Podcast Producer Administration
Mac OS X Server
Podcast Producer
Administration
For Version 10.5 Leopard
Apple Inc.
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The owner or authorized user of a valid copy of
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such as selling copies of this publication or for
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Contents
2
Preface
7
About This Guide
7
What’s in This Guide
8
Using Onscreen Help
8
Mac OS X Server Administration Guides
10
Viewing PDF Guides on Screen
10
Printing PDF Guides
10
Getting Documentation Updates
11
Getting Additional Information
Chapter 1
13
Overview of Podcast Producer
13
How Podcast Producer Works
14
The Architecture of the Podcast Producer System
15
Podcast Producer Server
15
Podcast Capture
15
The podcast Command-Line Tool
16
Podcast Producer Agent
16
Shared File System
16
Workflows
17
Xgrid
17
The Podcast Producer Security Model
18
Client/Server Communication
18
Authentication
18
Xgrid
19
Publishing
19
Podcast Producer Customization
20
Supported Audio and Video Formats
Chapter 2
21
Setting Up Podcast Producer
21
Hardware and Software Requirements for Podcast Producer
21
Podcast Producer Agent Computer Requirements
21
Podcast Server Computer Requirements
22
Xgrid Size and Bandwidth Considerations
22
Before You Set Up Podcast Producer
3
22
Starting Required Services
23
Configuring the DNS Service
23
Configure Mail
24
Configuring the Open Directory Service
24
Creating Required Users
25
Configuring Web Service
25
Creating a Group Blog
26
Configuring Xgrid Service
26
Configuring QuickTime Streaming Service
26
Setting Up Podcast Producer
26
Configuring General Settings
28
Configuring the Default Workflow Settings
28
Starting the Podcast Producer Server
29
Binding a Mac to the Podcast Producer Service
30
Verifying Your Setup
Chapter 3
31
Managing Workflows
31
Controlling Access to Workflows in Podcast Capture
32
Monitoring Workflow Usage
32
Filtering Workflows
32
Displaying Workflow Information
33
Configuring Workflow Properties
33
Configuring Default Workflow Properties
35
Configuring Custom Workflow Properties
Chapter 4
37
Managing Cameras
37
Controlling Access to Cameras in Podcast Capture
38
Removing Cameras
38
Filtering Cameras
Chapter 5
39
Customizing Workflows
39
The Structure of a Workflow Bundle
40
Global Encodings and Resources
41
The Structure of a Workflow
42
Workflow Task Specifications
43
Property Keys
45
Task Dependencies
46
Workflow Commands
47
Podcast Producer Default Workflows
48
Blog without archive
49
Blog
50
Blog and iTunes with watermark
51
Blog and iTunes with intro
4
Contents
52
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects
53
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for tv
54
iTunes U
55
iTunes U with intro
56
Blog with streaming and no archive
57
Blog with streaming
58
Blog with streaming and intro
59
Blog with streaming, intro and effects
60
Submit for Approval
60
Customizing Workflows
60
Tools for Editing Workflows
61
Modifying Workflow Resources
61
Adding Custom Properties
62
Duplicating and Modifying Workflows
62
Adding Localized Strings
Chapter 6
63
The Podcast Producer Shared File System
63
Specifying a Shared File System
63
The Structure of the Shared File System
64
Using an NFS Shared File System
Chapter 7
65
Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
65
Resource Planning
66
Manual Submission Systems
66
Video Recording Systems
66
Recording Quality
68
Network Bandwidth
68
Publishing Systems
68
Storage
68
Xgrid Agents
69
Workflows
69
Workflow Benchmarking
69
Deployment Scenarios
69
Small Deployment
70
Partially Scalable Deployment
71
Highly Scalable Deployment
71
Case Study
72
Recording System Configuration
72
Workflow Benchmarks
73
Recording Schedule
73
Performance
75
Summary
Contents
5
Chapter 8
77
Podcast Producer Command-Line Tools
77
The podcast Tool
78
The pcastconfig Tool
78
The pcastctl Tool
78
The pcastaction Tool
Chapter 9
79
Monitoring Podcast Producer
79
Viewing Podcast Producer Logs
80
Monitoring Movie Transfers
80
Monitoring Xgrid Job Progress
80
Using Xgrid Admin
81
Using the Command Line
Glossary
83
Index
91
6
Contents
e
About This Guide
r
efac
P
Use this guide to set up and manage Podcast Producer
solutions.
