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Documentation | 2025.5

# Install P4 Code Review on RHEL 9

- We recommend that the latest stable release is used. At the time of this P4 Code Review release, the latest stable RHEL 9 release is 9.5.

- P4 Code Review does not support P4 Servers that are configured to use P4AUTH. For more information, see Centralized authorization server (P4AUTH).

P4 Code Review can be connected to P4 Servers (P4D) and commit servers:

- To configure P4 Code Review to connect to more than one P4 Server, see Multiple P4 Server instances.
- To configure P4 Code Review to connect to a P4 Server configured to use commit-edge architecture, see Commit-edge deployment.

Do not connect P4 Code Review to P4 Broker, P4 Proxy, an edge server, forwarding replica, or read-only replica servers.

P4 Code Review does not support P4 Servers that are configured to use P4AUTH. For more information, see Centralized authorization server (P4AUTH).

## Installing PHP on RHEL for P4 Code Review 2024.5 and later

P4 Code Review 2024.5 and later supports PHP 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3 . Depending on the PHP version available in your RHEL repositories, some adjustments may be required.

By default, RHEL has an older version of PHP (PHP 8.0, for example), unless you're using a Remi repository. If you're not using the Remi repository, you must manually install a supported version of PHP to meet the requirements for P4 Code Review 2024.5.

For example, install PHP 8.3 on RHEL:

1. Enable epel repo:

       dnf install -y https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm

2. Enable remi repo:

       dnf install -y https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-9.rpm

3. Enable PHP 8.3 stream:

       dnf module enable php:remi-8.3 -y

4. Install PHP 8.3:

       dnf module install -y php:remi-8.3

## Installation

- Review the runtime dependencies before you install P4 Code Review, see Runtime dependencies.

- Review the PHP requirements before you upgrade P4 Code Review, see PHP.

- Review the P4 Server requirements before you install P4 Code Review, see P4 Server requirements.
- Before continuing with the P4 Code Review install process, you must register the RHEL system to Red Hat using the Subscription Manager client.

1. Configure the Perforce package repository, on the server to host P4 Code Review and on the server hosting your P4 Server.

   If the server hosting your P4 Server cannot use packages, for example when it is running Windows, skip this step on that server.

   As root, create the file `/etc/yum.repos.d/perforce.repo` with the following content:

       [Perforce]
       name=Perforce
       baseurl=http://package.perforce.com/yum/rhel/9/x86_64/
       enabled=1
       gpgcheck=1

2. Import the Perforce package signing key, on the server to host P4 Code Review and the server hosting your P4 Server.

   If the server hosting your P4 Server cannot use packages, for example when it is running Windows, skip this step on that server.

   Run the following command as root:

   rpm --import https://package.perforce.com/perforce.pubkey

   For information about how to verify the authenticity of the signing key, see Perforce Packages.

3. Install the main P4 Code Review package on the server to host P4 Code Review (run these commands as root):

   1. Run an upgrade for PHP, this will also upgrade the P4 Code Review packages:

   dnf update

   2. Install P4 Code Review.

   yum install helix-swarm

   When the P4 Code Review installation has completed, you are prompted to run the configure-swarm.sh post-installation script.

   Do not run this script until you have completed the rest of these Installation instructions. Instructions for running the configure-swarm.sh post-installation script are in the Post-Installation configuration section referenced in the final step of the Installation instructions.

   The firewall configuration may need to be adjusted to allow access to the web server.

       sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
       sudo systemctl reload firewalld

   If you subsequently wish to enable HTTPS, run (as root):

       sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
       sudo systemctl reload firewalld

4. P4 Code Review needs to know about some P4 Server events to operate correctly. Use P4 Server Extensions (recommended) or P4 Server Triggers to notify P4 Code Review about these events. The P4 Server extension can be installed automatically by the P4 Code Review configure-swarm.sh post-installation script, but Triggers must be manually installed. To use P4 Server Extensions, ignore this step and skip to the next step.

   Trigger installation only (not recommended): Install the P4 Code Review triggers package on the server hosting your P4 Server. This might be the server hosting P4 Code Review or elsewhere on your network.

   - If the server hosting your P4 Server cannot use packages, for example when it is running Windows, you need to copy the appropriate P4 Code Review trigger script from `/opt/perforce/swarm/p4-bin/scripts` to the server hosting your P4 Server. The `swarm-trigger.pl` is for both Linux and Windows systems. Once copied, the trigger script needs to be configured. See Installing triggers for details.

   - The package installs a config file at `/opt/perforce/etc/swarm-trigger.conf` that you will need to modify. See Installing triggers for more details on configuring that file.

   Install the P4 Code Review triggers package on the server hosting your P4 Server (run this command as root):

   yum install helix-swarm-triggers

5. Optional: Install the P4 Code Review optional package, on the server hosting P4 Code Review.

   While not required, installing this package installs the dependencies required to use the ImageMagick and LibreOffice P4 Code Review modules. These modules provide previews of a variety of image and office documents. Run this command as root:

   yum install helix-swarm-optional

6. Make your P4 Code Review installation more secure by applying recommendations related to HTTP and P4 Code Review implementation through security groups. See Secure your P4 Code Review installation .

