DDPV3BestPractiseGuide

November 27, 2013

1 Contents

1 Introduction 4

2 Best practises in setting up the ethernet network in combina- tion with the DDP 4 2.1 Each ethernet port on the DDP must be a unique subnet . . . . 4 2.2 Autosensing or not ...... 4 2.3 A 1GbE infrastructure ...... 5 2.4 An all 10 GbE infrastructure ...... 5 2.5 1 GbE switch with 10 GbE uplink ...... 5 2.6 Flow Control, Bandwidth Limiting, Traffic Control and Switch buffer Overrun ...... 6 2.7 Subnet and VLAN ...... 6 2.8 Teaming, Bonding ...... 7 2.9 Firewall Protection ...... 7

3 Using DDP with Avid Applications except DS 7 3.1 Avid Facts To Know ...... 7 3.1.1 One Avid MediaFiles directory per DDP volume or fold- ervolume ...... 8 3.1.2 Not enough Drive Letters ...... 8 3.1.3 Do not use these characters with Avid ...... 8 3.2 Lock files and bins ...... 8 3.3 Sharing Methods ...... 9 3.3.1 Shared Bins ...... 9 3.3.2 Shared Bins and Projects ...... 9 3.3.3 Shared Bin and Project Limitations ...... 10 3.3.4 Shared Bin Lock Icon Limitation ...... 11 3.3.5 Naming Conventions ...... 11 3.3.6 Shared Bins and Windows Explorer ...... 12 3.4 Time Synchronization ...... 12 3.5 User Access Control with Avid edit applications and DDP . . . . 12 3.6 Avid Editors and AMA material on Windows ...... 12 3.6.1 One large DDP volume and foldervolumes for all projects with a foldervolume for AMA material ...... 13 3.7 Using the DDP in combination with Avid Storage ...... 13 3.8 With AVID DS ...... 13 3.9 With Interplay ...... 14 3.10 Using DDP with Avid with Edit while Ingest applications . . . . 14 3.11 Using DDP with EVS in an Avid environment ...... 15 3.12 Using DDP with EVS in a non Avid environment ...... 15

4 Using DDP with Final Cut Pro 15

5 Using DDP with Final Cut Pro X 16

6 Using DDP with ToolsOnAir with Ingest While Edit 16

2 7 Using DDP with Softron with Ingest While Edit 16

8 Using the DDP with Grass Valley Edius and K2 also with In- gest While Edit 17

9 Searching for Files 17

10 Using DDP with Telestream and rendering machines 17

11 Using DDP with Adobe products 18

12 DDP and DPX/Cin Applications 18 12.1 DDP and Scratch ...... 18 12.2 DDP and Autodesk ...... 18 12.3 DDP and DVS ...... 19 12.4 DDP and Digital Vision ...... 19

13 DDP and Linux Clients 19

14 DDP and Audio Applications 19 14.1 DDP and Pro Tools ...... 19 14.2 DDP and Fairlight ...... 20

15 DDP and MAM systems 20

16 DDP and Backup solutions 20

17 DDP and XSAN 21

18 DDP and Shares (CIFS, SMB) 21

19 DDP and SNMP 21

3 1 Introduction

This manual assumes that the DDP drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux have been installed and that proper communication exists between desktops and DDP via optionally an ethernet switch. This BestPractiseGuide explains how to use DDP drives with Avid appli- cations, FinalCutPro, Pro Tools, Adobe Premiere, Edius, Fairlight, Avid DS, Resolve, Digital Vision, Autodesk, Tools on Air, Softron, Quadrus, Atempo, Primestream, Storage DNA, Archiware and many others. It shows an alterna- tive for Spotlight. The AVFS drivers in combination with the DDP software have enhance- ments implemented. There are enhancements for Avid, Final Cut Pro, FCPX, Edius, Digital Vision, Autodesk, DVS, Scratch, Adobe/Iridas, EVS, Telestream, Pro Tools, Fairlight, Merging, Nuendo, After Effects and others.

2 Best practises in setting up the ethernet network in combination with the DDP

A remark upfront: at anytime during installation you can use ping to see if a connection is valid between ethernet endpoints. Ping also shows the roundtrip time which should always be less then 1ms. Once everything is properly in- stalled and a DDP drive is available on the desktops use the Aja or Blackmagic speedtest to confirm the bandwidth of the connection.

2.1 Each ethernet port on the DDP must be a unique subnet There are many ways to setup an ethernet infrastructure. To narrow this down we start with the capabilities of ethernet ports on a system (DDP or desktop). Each ethernet port on the DDP or desktop no matter if it is a 1 or 10 GbE port must have an unique subnet. To each subnet multiple endpoints (each endpoint is an ethernet port on a desktop) can be connected. The subnetmask defines the subnet. The factory settings of the ethernet ports on for example a DDP16D are NIC1: 172.16.5.4. NIC2: DHCP, NIC3: 172.17.5.4, NIC4: 172.18.5.4 and so on with the subnet set to 255.255.0.0. If the subnet mask would be 255.0.0.0. all ports would be in the same subnet and there is no way of knowing what is happening and the DDP might even crash. Because service connection (or VPN) is mandatory for DDP service, NIC2 is set to DHCP. Special care must be taken that the lease which this ports gets upon connection also has a subnet different from all other NICs. So if the DDP has 4 GbE ports and there are 20 desktops with one endpoint for each of these desktops one can for example decide to connect 5 Macs to each of the 4 subnets.

