Pinnacle Systems NEXIS - 18.5 Administrator’s Guide

Avid NEXIS

Avid NEXIS Administration Guide

Version 18.5

Legal Notices

Product specifications are subject to change without notice and do not represent a commitment on the part of Avid Technology, Inc.

This product is subject to the terms and conditions of a software license agreement provided with the software. The product may only be used in accordance with the license agreement.

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

This guide is protected by copyright. This guide is for your personal use and may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, without permission of Avid. Reasonable care has been taken in preparing this guide; however, it may contain omissions, technical inaccuracies, or typographical errors. Avid Technology, Inc. disclaims liability for all losses incurred through the use of this document. Product specifications are subject to change without notice.

Part of the software embedded in this product is gSOAP software.

THE SOFTWARE IN THIS PRODUCT WAS IN PART PROVIDED BY GENIVIA INC AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

The following disclaimer is required by Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics, Inc. for the use of their TIFF library:

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software [i.e., the TIFF library] and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that (i) the above copyright notices and this permission notice appear in all copies of the software and related documentation, and (ii) the names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS-IS” AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL SAM LEFFLER OR SILICON GRAPHICS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGE, AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

The following disclaimer is required by the Independent JPEG Group:

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

This Software may contain components licensed under the following conditions:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, advertising materials, and other materials related to such distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. This software is provided " as is" without express or implied warranty.

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Daniel Dardailler not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. Daniel Dardailler makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided " as is" without express or implied warranty.

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose without fee is hereby granted, provided that this entire notice is included in all copies of any software which is or includes a copy or modification of this software and in all copies of the supporting documentation for such software.

THIS SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED " AS IS" , WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY. IN PARTICULAR, NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR AT&T MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE MERCHANTABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.

The following disclaimer is required by Paradigm Matrix:

Portions of this software licensed from Paradigm Matrix.

The following disclaimer is required by Ray Sauers Associates, Inc.:

“Install-It” is licensed from Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. End-User is prohibited from taking any action to derive a source code equivalent of “Install-It,” including by reverse assembly or reverse compilation, Ray Sauers Associates, Inc. shall in no event be liable for any damages resulting from reseller’s failure to perform reseller’s obligation; or any damages arising from use or operation of reseller’s products or the software; or any other damages, including but not limited to, incidental, direct, indirect, special or consequential Damages including lost profits, or damages resulting from loss of use or inability to use reseller’s products or the software for any reason including copyright or patent infringement, or lost data, even if Ray Sauers Associates has been advised, knew or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

The following disclaimer is required by Videomedia, Inc.:

“Videomedia, Inc. makes no warranties whatsoever, either express or implied, regarding this product, including warranties with respect to its merchantability or its fitness for any particular purpose.”

“This software contains V-LAN ver. 3.0 Command Protocols which communicate with V-LAN ver. 3.0 products developed by Videomedia, Inc. and V-LAN ver. 3.0 compatible products developed by third parties under license from Videomedia, Inc. Use of this software will allow “frame accurate” editing control of applicable videotape recorder decks, videodisc recorders/players and the like.”

The following disclaimer is required by Altura Software, Inc. for the use of its Mac2Win software and Sample Source Code:

The following disclaimer is required by Interplay Entertainment Corp.:

The “Interplay” name is used with the permission of Interplay Entertainment Corp., which bears no responsibility for Avid products.

This product includes portions of the Alloy Look & Feel software from Incors GmbH.

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/).

This product may include the JCifs library, for which the following notice applies:

Avid Interplay contains components licensed from LavanTech. These components may only be used as part of and in connection with Avid Interplay.

Attn. Government User(s). Restricted Rights Legend

U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS. This Software and its documentation are “commercial computer software” or “commercial computer software documentation.” In the event that such Software or documentation is acquired by or on behalf of a unit or agency of the U.S. Government, all rights with respect to this Software and documentation are subject to the terms of the License Agreement, pursuant to FAR §12.212(a) and/or DFARS §227.7202-1(a), as applicable.

Trademarks

Avid, the Avid Logo, Avid Everywhere, Avid DNXHD, Avid DNXHR, Avid Nexis, AirSpeed, Eleven, EUCON, Interplay, iNEWS, ISIS, Mbox, MediaCentral, Media Composer, NewsCutter, Pro Tools, ProSet and RealSet, Maestro, PlayMaker, Sibelius, Symphony, and all related product names and logos, are registered or unregistered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. The Interplay name is used with the permission of the Interplay Entertainment Corp. which bears no responsibility for Avid products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For a full list of Avid trademarks, see:

http://www.avid.com/US/about-avid/legal-notices/trademarks.

The following disclaimer is required by Apple Computer, Inc.:

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS PRODUCT, INCLUDING WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.

Avid NEXIS Administration Guide Version 18.5 • Created 5/29/18 • This document is distributed by Avid in online (electronic) form only, and is not available for purchase in printed form.

