Final Cut Server Setup Guide
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Contents 7 Chapter 1: Welcome to Final Cut Server 7 About Final Cut Server 8 About the Final Cut Server Documentation 11 11 13 14 16 Chapter 2: About Building a Final Cut Server System About Servers and Clients Building a Final Cut Server System Storage Device Strategy Configuring Final Cut Server 19 19 22 25 Chapter 3: Using the Installer An Overview of the Installation and Setup Process Updating Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server Using the Final Cut Server Installer 32 33 36 41 Registering Final Cut Server
3 43 45 47 49 50 Chapter 4: Configuring System Preferences Introduction to Final Cut Server System Preferences General Pane Settings Group Permissions Pane Settings Devices Pane Settings Automations Pane Settings 53 Backup Pane Settings 55 55 57 58 64 70 72 Chapter 5: Adding Users and Groups About Users and Groups General Workflow for Creating Users and Groups Creating Users in the Accounts Pane of System Preferences Creating Users with the Mac OS X Server Workgroup Manager Adding Groups to Final Cut Se
97 97 98 99 102 113 Chapter 7: Using Automation Setup Assistant About Creating Automations About the Default Automations Creating Automations Automation Type Details Editing an Existing Automation 114 Deleting an Existing Automation 115 115 116 117 118 120 Chapter 8: Installing Final Cut Server Clients Introduction to the Final Cut Server Client About the Java Web Start Client Files Information to Provide Your Client Users Installing a Final Cut Server Client on a Computer Running Mac OS X Installing a F
Welcome to Final Cut Server 1 Final Cut Server is extremely flexible and configurable. It is also designed to become fully functional quickly, allowing you to expand its capabilities as your needs grow. This booklet provides instructions for installing and setting up Final Cut Server. About Final Cut Server Final Cut Server is powerful media asset management and workflow automation software. Final Cut Server makes it easy to manage large collections of media files.
About the Final Cut Server Documentation Final Cut Server comes with various documentation that will help you get started as well as provide detailed information about the application. ÂÂ Final Cut Server Setup Guide: This printed document provided in the Final Cut Server box describes how to install and configure Final Cut Server.
Additional Resources Along with the documentation that comes with Final Cut Server, there are a variety of other resources you can use to find out more about Final Cut Server. Final Cut Server Website For general information and updates, as well as the latest news on Final Cut Server, go to: ÂÂ http://www.apple.com/finalcutserver Apple Service and Support Websites For software updates and answers to the most frequently asked questions for all Apple products, go to the general Apple Support web page.
About Building a Final Cut Server System 2 This chapter provides a general overview of the pieces you need to install and configure to build your Final Cut Server system. Specific details about many of the topics in this chapter can be found in the Final Cut Server Administrator Guide. About Servers and Clients Final Cut Server is based on a client/server model.
The following illustration shows one way you can set up Final Cut Server. Final Cut Server system Xsan volume Media server device FireWire device Final Cut Server computer Client 1 Client 2 Client 3 Clients 1, 2, and 3 do not have direct access to the Xsan volume and must access the Xsan indirectly through Final Cut Server. Client 4 Client 5 Clients 4 and 5 do have direct access and can take advantage of edit-in-place performance improvements.
Building a Final Cut Server System A Final Cut Server system requires a Mac computer with Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server installed. For detailed information about system requirements, see the Before You Install Final Cut Server document, located on the Final Cut Server installation disc. For the best performance, the computer used as the server should not be used for other duties.
Storage Device Strategy Before you install Final Cut Server, you need to decide how you want to store your media. About Devices Final Cut Server uses the term devices to refer to media storage locations that you configure Final Cut Server to use. Devices can be folders on the computer’s boot hard disk, a second hard disk, a FireWire drive, or on a network-connected volume. When you install Final Cut Server, several default devices are created.
About RAIDs and SANs Although Final Cut Server can use a wide variety of local and network volumes as devices for storing and working with your media, a couple of storage solutions work particularly well with Final Cut Server. A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) can have some advantages: ÂÂ Increased performance: One of the primary limiting factors in transferring large media files is the hard disk’s input/output speed.
SAN-connected devices are not the only ones that can be configured as edit-in-place devices. However, they are the most common types of devices that can support the high performance required. Apple has available a set of products that can be easily configured to provide these features. These products include Xserve, Xserve RAID, and Xsan. For more information, see http://www.apple.com/xserve and http://www.apple.com/xsan.
ÂÂ Managing metadata and metadata sets: A very powerful feature of Final Cut Server is its ability to use metadata to help manage a large collection of assets and productions. You can work with default metadata formats as well as add custom fields and create custom groups of metadata fields. ÂÂ Managing watch and respond behaviors: Final Cut Server includes a variety of features that help automate your workflow.
Using the Installer 3 This chapter explains how to prepare for and run the Final Cut Server Installer. It also gives an overview of how to configure Final Cut Server and explains how Final Cut Server uses Compressor. An Overview of the Installation and Setup Process Before you use the Final Cut Server Installer, be sure to familiarize yourself with the application’s system requirements.
