System Details
3
Configurations with an External System Director (System Director Appliance)
The System Director Appliance runs the System Director (but does not provide media storage) for
configurations that exceed the limits of the embedded System Director. The System Director
Appliance uses either the Avid NEXIS | FS Extended license or the Avid NEXIS | FS Advanced
license, depending on how many Media Packs or clients you want to manage. See the
Avid NEXIS
ReadMe
for license details.
Use a System Director Appliance if your configuration includes more than four Media Packs in any
combination of Avid NEXIS | E2, Avid NEXIS | E2 SSD, or Avid NEXIS | E4 Engines, or at least
one Avid NEXIS | E5 or Avid NEXIS | E5 NL Engine.
An System Director Appliance cannot be used with Avid NEXIS | PRO.
Engine Protection (Media Mirroring) Configurations
Mirrored Workspaces protect against the failure of an entire Engine (all of its Media Packs) by
duplicating (or mirroring) the Workspace data onto other Media Packs in separate Engines. In the
event of an Engine failure, the Workspace remains usable with no data loss.
Mirrored Workspaces are supported with an System Director Appliance and at least three of the
following in the same Storage Group:
•
Avid NEXIS | E2 Engines
•
Avid NEXIS | E2 SSD Engines
•
Avid NEXIS | E4 Engines
•
Avid NEXIS | E5 Engines
All the Engines in the configuration must have the same number and capacity of Media Packs, and all
must be running Avid NEXIS | FS version 7.0 or higher. All of the Media Packs must be added to the
same Storage Group, which then becomes mirror capable. In the Management Console on the
Storage Groups page, when the Storage Group contains the correct number of Media Packs in
equivalent Engines, the Mirror Capable column displays a Yes.
n
Mirrored Workspaces are not supported on Avid NEXIS | E5 NL systems or those running an
embedded System Director.
For more information, see the
Avid NEXIS Administration Guide
.
System Details
The Avid NEXIS Engines and the System Director Appliance are rack-mountable units housing the
other system components (drives, Controllers, and power supplies). If a component fails, the system
is designed to remain operational while you replace it. Do not shut down an Engine or the System
Director Appliance before replacing a failed part.
Data passes between the Engine and clients through a switch connected to the Engine with one or
more 10 Gb or 40 Gb Ethernet connections. These connections provide clients access to the data on
the media drives.