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Using This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Who Should Use This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Symbols and Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

If You Need Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Accessing the Online Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Avid Training Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chapter 1 Configuring and Managing the System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Creating the Avid NEXIS File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Binding Media Packs to the File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Setting the System Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Configuring the Notification Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Enabling Link Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Changing the Administrator Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Securing the Avid NEXIS Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Securing Access to the Management Console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Changing the BMC Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Configuring DNS Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Changing the Storage System Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Upgrading the System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Capturing System Information (Avid NEXIS Snapshots). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Working with Snapshots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Working with Snapshot Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 2 Working with the Management Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Opening the Management Console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Understanding the Management Console Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Navigation Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Action Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Filtering, Sorting, and Searching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Updating the Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Guidelines for Names and Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Customizing the System Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Configuring System Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Monitoring Client Bandwidth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Chapter 3 Managing Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Storage Group Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Managing Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Workspace Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Workspace Protection Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Creating a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Workspaces List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Displaying Workspace Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Resizing a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Duplicating a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Deleting a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Renaming a Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Setting Event Triggers for a Workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Managing User Access Privileges for Workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Workspace Redistribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Managing Storage Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Creating a Storage Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Renaming a Storage Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Increasing a Storage Group’s Capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Displaying Storage Group Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Deleting Storage Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Managing Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Engines Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Displaying Engine Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Understanding Engine and Storage Controller Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Managing Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Controllers Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Displaying Controller Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Understanding Network Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Managing Media Packs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Displaying Media Pack Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

About Media Pack Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Adding Unassigned Media Packs to Storage Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

About Removing Media Packs from Storage Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Removing Media Packs from a Storage Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Displaying Drive Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

SSD Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Disk Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Identifying the Slot Number for a Failing or Failed Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Clearing a Foreign Disk Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Unbinding Media Packs from the Avid NEXIS File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter 4 Managing Users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Managing Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

User Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Creating Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Duplicating Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Changing User Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Deleting Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Disabling Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Displaying User Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Managing LDAP Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Configuring External Authentication of Users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Installing the LDAP Sync Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Opening the LDAP Sync Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Using the LDAP Sync Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Managing User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Adding User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Modifying User Group Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Deleting User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Displaying User Group Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Managing Bandwidth Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Adding a Bandwidth Limit Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Displaying Bandwidth Limits Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Changing a Bandwidth Limit Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Deleting a Bandwidth Limit Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Chapter 5 Monitoring the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Monitoring Client Bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Monitoring System Connection Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Connection Status Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Monitoring Redistributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Monitoring Client Reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Displaying Event History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Managing System Logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Displaying the System Logs Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Clearing a System Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Managing Media Pack Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Displaying Media Pack Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Chapter 6 Avid NEXIS Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Installing the Avid NEXIS Toolbox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Opening the Avid NEXIS Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Connection Analyzer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Log Aggregator Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Using the Log Aggregator Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Displaying Aggregate Logs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Disk Analyzer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Running Tests with the Disk Analyzer Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Updating the Disk Analyzer Tool Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Saving Disk Analyzer Test Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Media Pack Parameters Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using the Media Pack Parameters Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Retrieving Media Pack Flag Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Media Pack Log Viewer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

vii

Using This Guide

The A vid NEXIS® software-defined storage system provides a high-performance distributed file system that contains high-capacity shared media storage for workgroups of connected devices. This user’s guide describes how to connect your client system to the storage system, mount Workspaces, and configure your system for best performance.

Unless noted otherwise, the material in this documen t appli es to the Windo ws systems.The majority of screen shots in this document were captured on a Windows system, but the information applies to all operating systems. Where differences exist, information on the differences is provided.

, Mac OS® X, and Linux operating

The documentation describes the features and hardware of al features and hardware that are covered in this guide.

Who Should Use This Guide

This guide is intended for users who need to manage the Avid NEXIS media network. You should have a basic understanding of how to use and manage the Windows operating system or the Mac OS X systems, and you should be familiar with basic workgroup and network concepts.

Symbols and Conventions

Avid documentation uses the following symbols and conventions:

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

A note provides important related information, reminders, recommendations, and strong suggestions.

A caution means that a specific action you take could cause harm to your computer or cause you to lose data.

A warning describes an action that could cause you physical harm. Follow the guidelines in this document or on the unit itself when handling electrical equipment.

l models. Your system might not contain certain

A user tip provides a helpful hint that can aid users in getting the most from their system.

A shortcut shows the user keyboard or mouse shortcuts for a procedure or command.

> This symbol indicates menu commands (and subcommands) in the order you select them. For

xample, File > Import means to open the File menu and then select the Import command.

e This symbol indicates a single-step procedure. Multiple arrows in a list indicate that you

perform one of the actions listed.

(Windows), (W indows only), (Mac (Macintosh only)

Bold font Bold font is primarily used in task instructions to identify user interface items and keyboard

intosh), or

This text indicates that the information applies only to the specified operating system, either Windows or Macintosh OS X.

seque

nces.

Symbol or Convention Meaning or Action

Italic font Italic font is used to emphasize certain words and to indicate variables.