2.2 Autosensing or not There is always the discussion whether IP configuration on desktops and switches should be set to automatic (autosensing) or manual (fixed). A way to prevent confusion it to start with defining your requirements on the desktop and setting

4 these manually (such as flow control on, normal 1500 MTU or 9000, 1000baseT (1GbE)). The DDP itself uses autosensing but both frame size and flow control must be set manually on the DDP. They must be identical to the settings on the desktop. How and if switch settings should be set or altered will be discussed now.

2.3 A 1GbE infrastructure When solely a 1GbE/RJ45 infrastructure is available or installed simple stan- dard unmanaged 1GbE switches from brands such as Cisco budget series, Net- gear, SMC and many others can be used. Of course managed switches can also be used. Unmanaged switches sense what the settings of the endpoint are and act accordingly. Although most unmanaged switches may suppport jumbo frames (9000 size package) it is not always guaranteed. It is recommended in general not to use jumbo frames with an all 1GbE infrastructure because it is a setting which can easily be overlooked causing unexplanable intermittant prob- lems. When an application such as EVS for example strongly benefits from using jumbo frames, jumbo frames can be enabled on all components of the subnet. Flow control must be enabled on all ports and spanning tree must be switched off.

2.4 An all 10 GbE infrastructure Most 10 GbE infrastructures are short range (SR) fiber based with LC connec- tors. Most switches available have SFP+ electrical ports. In such ports optical transceivers with on one side SFP+ and on the other side an LC connector fits. A transceiver for SR can be the Finisar FTLX8571D3BCL. Ardis Technologies does not advise specific switch brands. One can use switches from Fujitsu, HP, Force but other will do as well. With some care regarding cable length also elec- trical cabling with SFP+ connections can be used. In the future also 10 GbE switches with RJ45 jacks will become more common. 10 GbE switches are man- aged. Flow control on all ports must be enabled. Spanning tree option should be inactive. Jumbo frames should be used to get the best performance. 10 GbE switches operate mostly in a fixed mode due to the transceivers plugged in there. When a 1 GbE switch with 10 GbE uplink is connected to the 10 GbE switch you must be careful when using jumbo frames. Make sure that all components of the subnet, switches and endpoints also are set to jumbo frames.

2.5 1 GbE switch with 10 GbE uplink There are many 1GbE switches with 10 GbE uplink. However not all support Jumbo frames and some of these switches such as those from SMC can not be used with flow control. Fujitsu and HP are good choices. When ordering such switch often three parts are needed: the switch, the electrical module which fits in it and has electrical interface such as SFP+ and the proper transceiver. Transceivers from the switch manufacturers can be costly and can always be purchased from a Finisar distributor for a better price. In standard installation it is best practise to enable flow control on all 1GbE ports and have flow control

5 off on the 10 GbE ports. Also it is best to use frame size of 1500 (standard) on all endpoints (DDP and desktops) unless needed otherwise. With flow control on on the 10 GbE line the 10 GbE bandwidth can get as low as 1GbE in some situations. On the other hand with flow control off on 10 GbE the amount of buffer memory in the switch determines when and if packet overrun occurs re- sulting in packet retransmission. In most cases however the 10 GbE bandwidth will still be okay. In larger and or critical installations Ardis Technologies can enable Traffic Control. With proper use of Traffic Control and flow control en- abled on 10 GbE line, the 10 GbE bandwidth remains intact and retransmission are absent. See further for an explanation of flow control, bandwidth limitation and traffic control.

2.6 Flow Control, Bandwidth Limiting, Traffic Control and Switch buffer Overrun When involved in IP infrastructure and DDP you will hear phrases such as Flow Control, Bandwidth Limiting, Traffic Control, buffer in switches and buffer overrun. So some explanation is needed here. Flow Control is part of the 802.3x protocol and when enabled allows the receiver to report to the sender to hold the next IP packet. In an uplink situation it can be that each 1GbE port on the switch asks to delay sending a packet resulting in a substantial decrease in 10 GbE bandwidth. Hence standard Flow Control should be off on the 10 GbE link in a 1 GbE switch with 10 GbE uplink. Can Bandwidth Limitation (BWL) help to control the bandwidth? BWL is a technology built-in in the iSCSI part of the DDP and schedules iSCSI requests in the iSCSI initiator on the desktop. The bandwidth is scheduled standard at a 100 ms granularity. This means that in the situation where you have a 1 GbE switch with 10 GbE uplink the data read requests for example are still transmitted from the DDP at 10 GbE speed. To give an example suppose the desktop request 1 MB of data. At 10 GbE it is transmitted from the DDP at 1200 MB/s. That takes less then 1ms transmission time into the switch and takes 10 ms to get to the desktop. All much faster then the BWL scheduling is. BWL is there to prevent overloading drive access. A desktop can take up all the drive access time when they are allowed for example to copy or render at the highest speed possible. BWL does not help preventing switch buffer overrun. Traffic Control on the contrary allows packet transmission scheduling on TCP/IPStack level. This happens on packet scale. Its parameters are set for a particular IP range. In the situation with the 1 GbE switch with 10 GbE uplink from the onset the packets for each desktop IP address is scheduled at a rate of say 100 MB/s max. Thereby emulating a 1GbE line. So 1500 byte packages for a particular desktop would be transmitted with 15 us interval instead of 1,5 us interval with other packets interleaved.

