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P4 Server Administration Documentation | 2026.1

# Migrate to Commit-Edge

This topic provides instructions for a common scenario of migrating to a commit-edge architecture. If you do not find the instructions that you need, request Support.

You can configure a single login 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'. to be valid across all replicas and edges. To learn more, see Authenticating users.

## Convert a forwarding replica to an edge server

Scenario: You want to convert your forwarding replica to an edge server.

(Depending on how your current central server and forwarding replica are set up, you might not need to perform all of these steps.)

1. Have all the users of the forwarding replica submit, shelve, or revert all of their current work, and then delete their current workspaces.
2. Stop your forwarding replica.
3. Choose a ServerID for your central server, if it does not have one already, and use `p4 serverid` to save it.
4. Define a server spec for your central server (or edit the existing one), and set `Services: commit-server`.
5. Use `p4 server` to update the server spec for your forwarding replica, and set `Services: edge-server`.

6. Update the replica server with the commit server data:

   - Use a checkpoint:

     1. Use a dump of the database of your commit server, filtering out the appropriate tables:

            p4d -R edge-server-jd my_filtered_checkpoint_file

        (If you want to know which tables are filtered out, see the List of filtered out tables string in the Create and start the edge servers topic.)

     2. Restore that checkpoint onto your replica.
     3. Remove the replica’s state file, if it exists.

   - Use replication:

     1. Start your replica on a separate port. This will prevent local users from trying to use it before it is fully configured.
     2. Wait for it to pull the updates from the commit server.
     3. Stop the replica and remove the <List of filtered out tables>.
7. Start the replica, which is now an edge server.

8. Inform the users of the old forwarding replica to use the new edge server by:

   1. Creating their new client workspaces.

   2. Synching those client workspaces.

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