Courier Bold font

Ctrl+key or mouse action Press and hold the first key while you press the last key or perform the mouse action. For

| (pipe character) The pipe character is used in some Avid product names, such as Interplay | Production. In this

If You Need Help

If you are having trouble using your Avid product:

1. Retry the action, carefully following the instructions given for that task in this guide. It is especially important to check each step of your workflow.

2. Check the latest information that might have become available after the documentation was published.

Always check online for the most up-to-date release notes or ReadMe because the online version is updated whenever new information becomes available. To view the online versions, visit the Knowledge

Base at

3. Check the documentation that came with your Avid application or your hardware for maintenance or hardware-related issues.

4. Visit the online Knowledge Base a t www.avid.com/support. Online services are available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search this online Knowledge Base to find answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download upgrades, and to read or join online message-board discussions.

www .avid.com/support.

Courier Bold font identifies text that you type.

example, Command+Option+C or Ctrl+drag.

document, the pipe is used in product names when they are in headings or at their first use in text.

Accessing the Online Documentation

The Avid online documentation contains all the product documentation in PDF format. You can access the documentation from the Knowledge Base site specific to your release. Download and install Acrobat Reader before you access the PDF documentation.

Avid Training Services

Avid makes lifelong learning, career advancement, and personal development easy and convenient. Avid understands that the knowledge you need to differentiate yourself is always changing, and Avid continually updates course content and offers new training delivery methods that accomm odate your pressured and competitive work environment.

For information on courses/schedules, training centers, certifications, courseware, and books, please visit

www .avid.com/support and follow the Training links, or call Avid Sales at 800-949-AVID (800-949-2843).

1 Configuring and Managing the System

This chapter describes how to complete the setup of a new Avid NEXIS system after physically installing it and installing the software, as described in the

This chapter also covers routine system management, including setting bandwidth limits, performing software upgrades, and creating snapshots for Avid Customer Care.

To make the system fully usable to clients, do the following:

1. Create the file system. See “Creating the Avid NEXIS File System” on page 1.

2. Bind Media Packs to the file system. See “Binding Media Packs to the File System” on page 2.

3. Set the system time. See “Setting the System Time” on page 2.

4. Configure notification to send email to one or more accounts when a problem occurs. See “Configuring the

Notification Service” on page 3.

5. Create one or more Storage Groups from the Media Packs, depending on your hardware and what kind of Workspace protections you want to use. See

6. Create Workspaces within the Storage Groups. See “Managing Storage” on page 23.

7. Create user or device accounts to allow clients to connect to Workspaces. You can do one or both of the following:

Avid NEXIS Setup and Maintenance Guide.

“Managing Storage” on page 23.

- Create user accounts on the Avid NEXIS system itself (see “Managing Users” on page 51).

-Configure Avid NEXI S to connect to an LDAP server to authenticate external users (see “Configuring

External Authentication of Users” on page 55).

Creating the Avid NEXIS File System

Creating a new file system is the first step to making the storage space usable after you install the Avid NEXIS software on a new Engine.

If a file system already exists, creating a new one permanently deletes it and all users, groups, Workspaces,

Storage Groups and other objects. All Media Packs are unbound; and all other settings, such as External Authentication and Notification Service, are cleared and must be reconfigured after the new file system is cr eated.

In addition, the Administrator password (if changed) reverts to the default (no password).

To create a new file system:

1. Open a browser and enter either the hostname (if DNS is configured) or the IP address of the System Director. The Management Console login window opens.

2. Enter the user name “administrator” and the administrator password (either blank, or the password you set it to during initial configuration) and click Sign In.

3. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then Settings.

4. Click File System.

5. From the drop-down box, select Create New File System, then click Submit. A confirmation screen appears, asking you to confirm the

any) on the Avid NEXIS system, and create a new file system.

6. Click Continue. The Results panel displays progress messages.

configuration.

When the file system is created, you can complete the system

operation, which will destroy all existing data (if

Binding Media Packs to the File System

After you have created an active file system, bind the Media Packs to it. Binding a Media Pack formats it to a specific performance capability:

• High performance Media Packs are intended speci 4K finish and color-correction workflows. Choose the strip size of 1024KB.

• Scale-Out performance Media Packs are suitable for a broad variety of workflows up to the supported client coun

t for your Avid NEXIS model. Choose the default stri p size of 512KB.

• SSD performance Media Packs are available only on an Avid NEXIS | E2 SSD Engine and are intended for p

layback of ultra high bandwidth media. Media Packs in this Engine type are bound automatically at a strip

size optimized for the best performance.

Media Pack performance types cannot be changed while the p must unbind it and then rebind it as a different performance type (not supported on Avid NEXIS | E2 SSD En

gines.)

fically for high-bandwidth media playback, such as UHD/

ack is bound. To change its performance type, you

To bind the Media Packs:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click Storage, then Media Packs.

2. Select a Media Pack.

Click Bind.

4. A warning dialog is displayed asking you to confirm the operation. Click Continue.

5. In the Media Pack Bind Settings dialog box, choose the bind setting for the Media Pack:

t 512KB t 10

6. Click Save.

When the Media Pack is bound, its icon changes from white to green, and the state is Spare - Bound.