2.7 Subnet and VLAN DDP is a system with mutiple ethernet ports. Just like any computer with multiple ethernet ports each ports needs to have its own unique subnet. A

6 subnet is defined at the IP address level with the (sub)netmask. Subnets are transparant for switches and both layer 2 or layer 3 switches can be used with the DDP. Layer 2 switches have the ability to create VLANs. VLANs are based on the lower level physical MAC address of the ethernet ports. Both subnets and VLAN can be used simultaneously. Be aware that still subnets must be created for the DDP.

2.8 Teaming, Bonding Teaming and bonding are terms used for the same. On desktops with two NICS these can be setup as behaving as one IP address. That way two ethernet lines go to a switch. When one line fails the communication still continuous via the other line. This teaming is transparant to our desktop software such as the iSCSI initiator and AVFS metadata controller driver because it is setup at the TCP/IP level. On request the DDP can be delivered with 10 GbE failover ports to enable the same robustness but then on a 10 GbE connection between DDP and switch. Teaming gives more robustness but there is no increase in bandwidth. Separately DDP support Multiple Connection Per Session (MCS) which does create a doubleing of bandwidth. MCS is switch transparant. Groups of IP ports (portal groups) are defined in the DDP and desktops operating within these subnets have increased bandwidth with two or more connections. The iSCSI commands are scheduled over the multiple lines.

2.9 Firewall Protection When there is a need to use a firewall between DDP and desktop the following ports must be enabled for the DDP to properly function. Port 6000, 3260, 1565, 1567, 1568, 1569 and 1570. When working with Avid edit applications is maybe good te disable such firewall entirely.

3 Using DDP with Avid Applications except DS

Ardis Technologies provides tools to allow Avid editors to share bins, media and project using the DDP in the most convenient manner as an alternative to Avid Storage. This chapter is valid for Avid Applications: Media Composer, 3.5 onwards, Newscutter and Symphony. Make sure both DDP and Desktops are connected to a time server or have identical time by using the DDP as time server. The proce- dure how to set this up is explained in the DDPUserGuide. It is best practise to disable the firewall on your Avid Workstation

3.1 Avid Facts To Know Avid only allows one Avid MediaFiles (or OMFI MediaFiles) directory per DDP volume. To still have one DDP volume as in one namespace, foldervolumes can be created. Foldervolumes are folders behaving as volumes.

7 3.1.1 One Avid MediaFiles directory per DDP volume or foldervol- ume The DDP uses the phrase DDP volume and foldervolume but Avid storage uses the word workspace but it is very similar. With a single DDP volume or foldervolume you will only have 1 x Avid MediaFiles directory - but you will have multiple sub-directories i.e mxf/.01, .02 etc etc. Most Avid users will prefer multiple foldervolumes for their Avid MediaFiles - maybe on a per-project basis or for certain assets i.e clocks, titles, etc. However, they also like to be able to have large ’dumping ground’ volumes in order to keep RAW rushes, AMA volumes, graphics, exports etc. The Avid applications tends to create the .02 folder once the .pmr and .mdb files begin to grunt at the workload within one folder. Its difficult to give a specific calculation but the general ’soft’ limit for each MXF subfolder is around 5,000 files and the ’hard’ max limit would be 10,000 files. The database files begin to really struggle at around 6-7,000 files.

3.1.2 Not enough Drive Letters When a DDP volume or foldervolume is used per Avid MediaFiles directory one may run out of drive letters on Windows. If there are not enough drive letters left, UNC can be installed and used. UNC stands for Universal Naming Convention and is a Microsoft technology allowing connected drives to show up with a network path. Some applications which maybe integrated with the DDP such as Avid DS, RP, Interplay and EVS’s IP director rely entirely on UNC to be present. The technology is a bit confusing because both a drive letter can be there and the UNC can be there. Because UNC is a workstation convention and not a DDP convention only DDP volumes or foldervolumes which are already mounted (green connection) via the DDP Gui are reachable via UNC. When there are not enough drive letters DDP drives although mounted via the DDP Gui will not be visible in My Computer but will show up via UNC.

3.1.3 Do not use these characters with Avid The following is a list of 17 illegal characters you should not use in DDP volume or foldervolume names, workgroup names, filenames, user names, device names, and storage group names: / = @ [ ] * ? + — : ” ; , ¡ ¿. You should not use the percentage character. You also should not use a period (.) as either the first or last character in the names you create, and you should avoid include a space in workspace names when in a mixed OS environment or using Interplay.

