Assembla allows Perforce (P4) single tenant customers to manage some of their Perforce details from within the Assembla application using the Perforce Enterprise Dashboard. The Dashboard lets customers connect to their instance and view details such as a list of all available backups, available disk storage space, and a list of user accounts. Once in the Dashboard, users can schedule and restore backups as well as increase their available disk storage.
Accessing the P4 Dashboard
If you are a P4 Enterprise Plan customer with a Premium or Platinum Assembla support package, you can access this feature by clicking P4 Dashboard in the menu as displayed in the following image:
If you are already logged in, the Dashboard or main Assembla Perforce landing page appears, as seen in the following image. If not yet logged in, the Perforce Server Login page appears for you to enter the server’s name and your credentials. Note that the server name must be entered in the format customer.assembla.com.
Note that the individual areas listing your existing backups, disk storage use, and established user accounts as well as a button to quickly take you to an area to manage each on those features.
Viewing the Dashboard Information
The Dashboard displays overall information regarding your backups, disk capacity, and associated user accounts. The following information is available including buttons to take you to pages that manage each:
Backup capabilities. View a list of the most recent backup for each Perforce repository including the file size and timestamp of when the backup was completed. Click Manage Backups to go to a page that allows you to schedule recurring backups, trigger a backup upon demand, request to restore from an existing backup, and purge older backups.
Disk storage. View current disk space used, remaining available space, and view any alerts regarding capacity. For example, if an instance nears a set storage threshold, you can see which instance and click Manage Storage to go directly to the area necessary to remedy the situation. Reviewing your disk space growth over time helps give you an idea of typical usage.
Note that if you are nearing a space threshold on your disk storage, the Dashboard displays an alert and a link to a page to manage your capacity settings. You can quickly increase storage capacity by 25GB, which takes immediate effect. Note that this increase may affect your Assembla billing. Contact Customer Support with any concerns before using this feature.
Users list. View a list of user accounts that have issued licenses including the associated email address and the last time that user successfully logged into Assembla. This feature allows you to monitor user licenses and how close you are to the threshold. Click Manage Users to access a more detailed view.
For more information about managing your users, user groups, and permissions, see Understanding the P4ST Dashboard User Account & Permissions Support.
Managing Your P4 Instances using Assembla
Once in the Dashboard, you can access pages that allow you to manage some features of your Perforce instances from within Assembla. Links also are available to give you quick access to Perforce admin and repository areas.
Managing Backups
The Backups page displays a list of your existing backups for the selected repository as well as the timestamp at which the backup completed and the size of the backup, as displayed in the following image. This page also allows you to trigger a backup, schedule recurring backups, restore from an existing backup, and delete older backups.
On the list of displayed backup files, the three dots on the right side of each backup file row allow you to restore or delete that specific backup. For additional available actions, continue reading this section.
Triggering a Backup
You can manually run a backup by clicking Trigger Backup. The system sends an email notification to the user account on file and alerts you when the backup is complete or if a failure occurs.
Scheduling a Backup
Click Schedule Backup to activate recurring backups based on your settings. You can schedule backups on the following basis:
Daily. Type in the appropriate time at which you want to backup to run.
Weekly. Select the appropriate day of the week, and then type in the time at which you want the backup to run.
Monthly. Select the day of the month such as 24 May or select the related day such as the 2nd Saturday, and then select the time at which you want the backup to run.
Click Set up once your selections are complete.
Restoring from a Backup
Assembla Customer Support is required when restoring from a backup. If you want to restore a repository from an existing backup, click the three dots on the right side of the row for the backup you want to use to restore the data, and then select Request restore. When requesting a restore, be sure to note and include the backup timestamp.
Deleting a Backup
Backup files require a lot of space and by default, Assembla stores your most recent 20 backups. You can manually delete a backup file by clicking the three dots on the right side of the row for the backup you want to delete, and then selecting Delete backup. A confirmation message appears to make sure you really want to permanently delete that backup file. Once you confirm you want to delete that backup file, a message appears showing a successful deletion.
If you want to adjust the number of backup files retained by your system, please contact Assembla Customer Support.
Managing Storage
It is important that you monitor your used disk space and take action when it’s nearing your limit. The Storage page lets you directly go to the area necessary to remedy the situation. Note that if you are nearing a space threshold on your disk storage, the Dashboard displays an alert and a link to a page to manage your capacity settings. You can quickly increase storage capacity by 25GB, which takes immediate effect. Note that this increase may affect your Assembla billing. Contact Customer Support with any concerns before using this feature.
Managing User Accounts
The Users page provides a list of user accounts that have issued licenses including the associated email address and the last time that user successfully logged into Assembla. This feature allows you to monitor user licenses and how close you are to the threshold, as shown in the following example as 3 / 250, meaning that 3 of the available 250 user licenses are in use. Contact Assembla Customer Support if you need additional user licenses.
For more information about managing your users, user groups, and permissions, see Understanding the P4ST Dashboard User Account & Permissions Support.