7. Create a Storage Group. See “Creating a Storage Group” on page 38.

Scale-Out Performance

24KB High Performance

Setting the System Time

You can configure the system time manually or use one or two external NTP servers. (If you configure an NTP server and enter the system time manually, the NTP server takes precedence.)

You typically set the system time or configure NTP servers during initial system setup, but you can change the system t

ime or the NTP server information (for example if the IP address of an NTP server changed) at any time.

To set system time, or add or change and NTP server:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then System Setup.

2. Click the Da

3. Do one of the following: o configure an NTP server, check the box and enter the IP addresses or host names for up to two NTP

t T

servers on your network.

o set the date and time manually, enter the current date and time in the fields, and choose a time zone

t T

from the list

Click Save.

A warning message asks you to confirm t time zone setting.

te/Time tab.

he action. Click Continue, or click Refresh to restore the previous

Configuring the Notification Service

The Notification service watches the system logs and sends email to one or more addresse s you configure. The notifications support filters that allow you to specify the type of error message that triggers an email notification and to set parameters for each type of error message—Error, Warning, and Information messages.

You can configure Avid NEXIS to send notification emails for one or more of the following subsystem categories

nd the severity level that will trigger notification:

• Server Control — Reports messages about internal operations, including problems saving metadata to disk

• System Director — Reports messages about the Avid NEXIS file system, metadata, memory, system drives, d the System Director IP address and networking

• Avid Storage General — Reports messages about Workspaces

Media Packs, and network communication errors detected by an Avid NEXIS component

• Storage Manager General — Reports messages about general Media Pack operations, such as initialization

and st

atus changes

To configure the Notification Service:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click Users, then Notifications.

2. In the configuration panel, do the following: a. Enter the IP address for your net b. (Optional) If your SMTP server uses a port other than 25 (default), enter the port number. Port 25 is

appropria

c. Enter at least one email address that

Click Save.

3. To add more than one name, click Ad contacts you can add.

a. Enter a name for the contact in the Name field. This can

does not have to be the same as the email account name.

b. Enter a valid email address for the contact.

4. In the Filters panel, check the boxes according to which types of errors from which subsystems you want the contact

te for most cases.

s to receive notice for.

work’s SMTP (email) server.

will receive the notifications.

d in the Contacts area. There is no enforced limit to the number of

(such as changing its size), password changes,

be any name you want to assign to the user; it

5. Click Save.

- A confirmation message is displayed in the

- If you started or stopped the Notification Service , the Serv ice St ate wi ll cha nge to reflec t the n ew service

state.

(Optional) To test the notification settings, click Run Test.

6. The results of the service test are di

splayed in the Results area.

Enabling Link Aggregation

If your environment supports and requires it, you can configure link aggregation (also called redundant networking, NIC teaming, link bundling, or port tru nking) on the network ports on each controller, which provides redundancy in case one network port fails. The Avid NEXIS implementation follows the Link

ggregation Control Protocol (LACP) standard.

A You can use link aggregation regardless of

Director Appliance (however, the Avid NEXIS | PRO does not support this feature).

Before enabling link aggr egat ion, co nnect appropriate cables from both ports to a supported switch. If you enable LACP before the ports are connected or befor e enabling LACP on the switch, you can lose access to the system. See the Avid NEXIS Setup and Maintenance Guide for more information.

Enabling or disabling link aggregation requires the system to reboot.

To enable link aggregation:

Results area.

the number of controllers in each Avid NEXIS Engine or System

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then System Setup.

2. Click Interfaces.

3. In the Data Interface section, ch Click Save.

4. A warning confirmation message warns you that the engine might reboot. Click Co When the system restarts, link aggregation is enabled on the network ports on all installed controllers. If an error occurs with the LACP co

To disable link aggregation:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then System Setup.

2. Click Interfaces.

3. In the Data Interfaces section, uncheck the box for Link Aggregation. Click Save.

4. A confirmati on message warn s you th at the engi ne migh t re boot. Click Continue. When the system restarts, link aggregation is disabled on the network ports on all installed controllers. To verify or monitor the status of link aggregat

eck the box for Link Aggregation.

ntinue.

nfiguration, a status message is displayed; see NEED NEW XREF.

ion on the controllers, see “Managing Controllers” on page 42.

Changing the Administrator Password

The Management Console Administrator password is blank by default (before a file system has been created, and if it has never been changed). Avid highly recommends that you set an Administrator password when you configure the Management Console for the first time.

If you forget the Administrator password you have created, contact Avid Customer Care.

See “Guidelines for Names and Passwords” on page 19 for valid password characters and the maximum length.

To change the Administrator password:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click Users, then Administrator.

2. Type the current Administrator password in the Current Password field (default is blank).

3. Type the new Administrator password in the New Password field.

4. Type the new Administrator password again in the Verify Password field.

5. Click Sub

- The Administrator Password is changed to the new value.

