Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[bbbats]

Hello all-
I've been wrestling with an issue for a while now and hope someone can help me.  I am using Media Center 18 but I believe the behavior is the same in 19.

I have a Windows 2012R2 server running Media Center in Server mode, connected to photos, films, music, etc. on a Synology NAS.  I also have two Windows 8.1 machines running Media Center as clients of the 2012 Library Server.  I DO NOT want the clients to be able to make any changes to anything (little children can cause great damage).  When I autoimport new movies into the server, they do not show up on the clients until I restart J River on them.

Is there any way for the client machines to automagically pick up the new films imported onto the server without restarting them?  To reiterate, I only want to sync one way so I don't think I can use the "sync changes with library server" option.

If it helps or makes any difference, all my machines map the same drive letters to the media on my NAS (M: for Music, P: for photos, etc.)

Thanks in advance!
-Ben

[bbbats]

Bump.  Anyone have any ideas?  This has to have been tried before- a main library with auto-updating read-only clients?  It seems like a basic requirement and I can't figure it out.  Please help.
Thanks,
-B

[MrC]

I think the Sync'ing protocol is pretty simple, and it is either On or Off.

[bbbats]

Hi, thanks for your reply.  Can you tell me how to set the sync to "on" one way only, please?
Thanks!
-Ben

[MrC]

Sync is bi-directional.

[bbbats]

So are you saying that there is no way to enable one way sync?  In my original post, I am clear that I do not want the clients to be able to make changes.  I am surprised that such a full-featured app like MC doesn't accommodate this fairly simple, straightforward implementation.  Can you think of any alternative config?  Like enabling two-way synch but put the client instances into Party Mode?  If I did that, will the client pick up changes without my restarting them?

[MrC]

You can try enabling sync on the clients, and configure the Party Mode on the clients.  I've not tested that configuration.

As for "fairly simple, straightforward implementation", hmmm.  I doubt it.

[bbbats]

Yes, simple and straightforward.  Maybe not in the context of what J River is capable of, but certainly simple and straightforward in the world of client/server.  It seems a shortcoming to me that a multi-zone-enabled system cannot easily maintain synchronization while protecting said system from careless or willful destructive actions.

Another option, I guess, is to modify the Access Control Lists of the files/folders themselves and control security via my Active Directory but that would get cumbersome.

In a multi-user environment, the system or app should not assume that all users should be granted full control.  It should be easier to protect my living room MC instance from my 6 and 7 year-olds.

I appreciate your replies and attempts to help.  Thanks.

[dfs9393]

Sorry to necro this 3 month old thread but I would also like to see this happen.

My scenario is different than the op's.

I have a server-client setup.  But I also want to sync with itunes for my iphone.  MCiS only supports local libraries so I want to keep a local library in sync with the master network library. 

While there is a function to sync a local library with a network library, from what I can see it's a 2-way sync.  But I only use the local library for export into iTunes so I want it to be a one-way sync so there are no accidental changes to the network library.

While I'm sure it won't be trivial can you add a function where the network library ignores any changes sent?  This can be useful for many different scenarios.

Thanks

[MrC]

If you open the actual Library itself from a second system (and not via Library Server), it will be read-only (if your main system leaves it open).

[dfs9393]

If you open the actual Library itself from a second system (and not via Library Server), it will be read-only (if your main system leaves it open).

What do you mean open the actual library?

Do you mean share the folder that holds the network library and access the library remotely over the network through windows file sharing?

[MrC]

Yes, exactly.

[dfs9393]

Yes, exactly.

Will the file paths still point correctly?

[MrC]

Only if you use the same file paths on all systems.

This is the recommended approach anyway (w/Library Server), as it eliminates MC as the streaming mechanism, and instead allows it to just use local file paths (so Windows does the file transfer).

Many of us just use either UNC paths, or mapped drives such as M: on all systems.