Status of MultiSite Software Change Requests

This file contains descriptions of noteworthy problems in Version 2003.06.00 of Rational ClearCase MultiSite.

Note: The ClearCase Product Family development group is using a new numbering system for change requests. This document lists both numbers. The old number appears first, followed by the new number.

Known Problems in This Release

The following are the known problems in this release of MultiSite.

#CMBU00013462; RATLC00584915 no explanation for nonapplicable packet by syncreplica

If syncreplica –import determines that a packet is not applicable, it does not print the reason. Also, syncreplica –import uses different criteria than the lspacket command does to determine whether a packet is applicable. Therefore, lspacket may show that a packet is applicable even if syncreplica will not import it.

#CMBU00015700; RATLC00584840 –maxsize option for syncreplica works incorrectly

If a single version's cleartext is larger than the value specified for –maxsize, syncreplica creates the packet and prints a warning message. The –maxsize value is ignored for the packet creation; the packet is at least as large as the file and also includes header information.

#CMBU00018640; RATLC00605133 import failure during mkhlink operation

When multiple imports occur simultaneously, the following error message may be displayed:

multitool: Error: Database identifier (dbid) not found in database: “VOB-tag”.
...
op= mkhlink

This problem occurs when one update packet includes an operation that attempts to create a hyperlink and another packet includes an operation that removes an object at either end of the hyperlink.

Workaround: Retry the import. To prevent multiple simultaneous imports, use the sync_receive script.

#CMBU00018695; RATLC00605136 import failure during branch/version creation

When two or more imports occur simultaneously at a replica, the following error message may be displayed:

multitool: Error: Type manager “text_file_delta” failed delete_branches_versions operation

Workaround: Retry the import. To prevent multiple simultaneous imports, use the sync_receive script.

#CMBU00020860; RATLC00605221 restorereplica oplog entry can be deleted prematurely

When a replica is restored using optimization (that is, it does not exchange packets with all other replicas in the VOB family), the special restorereplica oplog entry can be deleted prematurely at the replicas that exchanged updates with the restored replica. In order for all replicas in the VOB family to reflect the correct state of the restored replica, they all must receive the restorereplica oplog entry in an update packet.

For example, assume that replica evanston synchronizes daily with replica paris, paris synchronizes weekly with replica osaka, and osaka synchronizes monthly with evanston:

The administrator at evanston restores the replica from backup and enters the restorereplica command. Because evanston and paris exchange updates so frequently, the evanston administrator decides to optimize the restoration; after the update packet from paris is received and processed at evanston, the administrator enters the restorereplica –override command to complete restoration at evanston. At this point, the special restorereplica oplog entry is deleted at evanston, and the next time paris receives and processes an update packet, the oplog entry is deleted there. However, if paris does not send an update packet to osaka before deleting the oplog entry, osaka will have an inconsistent view of evanston's state.

The symptom of this problem is that the restored replica cannot import update packets sent from replicas that did not receive the restorereplica oplog entry. Imports fail with messages like the following:

multitool: Error: Replica incarnation for “evanston” is old: 12/31/69 19:00:00, should be 09/08/97 15:15:41
multitool: Error: Cannot apply sync. packet

If this problem occurs, contact Customer Support.

#CMBU00021382; RATLC00585098 when importing packets in a specific storage class, packets in the default bay are imported also

When you use syncreplica –import –receive –sclass to import only packets associated with a specific storage class, syncreplica also processes packets in the default storage bay.

Workaround: Use the sync_receive script to import packets.

#CMBU00021487; RATLC00605289 replica-creation packet not removed if mkreplica interrupted

If the export phase of a mkreplica command is interrupted and the replica-creation packet is not transferred to the new site, the packet is not deleted.

Workaround: Remove the packet and enter the mkreplica –export command again.

#CMBU00022378; RATLC00605361 renaming of replica during removal is not recorded in oplog

When you remove a replica, the rmreplica command renames the replica object. However, the rename operation is not recorded in the operation log, so migration-mode replicas do not rename the replica object automatically. Replicas not in migration mode rename the replica when they replay the rmreplica oplog entry.

Workaround: Explicitly rename the removed replica. For example, if a replica named natick was removed:

multitool rename replica:natick.deleted natick.deleted.old 

Note: This is not an issue when removing the second-to-last replica in a VOB family, which disables replication in the VOB and deletes all replica objects except for the current replica object.

#CMBU00024116; RATLC00605527 import can fail with message: read from input stream failed

If a syncreplica –import command fails with a message like multitool: Error: Read from input stream failed: No such file or directory, the packet is corrupted.

Workaround: Delete the packet, ask the administrator at the sending site to re-create the packet and send it again, and then import it.

#CMBU00026057; RATLC00605700 chepoch does not set new replica's column correctly

Using lsepoch and chepoch to recover a lost packet does not work if that packet included both a mkreplica operation and oplogs from that new replica. The reason is that the lsepoch output (at the replica that did not receive the packet) will not contain any information about the new replica, and the chepoch command at the sending replica modifies the epoch table according to the information in the lsepoch output.

For example:

  1. Replica A and Replica B synchronize weekly.

  2. At Replica A, the administrator enters a mkreplica –export command to create Replica C and sends the packet to the new site, where the administrator imports the replica-creation packet. Development starts at Replica C.