During the installation process, you must select a customer profile that best describes your intended use of Final Cut Server. The five profiles are: Television Station, Video Production, Film Post Production, Education, and Other. These customer profiles are intended to customize your Final Cut Server installation by adding items (metadata sets, permission sets, and automations) you are most likely to need and eliminating those you won’t.
Stage 4: Adding Additional Devices and Automations Final Cut Server sets up several devices and automations by default. You can add additional devices and automations to your system. For details about devices, see Chapter 6; for details about automations, see Chapter 7.
Updating Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server Before you install Final Cut Server, you must make sure you have the latest versions of Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server and QuickTime installed. To update Mac OS X Server or Mac OS X Server and QuickTime: 1 Choose Apple menu > Software Update. A dialog appears showing new or updated software available for your computer. 2 Follow the onscreen instructions to update Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server and QuickTime to the latest versions.
To verify and upgrade Apache on a Leopard Server computer: 1 Open the Server Admin application. 2 Click the disclosure triangle next to the computer’s name. 3 If Web is not shown on the left side of the window, click the Settings icon, open the Services pane, and select the Web item. Click the Settings icon. Click Services to display the Services pane. Select Web to configure web services. The Web item appears on the left side of the window.
4 Select the Web item, then click the Overview icon. First click Web to configure the web service settings. Then click the Overview icon. Verify the Apache version. It should be version 2.2. Click Upgrade Apache Version if your current version is 1.3. The version of Apache is listed. 5 Check the version of Apache shown and do one of the following: ÂÂ If it is version 1.3, you need to upgrade it by clicking the Upgrade Apache Version button. ÂÂ If it is 2.
Using the Final Cut Server Installer You must install Final Cut Server directly on the computer you are using as its server. You cannot remotely install the application onto a different computer. Before you can install the software, you need to log in to your computer with a computer administrator account, using an administrator password. See Mac Help for more information. Important: Do not remove the administrator’s user account that you use to install Final Cut Server from the server computer.
7 In the User Information pane, enter the following information, then click Continue when finished: a Enter your first and last name. Entering an organization is optional. b In the Serial Number field, enter the Final Cut Server serial number from the Software Serial Number label on the back of this guide. Following are some tips for entering your serial number correctly: ÂÂ Make sure you enter the software serial number, not the Support ID number.
8 In the Customer Profile Selection pane that appears, select one of the customer profiles, then click Continue when finished. Following is a list of the five customer profiles to choose from, including a list of the production metadata sets used by each: ÂÂ Television Station: This profile is graphics and video based. It includes provisions for format transcoding, review and approval, content delivery, and content cataloging.
ÂÂ Film Post Production: This profile is video and still sequence based. It includes provisions for asset creation, production creation, application integration, review and approval, still sequence conversion, and content cataloging. The Film Post Production customer profile uses the Trailer and Package production metadata sets. ÂÂ Education: This profile is video based.
ÂÂ Proxy Media Location: Enter the location to store the proxy files created for the media assets. Keep in mind that you cannot easily change the proxy and production media locations later. Although the proxy files are generally much smaller than the original media files, this location contains the proxy files from all devices. Be sure to choose a location with plenty of hard disk space. ÂÂ Production media Location: Enter a location to store your production media.
ÂÂ Enable Version Control: Select this checkbox to configure Final Cut Server to automatically enable version tracking of assets and Final Cut Pro projects uploaded and checked in to the Final Cut Server catalog. Important: This setting does not apply to assets and Final Cut Pro projects added to the catalog by a scan response created with Final Cut Server System Preferences.
Important: If you are installing Final Cut Server as part of a recovery process in which you will restore the system from a previous backup, be sure to not select this checkbox. This will prevent the automation from trying to scan an empty Media device, which can lead to issues with proxies and the Final Cut Server catalog. 10 In the Standard Install pane that appears, click Install or Upgrade. This automatically installs Final Cut Server on the computer’s startup disk.
Registering Final Cut Server After you have installed Final Cut Server, you should register it. Registering your Final Cut Server installation is done through Final Cut Server System Preferences. To register your Final Cut Server installation: 1 Open System Preferences on the computer with Final Cut Server installed. 2 Click Final Cut Server in the Other section. The Final Cut Server System Preferences pane appears. 3 Select the General pane (if necessary).
5 Click the Register button. The Registration Information dialog opens. 6 Enter your name, organization, address, and email information. By default, the Me card information in your Address Book is automatically entered in the appropriate fields. 7 If you want information about Apple news and software updates sent to your email account, select the checkbox. 8 If you want to review the Apple Privacy Policy, click Privacy Policy. 9 When you have finished, click Register Now. Final Cut Server is now registered.
Production Metadata Set Details Following are the details of the production metadata sets installed on Final Cut Server systems. Many of the metadata group names are used multiple times. Be sure you match the metadata group ID (for example, PA_GRP_CUST_PRODUCTION_RIGHTS) to ensure that you are using the correct metadata group name when attempting to match any of these metadata sets. Package Production Metadata Set The Package production metadata set is available in all five customer profiles.
