P4Install - Simple Perforce Helix installation

Work in progress may not yet work flawlessly - please search the issues or create a new one if you experience a problem

P4Install provides a semi-automated way to install Perforce Helix on linux based servers and NAS (such as DiskStation).

This repository provides guides and scripts that will help you get a Perforce Server up an running within minutes. You will be guided through the use of the scripts with code snippets and a step-by-step guide. The Master branch provides the generic functionality of P4Install. Checkout other Branches for specfic server providers or tools. While it would be possible to create an fully automated script, this semi-automated way is more customizable and future proof. It allows you to manually specify which version to install, where to place the depot and increases security by seperating the perforce server from the root user.

Browse through the branches to find provider specific guides. There's only one available at the moment, but more will follow. Use the issues to create a new request if you want to have a guide for a specific provider.

Generic step-by-step guide

0. Prerequisites

Server IP address
Password for the root user (and username if not root)
A Password for the perforce user that will be created
The absolute path to where the perforce depot should be placed.
PuTTY https://www.putty.org
Helix Core Apps
- P4V
- P4Admin
- P4 (Command Line Interface)

1. Connect to server

Start PuTTY
Fill in your servers IP address, port should be 22 (ssh default port) but there is a possibility it needs to be changed (should be provided by server provider if different. In home server or NAS setups it depends on your port forwarding rules)
Sign-in as a user with root privileges

PuTTY Main Window

2. Install Perforce

When using a linux distro that has wget installed. You might need to use sudo in order to run these commands.

wget -O PerforceInstall.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GPR-ZRH/P4Install/master/PerforceInstall.sh
chmod +x PerforceInstall.sh
./PerforceInstall.sh

If wget is not installed try the following:

apt-get install wget

or:

yum install wget

Follow the instructions given by the script. Important information is written in red.

3. Create a Perforce superuser

After the server reboot. You will be able to login to your server using P4V or P4Admin.

Start P4Admin
Enter the server IP address followed by :1666 (Format Example: 0.0.0.0:1666)
Press Alt + N followed by Enter or click on the new... button next to the user field.
A Window should pop-up requesting information to create the new user.
When finished, click connect

P4Admin Connect Window

P4Admin Create User Window

If you already have other perforce servers setup in P4Admin and you find yourself in the main view, press ctrl + O to open a new connection.

You will see yet another window pop-up clarifying that this user will become the sole superuser (Administrator / All rights)

Accept
Add any user you would like, create groups, assign permissions, etc.

Perforce sole superuser window

4. Security measures

Perforce in its default configuration will allow anyone with access to the server (knowing the IP address) to create a new user. Connect to the server again using PuTTY (Your previous connection went inactive when the server rebooted). Login as before and run the following:

wget -O PerforceSecurity.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GPR-ZRH/P4Install/master/PerforceSecurity.sh
chmod +x PerforceSecurity.sh
./PerforceSecurity.sh

This will disallow automatic user creation, viewing of the available users and viewing of the configs. It will also ask you to decide upon the use of passwords vs tickets and if applicaple the password strength.

5. Enjoy

Have fun :) Check out the other branches if you need your server to be setup in a specific way (for example to host Unreal Engine 4 Projects).

GPR-ZRH / P4Install

readme