Having problems installation of plasticscm

[Bahram]

Hi,

I am new user trying to see how plasticscm works. I have installed the server on our server computer. Currently, there is no code on the server. I am the administrator on the server and i am setting it up. I also have a desktop which i can use to connect as client to this server.

I don't understand the whole install process. We have a server computer and less than 10 windows client computers and a bunch of mac users. we want to maintain our application code and some other users want to put other non-code text, pdf and other type documents there.

Somewhere i read that your product needs a relational database management system. But i installed the server component and there was no indication of where a database exists. So, questions are:

1) Does your product require a DBMS? Which one? What information is maintained in this database?

2) After i installed the server component, the instruction asks me to use command prompt and create a repository. I have not started a client install yet, is this not supposed to be the next step? This is unclear.

3) Do i use the same install package on the client to install the client components or do i use a separate installer for that? I used the Client+plugins to install on the client machines.

4) When do i apply the license? am i supposed to put this file in a directory? Where?

5) In the server installation, it asks to select from choices ("User/Password", "Local Users", LDAP, etc.). I selected "User/password", these will be managed by the plasticscm management tool. Do User accounts have to exists with these username and password on the server?

------- by now, i should point out that i have installed the server package on the server and have set it up to use the user management tool in plasticscm. Also, that i have used the client tool on the server to connect to the server and i was able to create two repositories.

6) I have installed PlasticSCM-4.1.10.290-windows-client-installer.exe on my desktop computer, the download matrix says the this package contains the CLI but not the GUI tool. Is this true? I don't want to use the CLI, I rather use the GUI interface. When i install the package named PlasticSCM-4.1.10.290-windows-server-installer.exe, it says that it detected that another version is installed do i want to replace it? why can't we have the CLI and GUI tools in the same package.

Thank you,

Bahram

[carpediemevive]

Here's how I understand the downloads page. You have 4 options:

• Full Installer
  
• Client + Plugins
  
• Server + Client
  
• Proxy server
  

I always use the Full Installer. The Full installer has the server, client (CLI and GUI), and Plugins (no proxy, but I don't use one). It allows you to choose which components you want to install, so you can opt to not install the server which is what I do. The Client + Plugins installer simply doesn't have the server component to install in it. The Server + Client installer is only meant to be installed on a server so has minimal client components (CLI) and all the server stuff. The proxy is an entity unto itself and only installs the Proxy.

Yes it requires a DBMS, but a default installation installs either SQLite or uses MsSql Express (I can't remember which). You should replace it with something else, and currently Plastic supports MySQL, MSSQL, and Oracle. The documentation page (http://www.plasticscm.com/infocenter/documentation.aspx) has guides for each. Also search the forums as people have had different experiences using different DBMS backends. If you have the luxury of using a dedicated MySQL server for this product I recommend it. It's cheap and easy, and as long as your not a really large software development firm, it should be sufficient to meet your needs, however YMMV.

On the downloads page (https://www.plasticscm.com/download/editions.en.aspx) there's a link to the licenses page (https://www.plasticscm.com/download/licenses.en.aspx) where you can download your 15 user license. The default installation installs a trial license I believe for something like 30 days, but I could be wrong on that. The license page has instructions on how to install the license.

Because you may want to install a new package to get things straightened you, you will see the "detected another version" warning every time you go to install Plastic. This is true for upgrades as well. It does not remove your data, and it should keep your preferences around so you shouldn't have to reconfigure it again either. Simply click OK and let the installer run.

I hope that answered all your questions.

[Bahram]

I just installed the server package on my client and i unchecked the server component during install and checked the remainder of the selections. It installed fine and i ran the client config but it can't connect to the server with the following error:

No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it 192.168.0.90:8087: 192.168.0.90:8087 Plastic client can't continue and will be closed.

I found that the Plastic SCM 4 service had not started so i manually started it and then i was able to connect. This should not have happened since it was configured to automatic startup.

Now, the Plasticscm GUI started on the client side but it does not show any workspaces that i created on the server. Am I not supposed to see my workspaces on the server? Can they have different mappings? For example, can the server map a repository to a F:\Firmware directory while the same repository be mapped to a C:\MyProjects\Firmware on a client's computer?

[carpediemevive]

A workspace is a personal working area, so (unless you're doing development work on the server) you don't need to create any workspaces there. I typically create a new workspace for any repository I am going to work on to keep them separate, but each user has to create their own workspaces as they are places where the developer is going to be doing the work.

[Bahram]

Ok. Then this must be clearly stated. because some other non-distributed version control systems allow the initial repositiories as well as the source code to be put on the server from the server. With this information, i deleted the source i had put on the server. From the server, used the command line to create the repositories i needed. Then from client created the workspaces to point to the repositories on the server.

Thank you,

I think i can start using this now. More feedback later.

[carpediemevive]

Sure thing. By the way, I didn't mean to say that you can't have workspaces on the server, because you certainly can. Plastic supports a fully distributed model in which case everyone would have a server and would then replicate changes between each other. It also supports a more centralized model, in which case having workspaces on the server probably wouldn't do you any good.

Best of luck trying it out and if you have any questions or issues I've found the forums to be pretty helpful.

[Bahram]

Thank you! I understand.

[psantosl]

Thanks carpediemevive for all the clarifications.

Bramoin, it is important to highlight the differences between a working copy (a workspace) and a repo (which is the full data stored on the server). Normally workspaces are created on the client (SVN, Perforce, CVS, VSS, ClearCase... everyone). Even if they're created on the server, the workspaces are the ones managing the working copies, not the metadata or the full versioning.

Hope things get up and running soon