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HRefresh on Production Model projects

  • 1.  HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Posted Sep 15, 2023 01:52 AM

    Good day,

    I have a number of projects which I created from the supplied Production Model template.

    I have agents running on multiple servers that host reference directories. My problem is this:

    The users of the project want absolute certainty that their reference directories are 100% in sync with Harvest. I have my HRefresh.cfg set up to synchronize each Harvest state (Development, Merge, Test, Staging and Production) with its corresponding reference directory.

    However,

    I've just come to realise that any branch versions that have been promoted to the Merge state, for example, would not be synchronized with the development reference directory during HRefresh or HSync, since it is outside of the Development view (which it shares with the production state and is actually called "Production"). That would make my development reference directory outdated when the Development state's trunk version is synchronized.

    Is there a trustworthy way to synchronize my entire Harvest repository to the relevant reference directories?

    Thank you in advance,

    Jarus



    ------------------------------
    Jarus Bosman
    Senior Software Developer
    State Information Technology Agency
    South Africa
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Sep 19, 2023 06:37 AM

    Hi Jarus,

    Thanks for joining the call today.

    As discussed in the call ,you may try to merge the branch versions in the Development state using Merge process(Concurrent Merge) process and then continue to be in sync with the Development reference directories.

    Please do try this and let us know if you have further questions.

    Regards,

    Balakrishna




  • 3.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Posted Oct 02, 2023 04:43 AM

    Hi Balakrishna,

    I've given your solution some thought, but came to realise that this still doesn't help me to sync ALL reference directories with the latest versions in all states in one HRefresh action.

    I did however come up with a solution: To synchronise all states with the development reference directory, starting from Production state and moving down to Staging, Test, Merge and finally Development.

    I just need confirmation that HRefresh will follow the rules in HRefresh.cfg from top to bottom. This will simplify my task immensely.

    Please confirm!

    Kind regards,

    Jarus



    ------------------------------
    Jarus Bosman
    Senior Software Developer
    State Information Technology Agency
    South Africa
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Oct 04, 2023 01:20 AM
    Hi Jarus,
     
    Thanks for the trials and letting us knwo the outcome.
     
    Yes, our solution was with understanding that synchronise needs to be with one state/view 
     
    It looks like you have a case to synchronise with all states/views Starting production ,staging ,Test ,Merge and Development
     
    The solution you suggested also looks feasible in this case
     
    HRefresh.cfg executes from top to bottom only.
    This top to bottom order needs to be determined again in the same order as you use the states in the life cycle management template.
    If the order is in a sequence as per the changes required ,we do not foresee any problem here
     
    Please give it a try and let us know the result.
     
    Regards,
    Balakrishna




  • 5.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Oct 04, 2023 02:22 AM

    Hi Jarus,

    Few more questions:

    1.Are you using asynchronous mode during execution of HRefresh.?

    2.We want to know what is the impact of the order of execution because as per our understanding you have  reference directories for all views on the machine.? promote/demote are done before the HRefresh is initiated.?Is it not the case here.

    Regards,

    Balakrishna

    Regards,

    Balakrishna




  • 6.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Posted Oct 02, 2023 09:11 AM

    Hi Balakrishna,

    I gave this option a thought, but realised that it would not solve my problem of making all reference directories current with a once-off refresh. I might have a solution though: I can refresh my development reference directories starting at the Harvest Production state, then work my way back to Staging, Test, Merge and finally Development.

    I just want to confirm: Does HRefresh perform the reference directory synchronization from the first entry in the HRefresh.cfg file to the last one, in sequence? That would make this task very simple.

    Kind regards,

    Jarus



    ------------------------------
    Jarus Bosman
    Senior Software Developer
    State Information Technology Agency
    South Africa
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Posted Oct 09, 2023 07:33 AM

    OK, I'm trying the cascading hrefresh now, but I'm not getting any logs back. How long is an hrefresh supposed to take? I started it on the server in the background, with the -v option, but not receiving any feedback.



    ------------------------------
    Jarus Bosman
    Senior Software Developer
    State Information Technology Agency
    South Africa
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Oct 11, 2023 03:23 AM

    Hi Jarus,

    If you are using synchronous mode (-syn) then the main process waits for all the hrefresh jobs to complete before it exits printing the exit code. 

    We are still curious as to how the order of refreshing the states is (Starting production ,staging ,Test ,Merge and Development) really important for you in this case. We can possibly have another webex to clarify this.

    Best Regards,

    Mallik.




  • 9.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Posted Oct 11, 2023 04:22 AM
    Edited by Jarus Bosman Oct 11, 2023 04:38 AM

    Hi Mallik,

    I did not override the default of asynchronous, so it should be in effect.

    With regards to the sequence: Newer versions of the items (eg. in Development state) on the development reference directory must not be overwritten by older versions (eg. in Production state). Thus I want to synchronise Production state first and Development last.

    Regards,

    Jarus



    ------------------------------
    Jarus Bosman
    Senior Software Developer
    State Information Technology Agency
    South Africa
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Oct 12, 2023 02:11 AM

    [With regards to the sequence: Newer versions of the items (eg. in Development state) on the development reference directory must not be overwritten by older versions (eg. in Production state). Thus I want to synchronise Production state first and Development last.]

    This is what makes me perplexed !

    I you are using production model, then the development state and production state will share the same view (Production View). And so it should make any difference.

    But, of course the merge state has a merge view and the test and staging again share the same Test view. 

    Also are you running any promote processes in parallel with hrefresh. If not then all views will still remain the same.

    Apologies, if this is clarified earlier, But I want to get to the core of this problem as this has been there from quite a while now. 

    Best Regards,

    Mallik.




  • 11.  RE: HRefresh on Production Model projects

    Posted Oct 12, 2023 03:00 AM

    Hi Mallik,

    Perhaps the Production state was a poor example, because like you said, it shares the same view as the Development state. Keep in mind though, that there could be branch versions in Development which are not in Production.

    So let's then look at the the Merge stat as an example (and this also applies to Test and Staging): If a package was promoted from Development and the items were not previously synchronised to the development reference directory, and the package is currently in the Merge state, I need to make sure the latest version gets synchronised, which is now in the Merge state with its own view. I don't know how better to explain my problem, but I'll try!

    Regards,

    Jarus



    ------------------------------
    Jarus Bosman
    Senior Software Developer
    State Information Technology Agency
    South Africa
    ------------------------------