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[nwboater]

I finally decided to install MC 16 and as part of the new installation to build a new library. All of our media is stored on a Windows Home Server and I have long had difficulty with path names to the Server. Some paths in our library would show as D:\shares\music\.......  Others would show as \\Server name\music\..... At one time I had a major problem with all music being duplicated. Everything was listed twice in the library  - once under each path. It had gotten so that I was afraid to set an auto import path for fear this might happen again.

So my discovery today is that path names differ depending where you are observing them from.

1. Looking at path names on a Clients MC 'Drives & Devices' for music on the Server will show as \\Server name\music\.....

2. Looking at path names directly on the Server (or on WHS Console from a Client) MC 'Drives & Devices' for music on the Server will show as D:\shares\music\.......

Thus depending upon where I added music from would affect the path name in the library. Not a good situation! Further aggravating the mess, at one time I think I had Auto import set on a Client, instead of just the server.

Here's the strategy I plan to follow for the new library:

1. Only have one library and it will be on the server. Each Client will view and access that library.
2. Set Auto import only on the Server so items will only show in the  library under D:shares\music\.
3. For now only make changes to the library from the Server, or through the Console on a Client.


As I'm writing this it occurred to me that I'm not sure of the best way to structure library's in a server/client setup. What I described above is one library that is on the server. When running from a Client it will show the servers library. I believe it is also possible to maintain a separate library on the client and sync it as desired to the server.

I believe I've read of others having problems with the path names as I described above and that is the main reason I posted this - to share what I found so it may help others avoid the problems. But there are probably several here that are far more experienced and knowledgeable than I in setting up and maintaining server/client libraries. It would be great if you would share any suggestions on all this, and or how you have been doing it.

Rod

[jmone]

The basic approach is correct but I'd suggest a couple of tweaks.
1) Keep you library on the "Server" and run MC with Library Server on
2) Run MC on your clients and "connect" to the library server

Now most of us with this setup also use the feature in Tools --> Options --> Client Options --> check ON "Play local file if one that matches Library Server file is found".  This means that the Library Server is used for presenting the single library to all the clients BUT when playback occurs the local machine plays it directly instead of it being streamed via the Library Server.  To do this the Local PC needs to be able to "see" the the files the same way the Server does and here you have two options:

1) UNC:  You can assign a UNC Path when sharing your Media folders and the result is the \\Server name\music.  This is what I do as you only need to do this on the server then all the clients on your network will see it.  If you use the approach the trick is all your media needs to be imported from the UNC Share (\\SERVER\) and NOT the actual drive (eg D:\) so all PC's see the media using the same method.
2) Relative File Paths:  The other open that others use is on the client side make identical drive mappings, eg they add a "D:" on each PC that points to the "D:" on the server.

same result with both methods.  If you go the UNC remember not to mux the importation of media from the "\\Server" and "D:" mappings

[nwboater]

jmone,

Thanks very much for your prompt and very instructive response. I do have several things that I don't understand though. I'll show my questions in italics after quoting you.


1) Keep you library on the "Server" and run MC with Library Server on
     Do you mean that you keep an instance of MC open and running on the server, or only have the 'Media Server' running

Now most of us with this setup also use the feature in Tools --> Options --> Client Options --> check ON "Play local file if one that matches Library Server file is found".  This means that the Library Server is used for presenting the single library to all the clients BUT when playback occurs the local machine plays it directly instead of it being streamed via the Library Server.
     How does it get the file to the Client to play it? Doesn't it somehow have to be sent over the network since a copy doesn't exist on the Client?
 
To do this the Local PC needs to be able to "see" the the files the same way the Server does and here you have two options:

1) UNC:  You can assign a UNC Path when sharing your Media folders and the result is the \\Server name\music.  This is what I do as you only need to do this on the server then all the clients on your network will see it.

     I like this - it is the approach I will use. How do I "Assign a UNC Path?

  If you use the approach the trick is all your media needs to be imported from the UNC Share (\\SERVER\) and NOT the actual drive (eg D:\) so all PC's see the media using the same method.

In practice how do I do this?

If you go the UNC remember not to mux the importation of media from the "\\Server" and "D:" mappings

     Not at all sure what you mean here. What should I actually avoid doing?

Thanks again for all your help with this.

Rod

[jmone]

1) Keep you library on the "Server" and run MC with Library Server on
     Do you mean that you keep an instance of MC open and running on the server, or only have the 'Media Server' running

Yes

Now most of us with this setup also use the feature in Tools --> Options --> Client Options --> check ON "Play local file if one that matches Library Server file is found".  This means that the Library Server is used for presenting the single library to all the clients BUT when playback occurs the local machine plays it directly instead of it being streamed via the Library Server.
     How does it get the file to the Client to play it? Doesn't it somehow have to be sent over the network since a copy doesn't exist on the Client?

