Commit-edge deployment

Swarm can connect to a Helix Core Server configured to use the commit-edge architecture, which is a specific replication configuration that employs a commit server and one or more edge servers. This configuration distributes the compute, storage, and network requirements for improved performance and geographic distribution.

When Swarm is connected to a commit server, the first worker detects this situation and sets a key in the Helix Server, P4.Swarm.CommitURL, to an auto-detected URL. This allows any other Swarm instances that may be connected to edge servers to share reviews amongst all edge servers.

For more information on Helix Server's commit-edge architecture, see the Commit-edge in the Helix Core Server Administrator Guide: Multi-Site Deployment.

P4V Authentication

When using P4V's Swarm integration in a commit-edge deployment, users may encounter authentication errors; such errors can result from incorrect configuration of login tickets in distributed environments. Essentially, the problem is that while P4V is connected to an edge server, Swarm is connected to the commit server, and the login tickets do not match.

If P4V users see the error Host requires authentication, the solution we recommend is to forward login requests to the commit server. This can be achieved by executing the following two commands as a user with operator or super privileges in the Helix Server:

$p4 configure set auth.id=authid
$p4 configure set rpl.forward.login=1

Replace authid with the authentication identifier for your Helix Server.

For more information, see our Knowledge Base article Single Ticket Login in Distributed Environments, and the p4 serverid command in the P4 Command Reference.