We created the shared datacenter

February 2, 2012, 10:35 am

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By John Hickson -

<!--[if !mso]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]-->

Ron,

 

This is awesome, passing it to the group now… Looking forward to coming down and checking it out J

 

From: Ron Stinson [mailto:rstinson@rainmaker.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 12:55 PM
To: John Hickson
Subject: We created the shared datacenter

 

Hi John,

 

You’ve been interested in this project and now I can finally talk about it. We did it! Please feel free to post this on the StudioSysAdmin site if you feel it’s something our general membership would be interested in.

 

The major points:

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>It’s a partnership between the Vancouver Studio Group, the Vancouver Digital Media Center (public education partnership btw SFU, BCIT, and Emily Carr), and Scalar Decisions (VAR).

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Each studio has 2 options:

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>Lease any number of servers and install their private network to the datacenter

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>Install their private network to the datacenter and rent available servers from other studios

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Initially we have 3 studios, Rainmaker, Digital Domain and Image Engine

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Beauty of this solution

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>Less than $8/day/server

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>When we need more servers we rent from each other, or if none are available we sign a lease for additional servers

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>When we’re not using our servers we rent to other studios. This offsets some or all of our operating costs.

<![if !supportLists]>o   <![endif]>It will be available to other industries (high tech, research, oil&gas), and universities. Anyone needing computing resources.

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Next steps, we’re looking at shared workstations, a network connecting our studios together with education centers and companies that do business with studios, and storage if we can work out the security details.

<![if !supportLists]>-          <![endif]>Go live date the beginning of March 2012

 

Here are the press releases to date:

Vancouver Sun: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Collaborators+seek+power+Vancouver+digital+entertainment+prospects/6058086/story.html

Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/vancouver-turns-up-cloud-computing-285279

Business in Vancouver: http://www.bivinteractive.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5318:vancouver-super-computer-movie-processing-hub-launched&catid=14:daily-news&Itemid=46

Cynopsis Digital: http://www.cynopsis.com/editions/digital/013012/

Techvibes: http://www.techvibes.com/blog/bc-film-industry-floats-into-the-cloud-thanks-to-scalars-latest-project-rendercloud-2012-01-30

Mediacaster: http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/news/bc-film-digital-media-industry-works-in-the-cloud/1000863422/

Geekwire: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/ewok-village-oregon-facebooks-ticker-symbol-weekend-notes

Digital Home: http://www.digitalhome.ca/2012/02/b-c-film-industry-gets-digital-boost-from-rendercloud-computing-solution/

There are also print pieces pending in Variety, IT Canada and Computer Graphics World.

 

Sincerely,

Ron Stinson                            

Director of I.T. and Operations   

 

d. 604 714 2609                        

t. 604 714 2600             

f. 604 714 2641                        

rstinson@rainmaker.com              

 

Rainmaker Entertainment                      

#500- 2025 West Broadway       

Vancouver, British Columbia           

Canada, V6J 1Z6                                               

www.rainmaker.com

 

---

This e-mail and any attachments are intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately notify the sender by return email and permanently delete the original, any copy and any printout thereof. The integrity and security of e-mail cannot be guaranteed.

 

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Reminder - Tape Solutions & NAS Optimization (SSA Toronto)

February 2, 2012, 12:10 pm

≫ Next: Katana & Hiero by the Foundry (SSA Los Angeles)

≪ Previous: We created the shared datacenter

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By John Hickson -

<!--[if !mso]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]-->

All,

 

Here is another reminder of the Toronto event on this coming Monday evening.  Please RSVP on-line or send me an e-mail directly.

 

Food will be served and drink afterwards (as usual) J

 

Thank you;

John Hickson

 

Feed: StudioSysAdmins Events
Posted on: Friday, January 27, 2012 2:07 PM
Author: StudioSysAdmins Events
Subject: Tape Solutions & NAS Optimization (SSA Toronto)

 

Time: 6:30pm—9:30pm   Doors open at 6:00pm; Meeting starts at 6:30pm   After 6pm please call 416-660-5059 to enter     Date: February 6th, 2012     Place: Arc Productions   230 Richmond Street East, 2nd Floor     Presenter(s): Russ Byk   SpectraLogic       Aaron Wetherold   Avere Systems     Presenter  Presenter Sponsor   SpectraLogic: Product Overview and Tape Solutions Product Overview and Tape Solutions Avere Systems: NAS Optimization for the Entertainment Industry NAS Optimization for the Entertainment Industry

View article...

