Differences

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--- gui:architecture [2020/02/08 16:51] – steinar
+++ gui:architecture [2026/02/28 20:50] (current) – [Multiple Servers + NAS] emcodem
@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 === Run as Application or Service ===
-You can run FFAStrans as a portable application instead of installing it as Windows Service as described here: [[installation]]. It is recommended to use service mode in production critical environments.
+You can run FFAStrans as a portable application instead of installing it as Windows Service as described here: [[installation]]. It is recommended to install and run as a service in production critical environments.
 ===== Typical Scenarios =====
-{{:deployment_options.jpg?400|}}
+{{:gui:deployment_options.jpg?1000|}}
-==== Simple Deployment Single Server ====
+==== Local Machine ====
 You can run FFAStrans on a standalone PC without the need for further Hard- and Software. In this case the installation files and Media files are on the local drives of your PC.
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
-==== Common Deployment Single Server ====
+==== PC + NAS ====
 If you have one or multiple NAS Servers where your Media files come from and go to but still only one Server that runs FFAStrans, make sure that:
@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
-==== Complex Deployment Farm ====
+==== Multiple Hosts (Farm) + NAS ====
-If you need more than one server/host to take care about your workflows, you can utilize FFAStrans farming abilities.
+If you need more than one server/host to take care about your jobs, you can utilize FFAStrans farming abilities.
 FFAStrans runs in an **Active-Active** Pattern. This means that there is no "Main Server" as it would be the case in a typical "Master-Slave" pattern which is the case for most other workflow managing software.
-How it works is that you just place the FFAStrans installation directory on the SMB Server - let us call it **Quorum** - with the highest availability possible.
+How it works is that you just place the FFAStrans installation directory on the SMB Server - let us call it **Database Share** - with the highest availability possible.
-=== How to choose Quorum Location ===
+This means that the FFAStrans.exe App needs to be started from a UNC Path on every host (especially before installing the Service)
+  * In a Farm Environment, you should NEVER start FFAStrans.exe from a local path like C:\FFAStrans but instead always start it from the central share
+  * Example: \\FFASTRANSDB\FFAStrans\FFAStrans.exe
-As described above, the Quorum is a SMB (AKA Samba) location that contains the FFAStrans installation Files when running a transcoding farm (or better processing Farm).
+=== How to choose Database Share Location ===
-The Quorum will only contain minimal amounts of data, e.g. control files and log files. In difference to the cache location that contains temporary per job working files. You can see the Quorum as the database.
-Large enterprises typically have many different storages like different kinds of Netapp, EMC and such in place. If you are in a position to choose from one of many storages it is recommended to choose the one that has the highest up time. Often this might be the storage that is also used by the central email location.
-Private persons and small companies are recommended to elect one of the servers in the farm to the "Master" and create a shared location where they share the FFAStrans installation files with all members of the farm. Why?
+As described above, the Database Share is a Windows Share location that contains the FFAStrans installation Files when running a transcoding farm (or better processing Farm).
+The Database Share will only contain minimal amounts of data, e.g. control files and log files. In difference to the cache location that contains temporary per job working files. You can see the Database Share as the database.
-There are 2 things to consider about the Quorum location:
+Private persons and small companies are recommended to elect one of the servers in the farm to the "Master" and create a shared location where they share the FFAStrans installation files with all members of the farm.
-) **Functionality:** compatibility to Microsoft SMB Protocol, file locking mechanisms etc...
+For larger setups **we strongly recommend to set up a small Windows VM** that does nothing but serve a share for the ffastrans installation files. Setups with Linux SMB and similar often lead to problems.
-  * FFAStrans uses files as a replacement for a database. It relies on the Storage to be able to handle parallel access to files in perfect manner
-  * There are many SMB Servers out there, e.g. Samba. As a perfect example, Samba is a working SMB server but when it comes to little details like especially concurrent file access, Samba is not a very good way to go. Lots of small storage vendors use Samba server for serving SMB shares. Big vendors drive their own SMB server implementation.
+=== Networking ===
-  *
-) **Availability:** the central Quorum should have higher availability than all servers of the farm
+In Farm Setups, it is recommended to have a separate "Control Network" for Worker Nodes to the FFAStrans installation files (and therefore the Database/db Files).
-  * Be aware that Functionality always goes over availability
+The reason for this is that when a Network Card/Cable is utilized for Media Transfer, the Latency for File access on this network raises from milliseconds to many seconds. This can cause different issues like Webinterface "TIMEOUT" messages and slow job processing.
+{{:gui:ffastrans_farm_setup.jpg?1400|}}
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