- A confirmation message appears i

mit.

n the Results area.

Securing the Avid NEXIS Infrastructure

If your environment requires tight security, you can restrict access to the Management Console using TLS (Transport Layer Security, often referred to as SSL) encryption, and you can change the BMC password.

Securing Access to the Management Console

By default, the Management Console uses unenc r yp ted HTTP. However, you can also run the Management Console using HTTPS (TLS). When TLS is enabled, the Avid NEXIS generates a self-signed certificate that pr

ompts a browser warning.

To run the Management Console unencrypted:

t Open a browser and enter: http://<IP address>

The browser bar looks like the following:

To run the Management Console encrypted:

t Open a browser and enter: https://<IP address>

The browser bar looks like the following, but the traffic is being encrypted and is secure:

Changing the BMC Password

The Avid NEXIS system has several passwords:

• The Administrator password, used when you log into the Management Console (by default, there is no assword). You can change this at any time.

• The password you use for initial system setup (

se-admin

• The password for the BMC (Baseboard Management Controll

er), which is a low-level process on the Storage

Controller that manages the BIOS, MAC addresses, and other internal functions. By default, the BMC password has been set

admin

), but this could be a security concern in some environmen ts.

If your lab environment or company requires it, you can change

at the factory to be the same as the system setup password (

the BMC password to prevent unauthorized

access to the hardware.

To change the BMC password:

1. Connect a computer or laptop to the Management Port on the Storage Controller, as shown:

2. Open a browser window and go to the address:

169.254.10.250

, which is the default IP add ress of the BMC

controller.

se-

root

3. Log in using the user name

and the password

4. In the BMC interface, click the Configuration tab.

se-admin

5. Select Users from the pull-down menu.

6. Click Modify User.

7. Click the Change Password checkbox, enter a new password in the Password and Confirm Password fields, then click Modify.

8. Click OK.

9. Log out of the BMC interface.

Configuring DNS Service

If your network environment includes one or mo re Domain Name servers, you can add the Avid NEXIS system to the DNS service, and add the DNS domain to Avid NEXIS. This enables you to open the Management Console u

sing the System Director host name, instead of the IP address. Enabling DNS also allows you to use LDAP for external user authentication; for more information, see “Configuring External Authentication of Users” on

page 55.

To configure DNS:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then System Setup.

2. In the Domain Name Service area, en

- The DNS domain you want the Avid NEXIS system to join, without the top level domain. (For example, if your domain name is Example.com, enter Example in the domain name field, but not

com”.)

“.

- One or more IP addresses for the DNS servers

- (Optional) Additional domains in your environment (i resolve a host name.

3. Click Save

If you enter an invalid IP address, an error message is displayed.

4. Add the Avid NEXIS system to your DNS service.

ter the following information:

in your environment, separated by spaces

Changing the Storage System Name

The Storage System name represents all the Avid NEXIS Engines (and the System Director Appliance, if applicable) operating as one shared-storage system.

The name can be up to 31 English alphanume and A-Z), can contain a dash or hyphen (-), and must start and end with a letter or number.

Renaming the system requires a reboot. You might want to perform this change when clients are not connected

d actively using the system.

ric characters long, any combination of upper and lower case (a-z

f applicable) to search through when trying to

Change all the non-System Director Engines first, then change the SDA or Engine running the System Director

last.

To change the Storage System Name:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then System Setup.

2. Select any Engine not running the System Director. Click System.

3. Enter a new name into the Storage Syst

A confirmation message is displayed stating that the system might reboot. Click Co When the system reboots, a messa

reconnect. The amount of time remaining until reconnection is displayed and counts down in real time. When the remaining time has elapsed, you can log into the Management Consol e again.

4. Repeat this procedure on all Engi

em Name field, then click Save.

ntinue.

ge is displayed stating that the system is rebooting and will attempt to

nes except the SDA or the one running the System Director.

5. Change the Storage System Name on the SDA or the Engine running the System Director. Make sure this is the last Engine to be changed.

When the last Engine has rebooted, clients can reconnect to the system. Users might need to refresh the host list in the Client Manager to see the new name.

Upgrading the System

When new releases of the Avid NEXIS software are available, you can upgrade the Avid NEXIS clients and system to take advantage of new features and bug fixes.

All the system components (Engines and System Director Appliance, if applicable) are updated at the same time, through one operation.

To upgrade an Avid NEXIS System:

1. On your local computer, download the new software from Avid, using your support account.

2. Unzip the software on your computer.

3. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then System Setup.

4. Click the Install tab.

5. Click Choose File (or Browse on Firefox), and navigate to the location of the software kit contents that you just unzipped.

6. Click Upgrade. The kit is installed on each member of the system, and each reboots in turn. The System Manager remains

open, displaying a series of status updates about the upgrade process, and a reboot countdown, until the last component has rebooted. (The countdown text is always centered on the display; if it is in the way, try resizing your browser window until it no longer obscures the Results panel.)