3.2 Lock files and bins The lock does not prevent you from deleting the media referred to in a locked bin if you have write access to the DDP volume or foldervolume. It ensures only that you do not overwrite changes to the bin while another editor is working on that bin. Write access is obtained by the first user to open a bin and is indicated by a green lock icon in the left hand corner of the bin. Read access

8 is given to subsequent users who open the bin and is indicated by the red lock icon. In a local environment, your Avid editing application creates and stores projects and bins on the client internal drive. If a user moves or saves these projects and bins to the DDP volume or foldervolume only one client can work on the project at a time. If two or more users are working simultaneously on the same project only one user can update the files. Other users can open and play sequences but cannot make any changes to them. If you wish to make changes to a sequence which resides in a locked bin it is important that you obtain write access to this bin before attempting to write changes or make a copy of the item in a new bin with write access. Should a project or folder be copied or moved between or from a shared environment with bins open on the last exit of the project this may result in a corrupt file residing in the root of the project. This means that the project still thinks that a user still has the bin open and is unable to release the lock file. You can resolve this issue by exiting the application and simply removing the file for that bin in the project folder. Be careful not to do this while an editor is working on this bin as they will potentially lose their work.

3.3 Sharing Methods Before you begin copying or creating bins and projects on an Avid AVFS DDP volume or foldervolume determine the sharing method you are using for the project. You can either share bins alone or you can share bins and projects.

3.3.1 Shared Bins When you use shared bins, you store the project on your local computer and store bins and media files on the shared DDP volume or foldervolume. This method allows users in a shared environment to share only selected bins with other users. The system identifies the shared bins as follows:

• Stores the bin in a AVFS Bins folder in the Project window. This folder is similar to the Other Bins folder.

• Displays a second column of information for the bin that identifies the computer that currently has the bin locked.

• Uses bold text to identify bins that are locked by another user.

3.3.2 Shared Bins and Projects If you share bins and projects you create and store the project folder and bins on the shared DDP volume or foldervolumes (or copy an existing project, bins, and the related media files). Your Avid editing application identifies information from each computer using the shared workspace as follows:

• Creates a project folder for each computer that accesses the project. Your Avid editing application adds the computer name to the folder name

9 to create a unique name and stores any project-specific information in the folder. This mechanism prevents users from overwriting the project- specific data for other users.

• The folder is similar to the folder created when you select New Folder from the Project Window Fast menu and contains user settings and project .avs file for each user. This folder can be deleted and recreated for trou- bleshooting purposes.

• Displays an extra column in the Project window that identifies the com- puter that has the bin locked.

• Uses bold text to identify bins that are locked by other users.

• Creates a folder at the top level of the shared DDP volume or foldervolume called Attic. This folder contains backup files for each project on the shared volume.

Depending on the number of users sharing a DDP volume or foldervolume you might want to increase the number of files that your Avid editing applica- tion stores in the Attic folder (using the Bin Settings dialog box).

3.3.3 Shared Bin and Project Limitations If an editor other than the creator deletes a media file other editors cannot see that media file go offline immediately. If an editor tries to play that file media file a not found messages might appear in a monitor window and access violation errors might occur. Each editing application maintains a .pmr file in its machine name folder inside the OMFI MediaFiles folder or the Avid MediaFiles folder. The .pmr file lists all the online media files. Every editing application consults all the .pmr files in all the machine name folders to find out which media files are online. Whenever a media file is created its name is immediately added to the creating editor application’s .pmr file and whenever a creator deletes a media file its name is immediately removed from the .pmr file. However, if an editing application other than the creator deletes a media file the .pmr file that contains the deleted file is NOT updated immediately. Once the creating editor encounters an event that causes its .pmr to be updated, then all editing systems know that the deleted media file has gone offline. There are several ways to force an editing application to update its .pmr. The simplest is to switch to the desktop and back. Avid recommends that you institute policies where media files are deleted by the editor who created them or if necessary the deleting editors notify the editor who created the media files that a deletion has occurred. This editor can then switch to the desktop and back and all other editors can see the deleted file go offline.

10 3.3.4 Shared Bin Lock Icon Limitation Occasionally when two editors attempt to open a shared bin at the same time both editors get the green lock icon. However only one editor really has the lock and that editor’s machine name appears beside the bin name in both Project windows. Both editors can modify their copies of the bin but only the editor that holds the lock as indicated in the Project window can save that bin. The other editor is warned that the bin is locked but is allowed to save a copy of the changed bin. If you receive the warning Avid recommends the following:

• Cancel the Save Copy As.

• Make or open a different bin.

• Copy the desired material inot the new bin.

• Close the original bin and continue in the new bin. This reduces the occur- rence of duplicate bin IDs that may result from the error that follows.

3.3.5 Naming Conventions Adhere to the following naming conventions to improve performance when work- ing with shared bins in an Avid AVFS environment.

• Do not use the same name for your editing system machine name and your user name. In fact do not use the same name for security objects such as machine names, user names, group names, and domain names. If any two security objects have the same name Windows might become confused and sharing might not work properly.

