [-J | --replication-status]

Description

Syntax variants are described in the following subsections.

Listing server specifications

p4 servers lists all server specifications stored at a master Perforce server.

depot-master server depot-master myHost:1111 depot-master 'depot-master '
depot-standby_1 server depot-standby_1 10.0.101.55:37046 depot-standby 'depot-standby '
workspace-server_1 server workspace-server_1 10.0.101.55:41261 workspace-server 'workspace-server '
workspace-server_2 server workspace-server_2 10.0.101.55:47050 workspace-server 'workspace-server '

Output lists the server ID, the type, the services provided, and the description supplied when the server was created.

The output of p4 servers may be easier to parse if you retrieve it in tagged form:

p4 -ztag servers

... ServerID depot-master
... Name depot-master
... Address myHost:1111
... Type server
... Services depot-master
... Description depot-master


... ServerID depot-standby_1
... Name depot-standby_1
... Address myHost2:37046
... Type server
... Services depot-standby
... Description depot-standby


... ServerID workspace-server_1
... Name workspace-server_1
... Address myHost3:41261
... Type server
... Services workspace-server
... Description workspace-server


... ServerID workspace-server_2
... Name workspace-server_2
... Address myHost4:47050
... Type server
... Services workspace-server
... Description workspace-server

Evaluating replication status

Using the -J or --replication-status option allows you to check how efficiently one or more replicas are replicating the master server's records. Given a server A and a replica B, output for this command gives you two basic pieces of information:

  • The size and update time of A's journal.

  • For every server, B, that has sent a p4 pull or p4 journalcopy request, information is given as to when that request was sent and what is the persisted and applied state of B's journal. (In the case of a simple master and replica, the persisted and applied numbers are always the same: B's journal is updated by the p4 pull command.

This assumes that the command is executed with the master server as the target. When interpreting this information for p4 cluster management, it is important to understand the difference between persisted and applied records. A standby server replicates master server records using two operations:

  • It uses the p4 journalcopy command to copy (persist) the master server's journal to the standby's journal.

  • It uses the p4 pull -L command to apply the copied journal records to the standby's database and to update its state file.

You can look at the output to evaluate the load on various parts of your distributed system and to see how well your replicas are keeping up with the master. Growing lag times might be a reason for concern.

The untagged output of p4 servers -J looks like this:

depot-master '2014/09/08 13:13:58' depot-master 5/258 5/258 wadL/1 1
depot-standby_1 '2014/09/08 13:14:58' depot-standby 5/258 5/258 WAdl/12 1
workspace-server_1 '2014/09/08 13:14:58' workspace-server 5/258 5/258 WaDl/10 1
workspace-server_2'2014/09/08 13:14:57' workspace-server 5/258 5/258 WaDl/10 1

It is easier to interpret this output in tagged form:

... ServerID depot-master
... Updated 2014/09/08 13:13:58
... ServerType depot-master
... PersistedJournal 5
... PersistedSequence 258
... AppliedJournal 5
... AppliedSequence 258
... JAFlags wadL/1
... IsAlive 1

... ServerID depot-standby_1
... Updated 2014/09/08 13:14:58
... ServerType depot-standby
... PersistedJournal 5
... PersistedSequence 258
... AppliedJournal 5
... AppliedSequence 258
... JAFlags WAdl/12 1
... IsAlive 1

... ServerID workspace-server_1
... Updated 2014/09/08 13:14:58
... ServerType workspace-server
... PersistedJournal 5
... PersistedSequence 258
... AppliedJournal 5
... AppliedSequence 258
... JAFlags WaDl/10 1
... IsAlive 1

... ServerID workspace-server_2
... Updated 2014/09/08 13:14:57
... ServerType workspace-server
... PersistedJournal 5
... PersistedSequence 258
... AppliedJournal 5
... AppliedSequence 258
... JAFlags WaDl/10 1
... IsAlive 1

The meaning of the fields are described in the following table.

ServerID

The server ID of the server.

The server ID should always match P4NAME if both are set. We recommend setting the server ID, but support P4NAME for backward compatibility.

Updated

The date and time the requesting server last requested journal records from this server (normally the master).

ServerType

The server type. One of the following: standard, replica, forwarding-replica, build-server, edge-server, commit-server, depot-master, depot-standby, workspace-server, standby, forwarding-standby.

PersistedJournal

The rotation number of the journal to which records are being persisted.

PersistedSequence

The persisted journal position.

For master servers, replicas, and workspace servers, the persisted and applied positions are always the same. They differ only for all types of standby servers.

AppliedJournal

The rotation number of the applied journal.

AppliedSequence

The applied journal position.

For master servers, replicas, and workspace servers, the persisted and applied positions are always the same.

JAFlags

Set of fields printed in upper-case if set or lower-case if not. The numeric value of the flags is displayed after the alphabetic display.

Common field displays with their associated pull or journalcopy commands are as follows:

  • WAdl/12: p4 journalcopy -i 0

  • WaDl/10: p4 pull -i 0

  • wAdl/4: p4 journalcopy -i 1

  • waDl/2: p4 pull -i 1

  • wadL/1: synthesized record for master status. You can compare the journal positions of each replica with that of this server to see if any replica is falling behind.

Symbols are to be interpreted as follows:

W/8:

wait, long-poll request

w:

no wait

A/4:

Acknowledging

a:

non-acknowledging

D/2:

durable

d:

non-durable

L/1:

data about the local journal; that is, the journal of the server that is the target of the p4 servers command.

l:

request from a replica (shows progress in copying master's journal).

IsAlive

1 if the server is up; 0 if it's down.

Pull or journal-copy requests are recorded in the db.jnlack table only when made from a replica that has either a server ID or a P4NAME. Any replica that makes such a request but does not have a server ID or P4NAME is not recorded in the table.

Options

-J | --replication-status

Provides information about the server's journal and about the replication status of all replicas that replicate from this server.

g-opts

See “Global Options”.

Usage Notes

Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier?

Can File Arguments Use Revision Range?

Minimal Access Level Required

N/A

N/A

list

Related Commands

To edit or view a server specification

p4 server

To set a server's unique ID

p4 serverid