Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/737949
STORAGE www.postmagazine.com 40 POST OCTOBER 2016 odern post production workflow is a lot like a well-written story; it has a beginning, middle and end; it has protagonists and antagonists; it has the passage of time, and lessons learned. If you're coming of age with your facility workflow, and searching among the many avail- able storage infrastruc- ture products to help you reach the next level, you have to tell your own workflow story accurately to find the hero you're looking for. ONCE UPON A TIME An often-overlooked part of these work- flows is the pre-post. It's the "what, when and how" introduction of your story. What are you getting? How is it coming in? When do they need it online? The plan for entry into the post workflow is the first step in determining your requirements for shared storage. Does the content need to be secure? Will there be other projects in-house at the same time? Will anyone be working on other projects in the same facility? If you answer 'no' to all of these, you're starting out with a "bit bucket." A big volume of storage that sits on every- one's desktop. If you answer 'yes' to any of them, you need a system that can eas- ily maintain multiple volumes of storage, and secure them from the wrong users. THE VILLAIN Rearing his ugly head at any time can be the antagonist. Let's see where he may show up in your workflow. After the content is ingested and made ready for editorial through one of the systems above, you may find out that scalability of band- width is a problem. Dropped frames, spinning beach balls and frozen inter- faces are lurking around every corner. Or maybe it's the permissions curse — are you authenticated properly on the domain, are you the owner of that file or folder? Access denied! Perhaps it's a cross-platform incompatibility; the same storage you were on yesterday in Windows doesn't work as well on OSX. The villain can easily push out delivery dates, frustrate the operators and have your clients taking way too many coffee breaks (on your dime). So the questions are: If high bitrate media is choking the sys- tem, can you transcode to a more scalable format? Are you happy working completely in one OS? Do you have a dedicated IT department ready to deal with the inevitable permis- sions issues? If you answered 'yes' to every- thing, you're in luck; the generic network bit bucket is still working for you. If you answered 'no' to any of them, you'll need a couple of premium features in your shared storage system. To avoid the choke with high bitrate media, choose a system that allows for at least 10Gb connections to the client workstations and has guaran- teed throughput numbers and real-world stream counts for the video formats you're using. To keep the OS issues at bay, choose a system with a customized shared file system, not a generic NAS gateway or re-share. This will ensure a parity of performance and accessibil- ity on each operating system. For the permissions woes, remember that the aforementioned NAS systems may be compatible on the surface with every OS, but the way permissions and owner- ships are treated can be very differ- ent. Find a solution that keeps its own user list, is not reliant upon LDAP directory services for vol- ume permissions and that will negate the need for a dedicated IT person. STORAGE BUYER'S GUIDE TELL YOUR WORKFLOW STORY PROPERLY, AND YOU'LL FIND THE RIGHT PRODUCT M BY JAMES MCKENNA VP MARKETING & PRE-SALES ENGINEERING FACILIS HUDSON, MA HTTP://FACILIS.COM be working on other projects in the same facility? If you answer 'no' to all of these, you're starting out with a "bit bucket." A big volume of storage that sits on every- one's desktop. If you answer 'yes' to any of them, you need a system that can eas- ily maintain multiple volumes of storage, and secure them from the wrong users. Rearing his ugly head at any time can be the antagonist. Let's see where he may show up in your choking the sys tem, can you transcode to a more scalable format? Are you happy ships are treated can be very differ ent. Find a solution that keeps its own user list, is not reliant upon LDAP directory services for vol- ume permissions and that will negate the need for a dedicated IT person. odern post production workflow is a lot like a well-written story; it has a beginning, has protagonists and antagonists; it has the passage of time, and lessons learned. If you're coming of age with your facility workflow, and searching among the many avail- able storage infrastruc- ture products to help you you may find out that scalability of band- width is a problem. Dropped frames, working completely in one OS? Do you have a dedicated IT department ready to deal with the inevitable permis sions issues? If luck; the generic network bit bucket is still working for you. If you answered 'no' to any of them, you'll need a couple of premium features in your shared storage system. To avoid the choke with high