ProTools on a Facillis

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ProTools on a Facillis
by Earle Nichol on Dec 14, 2010 at 8:41:38 pm

Hi there gang,

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with Facillis Terra Block with a Protools station. I am working with a company that want to repurpose their Facillis for their Pro-Tools workstations.(PC) They would be sharing the media(not just push-pull). It's a 24D system.

Any info much appreciated.

thanks for yor time.

Earle

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Bob Zelin on Dec 14, 2010 at 10:18:02 pm

facilis offers iSCSI interface. This will NOT work with a Fibre card in your ProTools workstation.

Bob Zelin

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Michael Kammes on Dec 14, 2010 at 11:55:23 pm

Hey Gang-

Pro Tools does in fact work via on Facilis via Fibre. Although it is not sanctioned (Avid specifically details this), Avid does acknowledge some people have had it working.

Personally, I have many clients doing so.

It works MUCH better in the volume locking mode (Single-User Write), as opposed to the newer file level (Multi-User Write)locking. Facilis has been pushing this workflow for years.

Bob, I'd love to hear some of the downsides or personal anecdotes (aside from being unsanctioned and support may be rough).

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Earle Nichol on Dec 15, 2010 at 8:39:17 pm

Hey Michael,

I've looked around, but found nothing solid in writing...you don't have a link for me to go and research do you?

thanks for checking in!

Earle

Communication! Communication! Communication!

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Bob Zelin on Dec 15, 2010 at 10:51:29 pm

Pro Tools does in fact work via on Facilis via Fibre. Although it is not sanctioned (Avid specifically details this), Avid does acknowledge some people have had it working.

I would love to see this in writing somewhere.

Bob Zelin

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Michael Kammes on Dec 15, 2010 at 11:26:30 pm

Hey Bob:

Below is a technote I've had bookmarked for years:

http://www3.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=3&langid=151&itemid=29746&catego...

This tech note exists for Windows and Mac.

*While Digidesign does not officially support Facilis fibre-channel drives, some Pro Tools users have had successful results using TerraBlock.*

From my days as a Systems Engineer & Installer, I personally installed dozens of Pro Tools stations on Facilis, both Mac & PC.

I don't have any consumer / forward facing docs that spell out Pro Tools...and I doubt "Audio Mix" is specific enough for you. Facilis recently (?) re-did their website, and thus far, a doc like this eludes me.

I'd suggest giving them a call and asking, especially given the new multi user write functionality. Jim McKenna and his team are fantastic.

Good Luck!

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Earle Nichol on Dec 16, 2010 at 5:13:46 pm

I checked that link...it looks like this is just a push/pull solution..not really sharing of media...am I missing something?

Getting the feeling that researching this,(maybe a quick call to Facillis) would not be the best use of my time....especially during the Christmas Season.....might reccomend other solutions.

thanks guys

Earle

Communication! Communication! Communication!

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Michael Kammes on Dec 16, 2010 at 6:22:11 pm

You can either push/pull or play directly from the Terrablock. For years, it's been the only solution (other than Avid) I've recommended.

I really wish I had some docs for you. It's just plan worked. I do recommend calling Facilis, or an integrator / reseller (full disclosure, I work for an integrator & reseller, where we sell many product lines, including multiple SAN solutions, so I'm solution agnostic). If you're on the west coast feel free to drop me an email.... michael AT michaelkammes DOT com.

~Michael

.: michael kammes mpse
.: senior applications editor . post workflow consultant
.: audio specialist . act fcp . acsr
.: michaelkammes.com

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Steve Modica on Jan 3, 2011 at 1:55:13 pm

Does anyone have insight on Avid/Protools and why they continue to require block storage?
In the olden days, a realtime application would want direct block (raw block) access so they could write to the end of the volume. Sort of like tape. SGI had a realtime filesystem like this. People would call because they would delete huge projects yet have no more space. That's because we never used blocks in the middle. We always wrote at the end, so deleting things in the middle didn't help. I can understand why people did this because "best fit" algorithms will slow things down and make them "non-realtime".
These days, with audio being so tiny and disks/filesystems being so fast, I don't see the point. We can do HD uncompressed video off of disks with normal filesystems, so why not audio?
They don't need to do that anymore.

Steve Modica
CTO, Small Tree Communications

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Re: ProTools on a Facillis
by Earle Nichol on Dec 14, 2010 at 11:56:24 pm

Hey Bob,

Right iSCSI...back to the drawing board. thanks for taking the time(as always). I will continue my research I've heard that it is not reccomended to put Pro-tools on the same system as a video shared storage unit, because Protools writes a new file everytime you touch a source file(some say its just session files)...have you ever heard anything like that?...oh by the way, really like what you're saying about Cache-A, to me it's just a little bit of peace of mind for the data weak of heart.

take care

Earle

Communication! Communication! Communication!

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