Scrounger 4: Hardware Configurations by Brian D. Hanser

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Scrounger 4: Hardware Configurations by Brian D. Hanser"

Adrian Goodwin
5 years ago
Views:

1 Scrounger 4: Hardware Configurations by Brian D. Hanser PROBLEM: A photo department with 10 photographers shooting 3 digital assignments a day can easily generate 6 gigabytes of digital camera files, of which only a small fraction will appear in the newspaper. What happens to the rest of the images - do you just delete them, or save them like conventional film? Over the course of a year that can amount to over 2 terabytes of data. How can that many images be preserved affordably? T/ONE has recognized this dilemma, and in 1997 we developed the Scrounger Digital Camera Filing System. Over the years the Scrounger System has evolved into a versatile, flexible system that can be configured to address any workflow requirements. Scrounger can quickly transfer digital images from a mixture of different sources, store them in a variety of locations, and preserve them on a number of different media types. T/ONE has established three different hardware configurations that will enable newspapers to design a Scrounger System that accommodates their specific needs and requirements. On the following pages you will find an outline of these hardware setups and an explanation of the their distinctive benefits. How should you go about determining which hardware configuration is best for your situation? As a general rule of thumb, if you already have more than one film processor, chances are pretty good you re going to need more than one Scrounger station. To get a more accurate estimation of your storage and workflow needs, you may wish to ask yourself the following questions: - How many megabytes (or gigabytes) of images will be generated on a daily basis? (# of photographers) x (# of assignments each) x (# of images per assignment) x (file size) - How many assignments will come in during the typical 5-7 pm crush period? - Will all of the images be delivered to the newsroom after an assignment, or will some be input at a remote location (at a bureau, for instance)? - How mission-critical will this system be as part of your production workflow? Page - 1

2 1). Standalone Scrounger A standalone server / workstation for acquisition and storage of digital images and as well as the storage of assignment information in a searchable database. Standard features include dual PC card readers, mirrored 18 GB hard drives, and an internal CD writer. Options for a standalone Scrounger include the substitution of an external DVD writer for the CD writer, card readers to support other media formats (such as CompactFlash and SmartMedia), a largecapacity RAID array, and a Zip or Jaz drive. Example - Standalone Scrounger Workstation: STANDALONE SCROUNGER Page - 2

3 2. Scrounger Server / Input Station Designed for higher-traffic or more complex image workflow environments. One Scrounger is designated as a central server, and has a large RAID array, while the others serve as input stations. This is ideally suited for those situations where more than one Input Station is required, typically to handle a number of photographers coming in all at once. You can also configure one main Scrounger for use in-house at the paper, and have another out in a bureau. The system at the bureau will then update the database on the in-house system, and CDs or DVDs are generated at the bureau system with a unique identifier and shipped to the newsroom. That way down the road any assignment can be easily, positively located with a single search. Example - Scrounger Server / Input Station Configuration: SCROUNGER SERVER RAID ARRAY STATION 1 STATION MEGABIT SWITCH Page - 3

4 3. Scrounger Server Cluster / RAID Array / Multiple Input Stations Extremely robust and fault tolerant, this installation is comprised of three core subsystems: a Scrounger server cluster (two CPU boxes with fail-over) with shared RAID array, a CD or DVD writing workstation, and (at least) one Scrounger input workstation. This system is designed for papers where it will be used a production tool, and provides an optimum level of fault-tolerance and high-availability for live images. The system incorporates a 100-megabit switch for optimal network performance. a). Server Cluster / RAID array - The main storage unit which consists of a large RAID array connected to two clustered servers. Just as a RAID array provides fault-tolerant storage, a clusteredserver solution provides fault tolerance at the CPU level. In the event of a hardware failure on the primary server, the secondary server immediately takes over, offering ultimate reliability. To provide nearly infinite storage of data, user-selected folders of images are offloaded from the RAID to the CD / DVD writing workstation, thus clearing chunks of the RAID for new images. b). CD / DVD Writing Workstation: A separate workstation which handles writing CDs or DVDs, this unit can also house a CD reader or other input device (such as a Jaz Drive), enabling images from remote locations to be ingested into the server cluster / RAID array. In addition, this unit serves as a backup input workstation. Writing DVDs daily from the RAID array removes the need for a tape backup system (and labor), while storing your data safely on non-volatile media. Files that have been transferred to CD / DVD will be tagged as eligible for deletion, but will remain on the RAID for a limited period of time for additional redundancy. This way there should never be files more than one day old on the RAID for which there are not already duplicate files on DVD. Should the RAID ever fail, the past data can be fully restored by copying files from DVDs, and recent data can be restored from the redundant buffer on the Input Workstations. There is no need for tape backup, or the labor that it involves, if the DVDs are burned on a schedule. c). Input Stations: Designed to transfer data from PC Cards to the server cluster / RAID array, Scrounger input workstations maintain a local buffer of the files for added redundancy. Input workstations allow simultaneous transfer data from two separate PC Cards into the local hard drive and Server Cluster / RAID array. An example of the Scrounger Server Cluster configuration can be found on the following page. Page - 4

5 Example - Scrounger Server Cluster / RAID Array / Multiple Input Station Configuration: LARGE CAPACITY RAID ARRAY CLUSTERED SERVER 1 CLUSTERED SERVER MEGABIT SWITCH STATION 1 STATION 2 DVD WRITING STATION & BACKUP DVD WRITER JAZ, ZIP, Etc Page - 5

ALEXA XR Module Workflows

ALEXA XR Module Workflows WHITE PAPER 6 March 2013 Introduction In 2013, ARRI introduced the ALEXA XR Module which, for the first time, allows uncompressed in-camera ARRIRAW recording. This not only makes