  3. Replica C sends a synchronization packet to Replica A.

  4. Replica A sends its weekly synchronization packet to Replica B. This packet contains the mkreplica operation that created Replica C, along with work done at Replica C. The packet is lost before it gets to Replica B.
  5. The administrator at Replica B enters an lsepoch command and sends the output to the administrator at Replica A. However, because Replica B does not know about Replica C, Replica B's epoch table does not have information about Replica C, and neither does the lsepoch output:
    multitool lsepoch B@/vobs/dev 
    Oplog IDs for row “B” (@ boston):
              A=586
              B=985
  6. The administrator at Replica A uses the lsepoch output in a chepoch command:
    multitool chepoch –force B A=586 B=985 
    Epoch row successfully set.

The chepoch command does not reset the column for Replica C to zero. Therefore, Replica A's epoch table incorrectly shows that Replica B received the mkreplica operation for Replica C and all the work Replica C has done.

Workaround: Reset the epoch numbers manually. For example:

multitool chepoch –force B A=586 B=985 C=0 
Epoch row successfully set.

#CMBU00028738; RATLC00605949 syncreplica –import ignores VOB lock if exception list exists

If a VOB is locked and there is an exception list (that is, the –nusers option was used), syncreplica –import ignores the lock.

#CMBU00033120, CMBU00040029; RATLC00606843 packet expiration value displayed as –1

In the MultiSite Control Panel, if you select the Use Default Expiration check box for a storage class, the value displayed in the Packet Expiration box is -1. To display the actual value, display the –default class. If you clear the Use Default Expiration check box, you must change the Packet Expiration value to a number equal to or greater than 0. Otherwise, the Use Default Expiration check box is selected when you click OK.

#CMBU00043999; RATLC00607037 syncreplica does not propagate all directory comments

An automatically generated comment for a directory checkout is not replicated in the following situation:

  1. Check out a directory and add a new element.

    The checkout event record includes a comment of the form "Added file element "filename"."

  2. Leave the directory checked out.
  3. Send an update packet from the current replica to a sibling replica.
  4. Add another element to the directory.

    A comment for this element is appended to the event record.

  5. Send an update packet from the current replica to a sibling replica.

When you enter an lscheckout –areplicas command at the sibling replica, the comment generated in Step 1 is listed, but the comment generated in Step 4 is not.

#CMBU00056555; RATLC00607733 misleading information in syncreplica error message

When syncreplica –import reports that a packet cannot be imported because it depends on changes not yet received, the message may include one or more lines like the following:

Packet requires changes up to epoch-number; VOB has only 0 from replica:replica

This information may not be correct; the VOB may have more than 0 operations from the specified replica.

#CMBU00057422; RATLC00607786 incorrect error message printed when instance denial prevents a request for mastership of a branch type

When a request for mastership of a branch type fails because requests are denied for one or more instances of the type, the error message says:

Requests are denied for all objects of the given type.

This message should say:

Requests for mastership are denied for one or more instances of the branch type, which prevents requests for mastership of the branch type itself.

#RATLC00442124 rebase fails because hyperlinks cannot be removed

If a rebase operation fails with the message No permission to perform operation “remove hyperlink” and you are using a replicated VOB, the baseline hyperlinks associated with your current stream may not be mastered by your current replica. This is because the chmaster –stream command does not change mastership for baseline hyperlinks associated with that stream.

Workaround: Use cleartool describe to find the hyperlinks, and then use chmaster to change their mastership to the appropriate replica. For example:

cleartool describe –l stream:devA_stream@/vobs/pvob
...
Hyperlinks:
UseBaseline@19@/vobs/pvob –> baseline:baselineA@/vobs/pvob
Guarding: brtype:devA_stream@/vobs/pvob

multitool chmaster siteB@/vobs/pvob hlink:UseBaseline@19@/vobs/pvob

#RATLC00693521 ClearCase, ClearQuest, and Rational Shipping Server Incompatibility

Rational recommends that you avoid configuring any one host to run the Rational Shipping Server for both ClearCase and ClearQuest, because de-installing either product from such a host will remove the Shipping Server that is used by both products and render the remaining product inoperable. If you must install both ClearCase MultiSite and ClearQuest with the Rational Shipping Server on the same host, ensure that you do the following:

  • Install ClearCase first
  • Uninstall both products if you ever uninstall either product

Note: Administrators should be sure that site configuration files for typical host systems do not specify installation of the Rational Shipping Server. Any attempt to install ClearCase on a host where ClearQuest and the Rational Shipping Server is already installed will fail.

Service Releases Incorporated in Version 2003.06.00

This release incorporates all service releases through 2003a.

Problems Fixed in MultiSite Version 2003.06.00

Table 1.1 lists significant problems in previous MultiSite releases that are fixed in this release.

Table 1.1. MultiSite Problems Fixed in This Release

Problem NumberDescription
CMBU00048985; RATLC00586726 Mastership check occurs before preop trigger fires
CMBU00050900; RATLC00585970 other_log_scrubber.pl script is missing (used to scrub sync_export_list and sync_receive logs)
CMBU00059012; RATLC00588120 epoch_watchdog–all checks unreplicated VOBs in addition to replicated VOBs
CMBU00060151; RATLC00683188 syncreplica attempts to update exporting replica's epoch table even when no packet is generated
CMBU00063662; RATLC00684111 Cannot clear Administrator e-mail value in MultiSite Control Panel
CMBU00067075; RATLC00687699 Mastership page for elements in Properties Browser displays unsupported sharing option
CMBU00067205;RATLC00687783Files appear as 0 bytes in length after synchronization
CMBU00067289; RATLC00687840 sync_export_list does not generate update packets on Windows when VOB storage is on a Network Appliance Filer


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