• No full name can be a prefix of another name. If one machine name matches the prefix of another machine name problems can occur. For example if an editing system has a machine name ABC and additional editing systems in the shared environment have machine names ABCnn, ABCxx, the following problems could occur:

• When the system with the machine name ABC is writing to a directory the systems whose machine names have the same prefix (ABCnn and ABCxx) might not be able to access the directory.

• When the system with the machine name ABC is rendering systems whose machine names have the same prefix (ABCnn and ABCxx) might be un- able to launch.

If you must use a common prefix make all the names the same length (ABC01, ABC02, ABC03, etc.).

11 3.3.6 Shared Bins and Windows Explorer Avoid using Windows Explorer to examine, copy, or manipulate shared bin files or shared project folders or their contents when editors are using those files or folders. If you do, editors attempting to access those shared bins or projects may experience delays accompanied by a progress dialog that says Filesystem busy, retrying (MESSAGE) where MESSAGE is replaced by a specific message identifying the action that is being retried. If the busy condition persists and the retries are exhausted a failure message appears. When that happens ensure that Windows Explorer is not being used on the shared bins you are trying to access and then try the operation again. If this persists and you have closed all Explorer windows logout and log back in. You might also check to see if someone else has the shared bin in an open window.

3.4 Time Synchronization Each editing application maintains a .pmr file in its machine name folder inside the OMFI MediaFiles folder or the Avid MediaFiles folder. The .pmr file lists all the online media files. Every editing application consults all the .pmr files in all the machine name folders to find out which media files are online. It is very important to make sure that time synchronization (sync) is set properly in your shared storage environment. If time sync is not set properly between the clients and the server .pmr rescan issues occur and opening bins might take an long time. All clients and all servers in a workgroup must be in time sync. Any reliable time service will work; NTP, Windows Time Service, Sync or any other. Avid recommends you only use one time service. Sites that have used multiple time services encounter problems. For the procedure how to activate time synchronisation use the DDPV3UserGuide.

3.5 User Access Control with Avid edit applications and DDP The best way to work with Avid with V3 software is to have one DDP volume and a foldervolume per project or user or group of users. See also TheV3DDPWay manual.

3.6 Avid Editors and AMA material on Windows This only works in a Windows environment When working with Avid edit applications the desktops are switched to AvidFs mode. In such cases however DDP volumes or foldervolumes can not always be used properly when holding AMA material. To be able to work flawlessly with AMA material using DDP volumes and foldervolumes it is best to create a separate DDP volume or foldervolume with the name amaxxxxx. DDP volumes or foldervolumes which carry the name: amaxxxxx are seen as NTFS drives. Ama is the identifier for this and xxxx can be the volume or foldervolume name.

12 3.6.1 One large DDP volume and foldervolumes for all projects with a foldervolume for AMA material Each foldervolume can hold an OMFI Mediafiles and/or Avid Mediafiles direc- tory. AMA (Avid Media Access) material is video/audio material outside the Avid MediaFiles directory but can be on the same DDP volume in one or mul- tiple foldervolumes. Performance with AMA material is best and most reliable when a separate none AvidFs DDP foldervolume is used . When foldervolume names are given in the format: amaxxxx where xxxx stands for the characters which can be chosen the foldervolume is not seen by Avid as an AvidFs drive. Working with AMA material can improve the workflow integration with non Avid applications such as Autodesk but also others. It allows you to use the convenient project and bin sharing mechanism provided by Avid for off line and on line editing then export the edits as AAF with AAF edit protocol ac- tive without consolidating. The material can then be relinked in applications supporting AAF. When Avid edit applications are to be used with AVID DS the Avid DS Filebased Workflow documentation can be followed.

3.7 Using the DDP in combination with Avid Storage It is not possible to use an Avid storage and DDP in AVidFs mode simultaneously on the same desktop. When you already have an Avid storage system the DDP can only be used with the FsName set to AVFS. See the DDPDesktopInstallationGuide to change this. Collaboration between media on Avid and DDP can be done in the following way:

• Create a DDP volume or foldervolume separately for each Media Com- poser workstation.

• Connect the DDP volume R/W only to its workstation.This DDP volume then is for recording and rendering.

• Connect each DDP volume RO to all other stations.Allowing the worksta- tions readonly access to all material.

• Make sure that project folders are created and saved on the Avid Stor- age.To see the colored bin locking indications.

Make sure that UAC is switched off when working with Avid edit applications

3.8 With AVID DS AVID DS is an entirely different application then the other Avid applications. After you have have made sure that the DDP volumes or foldervolumes made for DS have a drive letter assignedy you need to enable UNC and setup AvidFs to work with AVID DS and DDP. To have a UNC path of a (folder)volume it first needs to be mounted (connected). How to setup the UNC path is described in the DesktopInstallationGuide. When that has been setup the AVID DS manual

13 can be used further. There it is described how to use AVID DS with Avid Storage. When the desktops are set to AvidFs, all documentation available for AVID DS and Avid Storage can be used as well with the DDP. AVID DS RP and Indexer can also be integrated as described in the AVID DS manual. The DS indexer needs the UNC path and the DS application uses the driver letter path. The RP machines when present communicate with the DSs via a separate IP network. The UNC path for a DS UNC path for the video storage should be

\\avfs_server\videostorage\

. Other parameters to set are:

• Enter as Mediatype: mxf

• Enter as Disk Controller Type: Generic Adapter

• Enter as Disk Storage: Generic Storage

To restart a desktop with DS it is advised to stop the indexer first. After restart and login check that all drives are available in

\\avfs_server\videostorage\

. It maybe that the project indexer is not triggered automatically after a restart.