The MC client now has direct access to the file in the form of \\SERVER\Music\song.mp3 just as it it was C:\My Music\song.mps, MC just reads it from the network location instead of the local HDD.
  

To do this the Local PC needs to be able to "see" the the files the same way the Server does and here you have two options:

1) UNC:  You can assign a UNC Path when sharing your Media folders and the result is the \\Server name\music.  This is what I do as you only need to do this on the server then all the clients on your network will see it.

     I like this - it is the approach I will use. How do I "Assign a UNC Path?

In Windows 7 with Home Group setup: Go to the folder you want to share and right click --> share with --> Homegoup [(read) or (read/write) as you want].  Now have a look in explorer --> network --> Server Name if you can see this share.  If you do a right click --> properties --> sharing you will see it now has a share name on the network as \\Server Name\Folder Name.  All PC's on your Home Group should see it exactly the same.  If you have any issues you may need to play around with the options under "Adcanced Sharing" on this tab.

 If you use the approach the trick is all your media needs to be imported from the UNC Share (\\SERVER\) and NOT the actual drive (eg D:\) so all PC's see the media using the same method.

In practice how do I do this?[/i

If you go the UNC remember not to mux the importation of media from the "\\Server" and "D:" mappings

     Not at all sure what you mean here. What should I actually avoid doing?]

change any auto import folders to use "\\SERVER\Music" etc.  If you manually import files make sure you do it when browsing them from "\\SERVER\Music" not "D:\Music"

[JustinChase]

You don't need to keep media center running on the server machine, as the library server will run in the background, allowing everyone to connect to it.  You'll see the icon in the notification area, and clicking on that icon will give you the option to open Media Center (which will let you see the local version), or close, which will close the server altogether.  Make sure you have "run media server at startup" set in options on that machine, so that it always starts up when the machine does, so you don't forget to start it manually.

I have no idea about the UNC stuff, sorry.  i just map Music to M: on all my machines, and that works for me just fine. (Photos to P:, etc.)

I can't say what the advantages or disadvantages are of the UNC setup he describes, but the mapping was easy for me to understand and setup, and has worked fine for me for years.

I'm sure jmone will give some more input on the UNC stuff for you, i just wanted to help with the server part, and let you know that mapping works fine also.

have fun

[nwboater]

jmone,

Thanks again for your very helpful further response. It's going to take me some time to digest this and get it set up, so I may have some more questions later.

Could you tell me why MC needs to actually be running on the server? No problem for me to do it, just wondering.

Rod

[nwboater]

You don't need to keep media center running on the server machine, as the library server will run in the background, allowing everyone to connect to it.  You'll see the icon in the notification area, and clicking on that icon will give you the option to open Media Center (which will let you see the local version), or close, which will close the server altogether.  Make sure you have "run media server at startup" set in options on that machine, so that it always starts up when the machine does, so you don't forget to start it manually.

I have no idea about the UNC stuff, sorry.  i just map Music to M: on all my machines, and that works for me just fine. (Photos to P:, etc.)

I can't say what the advantages or disadvantages are of the UNC setup he describes, but the mapping was easy for me to understand and setup, and has worked fine for me for years.

I'm sure jmone will give some more input on the UNC stuff for you, i just wanted to help with the server part, and let you know that mapping works fine also.

have fun

Thanks for your response. good to know that the other way works well too. I'm still inclined to go the UNC route since there is nothing to do on each Client. But the UNC part is sure more confusing. Although when I get going on it with Jmones good directions it hopefully wont be too tough.

As usual I checked the Wiki before making my original post here and found very little to be helpful. There must be a lot of people that have a server/client configuration and get totally lost on this. Or am I just slow and dense? So it sure seems that getting this information into some kind of MC instructions might be useful.

Rod

[jmone]

Yup - forgot to say there is no reason to keep the MC GUI running on the server unless you are importing, tagging, etc, Media Server is all you need to server the Library Server Clients on your NW.

UNC is short for Universal Naming Convention or Uniform Naming Convention.  It is just a way of applying a name to (in this case) a shared folder so you can just access them over the network.  When you "map" a network dive on a client you normally put in the UNC anyway but give it a Drive Letter.

[nwboater]

Yup - forgot to say there is no reason to keep the MC GUI running on the server unless you are importing, tagging, etc, Media Server is all you need to server the Library Server Clients on your NW.

UNC is short for Universal Naming Convention or Uniform Naming Convention.  It is just a way of applying a name to (in this case) a shared folder so you can just access them over the network.  When you "map" a network dive on a client you normally put in the UNC anyway but give it a Drive Letter.

Good to know MC doesn't need to be running on the server all the time.

Do you do all your importing, tagging, etc directly on the server (or its console), or on a Client?

Thanks for the simple explanation of UNC.

Rod