p4dctl commands

Syntax

Category Syntax

Control services

p4dctl [ options ] start [ -t type ] -a
p4dctl [ options ] start [ -t type ] name
p4dctl [ options ] stop [ -t type ] -a
p4dctl [ options ] stop [ -t type ] name
p4dctl [ options ] restart [ -t type ] -a
p4dctl [ options ] restart [ -t type ] name

Checkpoints and journals

The p4dctl checkpoint command is similar to the p4d -jc command.

p4dctl [ options ] checkpoint -a
p4dctl [ options ] checkpoint name

Query services

p4dctl [ options ] status [ -t type ] -a
p4dctl [ options ] status [ -t type ] name
p4dctl [ options ] list [ -t type ]
p4dctl [ options ] list [ -t type ] name
p4dctl [ options ] env [ -t type ] -a var [var…​]
p4dctl [ options ] status [ -t type ] name var [var…​]

Arbitrary command on
the servers (or services) that match name

p4dctl [options] exec -t type [-r] [-n] [-f] name -- arg

Executes the binary for the specified service matching type and name with the argument(s) specified after the -- separator of two hyphens.

The service binary is executed with the same environment variables that p4dctl start would set.

Examples:

p4dctl exec -t p4d name -- -xu when Upgrade the server
p4dctl exec -t p4d -f master -- -cshow to verify the user, p4d binary, and P4ROOT
p4dctl exec -t p4d -f master -- -V to execute p4d -V without having to check whether the p4d in your path is the p4d specified in the configuration of that instance

Options

See also the meaning of variable names in Configuration file format.

Options Meaning
-a

All servers.

-c configFile

Path to the configuration file

Default: /etc/perforce/p4dctl.conf
-f

Force exec to execute the command even if that p4d instance is currently running.
-n

Used with exec to preview rather than run the command.

-p pidDir

Path to the pid file directory.

Default: /var/run

-q

Send output to syslog instead of STDOUT or STDERR
-r Restricts the arg arguments for exec to those explicitly included with the exec command. Without -r, if the service is configured with arguments, they are honored and any additional arg arguments in this exec command are appended.
-t type The service type of the p4d instance to run, such as p4d, p4p, p4broker, and other.

-v level

Set debug level (0-9)

For more information, see the description of the P4DEBUG environment variable in the P4 CLI Reference.

-V

Display version and exit.

Troubleshooting

Checkpointing failed

If you get an exit code error that says exited with status 255, it might be similar to the following:

p4dctl error:
    Checkpointing ‘Edge-London' service failed. This needs investigation!
    'Edge-London' p4d: '/usr/local/bin/p4d-2025.2 -jc -Z' exited with status 255.

Possible causes include

  • No valid ticket file could be located.

  • Replication is not working as shown by the p4 pull -lj command.

To get additional information that you can share with Perforce Support, include -v 9 when running the command. For example:

p4dctl -v 9 checkpoint Edge-London

Not all services started

If you get an exit code error that says exited with status 255, it might be similar to the following:

$ p4dctl start commit-US
p4dctl error:
'commit-US' p4d: '/opt/perforce/sbin/p4d' exited with status 255.
Started 0 services.
p4dctl error:
    Not all services started successfully.

Possible causes include:

  • Database has not been upgraded following an upgrade to a new P4 Server release.

Check the package upgrade messages for corrective action, possibly showing:
sudo -u "perforce" p4dctl exec -t p4d commit-US -- -xu # server commit-US