3.9 With Interplay UNC and AvidFs need to be enabled to work with Interplay. A customer considering to use the DDP with Interplay needs to test the combination to verify that the functionality required is available. Ardis Technologies at the moment is not able to certify the DDP in combination with Interplay. For certification cooperation with Avid is essential. This is currently not offered.

3.10 Using DDP with Avid with Edit while Ingest applications The solution available allowing direct integration between DDP, Avid editors and Edit while Ingest are Airspeed, Quadrus and Mog Solutions. Airspeed uses Windows 7 embedded as operating system. To integrate with DDP the MS iSCSI initiator must be part of the installation and activated. In addition both AVFS client driver and the setupArdisDDPUNCAndAvidApp.exe needs to be installed to emulate Avid Storage. You may need to consult the Airspeed supplier to unlock the system to allow these updates/installations. The Quadrus Ingest machine uses plain Windows as operating system. The AVFS client and the setupArdisDDPUNCAndAvidApp.exe need to be installed. The Quadrus Ingest Machine software then sees the DDP as Avid Storage. We have not tried with the Speedrail from Mog Solution so we can not comment on that. Speedrail uses Windows XP, 32 bit. The AVFS driver for Windows XP needs to be installed. In addition for the speedrail 5000 to see DDP as Avid Storage setupArdisDDPUNCAndAvidApp.exe needs to be

14 installed as well. Because it uses Windows XP the DDP volumes must be formatted with AVFS. The DDP volume size for Windows XP is limited to 2 TB.

3.11 Using DDP with EVS in an Avid environment In an Avid environment you need to switch DDP volumes to AvidFs to use the DDP with Avid Editors and EVS, XFile, IP director or XT Access. The DDP driver must be installed on the PC computer(s). When that has been setup the EVS manuals describing Avid requirements and procedures can be followed. IP director requires UNC. Also the Avid Transfer Manager is needed. With IP Director type the path: ‘‘\\localhost\DDPdrivename’’ instead of browsing the UNC path. UNC and AvidFs can be installed by running the ArdisDDPUNCAndAvidApp.exe. The EVS system prefers using jumbo frames. When your EVS system is using Windows XP the DDP volume capacity is limited to 2 TB with DDP format AVFS.

3.12 Using DDP with EVS in a non Avid environment In a non Avid enviroment the EVS components can be connected directly to the DDP. This is also true for example for Final Cut Pro. No special components are required. Some products of EVS use Windows XP others Windows 7. The proper AVFS client driver needs to be installed on the EVS computer(s). The EVS system prefers using jumbo frames. When your EVS system is using Windows XP the DDP drive capacity is limited to 2 TB with DDP format AVFS. When IP director is used also UNC needs to be installed. The path: ‘‘\\localhost\DDPdrivename’’ instead of browsing the UNC path needs to be typed. UNC can be installed by running the ArdisDDPUNCAndAvidApp.exe.

4 Using DDP with Final Cut Pro

There are no special requirements regarding working with FCP and other Apple applications with regard to the DDP. The special features build in the DDP for FCP are transparant for the FCP user. The workflow with different FCP stations sharing can be managed using the Workflow Manager+. WM+ allows you to control user access regarding read, write and read/write no delete. Using WM+ the access rights in the shared DDP environment can be set such that accidental overwriting of a project with two or more people working on the same project can be prevented. The standard way to start is to setup WM+ such that only one operator has read/write access to a particular (sub)folder while all others only have read access. Spotlight is automatically disabled on DDP volumes because it creates a large undeterministic overhead during indexing. Indexing can not be scheduled or triggered. Also each desktop would do their own indexing. Alternatives to Spotlight are described elswhere in this guide.

15 5 Using DDP with Final Cut Pro X

The FCX workstations involved should be switched to AvidFs. Do not pay attention to the name here. It has no relation to Avid it is just how the DDP drive presents itself to FCPX. Next step for example is to use Finder to make a number of project directories on the DDP volume or foldervolumes. Also make a media directory. Select File-Add SAN location and select a project path as the SAN location. This can be a subfolder. The directories: Final Cut Events and Final Cut Projects will be created under this project path. Then make sure your media is in the proper media directory. Then in FCPX doing New Event-Import Files deselect Copy Files to Final Cut Events folder (deselect everything there). The event is now imported by reference. To allow another desktop to work with this project select File-Remove SAN location. The other desktop can now do Add SAN location of this path. A warning appears when this SAN location is in use with someone else.

6 Using DDP with ToolsOnAir with Ingest While Edit

There are no special requirements when working with ToolsOnAir. Workflow Manager can be used to control access rights.

