Perforce Helix Installer

Welcome

Welcome to the home of the Perforce Helix Installer project.

Perforce Helix is a unified platform for collaborative development, version management, and protection of intellectual property. It consists of an integrated ecosystem of proven, enterprise-grade systems for versioning, collaboration and code review, continuous integration and delivery, and other aspects of a DevOps pipeline.

This Helix Installer is capable of quickly transforming a vanilla Linux machine -- virtual, bare metal, Docker container, etc. -- into a near-enterprise-grade deployment of several Helix Core Server components typically be present in a true enterprise installation.

Safety WARNING

Note that this software SHOULD NEVER EXIST on a Production Perforce server. The is intended to quickly tear down and rebuild a fresh Perforce server (e.g. for operating test suites). It should not exist on a machine containing real Perforce data.

It may be useful for doing an initial installation, e.g. to a cloud hosted environment. After the initial install, the reset_sdp.sh script should be removed.

Support Status

This software is community supported. Evolution can also be driven by engaging Perforce Consulting. Please DO NOT contact Perforce Support for the Helix Installer, as it is not an officially supported product offering.

Relationship to Server Deployment Package (SDP)

The installation uses the Server Deployment Package (SDP).

By default, the Helix Installer installs a specific version of the SDP, using a simple tar file from the downloads folder of the SDP project. This version is coded in a Helix Installer script, which is updated and release from time to time following successful integration testing with the given SDP version.

The Helix Installer can also clone the SDP project's main or dev branch to get the latest software available in the given branch. This is done using Helix native DVCS features (e.g. p4 clone) to clone the SDP mainline from the workshop, optionally overlaying the latest with a specified shelved changelist (see SDP Dev Branch Testing below). As a general rule, it is best to stick with the default 'main' branch unless Perforce Consulting recommends using the dev branch for some specific (generally temporary) reason.

Helix Installer Uses

The installation is suitable for:

• Test suites for Helix server trigger and broker filter scripts deployed in enterprise environments. For example, the CBD test suite uses the Helix Installer to quickly spin up a test environment for server and triggers
• Demonstrations of Helix Core
• Proof of Concept (PoC) Deployments
• Training
• Evaluation and Pilot projects. Because the Helix Installer uses the SDP, transition from the demo-grade installation of the Helix Installer to an enterprise-grade installation is straightforward.
• Testing SDP changes shelved to the dev branch in The Workshop (see SDP Dev Branch Testing below).

Features

• Easy. Provides reasonable defaults for port numbers, passwords, data storage areas, and all inputs that would otherwise require human interaction.
• Comprehensive. Installs P4D and P4Broker, SDP, and a complete development pre-configured environment include Perl, P4Perl, Python, and P4Python, with appropriate shell environment settings to use them all immediately. And more to come -- future versions may include Helix Swarm, Jenkins, etc.
• Fast. Runs in under 25 minutes, including download time and building required dependencies, including Python and Perl.
• Superfast - Runs in about 2 minutes with the '-fast' option, which omits the optional Perl and Python builds.
• Simplifies Enterprise Deployment. While optimized for getting going quickly, the Helix Installer is designed to enable a fast path from a Proof of Concept (PoC) to small-scale production deployment following the Helix evaluation, with only a nominal hop from there to a large-scale global enterprise deployment. Global Enterprise deployments require additional planning and custom configuration based on the specific global topology.
• Pre-loads the Perforce Sample Depot, making it instantly ready for training and evaluation purposes.

Instructions and Usage Example

Fast Demo Installations

The reset_sdp.sh script is the only script that should be downloaded. It downloads everything it needs, including other scripts and files from this Helix Installer package, executables from the Perforce FTP site, and the SDP from The Workshop (acquired using Helix native DVCS features ala p4 clone).

Once creating a fresh vanilla server machine for a supported platform, do this as the root user:

mkdir -p /hxdepots/reset
cd /hxdepots/reset

curl -k -s -O https://swarm.workshop.perforce.com/downloads/guest/perforce_software/helix-installer/main/src/reset_sdp.sh

chmod +x reset_sdp.sh

Read the documentation the manual page generated with -man:

./reset_sdp.sh -man

And then, the big moment. Make it happen:

./reset_sdp.sh -fast 2>&1 | tee reset_sdp.log

A similar procedure works for Mac OSX, except that the standard Mac interface is used manually for creating the perforce user account.

Configured Installation

A configured installation can be done, allowing more options to be changed using a generated settings.cfg file. Do like so:

su -
mkdir -p /hxdepots/reset
cd /hxdepots/reset
curl -k -s -O https://swarm.workshop.perforce.com/download/guest/perforce_software/helix-installer/main/src/reset_sdp.sh
chmod +x reset_sdp.sh

Generate a default config file:

./reset_sdp.sh -C > settings.cfg

Read the documentation the manual page generated with -man:

./reset_sdp.sh -man

Edit the generated settings.cfg file, changing the values as desired. And then run using that generated file:

./reset_sdp.sh -c settings.cfg -fast 2>&1 | tee log.reset_sdp

Note: If you want to attempt local build and installation of Python/P4Python and Perl/P4Perl into /p4/common/python and /p4/common/perl areas, either drop the -fast flag, or run those separate installations afterward - see the description of the -fast flag in the doc for details on adding either or both of those afterward.

