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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2025.2

# Other considerations

As you deploy edge servers, give consideration to the following areas.

- Labels

  In a distributed Perforce service, labels can be local to an edge server or global.

  - By default, labels are also bound to the edge server on which they are created.
  - The `-g` flag defaults to the value of `0`, which indicates that the label is to be defined globally on all servers in the installation. Configuring `rpl.labels.global=1` allows updating of local labels. See rpl.labels.global in the P4 CLI Reference.
  - For important details, on the command line, type `p4 help distributed`.

- Exclusive Opens

  Exclusive opens (`+l` filetype modifier) are global: establishing an exclusive open requires communication with the commit server, which might incur network latency.

- Integrations with third party tools

  If you integrate third party tools, such as defect trackers, with P4 Server, evaluate whether those tools should continue to connect to the central server The one server that is innermost in a multi-server deployment. In the server specification form field for Services, the central server might be specified as “standard” or “commit-server”. If edge servers are part of the multi-server deployment, the central server must be a commit server. See also 'upstream server'. or could use an edge server instead. If the tools only access global data, then they can connect at any point. If they reference information local to an edge server, like workspace data, then they must connect to specific edge servers.

  Build processes can usefully be connected to a dedicated edge server, providing full P4 Server functionality while isolating build workspace metadata. Using an edge server in this way is similar to using a build server, but with the additional flexibility of being able to run write commands as part of the build process.

- Files with propagating attributes

  In distributed environments, the following commands are not supported for files with propagating attributes: `p4 copy`, `p4 delete`, `p4 edit`, `p4 integrate`, `p4 reconcile`, `p4 resolve`, `p4 shelve`, `p4 submit`, and `p4 unshelve`. Integration of files with propagating attributes from an edge server is not supported. Depending on the integration action, target, and source, either the `p4 integrate` or the `p4 resolve` command will fail.

  If your site makes use of this feature, direct these commands to the commit server, not the edge server. Perforce-supplied software does not presently set propagating attributes on files and is not known to be affected by this limitation.

- Logging and auditing

  edge servers maintain their own set of server and audit logs. Consider using structured logs for edge servers, as they auto-rotate and clean up with journal rotations. Incorporate each edge server’s logs into your overall monitoring and auditing system.

  In particular, consider the use of the `rpl.checksum.*` configurables to automatically verify database tables for consistency during journal rotation, changelist submission, and table scans and unloads. Regularly monitor the `integrity.csv` structured log for integrity events.

- Unload depot

  The unload depot might have different contents on each edge server. Clients and labels bound to an edge server are unloaded into the unload depot on that edge server, and are not displayed by the `p4 clients -U` and `p4 labels -U` commands on other edge servers.

  Be sure to include the unload depot as part of your edge server backups. The commit server does not verify that the unload depot is empty on every edge server. Therefore, to delete the unload depot from the commit server, `p4 depot -d -f` is the command.

- Future upgrades

  Commit and edge servers should be upgraded at the same time.

- Time zones

  Commit and edge servers must use the same time zone.

- P4 Code Review

  For details about P4 Code Review support for possible configurations of a P4 server, see Swarm configuration in the P4 Code Review Documentation.

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