7. Complete the Post-installation configuration steps.

### Secure your P4 Code Review installation

To make your P4 Code Review installation more secure apply the following recommendations for HTTP and P4 Code Review implementation through security groups.

#### HTTP

Here is a list of best practices to use when port 80 is exposed for HTTP traffic:

- Redirect to HTTPS: If Port 80 needs to be open to support legacy systems or specific use cases, ensure that all HTTP traffic is redirected to HTTPS to encrypt data in transit.

- Use HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) headers: Implement HSTS headers to force browsers only to use secure HTTPS connections when interacting with your server.

- Close port 80: If there is no requirement to use HTTP, Port 80 must be closed entirely to prevent any unencrypted data transmission.

- Implement SSL/TLS (secure sockets layer and transport layer security) certificates: Ensure that your server is configured with a valid SSL/TLS certificate to enable secure HTTPS connections.

- Firewall configuration: Configure firewalls to block or filter access to Port 80, particularly from untrusted networks.

- Continuous monitoring and auditing: Regularly monitor network traffic and audit server configurations to ensure that unnecessary ports are not exposed and that data is transmitted securely.

When you implement HTTPS, you must make the following changes:

1. Modify your cron job for the P4 Code Review workers.

   Edit the cron configuration file to point to your HTTPS URL, for example, https://HOSTNAME/. For more information about how to edit the cron configuration file, see Set up a recurring task to spawn workers.

   To verify if the cron configuration file points to your HTTPS URL, run the following curl statement:

   curl https://myswarm.host/queue/worker

2. Modify the P4 Code Review Extension or Trigger configuration with the following:

   1. If you are using the P4 Code Review extension run the following command and change ExtConfig’s P4 Code Review URL to be your new HTTPS URL:

      p4 extension --configure Perforce:helix-swarm

   2. In the ExtConfig block, find SSL-CA-File and set the absolute path of the Certificate Authority (CA) Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) file to validate the P4 Server's certificate for P4 Code Review. Ensure that this file is accessible to the P4 Server process owner. By default, the local certificate stored in the default CA file is used if the absolute path for the Certificate Authority (CA) is not specified.

      If a suitable certificate is not found in the local SSL certificate store maintained by the operating system or if there are verification issues from using a self-signed certificate then the default CA file is used.

   If you are using triggers, edit swarm-trigger.pl configuration file and set your SWARM_HOST to be https.

3. Edit the external_url in the `SWARM_ROOT/data/config.php` file’s environment block to point to your HTTPS URL. This URL is used in emails, Jira links, and P4 Code Review test’s pass-and-fail outgoing URL parameters.

   If you make a configuration change, P4 Code Review will not use it until the configuration cache has been reloaded, this forces P4 Code Review to use the new configuration.

   You must be an admin or super user to reload the P4 Code Review config cache. Navigate to the User id dropdown menu, select System Information, click the Cache Info tab, and click the Reload Configuration button.

4. Modify the P4 Server's P4.Swarm.URL property. For more information about P4 Server integration, see Client integration.

   If your Apache server is listening on both HTTPS and HTTP in perforce-swarm-site.conf file, you must set the auto_register_urlconfigurable in the p4 block to false and correctly configure the P4.Swarm.URL property .

   If your Apache server is listening only on HTTPS and if the auto_register_urlconfigurable in the p4 block is set to true (default value), an Apache restart will correct the property.

   To get all your current values for P4.Swarm.URL property, run:

   p4 -Ztag property -A -l -n P4.Swarm.URL

   Ensure that the P4.Swarm.URL property points to your HTTPS URL.

5. Modify the URL of all applications. Any other applications that reference the URL should be switched to using the HTTPS URL.

#### P4 Code Review implementation through security groups

You can implement security headers by using security groups or the user's preferred setup.

Review the following guidelines:

- Use a trusted proxy: Use a trusted proxy, such as allow lists, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), or API Gateways.

- Disable backend servers and other proxies or load balancers: Ensure that direct access to backend servers and other proxies or load balancers is disabled, except through the trusted proxy. In this way, you can help to prevent unauthorized access while ensuring that all requests are filtered through the trusted proxy.

- Implement continuous monitoring and logging of the X-Forwarded-For header: Implement monitoring and logging on the X-Forwarded-For header to track and identify any suspicious activities. Continuous monitoring can help to identify and prevent potential malicious activity or security threats.

- Use a secure protocol: Implement a secure protocol such as HTTPS to encrypt the communications between the client and the load balancers, and between the load balancer and backend server to prevent eavesdropping or tampering with the X-Forwarded-For header.

- Configure the X-Forwarded-For header: Configure the processing mode of the X-Forwarded-For header (append, preserve, or remove) based on specific technical or security requirements.

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