We are considering using ClearCase Multisite to enable the offshore development team. The other option is the ClearCase Remote Client using the local (onshore) ClearCase installation. Has anyone had experiences using Multisite? Is the synchronization and management hassle worth offshore being able to use the fat client?
+1
A:
That is a good question. I belive it is worth using multisite so long as you can figure out the mastership of elements. If an element is mastered at site A you can't edit it at site B until you have transfered the mastership. So if each site is working on the same pieces of code then multisite is going to be more trouble than it is worth, if the coverage is disjoint then multisite is a good call. Clearcase is very chatty on the network and keeping as much local as possible is a good idea.
stimms
2008-10-06 17:42:24
@stimms "release engineer" he ? Do you use UCM ?, and if so, what do you think about the bug of "parasite baselines" I stumble upon in 2003 ? (still a major dependency management failure from UCM in my opinion: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/message.jspa?messageID=6020151#6020151)
VonC
2008-10-06 20:21:54
We don't actually use UCM, we are a base clearcase shop.
stimms
2008-10-08 03:49:37
@stimms ok, tought I asked, just in case;)
VonC
2008-10-08 21:31:16
+1
A:
I agree with stimms. Actually, unless you have a massive concurrent development on the same set of files, multisite is quite heavy to setup and maintain...
And if the coverage is disjoint, ... actually we have switched to CRC (but we are with CC7.0.1 here, CRC in 6.0 was not advanced enough). That means you have a good connection to allow your user to connect to the web server that represents CRC and that will access your vobs for them.
Your remote clients will either use a "semi-fat" client (the eclipse RCP ClearCase client talking to your CRC) or a web interface, for setting up their snapshot views.
The other point that drove us away from Multisite is the licensing system: you can not convert a vob into a 'multisite-compliant' one without using (more expensive) multisite licenses, even for your local users...
So if you want to use only multi-site licenses for your remote users, you have to isolate your data into a multi-site vob, and then replicate those data into a normal vob!
All in all, I believe Multisite is not the only answer to offshore development team.
BUT, that being said, one strong force of the Multisite mechanism is its ability to synchronize itself from delta coming from various sources:
- regular reception of packages
- files
- even a CD burned with the latest delta can do it!
That means, if your connexion is not always up with the remote site, Multisite can be a valid option.
VonC
2008-10-06 20:17:16
A:
One of the really big differences between Multisite and CCRC is the fact that you can only use snapshot views (but actually called webviews) with CCRC whereas Multisite can do both snapshot and dynamic views.
As the previous poster stated, there are also monetary and administration costs to consider.
Without more information about the size of the offshore team, what they are likely to develop, how long you are going to be using the solution for, the size of the business, the administration experience and time of your ClearCase staff...well, it'd be tricky to answer this accurately.
Spedge
2008-10-24 13:06:03
A:
MultiSite is a great product, and truly enables remote sites in a way CCRC does not. It also serves as a backup replica for your VOBs. There are many things to consider, but don't let the complexity of MultiSite turn you away... I suggest you look into CM/InSync to automate MultiSite into a hands-free setup.
The CCRC client is OK, stil lackluster in comparison to native dynamic views. It very much depends on your requirements and needs.
d.
dengel
2009-05-06 19:37:09