7 Using DDP with Softron with Ingest While Edit

For older OSX version as the Mac as is. For OSX 10.7 and 10.8 in order to prevent drop frames from happening over the length of capture, jumbo frames must be enabled on DDP and desktop to keep OSX from having a network stall due to a bug in OSX network socket layer.

• On the DDP set the ethernet ports (either 1 or 10 GbE) for the capture Macs or the switch connected to MTU 9000 and press Apply. Applying will cause a quick up/down of the ethernet ports on the DDP and will interrupt clients. A reboot on clients is recommended.

• On the Mac in system preferences, Network Settings, select the ethernet port used for the DDP isci network.

• Go to Advance.

• Set Mode = Manually

• Set Speed = 1000baseT

• Set Duplex = full duplex, flow-control

• Set MTU = 9000

• Reboot.

16 • On the mac, confirm in Terminal that MTU is 9000 by typing ifconfig enX where X is the port which you are using

• SSH into DDP and confirm ping to the Mac is 9000 MTU with ping -s 9000 IP address

The Workflow Manager plus can be used to control access rights.

8 Using the DDP with Grass Valley Edius and K2 also with Ingest While Edit

There are no special requirements when working with Edius. Workflow Man- ager can be used to control access rights. The DDP support the Edius project lock (.lck file) mechanism. This guarantees that a project can be opened read/write on one desktop only. All others can open the project readonly. If more protection is needed the Workflow Manager + can be used. However Edius reads/writes and deletes this .lck file when open or closing a project. Care must be taken not to restrict this process with WM+.

9 Searching for Files

On a Mac Spotlight is disabled on DDP volumes and foldervolumes. Spotlight indexes the files and stores these in its database for quick searches. Unfortu- nately in a shared environment this is done on each desktop. Also there is no way of knowing when Spotlight starts indexing material. For simple situations in an all Mac environment the non indexing program EasyFind from Devon Technologies (www.devontechnologies.com) can be used. It is freeware soft- ware and works fine. On Windows 7 the indexing of the search engine can be disabled while still being able to search. On Linux grep via commands line or with a graphical user interface can be used. When a professional search envi- ronment is needed with proper centralized indexing the program DEVONThink Pro office of Devon technologies can be installed on one or more of your Mac computers. Its database comes with a Webserver. The webserver allows Mac, Windows and Linux computers to access the database. The disadvantage of this approach is playback of a clip runs through the Mac using the database and not directly from the appropriate DDP volume.

10 Using DDP with Telestream and rendering ma- chines

There are no special requirements when working with Telestream. Workflow Manager can be used to control access rights. Telestream products can be used as is in a DDP environment. Regarding rendering: rendering may generate large short burst of data over the network. This may interfere with the standard playback and or record usage. Playback or record in contrast to rendering

17 requires a sustained data rate. Bandwidth Limitation can be used to control the read and write bandwidth of rendering machines.

11 Using DDP with Adobe products

There are no special requirements when working with Adobe products. Work- flow Manager can be used to control access rights. The DDP fully supports Adobe products in a collaborative workflow environment. All other applica- tions mentioned in this document can be used simultaneously as well. The workflow with for exmaple different Premiere stations sharing projects can be managed using the Workflow Manager+. WM+ allows you to control user ac- cess regarding read, write and read/write no delete. Using WM+ the access rights in the shared DDP environment can be set such that accidental over- writing of a project with two or more people working on the same project can be prevented. The standard way to start is to setup WM+ such that only one operator has read/write access to a particular (sub)folder while all others only have read access. Than regarding searching for clips: spotlight is automatically disabled on DDP drives because it creates a large undeterministic overhead during indexing. Unfortunately spotlight indexing can not be controlled. Also each desktop would do its own indexing. Alternatives to Spotlight are described elswhere in this guide.

12 DDP and DPX/Cin Applications

There are no special requirements when working with DI material. Workflow Manager can be used to control access rights. DPX and Cineon film sequences differ from audio and video streams. Each DPX or Cineon file is one frame only. So a folder with DPX files can quickly contain several hundreds of thousands of files. Each file can be 8 MByte, 12,2 MByte or more. The DDP AVFS software has been optimized not just to quickly open these folders but also to do so over ethernet in a sharing environment. Of course 10 GbE connections are required.

12.1 DDP and Scratch There are no special requirements when working with Scratch. Workflow Man- ager can be used to control access rights. The DDP supports Scratch editors in a collaborative workflow environment. Scratch uses Windows 7, 64 bit. All other applications mentioned in this document can be used simultaneously as well. Make sure your DDP is properly specified in particular when render ma- chines are also involved in the setup. Both a 10 GbE card needs to be installed plus the DDP driver. The Workflow Manager+ can be used to setup operator’s read and write access.

12.2 DDP and Autodesk There are no special requirements when working with Autodesk. Workflow Manager can be used to control access rights. The DDP supports Autodesk

18 editors in a collaborative workflow environment involving Mac and RedHat 5.x. All other applications mentioned in this document can be used simultaneously as well. Older Autodesk RedHat versions are supported via network or iSCSI DDP volumes. To use the DDP at full strength a single or dual port 10 GbE card must be installed in the Desktop. In addition the iSCSI initiator and AVFS driver must be installed. The Workflow Manager+ can be used to setup operator’s read and write access.

