Target server setup for the read-only replica

On the target server The immediately upstream server for replica servers, edge servers, standby servers, proxies and brokers. See also 'upstream server' and 'central server'. that we name london in this example, configure the read-only replica. In this example, we name the read-only replica readonly-1667 because we will configure it to use port 1667:

p4 -u super server readonly-1667

A default server spec appears.

Prerequisite

The steps on this page assume you have logged into the target server as the P4 user with the access level of super. See Permission levels and access rights in the p4 protect topic of P4 CLI Reference. That user can have any name, but for convenience the examples use super:

p4 -u super login

Spec configuration

On the target server, configure the server spec for the read-only replica by adding some configurables and setting their values. In this example, line 1 shows the ServerID is readonly-1667, and line 4 shows its Address as replica:1667, with the port number following the read-only replica host name of replica with a colon (:) separator.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
ServerID:    readonly-1667
Name:        readonly-1667
Type:        server
Services:    replica
Address:    replica:1667
DistributedConfig:
    db.replication=readonly
    lbr.replication=readonly
    lbr.autocompress=1
    startup.1=pull -i 1
    startup.2=pull -u -i 1
    startup.3=pull -u -i 1
    P4TARGET=london:1666
    serviceUser=service
    monitor=1 # optional but required if using the 'p4 monitor show' command
    journalPrefix=/p4/journals/read-only-replica # recommended
    P4TICKETS=/p4/.p4tickets # recommended
    P4LOG=/p4/logs/read-only-replica.log # recommended
Description:
       Read-only replica pointing to london:1666

Regarding this configuration:

• For the optional fields, you can use your own naming conventions.
• For the Address field, see Communicating port information.
• The DistributedConfig: section might contain fields starting any#, such as

  any#P4LOG=perforce.log

  any#serverlog.file.2=logs/commands.csv

  These are options configured on the target server that, by default, apply to any server for which it is a target server. To override such a configurable for the replica, add it before or after the fields containing any#

  For example:

  any#P4LOG=perforce.log

  any#serverlog.file.2=logs/commands.csv

  P4LOG=perforce.read-only.log

  serverlog.file.2=logs/my-subdirectory/commands.csv

Service user creation

In replicated and multi-server environments, a service user is required. See p4 user in the P4 CLI Reference.

1. On the target server, create a service user named serviceuser for the replication service. For example:

   p4 -u super user -f serviceuser

   The default user specification opens in your default editor. To make this user be of type service, add the following line:

   Type: service

2. Consider creating a group for your service users. See Group for service users (recommended).

3. The ticket for a service user defaults to unlimited in 2025.2 and later. For 2025.1 and earlier: To prevent the service user logins from timing out, you can use the p4 group command to add the service user to a group with the Timeout field set to unlimited. See Tickets and timeouts for service users.

4. Set the access level for the service user or service user’s group to super in your protections table. See Access level for service users.

5. Set the level of security to 4 or higher on the target server. See Server security levels.
   
   For example,
   
   p4 -u super configure set security=4
6. Ensure that the user named serviceuser is protected with a strong password:
   p4 -u super passwd serviceuser

Next step

Create the read-only replica