Perforce Software, Inc. replication

Benefits of replication

Perforce Software, Inc. server replication technology enables local servers to stay in sync with the data on a central master server, while offloading local command requests from it. Remote users enjoy local levels of performance while staying in sync with a central server that may be on the other side of the world. The main difference between the types of replica servers is the types of commands they can handle locally - the more commands handled locally the better the user experience. The trade-off is the more commands a replica can handle on its own the higher the requirements for backup and general management.

Types of replication

Edge server

The Edge server provides the highest level of replication performance, it can replicate write commands as well as read-only commands, and only forwards global update commands (creating users/groups etc) to the central master server.

Forwarding replica

The Forwarding Replica handles read-only commands locally and forwards all other command types to the central master server.

Proxy server

A proxy server is a lower functioning form of the Forwarding Replica, it only caches file content, but no meta-data. This means a Forwarding Replica can handle more command requests locally than a proxy and for this reason a Forwarding Replica is generally preferred vs. a proxy.

Build server

The Build server configuration is a lower functioning form of the Edge Server, and has now been superseded by it. It is recommended that an Edge Server be used in place of the Build Server configuration.

Read only replica

A Read Only Replica server is sometimes used as a warm standby server for fail-over in case of an error in another server. It does not support anything other than read-only commands and will give an error if such a command is attempted.