The current login session ends, closing the Management Console. When the system reboots, the login screen is displayed.

7. Log back in to the Management Console.

8. Click Dashboard (if not already displayed) and look under the System heading to confirm the new version.

Capturing System Information (Avid NEXIS Snapshots)

Avid NEXIS Snapshots capture the current state of the system and store that information for you to examine or download later . Avid Customer Care personn el can use this in formation, coupled with the system logs collected by the Log Aggregator tool (see

The following information is collected:

• System Director (Storage Controller) name, storage system name, the date the snapshot was collected, and the name of the zip file containing the snapshot

• The system component information (in .csv and .zip files), including any current warnings or errors and their details

“Log Aggregator Tool” on page 73), to diagnose and troubleshoot problems.

• System Director status and metadata

• All currently configured system preferences

Working with Snapshots

Create a snapshot if requested by Avid Customer Care.

To create a snapshot:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then Snapshots. Click Take New Snapshot.

3. Enter a name for the snapshot and click Cr

eate.

The snapshot is created and the details are displayed in the Snapshots window.

To see a snapshot:

t By default, the most recent snapshot is displayed automatically. To see a different snapshot, select one from

the list.

To download a snapshot:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then Snapshots.

2. Select the snapshot to download. Click Download.

3. Depending on your browser, the file might be downloaded automatically to the computer’s default

ownloads folder, or yo u are asked t o choose whether to sa ve the file or open it. Save the fil e. Avid Customer

D Care might ask you to send them that file.

4. To view the contents of the file

To delete a snapshot:

, unzip or extract the file.

t Click Delete next to the snapshot you want to delete.

A confirmati on message is displayed.

ick Continue.

t Cl

The selected snapsh

To delete all snapshots:

ot is deleted.

1. Click Delete All (next to the Take New Snapshot icon). A confirmation dialog window opens.

2. Click Continue. All snapshots are deleted.

Working with Snapshot Archives

When you create a snapshot, the Avid NEXIS Snapshots tool creates a folder which includes a compressed file containing all the collected information. You can combine all the system snapshots into an archive to keep track of the system status — for example, you can archive sn archives in a ZIP file (archivename.zip).

The compressed archive uses the same file na You can download the archive in compressed for

apshots weekly or monthly. The Snapshot tool compresses

me format as the snapshot folder.

m as a ZIP file by clicking Download.

To create a snapshot archive:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then Snapshots.

2. On the Snapshots page, click Ar Click Take New Archive.

3. (If no snapshots exist, you c

4. Enter a name for the archive and click Cr

5. Click OK t

o confirm building a new archive from all current snapshots.

The archive is created and listed

chives.

annot create an archive.)

eate.

in the Archiv es drop-down list. After you create an archive, the snapshots are

no longer available to view on the Snapshots screen.

To delete a snapshot archive:

1. Click Delete next to the archive you want to delete. A confirmation dialog appears.

2. Click Continue. The selected archive is deleted.

To delete all archives:

1. Click Delete All (next to the Take New Archive icon). A confirmation dialog window opens.

2. Click Continue. All archives are deleted.

2 Working with the Management Console

The Management Console is the primary interface to the Avid NEXIS system and allows you to perform administration functions.

When you access the Management Console, the Login page opens. Enter a user name and password to log in. If you type the wrong password, an error message appears and the Login dialog box reappears.

Initially, the Administrator password is blank by default. To set an administrator password, see “Changing the

Administrator Password” on page 5.

Standard Avid NEXIS client users can log in to the Management Console, but will have limited access to the Management Console interfa ce (Dashboard an d Installers page s only). They can see certain informa tion about th e network through the Client Manager. For more information about the Client Manager, see the Help.

Opening the Management Console

The Management Console runs within one of the following qualified web browsers:

• Windows — Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome

Avid NEXIS Client

• OS X — Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome

• RedHat Linux and CentOS — Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome

Performing administrative functions in more than one instance of the Management Console at the same time can cause unexpected results.

To open the Management Console as Administrator:

1. Open your web browser and in the address bar enter either of the following:

t System Director Name (if DNS is configured; see “Configuring DNS Service” on page 9) t IP address of the System Director. (This is the IP address of the Storage Controller running the System

Director; whether in a single- or multi-Engine configuration or in a

The Login dialog box for the Management Console opens.

2. Enter the Administrator user name and password. For information on changing the administrator password, see “Changing the Administrator Password” on

page 5.

3. Click Sign In or press Enter. The Management Console Home page opens.

To log out of the Management Console:

t Open the drop-down list in the upper right corner of the screen and select Log Out.

System Director Appliance.)

The Management Console session closes (logs out) automatically after two hours for security, and you must log back in.

Understanding the Management Console Interface

The Management Console user interface has the following main components.

Callout Description

1 Navigation Sidebar — Main menus for managing the Avid NEXIS system. See “Navigation Sidebar” on

page 16.

