Each source control system consists of one or more centralized repositories and a number of clients. A repository is a database that contains not only the actual data files, but also the structure of each project you define.
Most source control systems adhere to a concept of a logical project, within which files are stored, usually in one or more tree directory structures. A source control system project might contain one or many IDE-based projects in addition to other documents and artifacts. The system also enforces its own user authentication or, very often, takes advantage of the authentication provided by the underlying operating system. Doing so allows the source control system to maintain an audit trail or snapshot of updates to each file. By storing only the differences, the source control system can keep track of all changes with minimal storage requirements. When you want to see a complete copy of your file, the system performs a merge of the differences and presents you with a unified view. At the physical level, these differences are kept in separate files until you are ready to permanently merge your updates, at which time you can perform a commit action.
This approach allows you and other team members to work in parallel, simultaneously writing code for multiple shared projects, without the danger of an individual team member's code changes overwriting another's. Source control systems, in their most basic form, protect you from code conflicts and loss of early sources. Most source control systems give you the tools to manage code files with check-in and check-out capabilities, conflict reconciliation, and reporting capabilities. Most systems do not include logic conflict reconciliation or build management capabilities.
Commonly, source control systems only allow you to compare and merge revisions for text-based files, such as source code files, HTML documents, and XML documents. StarTeam stores binary files, such as images or compiled code, in the projects you place under control. You cannot, however, compare or merge revisions of binary files. If you need to do more than store and retrieve specific revisions of these types of files, you might consider creating a manual system to keep track of the changes made to such files.
Source control systems store copies of source files and difference files in some form of database repository. In some systems, such as CVS or VSS, the repository is a logical structure that consists of a set of flat files and control files. In other systems, such as StarTeam, the repositories are instances of a particular database management system (DBMS).
Repositories are typically stored on a remote server, which allows multiple users to connect, check files in and out, and perform other management tasks simultaneously.
With StarTeam, you create a server configuration to identify a repository for StarTeam projects. Each server configuration acquires its own set of projects as they are created. The Server can run any number of server configurations. Because each server configuration must use a database, you need to make sure that you establish connectivity not only with the server, but also with the database instance.