Using Final Cut Server with a XenData Archive

 XenData Technical Note XTN902

Updated: December 29, 2009

Copyright 2009 XenData Limited. All rights reserved.

Overview

XenData Archive Series software integrates nicely with Final Cut Server and has been certified with FCS versions 1.0, 1.1.1, 1.5 and 1.5.1 using the SMB network protocol. This technical note provides recommendations when using Final Cut Server on Mac OS X that archive to and restore from a XenData archive.

Configuring the XenData Archive for use with OS X

Final Cut Server runs on OS X and consequently the XenData archive must be configured as described in XenData Technical Note XTN804. 

Configuring the XenData Archive for use with Final Cut Server

1. Configuring the XenData Write Throttle Queued Parameter (FCS version 1.5 and later)

Starting with version 1.5, Final Cut Server is able to simultaneously send multiple files to the archive. (Prior versions would queue the files to be archived and would only send one at a time.) The number of files that can be simultaneously archived is defined by Max Running Jobs which is found in the Preferences section of the Administration Panel. The default setting is 10, but this can be changed depending on the file size and usage.

To optimize performance on the XenData archive server, a change should be made to the Write Throttle Queued Parameter. This determines the number of files queued on the XenData disk cache waiting to be written to a Volume Set that trigger a throttling of writing to the archive. This has a default value of 10.

With versions of Final Cut Server prior to 1.5, it was not necessary to change the XenData Write Throttle Queued Parameter from the default value of 10. With FCS version 1.5 and later, the Write Throttle Queued Parameter should be changed to a value three times that of the Max Running Jobs value to avoid unnecessary write throttling. However, it is important not to set the Write Throttle Queued Parameter to a value that is so high that the archive server may run out of disk cache space.  The Write Throttle Queued Parameter is adjusted by editing the XenDataState.xml file, as described in XenData Technical Note XTN805.  

The recommended methodology for optimizing the Max Running Jobs and Write Throttle Queued Parameter values is as follows.

  1. Take the value of the available disk cache free space and divide it by the maximum file size. We will call this number 'N'.

  2. If N is greater than 30, set the Max Running Jobs value to 10 and the Write Throttle Queued Parameter to 30.

  3. If N is less than thirty, set the Write Throttle Queued Parameter to the integer just less than N and the  Max Running Jobs value to the integer just less than N/3.

2. Create a File Group for Temporary Files

Final Cut Server version 1.5.1 writes files differently from previous versions; it now creates a temporary file for transfer to the archive and then after the transfer is completed, it renames the temporary file to the proper file name. To configure a XenData archive to correctly handle the files from Final Cut Server 1.5.1, configure the following two File Group rules. (Only the second rule is required for prior versions of Final Cut Server.)

The first File Group rule is illustrated below and applies to all temporary files written from Final Cut Server. It ensures that temporary files are not saved to tape. The example below applies to an archive system configured with a folder called \archive at the root which is shared and a sub folder within the share called 'fcs'.

The second File Group rule is illustrated below and applies to all asset files  as soon as they have been renamed by Final Cut Server. It ensures that asset files are saved to tape and then flushes them from disk cache. Note that the order of these File Group rules in the left pane of the XenData Management Console is very important: the first rule must be above the second rule.

 

Configuring Final Cut Server to use the XenData Archive

1. Define Network Device Type and Configuration

Built into Final Cut Server is the ability to archive to and restore from an archive system.  To create a new XenData archive device in Final Cut Server:

  1. Go to: System Preferences>Final Cut Server>Devices.  Make sure the change lock in the bottom left is unlocked.

  2. Click the plus (+) symbol to add a new device.

  3. Select Network and click Continue.

  4. Fill out the Network Device Type and Configuration page.  Make sure Network Protocol is set to SMB/CIFS. For an example see the screenshot below.  Click Continue when done.

  5. Check the Enable as an Archive Device checkbox and click Continue.

  6. Click Done to create the Archive Device. 

  7. Click the lock (if desired) to prevent changes.

2. Configuring Final Cut Server's Timeout Settings

When simultaneously restoring multiple assets from the archive, it is possible for a restore to timeout.  (If it does, you can easily try the restore again.)  To help prevent this, a change should be made to the timeouts settings in Final Cut Server.   To access the timeout settings:

  1. Open the Administration window from the Server pop-up menu. 

  2. Select Preferences in the right-hand column. 

  3. Under the Global Preferences tab, set the Retry Count and Retry Timeout.  Typical values are 600 seconds timeout and three retries.

  4. Click Save Changes.

Final Cut Server Backups

Final Cut Server's database can also be backed up to the XenData archive. The backup setting can be found in the System Preferences, by selecting Final Cut Server and going to the Backup tab. Here you can schedule backups or perform them manually. In this example backups are scheduled to occur once a week.

We recommend that the backups are saved to a different Volume Set to that used for the archived asset files. The XenData archive should be configured with a File Group rule that will save the backup files to the backup Volume Set. The following example takes the files saved to the 'fcsbu' folder and archives them to the 'FCSbu' Volume Set. Here we decided to keep the last backup on disk cache, and so the rule is set to flush after 7 days.

 

Using the XenData Archive from within Final Cut Server

Archiving and restoring assets in Final Cut Server is simple.  The Archive command is found in the Actions menu.  To access the Actions menu, right-click on one or more assets or click the actions pop-up menu from within the Asset Info Window.  To restore an asset, use the Restore command found in the Actions menu or simply double-click the Archived icon found on the asset.  A handy tool for monitoring the archive and restore processes is the Search All Jobs window which is opened from the Server pop-up menu.

Additional Notes

  1. The Final Cut Server process may need to be restarted after making changes to or rebooting the XenData Archive. 

  2. After an asset is restored, Final Cut Server will send a delete command to the XenData Archive to delete that asset off of the archive.  The ability to repack data tapes to recover space from deleted files is introduced in Version 5.00 of XenData Archive Series software. This is a useful function when a significant percentage of the available capacity of a data tape is taken with deleted files and old versions of files.

  3. Final Cut Server can also be setup to archive assets based on the Last Accessed date or even be scheduled to archive items off-hours.

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