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When trying to create a new dynamic view from ClearCase Explorer on a Windows client and with view storage on a view server I get the following error

Error Creating view -- <viewname>
Unable to create directory \viewserver\path to storage location\<viewname> :No such file or directory.

I tried to create a view, but using the cleartool command from the same Windows client to create a view called next I get:

Cleartool: Error: Failed to record hostname <hostname? in storage directory "<path to view storage\next.vws". Check that root or the clearcase administrator group has permission to write to this directory.
Cleartool: Error: Unable to create view "\<path name\next.vws"

Running cleartool -verall on the client machine, view server and VOB server all show the same version consistently as 8.1.1.11.

The user being used is a member of the ClearCase Administrator Group. Storage locations are shared. The storage location security is member of the same ClearCase Administrator Group.

How can I fix this?

Peter Mortensen
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D Beange
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  • Is your `CLEARCASE_PRIMARY_GROUP` environment variable set to a group which can write in the view storage? – VonC May 10 '17 at 13:47
  • Hi, my userid is a member of the same group that the CLEARCASE_PRIMARY_GROUP environment variable is set to. The view storage location is defined for WINDOWS region and the server host path is d:\cc_store\views with the Primary Group having Full control of the cc_store & views folders. – D Beange May 10 '17 at 14:15
  • And that user account has writ access to the view storage? – VonC May 10 '17 at 14:16
  • The view storage location is defined for WINDOWS region and the server host path is d:\cc_store\views with the Primary Group having Full control of the cc_store & views folders – D Beange May 10 '17 at 14:19
  • What the get_log say for the logs both on the client and on the server host (log for views for instance)? – VonC May 10 '17 at 14:20
  • getlog on the client has nothing whereare running it on the view server in the view log there is a row for approx correct time that says view_server(pid): db closed. Then in the admin log there are errors corresponding to each mkview command saying Error: admin_server.exe(PID): error Unknown style protections :d:\cc_store\views\....\viewname.vws Then No Group "clearcase" found – D Beange May 10 '17 at 14:30
  • (The rollback of revision 4 was due to an edit blunder by the undersigned.) – Peter Mortensen Jun 18 '18 at 17:59

1 Answers1

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"Failed to record hostname" is a pretty generic error. Howeveer "unknown style protections... No Group 'clearcase' found" isn't. The odds are that the ClearCase administrators groups don't match on the client and server.

TO verify this, run this command at both the server and the client: reg query HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Atria\ClearCase\CurrentVersion /v ClearCaseGroupName

If they don't match, the client should be changed to match the server. If one or the other is not Domain Qualified, then a local group is in use, which will never match even if the names do. DO NOT change the server's group name or you will invalidate all the ACL information for all preexisting views and VOBs.

If the client is not a member of the same domain as the server, it has to be a member of a domain that trusts the server's domain. Technically the statement is "All ClearCase Windows hosts must be in domains that trust the domains with ClearCase user accounts." And these domains should be in the same forest.

Creating a view is a multistep process where the client, and view server processes (view_server, and admin_server) are responsible for various components of the creation.

If the client is Windows 10, and the server is Windows 2008/2008R2, you may encounter some errors after this regarding missing .view, .compiled_spec, etc. files. These are due to "slightly mismatched" quirks in Windows 2008/R2's SMB support and Windows 10's. You can also encounter this if you use NAS-based view storage, regardless of the Windows OS if there are quirks (unsupported features) in the NAS device's SMB2/SMB3 support. The usual observed symptoms here are that you cannot create a view from a Windows 10 client, but can from a Windows 8/8.1 client; or that you cannot create a view from ANY client, but can create it when you log into the server.

Diagnosing those issues often requires parallel Process Monitor and Network traces taken on both the client and failing view servers. If SMB2 is the protocol in use, there are redirector caches that can be disabled to work around the differences.

Brian Cowan
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  • Cool thanks, The clearcase admin group was incorrect on the client. I've now set it to match the view server. I have now been able to create using cleartool a view from the client to the view server. However via clearcase explorer on same client i'm still getting Error Creating view -- Unable to create directory \viewserver\path to storage location\ :No such file or directory. – D Beange May 11 '17 at 15:26
  • Need the path, in the error and the path you used in cleartool. Odds are they are subtly different. – Brian Cowan May 12 '17 at 19:25
  • A subtle swapped character as it turns out when i defined the storage location. Looked at it for ages and didnt spot it needed a fresh pair of eyes, then it was obvious. Thanks – D Beange May 16 '17 at 08:24