Podcast Producer Administration describes how to set up and manage Podcast Producer
solutions for publish podcasts of lectures, training, or other audio and video projects.
What’s in This Guide
This guide includes the following chapters:
 Chapter 1, “Overview of Podcast Producer,” introduces Podcast Producer and
describes its architecture and security model.
 Chapter 2, “Setting Up Podcast Producer,” describes how to get Podcast Producer up
and running.
 Chapter 3, “Managing Workflows,” provides a high-level overview of workflows and
how to manage them using Server Admin.
 Chapter 4, “Managing Cameras,” describes how to manage and monitor camera
usage using Server Admin.
 Chapter 5, “Customizing Workflows,” describes how to customize workflows.
 Chapter 6, “The Podcast Producer Shared File System,” describes the structure of the
Podcast Producer shared file system.
 Chapter 7, “Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions,” describes how to plan
the deployment of Podcast Producer solutions.
 Chapter 8, “Podcast Producer Command-Line Tools,” describes the Podcast Producer
command-line tools.
 Chapter 9, “Monitoring Podcast Producer,” describes how to monitor and
troubleshoot Podcast Producer issues.
Note: Because Apple periodically releases new versions and updates to its software,
images shown in this book may be different from what you see on your screen.
7
Using Onscreen Help
You can get task instructions onscreen in the Help Viewer application while you’re
managing Leopard Server. You can view help on a server or an administrator computer.
(An administrator computer is a Mac OS X computer with Leopard Server
administration software installed on it.)
To get help for an advanced configuration of Leopard Server:
m Open Server Admin or Workgroup Manager and then:
 Use the Help menu to search for a task you want to perform.
 Choose Help > Server Admin Help or Help > Workgroup Manager Help to browse
and search the help topics.
The onscreen help contains instructions taken from Server Administration and other
advanced administration guides described in “Mac OS X Server Administration Guides,”
next.
To see the most recent server help topics:
m Make sure the server or administrator computer is connected to the Internet while
you’re getting help.
Help Viewer automatically retrieves and caches the most recent server help topics from
the Internet. When not connected to the Internet, Help Viewer displays cached help
topics.
Mac OS X Server Administration Guides
Getting Started covers basic installation and initial setup methods for an advanced
configuration of Leopard Server as well as for a standard or workgroup configuration.
An advanced guide, Server Administration, covers advanced planning, installation, setup,
and more. A suite of additional guides, listed below, covers advanced planning, setup,
and management of individual services. You can get these guides in PDF format from
the Mac OS X Server documentation website:
www.apple.com/server/documentation
This guide ...
tells you how to:
Getting Started and
Install Mac OS X Server and set it up for the first time.
Mac OS X Server Worksheet
Command-Line Administration
Install, set up, and manage Mac OS X Server using UNIX command-
line tools and configuration files.
File Services Administration
Share selected server volumes or folders among server clients
using the AFP, NFS, FTP, and SMB protocols.
iCal Service Administration
Set up and manage iCal shared calendar service.
iChat Service Administration
Set up and manage iChat instant messaging service.
8
Preface About This Guide
This guide ...
tells you how to:
Mac OS X Security Configuration
Make Mac OS X computers (clients) more secure, as required by
enterprise and government customers.
Mac OS X Server Security
Make Mac OS X Server and the computer it’s installed on more
Configuration
secure, as required by enterprise and government customers.
Mail Service Administration
Set up and manage IMAP, POP, and SMTP mail services on the
server.
Network Services Administration
Set up, configure, and administer DHCP, DNS, VPN, NTP, IP firewall,
NAT, and RADIUS services on the server.
Open Directory Administration
Set up and manage directory and authentication services, and
configure clients to access directory services.
Podcast Producer Administration
Set up and manage Podcast Producer service to record, process,
and distribute podcasts.
Print Service Administration
Host shared printers and manage their associated queues and print
jobs.
QuickTime Streaming and
Capture and encode QuickTime content. Set up and manage
Broadcasting Administration
QuickTime streaming service to deliver media streams live or on
demand.
