I have an idea…

This is an excerpt from my experiences of working with TuneUp for iTunes running on OS 10.6 where the library is stored on Windows Server 2008.

First off I started with trying to connect to the Server 2008 using SMB and a shared folder on the server with “Connect to server” which was ok for most everything until I downloaded and started using TuneUp.  I have a large collection of MP3′s 5000+ and most of them I consider incorrectly titled, albumed, artisted and of course no cover art. I don’t like looking at an iTunes library full of the word “Unknown”

TuneUp was incredibly slow at being able to clean even just a few songs over SMB.  I read on their support forums that mostly this is because TuneUp has to “unpackage” and repackage the MP3 file completely in order to change the ID tag information(not sure why) and this is a file I/O heavy operation.  So I started investigating where this bottleneck could be.  The server itself was for the most part standing still. Near zero CPU, 30% memory used, very low disk activity(>1 MB/sec) and very little network utilization(>1 Mbps), I should mention these computers are linked via Gigabit network with two switches in between, so the bottleneck could be the switches, although I doubt it.

So the server isn’t working overtime, the network is fast, what else could it be?  I decided to investigate a more formal protocol for file sharing between os X and Windows. NFS.  NFS has been around as long as the Internet and is the defacto standard for file sharing on UNIX networks.  OS X being UNIX(BSD) based, naturally would be a good fit for NFS.  The problem then is, how does NFS work on Server 2008?

Turns out Server 2008 has the built-in ability to share folders via NFS with it’s “Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications” feature. Enabling this enabled a new tab on the folders property sheet, NFS sharing.

After much configuring and basically guessing, I finally came up with the combination of settings that allowed the iMac to read/write files in the folder I was sharing.  With help from a program called “NFS Manager” I was able to set the shared folder as a mounted drive within my user profile folder.  Basically I had to set the NFS share to No Server authentication, Enable unmapped user access, and Allow unmapped user UNIX access(by UID/GID) I then set the permissions so the Everyone group had full control.

Now, obviously this is incredibly insecure and if it were anything besides my MP3 collection I was sharing I would have never stuck with these settings after I got it working. But let me continue.

In OS 10.6 they moved how you access NFS sharepoints to within the Disk Manager tool.  I tried over and over with the “NFS Mount…” option in the File menu, but just couldn’t get either the mount location to a place I could see(I read in many places that you should mount NFS shares in /Volumes – don’t) Mostly the problem was that even when I mounted to a location I had no problem Finding(pun intended) I had what OS X called “Unknown Access” and couldn’t even open the folder.

I was logged into the iMac with a user “BlueMagma” and I added this as a local user to the server. I also entered the server name in the remote NFS url, which took editing the local /etc/hosts file because I don’t have DNS on my network.  I played around with NFS Manager, and I can’t honestly say which of these things took care of the problem.

So I have my share mounted as a drive and can read/write/delete any file or folder within. I have to say, it’s noticeably faster. As for TuneUp it is marginally faster on small batches, but for larger batches of 500 or more 2 hours is quite a bit less than 3 or 4.

Also, I have my iTunes preferences to clean up my library by creating or editing folders when a songs album id tag changes.  I think I need to turn this off temporarily because it may be conflicting with the updating of the actual MP3′s.

Stay Tuned.

Today at the Twins v Mariners game the National Anthem was for some reason especially moving. Sure all of the standard actors where in place and on the ready, but there was something different today that appeared truly genuine. It wasn’t the crowd, it wasn’t the weather, it wasn’t that I was a bit tired from a long night. But there was something, that admittedly brought a dampness to the inside of my eyelids.

The honorary flag raiser was a Vietnam vet, approximately my dad’s age who had earned a number of medals. I always pay closer attention when the announcer reads aloud the vet’s situational war stories and today’s vet had single-handedly captured 5 enemy soldiers while wounded.  I never get tired of hearing what a person did in these types of situations while staring at them on a giant 80 foot HD screen. Somehow, that screen suddenly seems worth it.

The anthem was sung by the winners of a Twins event and consisted of 3 males in their 40′s one of which was wheelchair bound and had a service dog. Of course now, you’re thinking “aww”. While they weren’t the most tuneful or pitch focused individuals, hearing their common man voices, watching the American flag go up slowly with the POW flag just behind it, and seeing these 3 guys with their wheelchair and service dog really made me pause and be proud for just a minute.  It reminded me that America isn’t about winning wars or spending money on bullshit and hot dogs. For a minute, I believed again that America is about trying, and loosing, and trying again.  I kept thinking to myself, “See goddammit, America, we gotta make this work”. People sign up and get injured or killed for wars that end with no winner, live on social security in a wheelchair, and still sing the goddamned National Anthem. We gotta figure this thing out.

I blame Obama.

http://www.irondogstudios.com/images/tater/mek_tater.html

I’ll give it a √ for making something dumb not dumb at all.