2 Menu Selection, Messages, and Action tools area — Displays the name of the selected menu item, and action

tools

(icons) for available actions based on the objects being displayed. See “Action Tools” on page 17.

Also displays error, warning, or status messages relating to actions

operation. 3 Main page — Displays detailed information for the menu item selected in the navigation sidebar. 4 Application menu — Contains links to actions you can take on the Mana gement Console UI itself:

• Open the Classic Management Console (looks like earlier

The Classic Management Console requires Adobe Flash Player.

• Log out

Help menu — Open links to the documentation for Avid NEXIS, and a link to the disk slot diagrams for all Avid

NEXIS models

taken, such as successful completion of an

versions of the Avid NEXIS UI)

Navigation Sidebar

The Navigation sidebar is divided into the following main sections: System, Storage, Monitoring, Users, and Logs, each of which expands to display functions or objects related to that category.

System Section

The System section contains:

• Dashboard (displayed by default when you log into a running, configured system)—Displays overall health

and status information about the system.

• Bandwidth Limits—Lets you create, edit, sort and manage band width limits for clients.

• Installers—Provides links to the installers fo r the Avid NEXIS Toolbox, LDAP Sync Tool, Avid NEXIS

Client software, and Avid NEXIS software to install on other Engines.

• System Setup—Displays information about the current configuration and lets you edit various attributes and

settings.

• System Settings—Manages system preferences, the file system setup, and metadata.

• Snapshots—Lets you create a snapshot of the current state of the Avid NEXIS system.

Storage Section

The Storage section contains:

• Workspaces—Displays current Workspaces and lets you create, modify and delete Workspaces and their

attributes.

• Storage Groups—Display s current Storage Groups and le ts you create, mo dify and de lete Storage Gr oups and

their attributes.

• Engines—Displays current Engines and lets you modify some Engine attri butes.

• Controllers—Displays current Controller information and lets you modify some Controller attributes.

• Media Packs—Displays current Media Pack information and lets you modify some Media Pack attributes.

Monitoring Section

The Monitoring section contains:

• Client Bandwidth—Displays total system bandwidth use, and bandwidth consumption of each connected

system.

• Connection Status—Displays the users and other entities connected to (or logged into) the system, including

internal users such as the Storage Managers.

• Redistribution—Displays in fo rma tio n ab out any in-progress redistributions, and which Media Packs are

involved.

• Reservations—Displays any bandwidth reservations set inside the Client Manager.

Users Section

The Users section contains:

• Users—Lets you create, edit, sort and manage user accounts.

• User Groups—Lets you create, edit, sort and manage user groups.

• Notifications—Lets you configure an SMTP server for email notifications and filter which types o f system

events are sent to the contacts you configure.

• External Authentication—Lets you configure and manage external authentication servers for LDAP.

• Administrator—Lets you change the administrator password.

Logs Section

The Logs section contains:

• Event History—Displays the past 5 days (96 hours) of system status information. You can download the

istory as a zip file, and then send the file to Avid Customer Care upon request.

• System Logs—Lets you choose from various logs to display.

• Media Pack Logs—Displays log files for t

Action Tools

Depending on which section is open in the System Navigation sidebar, various action tools are displayed.

Action Tool Action Description

he Media Packs in the system.

Filter When clicked, displays filter options for the displayed objects. See “Filtering,

Sorting, and Searching” on page 18.

Redistribution Applies to Wo rkspaces only.

Allows you to start, suspend, resume, and verify Workspace redistribution.

Add Allows you to create a new workspace, user, user group, storage group,

bandwidth limit, or contact for email notification.

Refresh (or Continuous Refresh)

Refreshes the display. If a down arrow is present, lets you choose between Refresh (which refreshes the display once) or Continuous Refresh (which continues to refresh the display until either you leave the screen or disable Continuous Refresh mode).

In Continuous Refresh mode, blue text displays “Continuous refresh enabled” and the blue Refresh

icon spins.

Edit Toggles edit mode for an object, which also displays additional details for an

object. Select a different object to edit it or display its details. Click Edit again to close edit mode.

Duplicate Applies to Workspaces and users.

Lets you duplicate a Workspace or user.

Advanced Applies to Engines.

Lets you view details about the Engines in the shared-storage system, hardware

tus (fans, system temperature, and other data), and disk status (operational

sta status, slot number, SSD health if applicable, and other data).

Clear In the Logs–Event History section, clears the history status flags.

In the Logs–System Logs section, clears the log viewer.

Download In the Logs–Event History section, lets you download the event history to a file

which you can send to Avid Customer Care if requested.

Action Tool Action Description (Continued)

Dump All Logs Applies to Media Pack Logs only.

Lets you create a dumpfile of all the Media Pack logs. You can retrieve and send this file to

Disable Logs Applies to Media Pack Logs only.

Lets you disable or enable collection of Media Pack logs. The color if the action tool indicates to

• Gray — Disabled

• Blue — Enabled

A vid Customer Care if requested.

Filtering, Sorting, and Searching

You can filter, sort, and search for specific objects in most of the displays.

