Sorry for my English. I'm from Russia. We have the following problem.

When we read the contents of the folder on workspace with the clients connected to Lanshare via FiberChannel, we see all the files. But when we read the same folder directly from Windows 2000 (Lanshare OS), we see only part of files. For example with FiberChannel client we see the 40 files and with Lanshare we see only 35. The same thing happens with folders. What it could be?

Our configuration of Lanshare - Lanshare LP 4TB, version 4.2.1, 2GB of memory, Windows 2000 SP4 as operating system.

Hi,

Could it be as simple as the missing files being hidden in windows and the client showing the hidden files and the lanshare not?

Check in your explorer settings on the lanshare if "show hidden files" is tagged.

 

Hi! No, it is not so simple. Files and folders are not hidden and have the same attributes as other files/folders. Explorer settings are set to show hidden files.

Then I can't think of something...

Hi,

did you check your system to find any kind of virus, don't you have an "Autorun" on the workspace (as hidden file).

A virus name Kavo do this type of issue.

Normally it is better to don't open workspace from the filemanager, only the workspaces mounted on Ethernet client appears in My Computer's server, maybe only files use by the client could be seen?

Regards

I tested the system for viruses about two weeks ago. Were found the remains of rootkit named Kido (Conficker) and deleted. But not the rootkit, only some keys in registry. There is no "autorun" on workspaces. There is symantec antivirus and it doesn't detected any new viruses.

We need to share one of workspaces to ethernet. Just to exchange files, not for editing. Our editing stations are over fibre channel and they have no problems with disappearing files. There are some interesting things: when I try to see files on workspace over ethernet some of this files suddenly disappear. I think first, that it was a portserver bug. But if I stop the portserver service on lanshare and go to the unity network (Network places -> Avid Unity network) I see the filemanager shares. Go to some of them and files (and folders) disappear there too. So this is not portserver bug. Additionally, if I use "dir" command on workspace, then I have some interesting results:

First try:
H:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\AVID1.1>dir /ad
 Volume in drive H is News1
 Volume Serial Number is 0623-3C00

 Directory of H:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\AVID1.1

08/15/2009  12:42p      <DIR>          .
08/15/2009  12:42p      <DIR>          ..
09/09/2009  04:26p      <DIR>          Creating
09/01/2009  12:18p      <DIR>          Quarantined Files
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               4 Dir(s)  304,694,689,792 bytes free

And second try:
H:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\AVID1.1>dir /ad
 Volume in drive H is News1
 Volume Serial Number is 0623-3C00

 Directory of H:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\AVID1.1

08/06/2009  12:34p      <DIR>          .
08/15/2009  12:42p      <DIR>          ..
09/09/2009  04:26p      <DIR>          Creating
09/01/2009  12:18p      <DIR>          Quarantined Files
               0 File(s)              0 bytes
               4 Dir(s)  304,694,689,792 bytes free

So, as I understand the directory date changes suddenly...

I think, maybe problems are with metadata. Also it could be: a virus; hardware troubles; limitations or bugs of windows server 2000; maybe some of drivers... We don't want to reinstall lanshare, it's not so easy to stop our work. And I fear for the loss of our video data, if we reinstall lanshare.

Hi Again,

That's interesting info. I would suspect Metadata here but DocAvid is the expert on that. What is also interesting in the presence of the Quarantined Files folder.

I assume you tried to rebuild the database once and avid came up with items that it could not read and thought were corrupted. I once had a corrupted workspace on a Lanshare with M.N. 4.1.8. This workspace looked fine in windows both on the client and lanshare but MC would not see it.

What I did to resolve it was:

Create new workspace. (with different name). Mount new and old workspace on a fiber client. Copy in windows all the media (folders). (this can take some time). Check if the new workspace works by checking on Ethernet client. You can now also try relinking some media to the new workspace.

Deleting the database files on the new workspace and see how many problems MC encounters during the rebuild will also give you some hints about what is going on.

If problem seems resolved delete old workspace and rename new one to the old one if you want.

Might be worth giving a try.

About the Quarantined Files folder. There are incorrectly recorded files from the disk recorder (another our headache ). This does not apply to our main problem.

 

Some time ago we have one big workspace. We had problems with slowness when Avid indexes databases. And we decided to rebuild our workspace. We made two workspaces. One for exported movies and other for everything else (projects, media, sound library...). We had problems with disappearing files. And slowness still remained. So, we rebuild workspaces and now have one for projects, one for exported movies, and three for editing clients (we have 3 editing station). Every editing client can write only to own workspace, to export and to projects of course. So, we almost  solved the problem of slowness. We rebuilt our workspaces just like you say - create new workspace, mount them on a fiber client, copy files in windows, delete all databases, rescan files with Avid Newscutter clients (so, we have new databases). But files are still disappearing. Even on these workspaces, which does not have databases (export, projects).  I repeat, can not see them only on the Lanshare server (and on ethernet, because they are shared thru this server), fiber clients see everything normally.

Ika,

One thing I did not get. The missing files. Are these media files? And if so, do you also get "media offline" when this media is used in the timeline of the avid that is connected through ethernet?

 

No, these are not media files, but all files, including media and even directories. But they disappear not for fibre channel clients. Only for lanshare itself (for the server) and for ethernet clients (which are not editing clients, they just have simple access to shared workspaces over ethernet to exchange some files). So, our avids are connected to lanshare over fibre channel. And they have no problem with "media offline" or with missing files.

 

And one more interesting thing: if some file disappear, but I know the name of file and path to this file, I can simply enter the path and filename on explorer and the file opens with associated program.

Hmmm, So some files behave like hidden files while they are not hidden files. And even f they were hidden files, on the Ethernet attached workstation and the lanshare itself, explorer is set to show hidden files.

Can you check the properties for a file or folder that has this problem on one of the fiber clients and compare those properties to files that can be seen on both? Maybe there is a clue somewhere.

 

 

Yes, you are right about file's behaviour. I checked properties, but not found anything interesting. Files and folders are seen on the fibre clients even if explorer set to not show hidden files. The fibre clients are on Windows XP, and lanshare is on Windows 2000 - maybe there is a problem... And the problem is on every workspace and every folder - I checked it thru a "dir" command and I see the same behavior on many folders (date is changing). And files disappear too (checked in explorer). And I found something else - when files/folders disappear amount of free space available on workspace do not changes. And this amount of free space is correct  - fiber clients see the same values. And disk sizes are correct on lanshare. So, when I view disk properties on Lanshare, I see "Used space - 1.72 GB". But when I select all folders and files in root of workspace (on Lanshare) and view properties of them, I see "Size on disk - 1.67 GB".

Hi, just a flash. Are date and time synchronized on all PC's with the lanshare?

Hi, unfortunately, all PC's are synchronized with one time source. I think, the only one way to fix this problem is to reinstall lanshare software. And, maybe, full reinstallation (windows, drivers...) [:'(]

That time source should be the lanshare, is it?