Katana & Hiero by the Foundry (SSA Los Angeles)

February 2, 2012, 1:50 pm

≫ Next: Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example

≪ Previous: Reminder - Tape Solutions & NAS Optimization (SSA Toronto)

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By John Hickson -

<!--[if !mso]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]-->

All,

 

Reminder to sign up for the StudioSysAdmins meeing in Los Angeles as well J

 

-John

 

Feed: StudioSysAdmins Events
Posted on: Thursday, February 02, 2012 4:48 PM
Author: StudioSysAdmins Events
Subject: Katana & Hiero by the Foundry (SSA Los Angeles)

 

Time: 7:00pm—9:30pm     Date: February 21st, 2012     Place: RFX   748 Seward Street   Hollywood, California 90038   (323) 962-7400     Presenter: The Foundry     Host  Presenter     Technical staff from the Foundry will discuss the state of development for new products, Katana and Hiero. Katana, is a CG look development and lighting tool designed to share lighting set ups between shots and sequences. Katana was designed as a highly scalable asset based workflow that works with multiple renderers and manages the dependencies between render passes. Hiero, is an element and shot management software that works in conjunction with NUKE in a collaborative VFX workflow. Hiero handles shot management and version control of sequences that allows the conforming and review process to operate more efficiently. Meet and Greet with food and refreshments 7:00 – 7:30pm Presentation 7:30 - 9:30pm If you plan to attend Please RSVP at: rsvp@rfx.com Google Maps Link below for location of RFX http://g.co/maps/8muc3

View article...

Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example

February 2, 2012, 5:05 pm

≫ Next: OT - face replacement/odd looking

≪ Previous: Katana & Hiero by the Foundry (SSA Los Angeles)

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By Brian Krusic -

I call my buddies over at Bluearc TAC expecting to be asked how I'm doing personally and other pleasantries.

But instead I got a thick accent and spent almost a full minute spelling my name.  And that was only my first name, pffffffftt forget the last part of it, Krustik, Krudik, Krffffphhht... what ever man.

Welcome to the well oiled and canned response of outsourced and globalized support.

Fortunately I still got the digits to our original sales engineer from years ago who will help me.  The guy is super cool and smart as hell.  Get this, they wanna change his role so I no longer may have his ear!

Anyways, the only ppl who benefit from this virus like behavior of merging/absorbing are corporate interest which is greed based.

Screw the customer.  I mean if it ain't broke don't fix it is lost in our wouderfully modern times.  Progress is code for stupidity.

• Brian

OT - face replacement/odd looking

February 2, 2012, 6:00 pm

≫ Next: Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example

≪ Previous: Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example

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By Brian Krusic -

Yo,

So as I watch Tron Legacy for the Nth time (ya that's right, I like it), I must appreciate and respect the facial recreation done on Jeff B.

But I must say the eyes kill it, as did the eyes in the Christmas Carol remake by IMD.  They look lifeless and creepy.

Now the eyes in Avatar worked as we have no real referance in Nabi eyes.

Indeed, eyes are windows to the soul and as such, CG eyes can never really work.

I've seen many a CG dog but looking into my Bella's eyes, I conclude that they too cannot be CG'd.

• Brian

Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example

February 2, 2012, 7:45 pm

≫ Next: [SSA-Discuss] =?utf-8?q?Rant_-_buy_outs_and_mergers=2C=09HDS/Blue?= =?utf-8?q?arc_as_an_example?=

≪ Previous: OT - face replacement/odd looking

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By Anthony Hoit -

So say we all!


Sent from my Samsung Epic™ 4G Touch


-------- Original message --------
Subject: [SSA-Discuss] Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example
From: Brian Krusic <brian@krusic.com>
To: discuss@studiosysadmins.com
CC:

I call my buddies over at Bluearc TAC expecting to be asked how I'm doing personally and other pleasantries.

But instead I got a thick accent and spent almost a full minute spelling my name.  And that was only my first name, pffffffftt forget the last part of it, Krustik, Krudik, Krffffphhht... what ever man.

Welcome to the well oiled and canned response of outsourced and globalized support.

Fortunately I still got the digits to our original sales engineer from years ago who will help me.  The guy is super cool and smart as hell.  Get this, they wanna change his role so I no longer may have his ear!

Anyways, the only ppl who benefit from this virus like behavior of merging/absorbing are corporate interest which is greed based.

Screw the customer.  I mean if it ain't broke don't fix it is lost in our wouderfully modern times.  Progress is code for stupidity.

• Brian

[SSA-Discuss] =?utf-8?q?Rant_-_buy_outs_and_mergers=2C=09HDS/Blue?= =?utf-8?q?arc_as_an_example?=

February 2, 2012, 8:55 pm

≫ Next: RFX Event Feb 21st (StudioSysAdmin)

≪ Previous: Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example

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By Brian Krusic -

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">

Yo Jeremy,

I know you got a Titan 3 as well.

If you are so inclined, give em a call, make something up and do some recon.

Lemme know if you get the same feel as I did.

