Avid NEXIS FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
By Jim Bask
Avid NEXIS Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: I recently purchased ISIS | 1000. What is my migration plan to Avid NEXIS? Can these solutions co-exist?
A: Great news! ISIS | 1000 is now Avid NEXIS | PRO. It’s the same hardware underneath, but we’ve renamed it to express that it is now part of the next-generation Avid NEXIS family and can utilize the new Avid NEXIS software when available. You can combine one to four PRO systems into a shared pool of storage, and dynamically adjust workspaces across the entire storage solution, for a maximum of 80 TB of storage space. Note PRO systems cannot be mixed in the same pool of storage as Avid NEXIS Enterprise systems. You can also purchase new bezels for your ISIS | 1000 systems so that they have the most current look and new product name.
Q: I just purchased an Avid NEXIS | PRO. What will I receive?
A: You will receive the 2RU server with Avid ISIS | 1000 on the bezel, along with a letter and a sticker with the new name, should you chose to apply it. The shipments will be sent this way until current ISIS | 1000-branded inventory is depleted.
Q: Why did I receive a download for ISIS 5.0.x software when I registered my Avid NEXIS | PRO?
A: Your Avid NEXIS | PRO system can run the latest ISIS 5.0.x software today. If you register your system in your Avid Master Account on April 16, 2016 or later you will receive the Avid NEXIS 6.0 software in your account when released.
IMPORTANT: If you received an ISIS 1000-branded unit or are running ISIS 5.0.x software today on your Avid NEXIS | PRO you must install ISIS 5.0.2 software before you can upgrade to Avid NEXIS 6.0 or else the upgrade will fail. Avid NEXIS 6.0 and ISIS 5.0.2 software will be made available in your Avid Master Account if you register on or after April 16, 2016 or have an active Avid Advantage Support Plan once available.
Q: I currently have multiple ISIS systems in my facility. Can I use them with Avid NEXIS?
A: You can simultaneously connect clients to both Avid ISIS and Avid NEXIS systems in your workflow using the Avid NEXIS 6.0 client software. However, ISIS storage engines cannot be physically mixed with Avid NEXIS storage engines in the same system to form one pool of storage.
Q: What applications work with Avid NEXIS?
A: MediaCentral Platform applications including Media Composer, Pro Tools, Interplay plus a wide breadth of 3rd party applications including Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut X, EDIUS and more have been qualified with Avid NEXIS. Avid NEXIS supports a wide range of client operating systems including Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Q: What protection do I get against drive failures?
A: With the release of Avid NEXIS 6.0 there are three Workspace Protection types offered:
One Drive Protection – 1 parity block is written for each stripe of data – RAID 5 Fashion.
This allows for 1 media drive to fail within a Media Pack (10 drives) before media is not recoverable.
Unprotected – No parity blocks are written – RAID 0 Fashion.
Any drive failure will cause data loss
Avid NEXIS is “Media Aware” – Only the actual media on the drives will be rebuild, reducing rebuild times.
Q: Is it correct to assess that a media pack with 2 drive protection, on ALL WRITES, is 320MB/s bandwidth?
A: Yes: The aggregate write bandwidth depends on the protection scheme. When writing single disk protection the write bandwidth is 360MB/sec because performance equivalent to one drive is required to write parity. Similarly for dual disk the write performance is 320MB/sec because the performance of two drives is required for parity writes.
Q: How much of the total raw capacity is usable with Single or Dual Disk protection?
A: Dual Disk protection provides 80% usable and Single Disk protection delivers 89% usable. The advantage of Avid NEXIS is the ability to define the protection level per workspace, other storage
Q: When will High-Availability features be made available?
A: Features such as Redundant Controllers, Redundant Networking, Redundant System Director Appliances, and Engine Protection (mirroring) will be made available in software updates to be delivered into your Avid Master Account later 2016.
Q: Are there Interplay Production and Broadcast Bundles that include Avid NEXIS storage?
A: Yes: Interplay | Production Starter and Facility bundles and Broadcast Bundles D, E & F now have options that include Avid NEXIS. These can be booked now and will be available to ship May 19th 2016. The existing ISIS | 5500 based bundles will remain active for a number of months to allow Avid to fulfill existing quotes.
Details of the bundle contents are in all pricebooks.
Q: Can I add Avid NEXIS to one of my current ISIS VLANs?
