Assigning protections

Protections (see Authorizing access) are actually another type of Helix Server view. Protections are set with the p4 protect command and control which depot files can be affected by commands run by users.

Unlike client, branch, and label views, however, the views used by protections can be set only by Helix Server superusers. (Protections also control read and write permission to depot files, but the permission levels themselves have no impact on server performance.) By assigning protections in Helix Server, a Helix Server superuser can limit the size of a user’s view, even if the user is using "loose" client specifications.

Protections can be assigned to either users or groups. For example:

write     user       sam           *     //depot/admin/...
write     group      rocketdev     *     //depot/rocket/main/...
write     group      rocketrel2    *     //depot/rocket/rel2.0/...

Helix Server groups are created by superusers with the p4 group command. Using groups makes it easier to assign protections and are useful for setting maximum limits. See Limiting database queries and Server resources .