• Brian
  
  

  ---

  From: Jeremy Oddo <joddo@apixels.com>
  Sent: Thu Feb 02 20:29:48 PST 2012
  To: discuss@studiosysadmins.com
  Subject: Re: [SSA-Discuss] Rant - buy outs and mergers, HDS/Bluearc as an example
  
  
  This is not what I like to hear. Service is critical. 
  
  
  On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 7:40 PM, Anthony.hoit <anthony.hoit@artificepictures.com> wrote:
  

RFX Event Feb 21st (StudioSysAdmin)

February 3, 2012, 5:10 am

≫ Next: Friday beers

≪ Previous: [SSA-Discuss] =?utf-8?q?Rant_-_buy_outs_and_mergers=2C=09HDS/Blue?= =?utf-8?q?arc_as_an_example?=

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By Anonymous -

Hay Gang

Don't forget to RSVP at www.rfx.com!

EVENT: Foundry Discusses Katana & Hiero

Jorg - LA

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Friday beers

February 3, 2012, 2:15 pm

≫ Next: Office Prank...

≪ Previous: RFX Event Feb 21st (StudioSysAdmin)

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By Dan Young -

What're you 'avin?

Blue Point Toasted Lager over here. 

Dan Young
Systems Engineer
MPC NYC
434 Broadway 
New York, NY 10013

DD: 212.915.3120
Cell: 347.334.0132

dan-y@moving-picture.com

Office Prank...

February 3, 2012, 5:50 pm

≫ Next: BU - data migration policies - resend

≪ Previous: Friday beers

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By Zorion Terrell -

<!--[if !mso]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><![endif]-->

The office manager here did this to my car….

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10945566/IMG_20120203_151327.jpg

 

 

 

Zorion Terrell

IT Manager | DHX Media Vancouver

e: zorion.terrell@dhxmedia.com

p: 604-684-2363 | m: 604-562-5148

600-190 Alexander St,

Vancouver, BC V6A 1B5

 

BU - data migration policies - resend

February 4, 2012, 10:30 am

≫ Next: NVIDIA PTex & EXR vs JPEG2000

≪ Previous: Office Prank...

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By Brian Krusic -

Wondering if any are running DM on there Bluearcs and if so, if archiving off the BU, what are your thresholds for data going from tier 2 back to tier 1?

Basically, how are you preventing the archive process from triggering a migration back to tier 1?

Overall, I'm thinking a week for tier 1 -> tier 2 (based on our usage characteristics) but say 5 min for tier 2 -> tier 1?

• Brian

NVIDIA PTex & EXR vs JPEG2000

February 6, 2012, 4:55 am

≫ Next: Free rack mount shelves (Los Angeles area)

≪ Previous: BU - data migration policies - resend

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By Robert Moggach -

What's the consensus on NVIDIA's recent support of PTex? Where are we all at with GPU rendering? It seems other industries, architecture, product visualisation, etc. have been faster adopters but they probably don't know about PTex? Also I had an interesting conversation recently with a vendor who resells DEM and satellite data and he was complaining about EXR, claiming JPEG2000 is a much better format and supports all the multi-layer floating point bits we all rely on? What's the truth behind this? Thoughts??

Free rack mount shelves (Los Angeles area)

February 6, 2012, 1:10 pm

≫ Next: argh. xorg.conf.

≪ Previous: NVIDIA PTex & EXR vs JPEG2000

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By Bill Heiden -

Hi all,

Free to a good home - a couple of new two post Rackmount shelves (P/N 3USHL-024FULL-29US). Any interest?

Billh

argh. xorg.conf.

February 6, 2012, 10:05 pm

≫ Next: Los Angeles: CFEngine 3 training this month. Special discount for studiosysadmins members.

≪ Previous: Free rack mount shelves (Los Angeles area)

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By Robert Moggach -

Anyone care to share a working xorg.conf for dual monitor CentOS, Quadro 4000, Maya2011? i can't seem to stop the intermittent GL hanging... I've done the Overlay thing and disabled CIOverlay ... are there some other flags that I should be putting in there? Is it possibly gdm or ldap or dns? hyperthreading maybe??? I can't figure it out and documentation is scarce... (don't even get me started on the dual GTX580 system... it's working nice for VRay RT but hangs more than all the rest... ) also thought it might have been write back cache but sorted that out... this is one of those vfx sysadmin voodoo tidbits I'm not privy to I suspect. so many variables if you don't have the intimate knowledge? thanks for any tips, Rob

Los Angeles: CFEngine 3 training this month. Special discount for studiosysadmins members.

February 6, 2012, 11:10 pm

≫ Next: Render box rental in LA?

≪ Previous: argh. xorg.conf.

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By Aleksey Tsalolikhin -

I was pleased to have a fellow studiosysadmins member at my recent "automating system administration using cfengine 3" training in Palo Alto. As his feedback shows, my trainings are different:

    It was more in-depth and intensive than most of the vendor
    training things I've gone to, not a lot of starting late, leaving
    early, etc. Good attention to detail and making sure all points
    were understood.    --M.S.

