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ClearCase Support: How to Move a VOB


Here are the procedures to move a ClearCase UNIX VOB from one VOB partition to another VOB partition on the same VOB server. If the VOB server is changing, then the VOB will need to be duplicated instead of moved.
  1. Determine the VOB's current location and the VOB server that hosts the VOB by using this command.

    cleartool describe vob:VOB_TAG

  2. Determine the VOB's size by using this command.

    cleartool space VOB_TAG

  3. Determine the location that the VOB is being moved to and if the VOB has sufficient disk space in the new location by using this command.

    df –k VOB_PARTITION

  4. Schedule a VOB shutdown. Wait until the start of the shutdown period before continuing these procedures.

  5. Verify that the VOB was recently and successfully backed up as a precaution.

  6. Log into the VOB's server as root.

    rlogin SERVER_NAME -l root

  7. Lock the VOB.

    cleartool lock vob:VOB_TAG

  8. Unmount the VOB.

    cleartool umount VOB_TAG

    9. I recommend unmounting this VOB on all servers in another window. If you are unable to unmount the VOB, then kill the process of the user who is currently using the VOB. You can determine which user who is using the VOB by using this command "fuser –c VOB_TAG".

  9. Remove the VOB's UNIX and Windows tags using this command.

    cleartool rmtag –vob –all -password REGISTRY_PASSWORD VOB_TAG

  10. Go to the VOB's storage partition. For example, if the VOB's storage directory is "/vob_store1/vob_name.vbs", then use this command:

    cd /vob_store1

  11. Copy the VOB's storage directory. In this example, we are copying it to the "/vob_store5" directory.

    find ./VOB_STORAGE_DIRECTORY –print | cpio –o | (cd /vob_store5 ; cpio –idumv)

  12. When completed, you will have two VOB storage directories for the same VOB. Change the permissions of the old VOB storage directory to "000" with this command.

    chmod 000 ./VOB_STORAGE_DIRECTORY

  13. Re-register the VOB on the UNIX Region with this command.

    cleartool reg –vob –replace –host HOST_NAME VOB_STORAGE_PATH VOB_STORAGE_PATH

  14. Re-create the VOB's UNIX tag.

    cleartool mktag –vob –tag VOB_TAG –replace [-public] -password REGISTRY_PASSWORD -host HOST_NAME –hpath VOB_STORAGE_PATH VOB_STORAGE_PATH

  15. Re-mount the VOB on all UNIX servers.

    cleartool mount VOB_TAG

  16. Use the Windows Region Synchronizer to make the VOB available on Windows, and mount the VOB on any Windows servers too.

  17. Kill the old VOB Server process(es). Run "ps –ef | grep VOB_NAME". If the old VOB's storage directory is still listed as a running process, then kill the old process.

  18. Unlock the VOB.

    cleartool unlock vob:VOB_TAG

  19. Test that the VOB works on both UNIX and Windows, maybe even test that the VOB's synchronization is working again too.

  20. Inform all users that the VOB is online and ready to be used again.

  21. After several days or weeks with the moved VOB in use and with no problems, you can delete the old VOB storage directory manually. You may have to change the permission to "700" first.

You are done moving the VOB.

by Phil for Humanity
on 10/16/2008

Related Articles
 » ClearCase Support: How to Duplicate a VOB
 » ClearCase Support: How to Reformat or Defragment a ClearCase VOB
 » ClearCase Support: How to Delete a View in ClearCase