12.3 DDP and DVS There are no special requirements when working with DVS. Workflow Manager can be used to control access rights. The DDP supports Clipster editors in a collaborative workflow environment. All other applications mentioned in this document can be used simultaneously as well. When rendering is involved make sure that the DDP is specified properly because rendering can generate considerable data burst.

12.4 DDP and Digital Vision There are no special requirements when working with Digital Vision. Work- flow Manager can be used to control access rights. Digital Vision’s file lock mechanism is supported. This means that only one person can open a project read/write all others open the project then readonly. All other applications mentioned in this document can be used simultaneously as well. When render- ing is involved make sure that the DDP is specified properly because rendering can generate considerable data burst. Digital Vision has on board a nice tool to observe all relevant parameters. The tool can be switched on by going into the picture window and pressing Ctrl+ Shift + M twice.

13 DDP and Linux Clients

There are no special requirements when working with RedHat 5.x. Workflow Manager can be used to control access rights. The DDP supports RedHat version 5.x and onwards. The DDP may also supports versions of Debian, Suse and CentOS. Ask Ardis Technologies.

14 DDP and Audio Applications

Below are some of the audio applications supported by the DDP. All these applications allow a collaborative workflow between projects and media. For all audio applications just 1GbE connection per desktop is sufficient to sustain 192 tracks of audio, 48 Khz, 24 bit plus a video guide track.

14.1 DDP and Pro Tools All Pro Tools systems whether on Mac or PC can share and collaborate using media and exchange and share projects. All other applications mentioned in

19 this document can be used simultaneously as well. Mac/Pro Tools versions 8.1.1, 9.x and onwards operate superior on Macs when it sees DDP volumes or foldervolumes as AvidFs volumes. On Windows there is no noticeable per- formance difference between the modes. Also when in AvidFs mode Pro Tools generate a lock file when opening a session (.tmp). This is to assure that an- other operator opens this session readonly. When in AvidFs mode the ability to rename clips is automatically disabled. Also the Workflow Manager+ of the DDP can be used to control operators access rights to prevent for example accidental project overwriting. With DDP there is no need to use the cache mechanism built-in a Pro Tools. DDP volumes and foldervolumes show up on the desktop as local drives and one DDP volume or foldervolume is capable of sustaining 192 tracks of 48 Khz audio, 24 bit plus a guide HD video track. Always check the Disk Activity indicator. When Pro Tools is open select the Windows option and then System Usage. When playing back the required num- ber of audio tracks the Disk Activity indication should be steady and showing a maximum value of around 50 percent. The lower the better.

14.2 DDP and Fairlight All Fairlight systems can share and collaborate using media and exchange and share projects. All other applications mentioned in this document can be used simultaneously as well. The DDP volumes or foldervolumes needs to be declared a media drive for Fairlight. The Workflow Manager+ can be used to control operator’s access rights. For exmaple each operator can have a folder with read and write rights and can access other folders of other operators as readonly.

15 DDP and MAM systems

There are no special requirements when working with MAM systems. Workflow Manager+ can be used to control access rights. DDPs are in use with CatDV, Media Alliance, Primestream (B4M), Axle Video and Final Cut Server. For others ask Ardis Technologies. DDP works with the concept of local drives both for Mac, Windows and Linux. Therefore to integrate the DDP with any of the MAM systems read the MAM system’s manual where it is described how standard drives are handled.

16 DDP and Backup solutions

The complete Archiware P5 software package is installed on the DDP and ac- cessible via the DDP’s home page. Each DDP comes with an Archiware P5 Backup license for free. With an Ardis certified SAS card installed, purchased via one of our dealers an LTO tape drive can be connected to the DDP directly. When purchasing additional P5 software and capacity licenses from your DDP dealer also SAS equipped LTO tape libraries, other tape emulators, P5 Archive or P5 Synchronize can be used. For P5 synchronize however we recommend to use a gateway computer with P5 synchronize installed.

20 The DDP has a a product line called the mirrorDDPs. These are DDPs with MAID technology and green drives. They are perfect to synchonize the production DDP data on to. In the event that the production DDP can not be accessed the mirrrorDDP can be used temporarily. Of course when needed DDP can also be used with Retrospect, Quantum, Bru, Atempo, storage DNA and others.

17 DDP and XSAN

DDP and XSAN can be used simultaneously. When you intent to format your XSAN volume please be carefull not to accidently format the DDP volumes. Good practise is in this situations first to disconnect the DDP volumes from the desktop before the formatting is done.

18 DDP and Shares (CIFS, SMB)

During Q1, 2014, AVFS or Large AVFS formatted DDP volumes and fold- ervolumes can then simultaneously be accessed via SMB and AVFS. The V3 software for that becomes available then. All functionality of the Workflow Manager+ also applies to desktops, users and groups accessing DDP volumes or foldervolumes via SMB.

19 DDP and SNMP

During Q1, 2014, the Nagios SNMP management package becomes part of the DDP software and can be accessed via the DDP’s hom page.

21