I've got another training coming up in LA on Feb 20 - 22. May I offer a special to StudioSysadmins members? Buy one, get one free. ($1950 for 3 days of high-quality hands-on training). If you're only one person attending, let me know, I can arrange some other discount.

Yours truly, Aleksey Tsalolikhin Vertical Sysadmin, Inc. (sysadmin training company) http://www.verticalsysadmin.com/cfengine-class.htm

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Render box rental in LA?

February 8, 2012, 11:20 am

≫ Next: =?windows-1252?q?=93Studio_Sys_Admins=22__-=3E=3E?= =?windows-1252?q?=3ERFX_in_Hollywood_CA!?=

≪ Previous: Los Angeles: CFEngine 3 training this month. Special discount for studiosysadmins members.

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By Klaus Steden -

Hi there,

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a place to rent half a dozen to a dozen 1U render machines in the LA area? Dealing with a bit of a crunch, investigating options for bare metal we can drop into our machine room quickly for a short term (1-2 weeks) need.

thanks, Klaus

=?windows-1252?q?=93Studio_Sys_Admins=22__-=3E=3E?= =?windows-1252?q?=3ERFX_in_Hollywood_CA!?=

February 8, 2012, 2:20 pm

≫ Next: Backblaze Pod

≪ Previous: Render box rental in LA?

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By Joerg Mohnen -

Hello Fellow StudioSysAminer's

Just a BIG FYI on the RFX event happening on February 21st 2012 (see instructions below). Need to RSVP...

Don't forget to RSVP

Jorg Mohnen - Los Angeles

(310) 698-2058

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RFX would like to invite you to the ?Studio Sys Admins" meeting with The Foundry. 

Location: RFX
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Time: 7:00pm ? 9:30pm

Space is limited please rsvp@rfx.com. (Please include Name and Company)
(Food & Drinks provided)

As many of you know the ?Studio Sys Admins Group? provides a discussion forum for technical and production pipeline issues in the VFX industry. At the meeting development staff from The Foundry will discuss upcoming products:Hiero and Katana. 

Hiero, is an element and shot management tool that works in conjunction with NUKE in a collaborative VFX workflow. Hiero handles shot management and version control of sequences that allows the conforming and review process to operate more efficiently. 

Katana, is a CG look development and lighting tool designed to share lighting set ups between shots and sequences. Katana was designed as a highly scalable asset based workflow that works with multiple renderers and manages the dependencies between render passes. 

This should be another great evening at RFX. 

RFX Inc.
748 Seward Street
Hollywood, CA 90038
P-323-962-7400
www.rfx.com

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Backblaze Pod

February 8, 2012, 7:20 pm

≫ Next: Custom Photoshop scripting paths?

≪ Previous: =?windows-1252?q?=93Studio_Sys_Admins=22__-=3E=3E?= =?windows-1252?q?=3ERFX_in_Hollywood_CA!?=

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By Anh Quach -

Has anyone successfully built and deployed one of these things? Seriously thinking about this as a super dense tier 2/nearline solution. 

http://blog.backblaze.com/2011/07/20/petabytes-on-a-budget-v2-0revealing-more-secrets/

Another option is the Supermicro chassis: 

http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/847/SC847E16-R1400U.cfm

-Anh

Custom Photoshop scripting paths?

February 9, 2012, 7:50 am

≫ Next: (Linux) removable media & data leakage?

≪ Previous: Backblaze Pod

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By Todd Smith -

Hey all,

I've been researching how Adobe has or has not instituted custom scripting/preset/brush paths inside Photoshop CS5, so that we can keep all of our custom scripts/presets/brushes in a central repo, without having to symlink into the install path of Photoshop.

All the disucssions I have found online seem to date back to 2005 or earlier with no real discussion after that, which leads me to believe that there is a now a solution and I just haven't read the proper documentation to find it.

So .. how are you keeping your Photoshop application assets centralized?  Or is this just another one of those quirks where every other software developer manages to do it properly, but not Adobe?

Cheers,

Todd Smith

Head of Information Technology

soho vfx | 

99 Atlantic Ave. Suite 303, Toronto, Ontario M6K 3J8

office: (416) 516-7863 fax: (416) 516-9682 web: sohovfx.com

(Linux) removable media & data leakage?

February 9, 2012, 2:20 pm

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≪ Previous: Custom Photoshop scripting paths?

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By Michael Stevens -

I assume multiple people reading this are somehow managing Linux clients to make sure proprietary data doesn't walk off-site via arbitrary usb devices and similar ... how are you doing it? Windows and OS X were no-brainers to manage, Linux is being problematic to come up with a best practice for ...