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[tofer]

I know there are coutless posts on this topic, with all kinds of convaluted ways of trying to accomplish this simple process, but can someone from JRiver please address the plans for a true multi user database? 

As someone in the database field, I have to comment that the underlying record locking ability is relatively easy to implement and there are at least a dozen freely distributable databases that support it. 

One of MC's biggest strengths is its organization capability.  But with only the abilitty for one workstation to manage / update / edit a library at a time, it's next to impossible to effectivly manage a large database in a household with several contributors on different machines...

Am I the only one that needs this functionality?

[gappie]

no, you are not the only one.

[hit_ny]

Over the yrs, i think this has to be one of the most often asked feature to date.

No ETA on it atm.

There are various workarounds, but none would be "true multi user".

[avpman]

I wholeheartedly agree. With the advent (and now lower prices) on NAS drives, it seems a natural for MC to add this capability. I would even pay more for a true multi-user version. "MC Pro" anybody? 

[newsposter]

Using s/w from www.openfiler.com and a judicious searching of newegg.com, I've built 4 or 5 1Tb raid server boxes (raid 5, 5 hot/live plus one hot spare spare drive) for an average cost of $800 each.  Sempron 2000 CPUs and 512 Mb ram is actually overkill for those servers.

Of course I picked up a 3 drive IBM optical DVD jukebox last summer for about $1000 and run backups to it on a monthly basis.

The openfiler people has ack'd the desireability of including a UPnP server in their distro but the user base hasn't seen anything yet.

[avpman]

Using s/w from www.openfiler.com and a judicious searching of newegg.com, I've built 4 or 5 1Tb raid server boxes (raid 5, 5 hot/live plus one hot spare spare drive) for an average cost of $800 each.  Sempron 2000 CPUs and 512 Mb ram is actually overkill for those servers.

Of course I picked up a 3 drive IBM optical DVD jukebox last summer for about $1000 and run backups to it on a monthly basis.

The openfiler people has ack'd the desireability of including a UPnP server in their distro but the user base hasn't seen anything yet.

Sounds quite interesting. Out of curosity, which MB, RAID card and drives did you use?

Thanks for the info!

[newsposter]

A generic 1U server with a 300 watt PS, ASROCK K7S41GX mobos (they are way cheap), Sempron 2000 CPUs, 512 Mb ram (256 is more than enough!) and a handful of no-name 1/2 height IDE cards with SIIG chipsets.

There are two extra exhaust fans in the 1U case for heat management.  I'm using round IDE cables, shortest ones possible, and tie them out of the way to keep the air moving.

The IDE cards are on PCI paddle cards thay lay the cards flat in the 1U cases.  Two drives per IDE port,  four drives per PCI slot, 2 PCI slots is more than enough connections for my 5+1 setup.

Drives are all 5400 rpm, 200 Gb, ATA 100, a mix of Seagate and Hitcahi/IBM drives, whatever was cheapest at the time.  I do match drive types in each raid server to simpligy config management.

With 250 Gb and even 450 Gb drives available now there is no technical reason why someone couldn't build 2Tb raid servers.  Except that it puts more of your eggs in one basket and having a Damned Good backup and restore plan in place AND TESTED is critially important.

The mobo IDE ports run a CD drive and a 512 Mb flash drive ONLY.  The openfiler.org image lives on the 512 Mb flash drive, no moving parts.

The mobo has networking, basic video, kbd, and mouse ports.  The BIOS setup is generic except that I turn off unused devices like serial, game/midi, sound, USB, and parallel port.  Unneeded IRQs and Interrupts are just unnecessary complications.  I then force-set PCI interrupts for each card slot to further reduce possible problems.

I run the raid servers from dedicated APS NetUPS 1400 UPSs for additional safety.  The whole house is protected by a set of General Electric in-the-breaker-box surge protectors ($200 each installed by your local electrician).  Both items, the multiple UPSs' and the whole-house surge protectors, are good investments.

[avpman]

A generic 1U server with a 300 watt PS, ASROCK K7S41GX mobos (they are way cheap), Sempron 2000 CPUs, 512 Mb ram (256 is more than enough!) and a handful of no-name 1/2 height IDE cards with SIIG chipsets.

There are two extra exhaust fans in the 1U case for heat management.  I'm using round IDE cables, shortest ones possible, and tie them out of the way to keep the air moving.

The IDE cards are on PCI paddle cards thay lay the cards flat in the 1U cases.  One drive per IDE port, two drives per PCI slot, 3 PCI slots equal 6 drives for my 5+1 setup.

Drives are all 5400 rpm, 200 Gb, ATA 100, a mix of Seagate and Hitcahi/IBM drives, whatever was cheapest at the time.  I do match drive types in each raid server to simpligy config management.

With 250 Gb and even 450 Gb drives available now there is no technical reason why someone couldn't build 2Tb raid servers.  Except that it puts more of your eggs in one basket and having a Damned Good backup and restore plan in place AND TESTED is critially important.

The mobo IDE ports run a CD drive and a 512 Mb flash drive ONLY.  The openfiler.org image lives on the 512 Mb flash drive, no moving parts.

The mobo has networking, basic video, kbd, and mouse ports.  The BIOS setup is generic excpet that I turn off unused devices like serial, game/midi, sound, USB, and parallel port.  Unneeded IRQs and Interrupts are just unnecessary complications.

I run the raid servers from dedicated APS NetUPS 1400 UPSs for additional safety.  The whole house is protected by a set of General Electric in-the-breaker-box surge protectors ($200 each installed by your local electrician).  Both items, the multiple UPSs' and the whole-house surge protectors, are good investments.

Very sweet setup! I'm assuming the openfiler O/S handles the RAID via software so in your setup there is no need for a RAID card?

[newsposter]

openfiler handles raid in software using a standard format.

If openfiler ever screws up, the standard linux raid recovery tools work just fine.  Of course, a working and known-good backup and restore methodology is loads better than having to depend on raid volume recovery.