Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: GDC TMS with their CLA-2000

This is topic GDC TMS with their CLA-2000 in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-20-2016, 12:14 PM:

So has anyone here used the GDC CLA-2000 in conjunction with a GDC TMS system to attached their Enterprise Storage Plus?

I've been looking it over and am a little perplexed at what the big benefit it brings so perhaps I'm missing something. It seems like, as compared to merely bringing an eSATA port out on the back of a computer and possibly putting a CRU drive in the computer (if the case style so allows), the CLA creates another user interface and adds a step to loading content.

That is, if you use the CLA, you have to use ITS UI (web) to first transfer content to the storage, then you go into the TMS to use content on the external storage. Whereas, if you have no CLA, you attach your external storage via eSATA (presuming your external storage is something like a RAID5 like the Enterprise Storage or the little box from StarTech and you are done. To load content in, use a program like Ext2IFS to allow Ext2/3 content to attach to the windows computer. Note, even with the CLA, you STILL have to attach a CRU drive and assign it a letter and remember to eject it before removing. So I'm just not getting what it really brings to the table.

Anyone use it? Any opinions?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-20-2016, 01:07 PM:

I've honestly been trying to figure that out myself. I "think" the original idea behind it was to be able to offload content. I am still not sure it is capable of that. It seems like a useless extra thing that we are all already incorporating in our TMS's, the CRU bay. Its certainly not necessary for Satellite ingest although the GDC Enterprise storage would be useful just for that purpose in a large plex. A new Satellite link feature is now also incorporated into the latest TMS version as well and is likely what I'll be using... So it's anyone's guess. Perhaps I can get a sample from them and do a review on it... I am also interested in the purposed remote app they have for phone and tablet devices to remotely operate a TMS.

In an email I got yesterday they talk about incorporating the LMS and TMS in one system... Not sure why they would do that unless its to get past certain limitations of the TMS app of which there are non for storing content. I have a lot of storage >6TB on even the small systems though. So it's somewhat difficult to see what the heck they are getting at.

Mark

Posted by Ian Freer (Member # 1940) on 04-20-2016, 02:45 PM:

I haven't tried it but am also interested.
I assume that a PC can't access the ESD as I assumed it is running some sort of proprietary interface to work with the SX-3000, and therefore the CLA was just there as a protocol adaptor to enable the ESD to be mapped as a network drive in Windows.

If that's the case then you wouldn't need to use the CLA interface at all, just the TMS interface with the data folder pointed to the mapped network drive.

(Of course there may be nothing proprietary about the PSD/ESD interface, I might have to test that one day, as that would render my assumption above useless)

The only 'advantage' I can see is that in the event one of your attached servers SX-3000 storage devices failed, you can grab the ESD from the TMS and attach it directly to the server, reboot, and you've got all you content available at the server. But that's not likely to be a big advantage for many as it relies on you having SX-3000's...

Also, I believe (but have not tested) there might be an option to effectively live-stream from the TMS to a server, so that would be quicker that the whole 'moving the storage device' method in the event of local storage failure and theoretically include SX-2000AR's in the list of servers to benefit from this feature... I assume there no way this could work for Doremi's based on their inability to play from CRU, and unsure if DSS line can steam from an ftp source...

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-20-2016, 03:46 PM:

Correct, the ESD is all Linux and meant to interface to an SX-3000 and replace the PSD-3000 external drive box. I have written to GDC to get the manuals on the stuff some clarification as to what the CLA-2000 actually does. At one time I was told it was a device for off loading content, but that is rarely ever needed with a full network.

Note: This is what they told me: "The CLA-2000 allows you to transfer and move content around the network, a network adapter. It transcends operating systems, etc."

I also have the setup manual. It appears it is needed between a TMS and the ESD and acts as a translator.

Mark

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-20-2016, 06:17 PM:

Ok, so now having read the manual the CLA-2000 is indeed a media interface that allows you to just run the TMS app on a simple PC with no storage or ingest capability built into it. You are using a GDC Enterprise storage system as media storage and if you want to as live media streaming to local servers. This adapter provides interface between the Windows OS running the TMS app and the Enterprise storage unit. All media going in or out passes through the CLA-2000. The ingest bay is on the Enterprise unit, or if you want, on the PC.

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 04-21-2016, 07:03 AM:

I did get a clarification from GDC in that once attached, the TMS can handle ingesting such that one need not use the CLA's UI for ingesting. And yes, you can live-play from the CLA to any server...so there is that.

It would appear that the ESDP has two eSATA outputs...one on the CRU and one for the RAID and both connect to the CLA on their way to the TMS computer.

It still seems to me that the CLA is not a cheap date for what it does/brings to the table.

Companies like StarTech make external RAID boxes in varying sizes...the 4 drive box is about $175US...load it up with up to 4TB drives...set it to RAID5 (it has numerous RAID configurations but RAID5 would be best in this application)...add an Addonics eSATA controller (dual port) to your computer (they are good with eSATA devices coming and going without needing to reboot) for under $100 and use something like Ext2IFS and also a DCinema version of the CRU to the computer (DCinema version turns on when the drive is inserted).

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 04-21-2016, 01:33 PM:

All it really does is allow a Windows OS to talk to the Enterprise storage... Windows talking to Linux... It also is the actual data transfer engine. You don't need it for a normal TMS unless you are using a GDC Entrprise Storage Unit instead of media storage on your PC.

Mark

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 04-21-2016, 03:31 PM:

I happened to read the manual recently and I occurred to me it is nothing more than a NAS with a little bit of GDC tweaking.

- Carsten