Sorting Objects

The sort options depend on the type of objects displayed. To display all objects, click Refresh.

Category or Object Type Sort Options

current behavior:

Bandwidth Limits Name, Bandwidth, Description Workspaces Name, Storage Group, Engine Protection Mode Storage Groups Name, Mirror Capable Engines Name, Product, Product Part Number, Serial Number, Type Controllers Host Name, BMC Version, Controller Serial Number, Engine Serial Number Media Packs Name, Host Name, State, Engine Serial Number, Storage Group Users Name, Flags, Bandwidth User Groups Name

Filtering and Searching for Objects

, Media Pack Protection Mode

You can search among all objects in a category (for example, among all users or all W o rkspaces) or you can search within a filtered list.

For example, on the Workspaces page, you can select Name from the sort options, then start typin g in the Search

ld. Only names matching or containing the typed characters are displayed. Or you can select Storage Group

fie from the sort options and type in the Search field. Only Workspaces in Storage Groups matching or containing the typed characters are displayed.

Updating the Display

You can update onscreen information to reflect recent system changes by clicking Refresh. You can also set the display to refresh continuously.

To enable Continuous Refresh:

t On any screen that displays the Refresh icon with a down arrow (drop-down menu), open the menu and select

Continuous refresh. Continuous refresh mode is enabled, th e refresh icon spins contin uously, and a status message is displayed on

e screen as long as it remains enabled.

To disable Continuous Refresh:

t Click the spinning Refresh icon, click any other action button on the screen, or click a different navigation

sidebar menu item.

Guidelines for Names and Passwords

Follow these guidelines when creating object names or passwords in the Management Console:

• Names (Storage Groups, Users, Groups) can be a maximum of 31 ASCII

• Workspace names can be up to 31 characters long, must use Unic

• The Administrator and User passwords (for accessing the Management Console) can be a maximum of 127

tes, which equals 127 ASCII characters. Other chara cter sets, such as UTF, might result in fewer characters,

by but the limit remains 127 bytes.

• Do not include a space in any name fields.

last

• Do not use a period (.) as either the first or

• Do not use the following characters in any name fields:

Character Name Character Name

^ Circumflex accent | Vertical line \ Backslash [ Left square bracket / Forward slash ] Right square bracket : Colon + Plus sign * Asterisk = Equals sign ? Question mark % Percent sign " Double quotation mark ; Semicolon

character in the names you create.

ode characters and cannot include a space.

characters in length.

< Less-than sign , Comma > Greater-than sign @ Commercial At symbol

The Management Console does not support displaying regional language characters.

Customizing the System Settings

The System Settings panel allows you to set parameters that customize the basic functionality of the Avid NEXIS system:

• General Preferences—These

• Logging Preferences—These control what t

control general system behaviors and are described in the following table.

ypes of logs are collected and the severity and verbosity of the event being logged. These are not described here; do not change these unless instructed to do so by Avid Customer Care.

General Preferences

Option Type Default Description

Total System Bandwidth (MB/sec)

Default Bandwidth for Auto Created Devices (MB/sec)

Force Manual Device Cr

eation

Default LCT Threshold (m

text (numeric)

check box Disabled If enabled, clients without an entry in the Bandwidth Limits list

text (numeric)

1000 MB/sec Total reservation bandwidth allowed by the system, in MB/sec.

When this value has been reached, Avid NEXIS will no longer ac

cept bandwidth reservations from clients.

This value does not represent the actual bandwidth capabilities of

the Avid NEXIS system. For more information about Avid NEXIS bandwidth capabilities,

0 Reservation bandwidth allowed for devices that are

automatically created at connection time. The default value (0) grants unlimited bandwidth.

are not allowed to connect. Manually create an entry for every client computer that is expected to connect to the Avid NEXIS sys

tem.

0 Defines the upper limit of the Long Command Time (LCT)

value, above which the Media Pack will report a Disk Degraded condition to the System Director.

The default value (0) sets the LCT threshold to the internal

default of 750ms.

system

see Avid NEXIS Documentation.

Default Hard Disk Error Thr

eshold

History Data Collection check box Enabled When enabled (default), collects system history data (see

Auto-Rectify check box Disabled Automatically reconciles the actual amount of used space and

text (numeric)

Configuring System Settings

To configure System Settings:

1. In the navigation sidebar, click System, then Settings.

2. Click Preferences, if not already displayed.

0 Defines the upper limit for number of hard disk errors before

the Media Pack reports a Disk Failure condition to the System Director.

The default (0) uses the internal system value of 25 errors.

“Displaying Event History” on page 68. If disabled (for support

only), the system stops collecting new data, but existing

use data is retained.

the reported amount of used spac disabled. Takes effect immediately with no restart required.

e on a system.Default value is

+ 67 hidden pages

Pinnacle Systems NEXIS - 18.5 Administrator’s Guide

Contents

Using This Guide

1 Configuring and Managing the System

2 Working with the Management Console