FAQ's dashboard

a short vid that may help:

For a sideways look at setting up MatrixStore on a mac mini cluster check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvzujm...

Setting up a mac mini cluster takes no time at all ... with or without Bob and Wendy..

Yes. But only on Linux or Mac OS 10.4 - Tiger

The Mac OS (10.5 Leopard) version of MatrixStore only runs on the intel based platforms.

Our apologies. Our new website is having a few problems with Microsoft Internet Explorer. We’re working on it.

Internet Explorer 7:
If you’re running IE7 and have the Quicktime browser plugin installed then you’re good to go, except for a couple of small formating issues.

We’re working on the minor formating issues with IE7. If you want to see the site as we intended, please do consider a standards based browser for Windows .... which will give you other benefits as well as seeing our site rendered properly (e.g. greater security). And they are a cinch to install:

FireFox: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
Opera: http://www.opera.com/download
Safari: http://www.apple.com/safari/

FireFox is the most popular.

Quicktime Plugin for Internet Explorer:
To display the video content on our site you will need the Quicktime plugin for Windows. Chances are you already have this as it’s used on some of the busiest sites on the internet, like Apple.com and BBC HD Gallery. If you do need it, you can get it here:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

It’s quick and painless to install. And free.

[Note: You will need to have the latest Microsoft service packs installed. For your security, it is a very wise idea to keep Windows up-to-date. Microsoft provide great update tools to automate this process or you]

Internet Explorer 6:
With IE6 we have more issues. We have turned off IE6 support for our site. It’s and industry wide problem. IE6 was released back in 2001 and superseded in 2006 by IE7. Microsoft strongly recommend upgrading to IE7 and include the IE7 upgrade in their “Critical Update” packages.

In our core customer base of Mac based creative professionals, the use of IE6 is rare. We are thinking it is much better to direct our resources into our future products than into compatibility with a 6-year old proprietary browser technology.

Can we politely suggest, if you are still using IE6, then a move to IE7 is a great idea. Alternatively, an upgrade to one of the industry standard Windows browsers like FireFox is a good move (details above). It will enhance your internet experience and make you much more secure. And of course, you’ll be able to enjoy our site as it was intended.

We are interested in how you are effected by this. Let us know.

For further information please take a look at the blog:

http://www.matrixstore.net/2008/01/20...

Yes.

If the Apple Quad-Core or Dual-Core Intel Xeon Xserve supports the fibre channel connectivity to the RAID unit you wish to use then you should be able to use it. MatrixStore only requires a volume visible by the Mac OS.

You should be careful not to overload each Xserve with very large RAID volumes (SATABeast Xi array) as regeneration tasks may take some time if you have a 42TB RAID unit!

In short yes.

As MatrixStore runs on top of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.x) the software is abstracted from the underlying hardware changes.

The new Xserves announced yesterday will only improve MatrixStore performance and open up possibilities for allowing mulitple Xserve RAID arrays to be managed by a single Xserve server.

Organisations who have the previous Intel Xserves can migrate those older servers into the MatrixStore archive and take advantage of these nice shiny new Xserves by introducing them into the business end of their workflow..

Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle (Thanks Bob)

Happy days..

Applications such as DropSpot and Artbox strip metadata from assets automatically based on the file type. Both can be extended to support further file types.

MatrixStore can be installed on the following:

Production System:
3 Xserve with 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon - Part Number: Z0DB
Mac OS X Server (LEOPARD)
Dual Channel gigabit Ethernet card with PCI Express riser 065-6495
Dual Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card 065-6581
Single 650W Power Supply 065-6423
80GB Serial ATA ADM @ 7200 rpm 065-6406
2GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC - 4x512MB 065-6482

3 Xserve RAID - Part Number: Z0D3
10500GB ADM (14x750GB Ultra ATA) 065-7047
Cache Battery Back-up Modules 065-3777

Pilot System (Not for Production data):
3 Xserve with 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon - Part Number: Z0DB
Dual Channel gigabit Ethernet card with PCI Express riser 065-6495
Dual Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card 065-6581
Single 650W Power Supply 065-6423
80GB Serial ATA ADM @ 7200 rpm 065-6406
2GB 667 DDR2 FB DIMM ECC - 4x512MB 065-6482

OR

3 Mac mini, 1.83GHz Intel 2 Core Duo - Part Number: MB138
1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Mac OS X (LEOPARD)
80GB Serial ATA drive
1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x512MB

In all cases switches and cables will also be required. For a production system we recommend:
2 USRobotics 24port 10/100/1000 un-managed switch PN:USR997931

For the Mac mini cluster the netgear 8 port Gig switch (well it looks the part!)

A Dashboard widget is available if you wish to get a shopping list of all the hardware required for a given amount of terabytes that you wish to protect.

You can either install MatrixStore yourself or we can do it for you.

Either way installation is a very simple process:

1. Prepare the Hardware
Verify hardware has required components, the hardware is racked, stacked and cabled. Ensure all Mac OS software updates are installed and check all the nodes have the required network settings.

2. MatrixStore Setup Assistant
Run the MatrixStore Setup Assistant on each node to create the configuration file necessary for the installation process.

3. Create a Cluster
Use the MatrixStore Maintenance Tool to create a MatrixStore cluster from a single client. The tool installs MatrixStore software on a set of given nodes and creates a cluster which is ready to use.

4. Create a Vault.
Use the MatrixStore Admin tool to create a Vault. A vault
is where data is stored. A vault is a virtual storage space within the MatrixStore
cluster. When a MatrixStore Vault is created the MatrixStore Admin tool will
create a .vault file which can be used with DropSpot.

There are documents included for each of these steps in the MatrixStore dmg.

We will be posting videos of us installing MatrixStore on the Xserve/XSR platform and also the mac mini platform shortly.

MatrixStore is the final part of the workflow, where all the assets raw and final cuts are protected and made available for re-use as and when needed.

When using the Apple Xserve platform the data stays on the Mac Os from ingest to archive.

MatrixStore can be used to protect the digital masters before being moved to the XSAN for editing or it, the proxies and project files can all be moved to MatrixStore from the XSAN at any time during the project or after the project is completed.

In short no.

MatrixStore is designed for referenced data, data that cannot be changed.

It is possible for the user to:
- read the file from MatrixStore to their local disk
- make changes to the file
- archive the new version

This will result in two versions of the same file.

It can be very useful to keep all versions of the same file but the user also has the option to delete the older version of the file should it not be protected by a retention setting.