Commercial Production Metadata Set The Commercial production metadata set is used by the Television Station, Education, and Other customer profiles. It includes one metadata group: ÂÂ Commercial (PA_GRP_CUST_PRODUCTION_COMMERCIAL) Trailer Production Metadata Set The Trailer production metadata set is used only by the Film Post Production customer profile.
About Final Cut Server and Compressor Final Cut Server relies on Compressor for most of its transcoding needs. These include obvious jobs like converting a video file to a format with a smaller file size that is easier to review. However, these transcoding needs also include a variety of other jobs that happen in the background, such as creating the clip proxy files used to preview an asset.
About the This Computer Cluster The This Computer cluster that Compressor creates when it is installed is used by default by Final Cut Server. There are several issues with using it that you need to be aware of. ÂÂ Potential permission issues: When you install Final Cut Server, it remembers and operates using the name of the user that was logged in when it was installed.
ÂÂ The This Computer name can be confusing: You actually choose the cluster to use with Final Cut Server in the Compressor Preferences pane of the client’s Administration window. The name of this cluster is always This Computer, no matter which computer you are currently using to choose the cluster. The This Computer cluster always refers to the computer Final Cut Server is installed on.
3 In the Apple Qmaster System Preferences pane that appears, do the following: a To make sure that the cluster services will only be used by this computer, select the Managed checkboxes for Compressor and Rendering. Select the Managed checkboxes. Enter a new name for this QuickCluster if needed. Click Start Sharing to make this QuickCluster available to Final Cut Server. b Enter the name you want this cluster to use in the “Identify this QuickCluster as” field.
The custom QuickCluster is now available in the Compressor Preferences pane of the Final Cut Server client’s Administration window. You can now set this QuickCluster as the one that Final Cut Server uses. Important: Although this QuickCluster defaults to the permissions of the user that configured it, it will change those permissions to any user that manually starts the QuickCluster later.
About Updating Your License Updating your Final Cut Server license is done through Final Cut Server System Preferences and does not involve the Final Cut Server installation disc or using the installer. To update your Final Cut Server license: 1 Open System Preferences on the computer with Final Cut Server installed. 2 Click the Final Cut Server icon in the Other section. The Final Cut Server System Preferences pane appears. 3 Click the lock icon in the lower‑left corner and authenticate yourself.
4 Click the Update License button. Click Update License to enter a new serial number. A pane appears for you to enter your name, organization, and the new serial number. 5 Enter the information and click OK. The Final Cut Server license is updated.
Configuring System Preferences 4 After you have installed Final Cut Server, you can continue its setup by configuring Final Cut Server System Preferences. You configure Final Cut Server System Preferences in the Mac OS X System Preferences. Introduction to Final Cut Server System Preferences After you have installed Final Cut Server, a Final Cut Server item is added to the Other section of System Preferences.
To view or change Final Cut Server System Preferences: 1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 2 In the Other section, click Final Cut Server. 3 In the Final Cut Server System Preferences window that appears, click the lock icon and authenticate yourself to make changes to any of the panes. 4 Click a button near the top to choose the pane you want to configure. Click these buttons to select the pane to configure. Click the question mark to view a PDF version of this manual.
General Pane Settings The General pane includes a variety of basic Final Cut Server settings. Most of these settings are also available from the client’s Administration window. The exceptions are the Stop/Start, Update License, and Register buttons. Following are the General pane settings: ÂÂ Stop/Start button: Click the Stop button to shut down Final Cut Server services. The button changes to Start, which you can click to start Final Cut Server services.
ÂÂ Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): Enter the name of the outgoing SMTP server used to send all emails. Important: Final Cut Server supports only Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) servers that do not require authentication. This setting is also configured during the Final Cut Server installation process. If this was left blank during installation, this setting defaults to “localhost,” which you can use if this computer has Mac OS X Server and is configured as an SMTP email server.
Group Permissions Pane Settings You use the Group Permissions pane to choose the Mac OS X groups that can access Final Cut Server. You also assign permission sets to each group, allowing you to control the areas of Final Cut Server to which each group has access. By default, the group of “admin” is added with the default “admin” permission set.
To add a group and assign a permission set to it: 1 Click the Add (+) button. If necessary, click the lock icon and authenticate yourself first. A list of groups appears. 2 Choose the group to add. The group appears in the Group Permissions pane list. 3 Click in the Permission Set area next to the group name in the list, and choose a permission set to assign to the group. Note: You can add, edit, and delete permission sets in the Adminstration window of the Final Cut Server client.
Devices Pane Settings Devices are storage locations where Final Cut Server can interact with assets and productions. When you installed Final Cut Server, you entered a production media location. By default, Final Cut Server creates three devices at that location: Library, Watchers, and Media. The Devices pane of System Preferences includes Device Setup Assistant that you can use to modify these default devices or add additional devices. For details, see Chapter 6.