A: Yes, you do not need a separate subnet to add Avid NEXIS to your existing ISIS network.
Q: I have an existing ISIS 7000 customer utilizing a typical Zone 1 type configuration. This site has all servers and most clients connected Zone 1 with a .10 and .20 connection to clients and servers. This site has not established a third VLAN nor have they looked to move servers off of that config to a more current Zone 3 type connection and routing. How can i move them to Avid NEXIS?
A: You should configure a third VLAN for Avid NEXIS and route the clients to this new network. The clients will be Zone 3 to Avid NEXIS and Zone 1 to the existing ISIS 7000.
Q: Can Avid NEXIS be used as Nearline?
A: Yes: Avid NEXIS is ideal for production and nearline storage. A major benefit of Avid NEXIS’s Software Defined Storage is the ability to have multiple virtual Workspaces on a single physical pool of storage with different protection schemes to best suit the needs of the workflow. Dual Disk or Mirror protection is recommended for production workspaces and Dual or Single disk protection is recommended for nearline workflows.
Q: What else do I need to configure / Quote / Order?
A: All Avid NEXIS Enterprise E2 & E4 Engines and the System Director Appliance require 10G Ethernet network interfaces, either Short or Long Range SFP+ transceivers or Twinax direct attach cables. All Avid NEXIS | E4 Engine also requires either spare Hard Disk Drives (up to 2) or drive slot covers. Any half populated Avid NEXIS | E4 (with one Media Pack) requires a 10-pack of drive slot covers.
Q: Does Avid NEXIS support LDAP and is it similar to ISIS LDAP functionality?
A: Yes: Avid NEXIS supports LDAP and it is equivalent to LDAP in current ISIS products.
Q: What does Avid NEXIS FS stand for?
A: Avid NEXIS File System: We are branding the File System it is a truly differentiated, software defined storage FS.
Q: What licenses do I need?
A: Each Avid NEXIS | Enterprise (E2 & E4) engine includes an Avid NEXIS | FS Foundation license that enables the Avid NEXIS System Director to be run embedded on the engine and supports up to 4 Media Packs and up to 40 clients.
The Avid NEXIS | System Director Appliance (SDA) includes the Avid NEXIS | FS Extended license for up to 12 Media Packs and up to 165 clients.
The Avid NEXIS | FS Advanced License is required for configurations of up to 24 Media Packs and up to 330 clients. The Avid NEXIS | FS Advanced license is an add-on to the Avid NEXIS | SDA.
Q: My customer has 80 clients but can be accommodated by a single Avid NEXIS | E4 120. Can they use the Avid NEXIS | System Director Appliance (SDA) with a single engine?
A: Yes: There is no minimum number of engines or Media Packs for use with the Avid NEXIS | SDA. The SDA is required if there are more than 40 clients regardless of the number of Media Packs.
Q: My customer will be using the Avid NEXIS | System Director Appliance and not the embedded Foundation license, so do the Engines require the SSDs?
A; Yes: All Avid NEXIS Engines (Enterprise E2, E4 and PRO) require and ship with the dual mirrored SSDs (Solid State Drives). The SSDs are used for;
- File System Acceleration
- Configuration & Profile Management (enables zero configuration when replacing a controller)
- System Director MetaData when using the embedded Avid NEXIS | FS Foundation license
The SSDs are included and required in all Avid NEXIS components, E2, E4, Pro engines and the SDA.
Q: What version of ISIS 5500 and ISIS 7500 will the Avid NEXIS 6.0 client work with?
A: Avid ISIS v4.7.5 and later can connect to Avid NEXIS v6.0 client.
Q: To clarify and confirm on mirroring protection. You need Three E2’s or Three E4’s. Not three Media Packs.
A: Correct, for Seamless Engine Protection vioa Avid NEXIS Mirror the workspace must be across 3 similarly configured engines. (3 Media Packs, 2 in an E4 and one in an E3 or half populated E4 are NOT “Mirror capable”.)
Q: Can I chose which workspaces have mirroring?
A: Yes: Each Workspace can be configured for Mirror, Dual Single or no protection. This is a benefit of Avid NEXIS Software Defined Storage.
A: This was meant to be 20TB MP / total capacity 20TB etc, but we are changing to a simpler 1x20TB, 2x20TB and 1x60TB description.
Q: How do Avid NEXIS features compare to current ISIS features?
A: