Installing the Validate package on Windows

Where do I get the software?

Download the packages from the Perforce Community Portal. Typically, only one or two users in an organization have access to the Validate technical support portal. If you don't have access, you can register for a new account.

You need a license. Contact Perforce support to obtain a license file. Your IT department may have a remote license server set up, or you need to specify a license file in your projects_root/licenses folder. See Getting a license if you don't already have one, and Transition license from FlexLM to Reprise for a walkthrough of the Reprise web interface.

Important information about Reprise License Manager (RLM):

• For releases 2023.2 and 2023.3: In several versions of RLM (including 15.0), the web server is disabled if the user running RLM is a root or an admin user. You can manage named user licenses by running the license server service as a local user, then accessing the licensing web portal locally on port 5054. See Cannot use RLM web interface for details.

• For release 2023.4:

  • Validate 2023.4 ships with RLM version 15.1BL2 and the web interface will run as root or an admin user.

  • The 2023.4 version of RLM has a preset username and password ("admin/password") for accessing the Reprise Web Interface on port 5054. Before starting the license server for the first time, you must change the username by editing <Validate install>/3rdparty/bin/rlm.pw. Once the license server starts, log into the Web Interface (for example, on http://hostname:5054) with your new username but the default password ("password"). You can then update the password on the interface.

    Important: Failure to change the preset username will cause the license server to stop within 10 minutes. We recommend changing the default password once you are logged in.

Important information about ports: The valid range for ports is 0-65534. Ports cannot be duplicated and the web services port uses the specified port and its +1 (for example, 8080 and 8081). Ports are checked to see if they are available; if they are in use, a warning is given. You can choose to continue and reconfigure later if necessary. Remote service ports (such as license services) are checked to see if they are valid. If there is a connection problem, you can continue but starting the services is not possible until they are valid.

Run the Validate Server installer, following the prompts. Note the following:

• During installation, one or more Visual C++ Runtime redistributable packages may be installed on your computer. Depending on your operating system, a reboot may be required at the end of the installation.
• The installation package automatically installs the appropriate JVM.
• If your system locale is Japanese, the installation package runs in Japanese. Otherwise, it runs in English.
• You'll be asked where you want to create the projects_root directory, which is the data location for the Validate Servers and applications. It contains Validate Server settings, information about integration projects, and build analysis runs. It also stores the Validate license file. The default location is C:\ProgramData\Perforce\Validate.
  

  Caution: Do not install the Server package and the projects_root directory in the Program Files directory. Default security settings for Windows and Windows Server restrict writing to files in the Program Files directory.
  

• You can specify server port information during installation in the Configure Validate servers dialog to override the default settings.

• During installation, you specify whether you want to use the locally installed License Server (Local) or connect to a remote License Server (Remote). Local, the default option, enables you to specify the location of your license file; it is then automatically copied into the projects_root/licenses folder. You can copy this file into the folder at a later time manually, but in that case the server cannot be started automatically after you complete installation. If you select Remote, you must specify the host name and port number for your License Server. The Windows license service is disabled in this case but you can enable it later if needed.

• You also have the option of starting the Validate Servers as Windows services automatically following installation. If you do not select this option, you need to start the servers manually following installation.

If you the System Administrator and prefer to install Validate silently on the command line, you can run the installer in CLI mode, as follows:

p4-validate-installer.22.1.0.9999.win64.exe install [option=value]

On Windows, the Validate bin directory is automatically added to your Path environment variable as follows:

An installation log file is saved to your installation directory whenever one of the Validate installation packages is started on Windows.

A logs directory is created in the root Validate installation directory during installation. For example, the log files in this directory store validate service output when the servers are first started and the projects_root directory is initialized.