Automations Pane Settings The Automations pane allows you to create, edit, and enable watchers and subscriptions. ÂÂ Watchers: These are Final Cut Server items that you configure to monitor a device. When an event occurs that it is watching for, such as a media file being added to the device, the watcher executes a response, such as copying the media file to another location or sending an email. ÂÂ Subscriptions: These are Final Cut Server items that you configure to monitor metadata changes.
There are two types of automations you can configure with the Automation pane’s Automation Setup Assistant: a file system watcher that responds to any file changes to a specified location and a metadata subscription that responds to specific metadata changes. In each case, the response of the watcher or subscription can be to copy a file to another location, send an email to specified addresses, or archive a file.
The installer creates default watchers and subscriptions based on the customer profile you selected. Following are two examples: ÂÂ Media to Library [Copy] watcher: This file system watcher monitors the Watchers device’s Media folder (created by the installer) and automatically copies any new assets in it to the Library device with no conversion.
Backup Pane Settings The Backup pane allows you to create backup files for the Final Cut Server database containing all of the information from your Final Cut Server catalog, including preferences and system configuration information. Important: The backup feature only backs up the Final Cut Server catalog—it does not back up any assets or projects stored on any of your devices.
Adding Users and Groups 5 This chapter explains the different ways you can add users and groups to Final Cut Server. This chapter covers the most common tasks in adding and configuring groups. For more information about administering users and groups, see the Final Cut Server Administrator Guide. About Users and Groups To use Final Cut Server, you usually need to add at least one group with at least one user.
The actual creation of the groups and users can be done on a separate server computer using Mac OS X Open Directory or Windows Server Active Directory, or on the computer you installed Final Cut Server on using either the Accounts pane of System Preferences or using Mac OS X Server Workgroup Manager (if installed on Mac OS X Server). In Final Cut Server, you choose the groups to use, create permission sets, and assign the permission sets to each group.
General Workflow for Creating Users and Groups Creating groups and users for Final Cut Server involves these steps: Stage 1: Creating Users in the Accounts Pane of System Preferences or in Workgroup Manager You can either create local users or skip this step if you already have user accounts set up using Open Directory.
Creating Users in the Accounts Pane of System Preferences The Accounts pane of System Preferences contains all that you need to create and manage local groups and users. To open the Accounts pane of System Preferences: 1 Do one of the following: ÂÂ Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. ÂÂ Click the System Preferences icon in the Dock. 2 In the Systems Preferences window that appears, click the Accounts button in the System category. Click Accounts to open the Accounts pane.
The Accounts pane appears. To make any changes to the Accounts pane, you must first authenticate yourself by clicking the lock icon and entering the name and password of a user with administration permissions. Accounts list The account currently logged in Local user accounts Local groups Click the Add button to add local users and groups. Click the lock icon to authenticate yourself.
Creating Users Creating local users in the Accounts pane requires you to enter the user name and password and make a few basic choices about that user. To create a local user account: 1 Click the Add (+) button. 2 Choose the type of account to create from the New Account pop‑up menu in the dialog that appears.
ÂÂ Administrator: An administrator can create and delete accounts, install software, change system settings, and change the settings of other users. ÂÂ Standard: A regular user account. A standard user can only install software for the user account, can’t make changes to locked System Preferences, and can’t create accounts. ÂÂ Managed with Parental Controls: An account with limited privileges that are managed by Parental Controls. ÂÂ Sharing Only: Can only access files in a specified location.
Creating Groups and Setting Their Membership Creating local groups in the Accounts pane requires you to enter a group name. To create a local group account: 1 Click the Add (+) button. 2 Choose Group from the New pop‑up menu in the dialog that appears. The New pop‑up menu may be named New Account, depending on the type of account created last. 3 Enter the name. 4 Click Create Group. The new group appears in the accounts list. You can modify an existing group by selecting it in the accounts list.
To set the members of a group: 1 Click the group’s name in the accounts list. 2 Select the checkboxes of all user accounts and groups that you want to be associated with this group. Change this group’s name (if necessary). Select the accounts and groups to make members of this group.
Creating Users with the Mac OS X Server Workgroup Manager Mac OS X Server Workgroup Manager is located in the Applications/Server/ folder of Leopard Server. Workgroup Manager contains all that you need to create and manage local and Open Directory–based groups and users. Important: This manual covers only basic Workgroup Manager workflows and assumes you have a working knowledge of Workgroup Manager. It also assumes you have administrator privileges.
Creating Users Creating local users in Workgroup Manager requires you to enter the user name and password and make a few basic choices about that user. To create a local user account: 1 Click the Accounts button in the Toolbar. 2 Click the globe, located below the Admin button in the Toolbar, to select the local directory domain. Click the globe to select a directory domain. Users button Accounts list 3 Click the Users button, located above the accounts list.
