Depot on Windows network drive

How do I place a depot on a Windows network drive?

Info & Tags

Article #:
459
Created:
01/17/06
Modified:
01/09/08

PROBLEM

Can I run I put the Perforce Depot files on a Windows network drive?


SOLUTION

To place a depot on a network drive, create the network share and create at least one writable subfolder. Then change the Map: parameter in the depot specification. For example, to configure the default depot to run on a network drive, type:
p4 depot depot
     Map: \\quick\SharedFolder\subfolder/depot/...
The path " \\quick\SharedFolder\subfolder" is replaced by the appropriate URL and "depot" is replaced by the depot name.

In this example, depot2 is mapped to a network drive using an IP address for a server name:
Map: \\10.0.0.166\SharedDocs\shareme\quack/depot2/...

Troubleshooting

A common error states that "mkdir" failed when you attempt to submit files to the depot:
C:\clientdir> p4 submit
Change 7 created with 1 open file(s).
Submitting change 7.
Locking 1 files ...
add //depot2/yoohoo.txt#1
Date 2006/01/17 17:37:10:
Operation: dm-SubmitFile
Operation 'mkdir' failed.
Librarian checkin \\quack\myshare\depot2/yoohoo.txt failed.
can't make directory for \\quack\myshare\depot2/yoohoo.txt,v
mkdir: \\: The filename, directory name, or volume 
label syntax is incorrect.
If you see this message, check that the directories involved have been created and are writable by Perforce.   The subdirectories must exist before they can be used for depot storage. You can check for this by:
  1.  Click the Windows "Start" menu. Select "Run...". The "Run Command" dialog window is displayed.

  2. Enter the path the the depot folder. Using the path in the above example, you would enter:
    \\quack\myshare\depot2
    This should display the directory in an Explorer window. If you get an error starting "Windows Cannot Find", the path is incorrect.


Notes
Putting only the Depot folder on a network drive is significantly different then putting your Perforce Server root (P4ROOT) on the network drive. In the latter case, there can be a significant performance penalty due to network latency in accessing the Perforce database. Perforce does not recommend putting P4ROOT on a Windows share due to performance considerations.