Multitple Users on SAN

[Loren Risker]

The way we work is everyone has their own events and projects folder on san, so there’s no chance of 2 people opening the same event or project at the same time.

If 2 people wanted to work off of the same media, the way I would do that as create events that reference the media in a shared storage, so that each user has unique events but you only need one copy of the media. Would that work in your situation?

————-
OutOfFocus.TV – Original series, music videos, and entertainment for your couch.

[Alan Smith]

[Loren Risker] “If 2 people wanted to work off of the same media, the way I would do that as create events that reference the media in a shared storage, so that each user has unique events but you only need one copy of the media. “

Because I haven’t used X very much, I’m not sure what this really means.

I get the idea of each editor having their own space on the SAN for their Events and Projects. That makes sense.

So there would be another directory for “shared” events?

Would each editor be able to see the other editors events or are they “hidden” from the other editors/workstations?

Alan Smith
Media317
https://media317.net

[Charlie Austin]

[Alan Smith] “I get the idea of each editor having their own space on the SAN for their Events and Projects. That makes sense.

So there would be another directory for “shared” events?

Would each editor be able to see the other editors events or are they “hidden” from the other editors/workstations?”

Not exactly sure, as we use NAS not a SAN but… If you simply put all your shared media on a drive (without FCP event/project directories on it, just media) which all users can mount on their desktop, you can all import the same media (do not copy it to the users event folder) and work from that.

————————————————————-

~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Jeremy Garchow]

What SAN do you have?

[Oliver Peters]

Look through this thread:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/48286

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Alan Smith]

We are using XSAN and were on version 2.0.

Alan Smith
Media317
https://media317.net

[Jeremy Garchow]

Working with most any file based SAN in FCPX, does not allow you to share one Event or Project across multiple users at this time.

Events/Projects, typically, are per user or depending on your SAN type, per machine. With XSan, you would lock people out of each other’s Events and Projects so that they are only accessed by one user at a time.

So, you’d need to have media that everyone can access, and then each user has an area to store their Events and Projects which are unique to that user.

FCPX has completely different file structures from other NLEs.

Sharing Events and Projects can be done within the application itself or through the Finder. It would depend on your workflow needs.

I, personally, use a metaSAN system which has a feature that creates virtual volumes, and those are controlled through a permissions interface and can be mounted by any machine. Only one machine can have read/write access, and any machine can have read only access. FCPX will not mount a read only SAN Location.

SAN Locations are simply a folder, and you can earmark that folder in FCPX as a SAN Location. The Events and Projects then get stored in the San Location. You can have as many SAN Locations open as you want at one time in FCPX. You can also close SAN Locations from within FCPX which allows an easy way to manage multiple Events/Projects.

It takes a bit of getting used to as the format is different from FCP7, but it is much better than working with local drives.

Jeremy

[Oliver Peters]

I’ve run into additional issues with SANs and Event Manager X. If you have a volume-based SAN, with control over partition write permissions, then some are read-only. If you have any folder on these that are labelled Final Cut Events or Final Cut Projects – including some that just happened to have been named the same – it messes up EMX. That’s because EMX can’t deal with these on read-only drives, so everything in its menu is red and can’t be enabled, disabled or moved. Therefore, in the one shared storage house that I normally freelance at, we keep all Events/Projects folders on local drives with linked media on the SAN.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Alan Smith]

So if I’m understanding what I’m reading, is the following correct?

When Editor 1 launches FCPX, he will only see his events and projects that he has created. In order to view the events or projects of Editor 3, he would have to “mount the SAN” of that editor?

I was hoping and under the impression that any editor, when launching FCPX would be able to see all of the events on the XSAN.

In essence, if an editor is looking for a piece of media, they are going to have to search for it via finder to locate which event it is associated with to know where to pull the clips from, correct? No real/significant difference from FCP7.

Alan Smith
Media317
https://media317.net

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Alan Smith] “When Editor 1 launches FCPX, he will only see his events and projects that he has created. In order to view the events or projects of Editor 3, he would have to “mount the SAN” of that editor? “

Or have Editor 3 send pieces to a SAN Location, dismount that Location, and then have Editor 1 mount that new SAN Location.

[Alan Smith] “I was hoping and under the impression that any editor, when launching FCPX would be able to see all of the events on the XSAN.”

It doesn’t work that way. That would be like opening every FCP7 project on the XSAN at once.

[Alan Smith] “In essence, if an editor is looking for a piece of media, they are going to have to search for it via finder to locate which event it is associated with to know where to pull the clips from, correct? No real/significant difference from FCP7.”

Pretty much. You don’t necessarily need to know which Event the media is attached to, you just need to know where the clip is.

If another editor sends a Project over (or XML for that matter) to another Editor and nothing has left the SAN, the files will automatically be linked.

It really depends on how and what you need to do.

Jeremy