7 Set other attributes as needed. 8 Click Save. The new user appears in the accounts list. You can modify an existing user account by selecting it in the accounts list. You can also create local user accounts in the Accounts pane of System Preferences. Creating Groups Creating local groups in Workgroup Manager requires you to enter a group name. To create a local group account: 1 Click the Accounts button in the Toolbar. 2 Click the globe to select the local directory domain.
Adding Users to a Group After you have created user and group accounts, you can add users to the groups. To add users to a group: 1 Click the Groups button. First, click the Groups button. Third, click Members. Then, click the Add button to add members to the group. Second, select a group. 2 Select the group in the accounts list. 3 Click the Members button.
4 Click the Add (+) button. A drawer opens with a list of user accounts. 5 You can click the drawer’s globe to select a different directory domain. This makes it possible to add both local and other users to a group. 6 Do one of the following to add users from the drawer to the group’s member list: ÂÂ Drag a user’s name from the drawer to the group member list. ÂÂ Double-click the name in the drawer. 7 Click Save.
To modify the Final Cut Server Settings preference file: 1 Log in as the root user. 2 In the Terminal application, run the following command: defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.FinalCutServer.settings “AUTH_TYPE” -int 1 3 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 4 In the Other section, click Final Cut Server. 5 In the Final Cut Server System Preferences window that appears, click the lock icon and authenticate yourself to make changes to any of the panes.
7 Click Stop to shut down Final Cut Server. 8 Click Start to start Final Cut Server. You can now add the Windows Active Directory groups to Final Cut Server. Important: Be sure to restart all Final Cut Server client applications after adding Windows Active Directory groups to Final Cut Server. Adding Groups to Final Cut Server After you have finished setting up your groups, you are ready to add the groups to Final Cut Server.
6 Choose the group to add from the pop‑up menu that appears. If the list is long, you can type the first few letters of its name to jump to its part of the list. The group is added to the Group list. The added group Click the group’s default permission set (admin) to choose a new permission set. 7 Click in the Permission Set area of the new group and choose a permission set from the pop‑up menu.
Assigning Permission Sets The Final Cut Server Installer automatically creates six permission sets. ÂÂ admin: This is the only permission set that includes access to the Final Cut Server client’s Administration window. It provides access to all aspects of the Final Cut Server system. It should only be assigned to groups of users that are capable of administering all aspects of the Final Cut Server system.
Because a user can belong to multiple groups and each group can have a different permission set, Final Cut Server includes the ability to set the priority level of each permission set. The permission set with the highest priority is the one applied when the user belongs to multiple groups. Important: Although it is normal to give permission sets with the broadest permissions the higher priorities, it is not required.
2 Drag the permission sets to change their order. 3 Click OK to close the pane. You can also set the priorities of the permission sets in the Administration window’s Permission Set pane.
Using Device Setup Assistant 6 Device Setup Assistant makes it easy to modify the default devices or add additional devices. For more information about devices, see the Final Cut Server Administrator Guide. Introduction to Devices Devices are simply file storage locations that have been configured for Final Cut Server to use to store and manage your assets and productions.
About Creating Devices There are two methods you can use to add and modify devices within Final Cut Server: using Device Setup Assistant in Final Cut Server System Preferences and using the Devices pane of the client’s Administration window. About Creating Devices Using Device Setup Assistant Device Setup Assistant in Final Cut Server System Preferences is simple to use and includes additional features, such as a scan and transcode settings configuration ability.
The drawbacks of using Device Setup Assistant are that you do not have access to some of the more esoteric settings and that you cannot configure several device types, such as a device using a Contentbase file system or an edit-in-place device that does not use an Xsan volume. However, you can modify a device created with Device Setup Assistant in the Administration window, configuring the more esoteric settings.
About the Default Devices When you installed Final Cut Server, you entered a production media location. By default, Final Cut Server creates three devices at that location: Library, Watchers, and Media. The default Library, Watchers, and Media devices are actually just subfolders Final Cut Server created in the production media location. Users can use these devices as is; for example, they can add assets and productions to these devices.
The Watchers device is intended to be used for the automations created by the installer. For example, you could add media to this folder or one of its subfolders and an automation would notice the media and copy it to a different device, adding it to the Final Cut Server catalog and transcoding it if needed. The default automations are all configured to watch the folders within this device. The Library and Media devices are intended to be used as general-purpose media storage locations.
Adding a Device Using Device Setup Assistant Final Cut Server supports six types of devices when you are using Device Setup Assistant in Final Cut Server System Preferences: ÂÂ Local: Local devices include drives that are connected directly to the Final Cut Server computer. These can include additional internal hard disks as well as connected FireWire or USB drives. ÂÂ Network AFP: These are network-connected shares using the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP).
Important: Scan settings you configure using Device Setup Assistant apply to the entire device—you cannot choose to only scan specific folders. You can create schedules and scan responses with the Administration window that apply to specific folders within a device or you can create devices using Device Setup Assistant from those folders. Transcode settings define the various video and audio formats that the device can use when transcoding an asset.
5 Configure the Device Type pane, then click Continue. Important: It is strongly suggested that you do not create any devices on the server computer’s startup disk. Devices contain large media files and can use all of the available disk space on their hard disk, which causes serious issues if that hard disk is also the startup disk. For details about configuring a specific device type, see the following section.
7 Click Continue. ÂÂ If you selected the Enable as Archive Device checkbox: The Conclusion pane appears. Skip to step 10. ÂÂ If you did not select the Enable as Archive Device checkbox: The Scan Settings pane appears. 8 In the Scan Settings pane, configure the scan settings. In the Scan Settings pane, configure your settings. You can configure both Full and Add Only scans; however, keep in mind that Device Setup Assistant requires you to configure a full scan before you can configure an add only scan.
ÂÂ Full scans: Full scans examine the device for any changes, including any new, changed, or removed files. All of these changes are then made to the Final Cut Server catalog. Full scans are processor intensive and may require significant computer resources to run. For that reason, they are usually set to run once a day or once a week, and usually at an otherwise slow time, such as the default time of 12:00 AM.
11 In the Transcode Settings pane that appears, select one or more transcoding settings for this device to use whenever an asset has to be transcoded, then click Continue. Select the transcode settings for this device. The No Conversion item is selected by default. You can manage the list of transcoding settings with the Transcode Settings pane in the client’s Administration window.
Device Type Details Configuring the settings for a device can involve several steps. This section contains specific setup information for each available device type. Local Devices Local devices include drives that are connected directly to the Final Cut Server computer. These can include additional internal hard disks as well as connected FireWire or USB drives. Directly connected Xserve RAIDs are especially useful.
Network Devices There are four types of network devices you can add. The Network Device Type pane includes a Network Protocol pop‑up menu for choosing the type of network drive to use. Important: All AFP, SMB, and FTP network devices created with Device Setup Assistant require you to use a password. You can create these devices without passwords using the Administration window of the Final Cut Server client.
AFP and SMB/CIFS devices have the following settings: ÂÂ Device Name: Enter a name for the device. ÂÂ Network Protocol: Choose the type of network connection required for this device. In this case, choose either AFP or SMB/CIFS to match your network connection. ÂÂ File Server: Enter the host name of the server. ÂÂ Path: Enter the path of the server to use as the root path.
NFS Networks The following pane appears with Network File System (NFS) protocol networkconnected shares. Choose NFS. NFS network devices have the following settings: ÂÂ Device Name: Enter a name for the device. ÂÂ Network Protocol: Choose the type of network connection required for this device. In this case, choose NFS to match your network connection. ÂÂ File Server: Enter the host name of the server. ÂÂ Mount Point: Enter the path that the server exports for use as the root path.
FTP Networks The following pane appears with File Transfer Protocol (FTP) network-connected shares. Choose FTP. FTP network devices have the following settings: ÂÂ Device Name: Enter a name for the device. ÂÂ Network Protocol: Choose the type of network connection required for this device. In this case, choose FTP to match your network connection. ÂÂ File Server: Enter the host name of the server.
ÂÂ Absolute Path: Enter the path of the server to use as the root path. If this path starts with a forward slash (/), it is relative to the root folder of the server. If this path does not start with a forward slash, it is relative to the default folder of the server the user uses to log in (usually the user’s home folder). ÂÂ Use Passive FTP Mode: Select this checkbox to use passive mode FTP transfers.
The Xsan Device Directory pane contains the following settings: ÂÂ Device Name: Enter a name for the device. ÂÂ Location: Enter a location for the device. Click Browse to locate the Xsan volume and folder to use as the root of the device. Editing an Existing Device You can edit the location, scan, and transcode settings of any devices that you create with Device Setup Assistant.
To edit an existing device using System Preferences: 1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 2 In the Other section, click Final Cut Server. 3 In the Final Cut Server System Preferences window that appears, click the lock icon and authenticate yourself. 4 Click Devices in the Final Cut Server pane of System Preferences. 5 In the Devices pane, unlock System Preferences and do one of the following: ÂÂ Double-click the device you want to change. ÂÂ Select the device, then click the Edit button.
Deleting an Existing Device You can delete any of the existing devices in the Devices pane of Final Cut Server System Preferences. Important: If you have created devices using the client’s Administration window, they should appear in the Devices pane list (except for Contentbase devices). If any are missing, you can lock and then unlock the pane to refresh the list. To delete an existing device using Final Cut Server System Preferences: 1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
ÂÂ If the deleted device contained many assets that were in the Final Cut Server catalog, it might take a significant amount of time for the delete operation to finish. You cannot continue working with System Preferences until the delete completes. ÂÂ Deleting a device does not affect the actual contents of the device’s volume. ÂÂ If a job involving the device is in progress when you delete it, that job must be completed before the device is actually deleted. (All other pending jobs are canceled.
Using Automation Setup Assistant 7 Automation Setup Assistant provides a simple way to modify the default automations created by the installer as well as to create new automations. For more information about automations, see the Final Cut Server Administrator Guide. About Creating Automations The Automations pane allows you to create, edit, and enable automated watchers and subscriptions. ÂÂ Watchers: These are Final Cut Server items that you configure to monitor a device.
Final Cut Server provides two methods for creating automations: using Automation Setup Assistant (described in this chapter) and using the client’s Administration window. Automation Setup Assistant makes it easy to create the most commonly used automations. You can also modify any of the automations you create, including the default automations created by the Final Cut Server Installer.
ÂÂ Assets Ready for Review [Email] subscription: This metadata subscription monitors all assets in the catalog and sends an email whenever any of the assets have their metadata changed to the Ready for Review state. This subscription (and any others using email responses that were created by the installer) uses the email addresses you enter or email addresses entered as an asset’s required reviewers. You can modify any of the default automations or create new ones using the Automations pane.
To create a new automation: 1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 2 In the Other section, click Final Cut Server. 3 In the Final Cut Server System Preferences window that appears, click the lock icon and authenticate yourself. 4 Click Automations to show the Automations pane. This pane lists the current watchers and subscriptions. Important: If you have created watchers and subscriptions using the client’s Administration window, they should appear in this list.
8 In the Responses pane that appears, click the Add (+) button, then choose a response type to add to the automation: ÂÂ Copy Response: This response copies items from their current location to the location specified in this response. You can also choose to transcode the items during the copy. ÂÂ Email Response: This response emails the addresses you enter. You add the email addresses, the subject, and the body text.
Automation Type Details Configuring the settings for specific automation types can involve several steps. This section contains specific setup information for many of the available automations. File System Watcher Details Configuring the settings for a file system watcher involves choosing the device to watch, entering a specific location on that device, and optionally adding media format extensions to specifically watch for. This section contains specific setup information for each available file system.
To configure a file system watcher’s details: 1 Enter a name for the automation. This is the name that will appear in the Watcher pane of the client’s Administration window. 2 Choose a device from the Device pop‑up menu. 3 Select the Watch Subfolder checkbox if you want to specify a subfolder to be watched. Leave this unselected if you want to scan only the root level of the device. 4 Enter a subfolder location on the device to watch (if applicable).
Metadata Subscription Details Configuring the settings for a metadata subscription automation involves choosing whether to watch assets or productions and configuring specific rules to look for. Configure a metadata subscription automation in this window.
To configure a metadata subscription automation: 1 Enter a name for the automation. This is the name that will appear in the Subscription pane of the client’s Administration window. 2 Select whether to watch assets or productions. 3 Configure the Metadata area to specify the metadata to watch for. Each line in the Metadata area contains at least two pop‑up menus: ÂÂ The first pop‑up menu in the line chooses the metadata field to watch.
For example, if you want the automation to watch for an asset whose status changes to Approved, you can use two lines: ÂÂ Choose Status in the first line’s first pop‑up menu, then choose Changes in the second pop‑up menu. This sets this automation to only activate if the Status metadata field for an asset changes. ÂÂ Add a second line and choose Status in its first pop‑up menu, choose Matches in the second pop‑up menu, and then choose Approved in the third pop‑up menu.
Copy Response Details You use a copy response when you want to copy the items identified by the automation to a different location. Specify the settings you want for the copy response in this window. The settings for a copy response are as follows: ÂÂ Name: Enter the name of the response. This name will appear in the Responses pane of the Administration window. ÂÂ Destination Device: Choose a device to copy the items to.
ÂÂ Transcode source to: Choose a transcode setting to use during the copy. This list is based on the transcode settings assigned to the device you choose. ÂÂ Metadata Set: Choose the metadata set to apply to the copied assets. Choose None to have the media file copied but not added to the Final Cut Server catalog as an asset. Metadata sets, which are comprised of metadata groups and fields, define the types of metadata you can add to an asset.
Email Response Details You use an email response when you want to send an email whenever the automation has detected whatever it has been configured to detect. Specify the settings you want for the email response in this window. The settings for an email response are as follows: ÂÂ Name: Enter the name of the response. This name will appear in the Responses pane of the Administration window. ÂÂ To: Enter the email addresses to send the email to. Use a comma to separate addresses; for example, rev1@apple.
ÂÂ Subject: Enter the email subject. You can enter codes to automatically add specific information to the email’s subject. ÂÂ Body: Enter the email’s main text. You can enter codes to automatically add specific information to the email. ÂÂ Insert Metadata Field: Choose a metadata field name from this pop‑up menu to have that field’s data added to the email. The fields are added as text in square brackets at the insertion point’s location in this pane.
Archive Response Details You use an archive response when you want the identified items to be archived. Specify the settings for the identified items to be archived in this window. The settings for an archive response are as follows: ÂÂ Name: Enter the name of the response. This name will appear in the Responses pane of the Administration window. ÂÂ Destination Archive Device: Choose an archive device from this pop‑up menu.
Delete Response Details You use a delete response when you want to remove assets from the watch folder after they have been copied by a copy response. There are no settings for a delete response. When used, delete responses must be the last item in the Responses pane.
Editing an Existing Automation You can edit an existing watcher or subscription automation using Automation Setup Assistant. This includes those created using Automation Setup Assistant and those created using the client’s Administration window. For example, you may find that you need to change an email address. Important: If you have created watchers and subscriptions using the client’s Administration window, they should appear in the Automations pane list.
Deleting an Existing Automation You can delete any of the existing automations by using the Delete button (–) in the Final Cut Server System Preferences Automations pane. To delete an existing automation using System Preferences: 1 Choose Apple menu > System Preferences. 2 In the Other section, click Final Cut Server. 3 In the Final Cut Server System Preferences window that appears, click the lock icon and authenticate yourself. 4 Select the automation in the Automations pane. 5 Click the Delete (–) button.
Installing Final Cut Server Clients 8 After you have installed Final Cut Server, you can install the client on each user’s computer. For information about using the Final Cut Server client, see the Final Cut Server User Manual. Introduction to the Final Cut Server Client The Final Cut Server client is what users use to interact with the Final Cut Server catalog. It also has an Administration window that provides additional Final Cut Server system configuration controls.
Although the Final Cut Server client can be run on both Mac OS X and Windows computers, you may have issues with some QuickTime codecs. Several QuickTime codecs are available in either a Mac OS X or Windows version, but not both. This may lead to a situation where a media file is not recognized by the client’s computer and cannot be played. For the best results, record in and encode with codecs supported by all of the operating systems on which you plan to run the Final Cut Server client.
Information to Provide Your Client Users Regardless of whether you manually install the Java Web Start client on each client computer or provide installation instructions to each client user, you should provide each client user with the following information: ÂÂ Your organization’s Final Cut Server URL ÂÂ A list of supported web browsers ÂÂ Information about your organization’s workflow, including information about which devices to use for asset storage Chapter 8 Installing Final Cut Server Clients 117
Installing a Final Cut Server Client on a Computer Running Mac OS X Installing the Final Cut Server client on a computer running Mac OS X requires downloading and saving the client and logging into Final Cut Server. To install the Final Cut Server client using Java Web Start: 1 Enter the URL for the Final Cut Server computer in the computer’s browser.
3 Depending on your security settings, a dialog may appear requesting unrestricted access to your computer. Click Allow if you agree to run Final Cut Server and allow it to have unrestricted access to your computer. 4 A Save As dialog appears, asking whether you want to save Final Cut Sever client. Save Final Cut Server to your desktop or another convenient location. 5 If this is the first time the client has been launched on this computer, a license agreement dialog appears. Click Agree.
Installing a Final Cut Server Client on a Computer Running Windows Vista or Windows XP Installing the Final Cut Server client on a computer running Windows requires several stages: Stage 1: Installing Java Runtime Environment Stage 2: Installing (or Removing and Reinstalling) QuickTime for Windows Vista or Windows XP Stage 3: Installing the Final Cut Server Client Installing Java Runtime Environment You must install Java Runtime Environment before installing the Final Cut Server client on a computer runnin
7 Follow the instructions in the Java installer that appears. 8 After Java is installed, a page appears, asking you to verify the Java installation. Click the Verify Installation button. After the Java installation is verified, you are notified that the installation has been completed successfully. Installing QuickTime for Windows or Windows XP If the computer you are using does not have a current version of QuickTime installed, you should install it now.
Removing and Reinstalling QuickTime Before Opening a Final Cut Server Client If you have updated Java Runtime Environment after installing QuickTime on your computer running Windows Vista or Windows XP, you need to remove and reinstall QuickTime. Additionally, you may have seen an error message saying that Apple QuickTime or the QuickTime Java component is not installed on your computer. Removing and reinstalling QuickTime on your computer corrects this issue.
To uninstall QuickTime from a computer running the Windows XP operating system: 1 In the Start menu, choose Control Panel. 2 In the Control Panel window, double-click the Add or Remove Programs icon. 3 In the Add or Remove Programs window, select QuickTime. When you select QuickTime, additional information appears. 4 Click the Remove button. 5 In the Add or Remove Programs dialog that appears, click Yes to verify that you want to remove QuickTime from your computer.
Installing the Final Cut Server client Installing the Final Cut server client on a computer running Windows Vista or Windows XP requires downloading the client and logging into Final Cut Server. To install the Final Cut Server client using Java Web Start: 1 Enter the URL for the Final Cut Server computer in the computer’s browser. The browser displays a page with buttons you use to either start downloading the Final Cut Server client or to get additional information about installing the client.
4 If this is the first time the client has been launched on this computer, a license agreement dialog appears. Click Agree. 5 In the client login window that appears, do the following: a If necessary, enter the name of the computer with Final Cut Server installed in the Server field. In most cases, this field automatically contains this name. b Enter your login name in the Username field. c Enter your password in the Password field. d Click Log In. The Final Cut Server client opens.