Bootstrapping Production

The Configured Installation method described above can be used to bootstrap a production installation. If used for this purpose, and if separate storage mounts are to be used for optimal and/or and at-scale installations, these mounts would be configured (e.g. cloud formed, or terraformed) first:

• /hxdepots - Used for versioned files and checkpoints, etc.
• /hxmetadata - Used for live and offline databases, etc.
• /hxlogs - Used for script and application logs, active journal, etc.

See the Volume Layout and Hardware section of the SDP Guide for Unix for more information.

SDP Dev Branch Testing

The Helix Installer can be used to test SDP changes shelved to the SDP dev branch in The Workshop. The following example illustrates testing a change in shelved changelist 23123:

su -
mkdir -p /hxdepots/reset
cd /hxdepots/reset

curl -k -s -O https://swarm.workshop.perforce.com/downloads/guest/perforce_software/helix-installer/main/src/reset_sdp.sh

chmod +x reset_sdp.sh

./reset_sdp.sh -b dev,@23123 2>&1 | tee reset_sdp.CL23123.log

After the first test, an iterative test cycle may follow on the same shelved changelist. For each test iteration, the shelved changelist is first updated in the workspace from which the change was originally shelved, e.g. with a command like p4 shelve -f -c 23123.

Then a new test can be done by calling reset_sdp.sh with the same arguments. The script will re-install the SDP cleanly, and then re-apply the updated shelved changelist.

Helix Installer Release Notes

See the Helix Installer Release Notes.

Helix Installer Roadmap

Helix Installer 2020.1 (ETA Q1 2020)

The 2019.4 release is expected to add support for:

• Helix Swarm - Collaborative web-based code review and continuous delivery.
• Helix4Git - Git Connector

Helix Installer 2019.4

Helix Installer 2019.3 is available today. It installs the following Helix Components, all fully configured an integrated:

• P4D 2019.1 - the Helix Versioning Engine, the core of Helix (with or without SSL enabled).
• P4Broker 2019.1 - the Helix Broker, enhances custom automation capabilities, simplifies maintenances.
• SDP - Server Deployment Package (SDP), latest tarball release from the SDP mainline.
• Sample Depot data set for training, evaluation, and demo, and pilot projects.

The Helix Installer 2019.4 version handles all aspects of installation. It does the following:

• Creates the perforce OS user, if needed.
• Creates the home directory for the perforce user, if needed.
• Adds OS packages as needed for P4Perl/P4Python local builds, for yum, apt-get, and zypper package repositories.

Following installation, it also does the following to be more convenient for demos, and also give a more production-like feel:

• Grants the perforce user sudo access.
• Creates default ~perforce/.bash_profile and .bashrc files.
• Connects to the Perforce Package Repository (APT and YUM only) to enable Helix Swarm installation. (Note this script acquires p4d and other binaries directly from the Perforce FTP server).
• Makes firewall adjustments (firewalld type firewalls only).
• Makes init system adjustment, for both SysV and systemd systems.

Test Suite

The Helix Installer Test Suite uses Vagrant, a command-line virtualization interface and Virtual Box virtualization technology. The test suite can be used for standalone demonstrations of the Helix Installer or the SDP.

Platform Support

Helix Installer 2019.4 Platform Support notes:

Support Codes:

• A: Included in the automated test suite; should work reliably.
• M: Occasional manual testing done in this environment.
• L: Very limited support.
• U: Unsupported

Project Status

As of August 2019, this project is functional and active, and has been actively used since April 2015. It has been actively maintained to keep pace with SDP changes up to and including the SDP 2019.1 release.

Case Studies

Case Study: Sample Usage of Helix Installer in CBD Test Suite

The Component Based Development (CBD) system, another project in The Workshop, uses this Helix Installer as part of its automated test suite. In conjunction with Vagrant and Virtual Box, which build a vanilla VM from the ground up, the CBD Test Suite uses the Helix Installer to deploy a Perforce server, complete with Sample Depot test data set, plus Python and P4Python needed to test the CBD scripts.

Case Study: Sample Usage of Helix Installer in Battle School Workshop

A slightly modified Helix Installer is a key component of the Battle School Workshop. The Battle School Workshop Lab Engine quickly tears down and spins up a fresh, enterprise-style Helix installation -- and then breaks it in order to simulate real-world problems that students learn to identify and fix. The Battle School version of the Helix Installer (not available for public consumption) adds a simulated global topology with replicas and edge servers.

Contact Us

Please [contact Perforce Consulting Services] (mailto:consulting@perforce.com) for more information.