ClearCase Escape Plan

ClearCase Escape Planning
Follow A Well Trodden Path
Doc Version 1.5
November 7, 2016

2© Perforce Software Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Presenter: C. Thomas Tyler
Tom Tyler, Principal Solutions Consultant
Tom has consulted as a software developer and
development environment architect in many
software development organizations. Once
known as “The ClearCase Guy” before
discovering Perforce in 1999, he has been
rescuing users from ClearCase ever since.

Escape Plan Overview
Evaluation, Exec
Decision
Migration Team
Early Training
Data Migration
Tips/BBI/DHI
PDS & Branch
Strategy Map
Cutover Strategy
Verification &
Acceptance Criteria
Defect Tracking
Integration
Systems
Integrations
Desktop Tools,
Utilities, IDEs
ClearMake?
Helix Topology Admin Training User Training
Access Controls,
Threat Detection
Go Live

• We’ve Done our Due Diligence, and …
• We’re Going to Perforce!
Evaluation, Executive Decision

• Select the Migration Team
• Include CM/Release Engineering
• Include Development Management
• Include Developers/Architects from various teams
• Include QA
• Travel With a Guide (Consultant?)
• Provide Training for the Migration Planning Team
Migration Planning Team, Early Training

Tips
• Start new projects
in Perforce
• Copy Mainline of
current projects and
start over
• No History
Detailed History
Import (DHI)
• Get as much history
as you can.
• Beware: CC and P4
are sophisticated
systems that think
very differently!
• Sparse vs. Fully
Populated Transforms
Baseline & Branch
Import (BBI)
• Pragmatic Approach
• Select key baselines
• Select key branches
• Import distilled form
of your history.
Data Migration

Data Migration: Baseline and Branch Import
R2
main
R1
R1.1
Team A
Team B

• Pragmatic Alternative between Tips and DHI
• Handcrafted Definition of “Interesting” History
• Each Baseline a changelist by a p4import user, no history
• “Just Enough” Branching History by Recording Merges.
• Simplified/Normalized View of History
• Zip Files: Agnostic about legacy version control system.
• Renaming Trails Lost (Or not?)
Data Migration: Baseline and Branch Import
A
B
C
D
E
F

• Attempt to get as much history as you can:
• File contents at each change, userid, date, time
• Grouped into Perforce changelists (heuristic guessing)
• ClearCase Merge Hyperlinks  Perforce Integration Records
• Optional (and expensive) Label Conversion
• We have relevant tools, experience, and successes
• We have become connoisseurs of CC2P4 migration tools
Data Migration – Detailed History Import (DHI)

• Be Warned: You’ll never get it all!
• Some sequences of user actions just don’t map.
• Some concepts don’t map
• Some file types don’t map
• Tool Limitations – Older history has lower accuracy

• Phase 1 – Mechanical Import
• Trial: Point and Shoot at a VOB.
• Tools may work “as is” or require updating if your data is gnarly.
• Selective based on file paths (lost+found excluded).
• Sparse Import Only:
• Mainline fully populated.
• Branches sparsely populated, not buildable.
• Useful for history research, code and merge forensics.

• Phase 2 – Transforms
• Requires completed Perforce Directory Standard (PDS)
• Defines the vision of ”Life in Perforce”
• Requires Custom Work (effort depending on how gnarly config specs are)
• Manually Intensive
• Creates Perforce-style fully populated branches.
• Branches can be built at tips.

• Blend BBI and DHI Strategies
• Experimental Strategy
• End point of DHI is start point for BBI (per-branch).
• Get going faster with BBI.
• Bring in details over time in a separate server.
• Eventual perfmerge to combine servers DHI & BBI servers.
• Then ‘journal injection’ to combine start & end points.
Data Migration – “BBI Now, DHI Later”

Component Based
Development
• Dependencies:
Config Specs to
Stream Specs
• Modeling of
Products,
Components.
DHI Early Planning
• ”I Need More Power,
Scotty!” – DHI
migration is 1000x
more taxing than
daily use
• Must use copy of
Prod ClearCase,
Backup/Restore or
spare MultiSite
Region for dry runs
Technical Snags
• VOB Hard Links
• Old Win Symlinks
• “Slow Renames”
• Evil Twins
• Missing Users
• ClearMake
Replacement
• File type mapping
• UCM Quirks
Migration Challenges

• Map your Branching Strategy to Perforce Streams
• Branch Tags are part of fully qualified file path in Perforce
Perforce Directory Standard (PDS)
See: https://swarm.workshop.perforce.com/projects/tom-tyler-pds

Pilots Projects
• Ideal for small
teams with minimal
dependencies
Grand Opening
• Do it Once!
• Do it Right!
Phased Transition
• Move teams as they are
ready.
• May need a Bridge (BBI
or DHI)
• Sounds safer? Risk
calculation can be
complex. Consider
Dependencies!
• Requires multiple
concurrent live systems.
Cutover Strategy

Testing may include:
• Test file lists and contents
• Test builds
• QA test build results
• DHI testing is a challenge
Verification and Acceptance Criteria

Common Options:
• Connect JIRA to Perforce instead of ClearCase
• Replace ClearCase first, then Defect Tracking/Workflow Management
• Replace ClearCase and Defect Tracking at the same time
• To Consider: Migrate Issue Tracking Data?
Defect Tracking Integration

Common Systems Integrations to Port:
• Defect Tracking/Workflow Management
• Requirements Management
• Code Review (SmartBear  Swarm)
• Build Systems
• Continuous Integration
• Continuous Delivery and DevOps
Systems Integrations

Planning: Spend time with the Developer at the Desktop!
• IDEs
• Personal utilities and scripts
• Teach Perforce scripting tricks, encourage users to help!
• Like formatted output with p4 -ztag –F users
Desktop Tools, Utilities, IDEs

Learn to build outside ClearMake:
• Get builds working w/o clearmake, outside dynamic views.
• Don’t use GNU compatibility mode, it’s not that compatible!
• Use gmake.
• Consider makedepends or Electric Accelerator, or jam for dependency
management.
ClearMake?

Define your Helix Global Topology
• Define High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery (DR) Goals
• Plan for Globally Distributed Access
• Direct Connection to Master – Better than you think!
• Proxies, Replicas, Edge Servers
• Better replication than MultiSite (more reliable, faster, simpler for
users/admins, no extra license cost)
Helix Topology

Admin Training
Follow the Server Deployment Package (SDP) Project:
• https://swarm.workshop.perforce.com/projects/perforce-software-
sdp

User Training
• On Site, Instructor Lead
• Online, Instructor Lead
• Recorded Training
• Tutorials and Docs
• The Workshop

• Define and implement security model in Perforce.
• Consider Threat Detection.
Access Controls, Threat Detection

3 … 2… 1… LAUNCH!
Go Live

• Survey URL: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CC2P4SampleSurvey
• Useful Migration Planning
• Plan Scope of Consulting Services Engagement
Your Next Step: Migration Planning Survey

Q & A
Questions?

Thank You
The End

ClearCase Escape Plan

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