Using multiple FCP’s with a Windows Server

[Jerry Hofmann]

I’d think that this would be nothing but a headache… might work with a couple of stations, but more than that… ? you are talking about sharing media files right? I’d think that the windows machine would make a mess out of this. I know that PC formatted disks will work somewhat with FCP but the overhead involved reading the files with a Mac will probably kill the throughput. Wish I could say this works, but figure that it won’t.

Jerry

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Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here

Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D

[Bryce Whiteside]

Fibre channel? GigaEthernet?

It is possible to use a Windows Server, but it has its issues. It will be fine for general assests — .TIF, .PNG., .PCT, .PSD, .MP3, .MOV, et al.
It will not very useful for video assets. No matter what, the FCP editors should copy the assests they need locally to their FCP workstations and logoff the server. If there is a problem with the server, any asset linked from FCP to its server location will cause the LOD (Lollipop of Death) if the server link is broken.

If you are lucky, it may be possible to play video assets off of the Windows server, but I can almost guarantee you won’t be able to capture to it because of network overhead and file size limitations.

There are solutions like this, but I think we have already broken the bank to recycle your Windows server.
StudioNetworkSolutions.com – Product Information – A/V SAN PRO
https://www.studionetworksolutions.com/content/products/avsanpro/

An Xsan/Xserver RAID Fibre Channel network might be a better solution for what you are trying to achieve — https://www.apple.com/xsan/ .

I noticed you cross posted in the Xsan forum.
https://www.creativecow.net/forum/view_posts.php?forumid=180

HTH,
Bryce

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Kevin Monahan]

Hey Michael,
Oh, you can do it–absolutely. If you have a heterogeneous network, you can add non-Mac OS X clients to your Xsan-based SAN using ADIC

[Sean Oneil]

Michael, ignore the naysayers- they know not what they speak. We do this and it works very well provided people don’t put question marks or crap like that in the file names. You’re using SMB sharing right now, correct? SMB, if you don’t know, is just the regular method of Windows file sharing that OSX provides. With our setup, the SMB sharing works absolutely fantastic with no headaches. I can run 2 streams of DV media from the WIndows server, no problems whatsoever. But, I’m definately not getting the kind of speed I should get over a gigabit network, so we stick to using the server as an audio and stills library (just for right now). There is a program called “ExtremeZ-IP” (do a Google search). It’s specifcally designed for a Windows XP Server/OSX Client environment. I tried the trial version and it worked great.

Whatever you do, don’t try “Windows Server 2003” with it’s Macintosh Services. It’s total crap. Just stick with XP and get ExtremeZ-IP. The program is $700. You’ll end up spending a 10th of what you’d spend buying an XServe and Xsan software.

[Bryce Whiteside]

Michael Kaminski – Being an XSan forum this may not be the place to ask but I have to give it a shot. We currently have an Avid LanShare server with 15 XpressDV Pro systems running on G4 933’s. The server has been nothing but trouble for almost two years. We recieved an entirely new server 3 months ago and still headaches. We do have FCPHD installed on every Mac. What we would like to do is turn the LanShare server into a regular windows server running raid and use FCPHD. Is anyone else doing something like this and is it possible?

Thanks.

At least Michael gave more detailed information in the Xsan forum and is getting some cost/benefit ratio info from Shane Sokolosky, SAN Product Manager, ProMax Systems inc.

Sean ONeil – Michael, ignore the naysayers- they know not what they speak.

…uh, what naysayers??? All I see here is real world experience to which you have contributed.

I used to drive a 3D workstation with 3D Studio Max with Windows 2000 Workstation and turned it into a Mac server with PC MACLAN https://ca.miramar.com/ for $189. Now we have gone from $189 to around $10,000 or more based on the information Michael provided.

…uh, what naysayers???
Bryce

Don’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…

PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion

[Sean Oneil]

[Bryce Whiteside] “…uh, what naysayers??? All I see here is real world experience to which you have contributed.”

Well… you. Heh, just joking around! Nobody in my office thought it would work either until I did it, so I guess I have a chip on my shoulder about it. The key is that “out of the box” sharing between XP and OSX is a lot slower than it should be. Nevertheless, it is extremely reliable for people who habitually name their files in a PC friendly way. Even though we’re Mac people, we upload a lot of things to our web server, so we got into the habbit of it a while back. And if you need OSX-OSX or XP-XP type speed, there is the ExtremeZ-IP software like I mentioned.

To get the most reliability and to make sure you don’t accidentally open FCP without it mounted, what you do is mount the shared Windows drive on the Mac. Then create an alias of it. Now copy that alias into your “System Prefs->Accounts->Startup Items” and it will mount it automatically everytime the Mac is turned on. As long as you add the login and password to your keychain, you don’t have to worry about it. Just make sure that on the Windows side, you check the box that says “Network users can make changes to this folder” in the sharing preferences.

[Michael Kaminski]

Sorry about the double posting. I didn’t think about the XSan forum until after the fact. Thanks for the feedback. We did try a test yesterday afternoon. We can get 2 FCP systems capturing to the server but add a thrid and all of them start dropping frames, which is what we feared. Avid told us we could have 20 clients connected to our current LanShare but what they didn’t tell us is that you can only have a max of 10 streams at a time. That doesn’t do us much good when we have 12 students with multiple streams working at the same time. We’ve been an Avid customer for years and they sell us something they know won’t fit our needs. Gotta love Avid.

So my next question is, will an XSan system do what we want? We are strictly working in DV. We won’t be sharing media files (maybe once in a while). We have our students working on their own indiviual projects at the same time. For example we have 12 users all caputring media at the same time or they will all be editing or a mixture.

Thanks everyone.