Prinergy and OSX Server (Tertiary) Issues?

jardo

Well-known member
Anybody out there using a OSX Server as a Tertiary to a Prinergy system? Is it working well for you? I am finding many annoying issues. As of late, I think the Prinergy system is crashing our OSX server, giving all of our users the spinning beachball of death because of a SMBD service it keeps polling for its hotfolder use. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. We are on OSX 10.4.11 and Prinergy 4.0.21
 
Re: Prinergy and OSX Server (Tertiary) Issues?

We're running an OSX server but we were told not to upgrade to 10.4.x several months ago when we were still using Rampage. Now we have Evo 4.0.6.0 and we have no problems with our server. Still haven't upgraded. Something to check out . . . maybe.
 
Re: Prinergy and OSX Server (Tertiary) Issues?

Hi, we use an Xserve OSX 10.4.8 as our tertiary for Prinery 3.1.0.7 but you must use AFP for the communications, SMB will cause all kind of problems. Everything works fine in AFP, the only downside is the the archiving fonction is not usable while in AFP.
We do an Export and zip the User defined folders to do our archiving. Hope it helps.
 
Re: Prinergy and OSX Server (Tertiary) Issues?

"Did I find a solution to the problem" is a very big question. Hhhhhum, we let's say it works satisfactorily now. Querky is the word when using a OSX server as a tertiary server, but I am happy.

Things that I found out on our side that Prinergy/OSX did not like. 1.) We had a a autosyc app running from various PC's, copying their files to another RAID that the OSX server managed, causing the CPU to rise 15-20%. We stopped this. On top of that, we had Retrospect (On another OSX workstation) trying the backup files, raising it another 15-20%. 2.) We do not use the Archive JTP and do our own homegrown version of archiving. We basically, archive the entire job, then delete from the RAID. In Prinergy, we move the folder to a archived folder. If we need it again, we simply bring it back from our archived tapes and place it back into the jobs folder on the RAID. Our Problem was this, each or most of the jobs had anywhere from 1-6 hotfolders. Prinergy thinks the job is still there, so it continues its polling of the HF's and then figures out that the folder is no longer there. This caused slow down and a very long startup of Prinergy, because it looks for the HF's at start up, but can't find the folder. So now we delete the HF's from the job, before archiving. 3.) We boosted our RAID storage from approx. 768gb to 2.2TB 4.) We completely restaged (Zeroed all data) the server from 10.4 disk and did the Apple updates in two rounds. We previously upgraded as the updates came out. I think this made a huge difference.

Things that Prinergy will not do well with a Tertiary. 1.) Archiving JTP, from what I hear and have read. 2.) InSite can not upload single unstuffed files. They must be zipped or have a extention at the end of the name. 3.) Refining a Brisque .job is horribly slow. We refine it on the Primary, get our Master PDF, and port it over to the OSX server. 4.) AFP/SMB connectivity is confusing for me when you look at all the things you must consider. It is not documented well in my eyes, or I need to be educated on it more.

I really had to track the CPU usage on the OSX server. With nothing running, CPU of the OSX server is around 10%. Turn on Prinergy only, and it raises to about 30-40%, start pumping out jobs/refining/plating and CPU goes up to about 70-80%, run backups on the RAID and you push it to 90%. Please note, we have a Older Power PC G4 Server 2x1.33ghz & 2GB RAM. This could really help if we upgraded our server and put in a RAID card.

Hope this helps. You can email me directly and we can talk more if you like. Cheers, it's Friday!
[email protected]
 
Re: Prinergy and OSX Server (Tertiary) Issues?

PS - If you haven't noticed my other other posted thread, we are looking into SAN storage for our tertiary server to replace our OSX server. Do we stay on top of technology or tread on thin ice??? Is the glass half empty or half full? I say half full!
 
Re: Prinergy and OSX Server (Tertiary) Issues?

Hi,
First post on the forum !

We recently upgrade our Prinergy from 3 to 4 (we made it as well for Insite from 4 to 5)

Before all this, we were working on a Dell PowerEdge server as tertiary we called "Printer" so as to store all or Jobs. The guy who worked in the company before I arrived had ordered a Apple Xserve G5 and TWO apple Xserve RAID ! But there were just turned on so we we could see beautiful blue and green lights !

Finally, when we have decided to upgrade our workflow, I also decided to involve the whole Apple Xserves into it.
The configuration is :
- a Primary server (DELL PowerEdge)
- a Secondary server (DELL PowerEdge)
- a Render station in front of the ComputerToPlate Magnus 800 Quantum
- a Tertiary Xserve G5 (2 x 2,3GHz with 4GB RAM) with 2 Xserve RAID.

But we encountered many issues.
1 - When we create a new job on the Tertiary Xserve, TIFF-IT files are SLOW to refine ! (CEPS conversion seems to have a problem !)
We made tests on our old "Printer" and our new Xserve : the same file was refined in 15 seconds on the "Printer" and 13 MINUTES on the Xserve !

2 - One night, the ARAXI user simply DIED on the Xserve ! As if the user had never exist !
We had to call Vancouver HQ to solve the problem !

3 - We do not use the Archive JTP, we use RBA to automatically update job status and move them to an Finished_Jobs group in the Workshop and then a Tri-Backup to replicate from an Xserve RAID to the other.

4 - Sometimes, imposed outputs turns crazy ! Horizontal Black lines appears.
We solve the issue by restarting Proof JTPs.

I'm sure our Xserve is running weel. The Upgrade to Prinergy 4 brought unknown issues. The Kodak e-Central has quite new posts dealing with "recent issues with Prinergy 4 and Xserves !"

Other problems ?
 

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