Server Administration
Perform advanced installation and setup of server software, and
manage options that apply to multiple services or to the server as a
whole.
System Imaging and Software
Use NetBoot, NetInstall, and Software Update to automate the
Update Administration
management of operating system and other software used by
client computers.
Upgrading and Migrating
Use data and service settings from an earlier version of
Mac OS X Server or Windows NT.
User Management
Create and manage user accounts, groups, and computers. Set up
managed preferences for Mac OS X clients.
Web Technologies Administration
Set up and manage web technologies, including web, blog,
webmail, wiki, MySQL, PHP, Ruby on Rails, and WebDAV.
Xgrid Administration and High
Set up and manage computational clusters of Xserve systems and
Performance Computing
Mac computers.
Mac OS X Server Glossary
Learn about terms used for server and storage products.
Preface About This Guide
9
Viewing PDF Guides on Screen
While reading the PDF version of a guide onscreen:
 Show bookmarks to see the guide’s outline, and click a bookmark to jump to the
corresponding section.
 Search for a word or phrase to see a list of places where it appears in the document.
Click a listed place to see the page where it occurs.
 Click a cross-reference to jump to the referenced section. Click a web link to visit the
website in your browser.
Printing PDF Guides
If you want to print a guide, you can take these steps to save paper and ink:
 Save ink or toner by not printing the cover page.
 Save color ink on a color printer by looking in the panes of the Print dialog for an
option to print in grays or black and white.
 Reduce the bulk of the printed document and save paper by printing more than one
page per sheet of paper. In the Print dialog, change Scale to 115% (155% for Getting
Started). Then choose Layout from the untitled pop-up menu. If your printer supports
two-sided (duplex) printing, select one of the Two-Sided options. Otherwise, choose
2 from the Pages per Sheet pop-up menu, and optionally choose Single Hairline from
the Border menu. (If you’re using Mac OS X v10.4 or earlier, the Scale setting is in the
Page Setup dialog and the Layout settings are in the Print dialog.)
You may want to enlarge the printed pages even if you don’t print double sided,
because the PDF page size is smaller than standard printer paper. In the Print dialog or
Page Setup dialog, try changing Scale to 115% (155% for Getting Started, which has CD-
size pages).
Getting Documentation Updates
Periodically, Apple posts revised help pages and new editions of guides. Some revised
help pages update the latest editions of the guides.
 To view new onscreen help topics for a server application, make sure your server or
administrator computer is connected to the Internet and click “Latest help topics” or
“Staying current” in the main help page for the application.
 To download the latest guides in PDF format, go to the Mac OS X Server
documentation website:
www.apple.com/server/documentation
10
Preface About This Guide
Getting Additional Information
For more information, consult these resources:
 Read Me documents—important updates and special information. Look for them on
the server discs.
 Mac OS X Server website (www.apple.com/server/macosx)—gateway to extensive
product and technology information.
 Mac OS X Server Support website (www.apple.com/support/macosxserver)—access to
hundreds of articles from Apple’s support organization.
 Apple Training website (www.apple.com/training)—instructor-led and self-paced
courses for honing your server administration skills.
 Apple Discussions website (discussions.apple.com)—a way to share questions,
knowledge, and advice with other administrators.
 Apple Mailing Lists website (www.lists.apple.com)—subscribe to mailing lists so you
can communicate with other administrators using email.
Preface About This Guide
11
12
Preface About This Guide
Overview of Podcast Producer
1
1
This chapter introduces Podcast Producer and describes the
architecture of the Podcast Producer system.
Podcast Producer is a video capture, processing, and publishing system. It is an elegant
solution that automates the process of creating and publishing podcasts of lectures,
training, or other audio and video projects.
How Podcast Producer Works
Podcast Producer does to the production of podcasts what the assembly line did to
automobile production. It automates and streamlines the production of podcasts, as
illustrated in the following figure.
1
Publishing Servers
Podcast Producer Cluster
(including Xgrid controller/nodes)
Shared File System
2
3
4
Here’s how the process works:
1 The user uses Podcast Capture to remotely record audio or video.
The user can also record audio and video locally, record screen activity, or directly
submit a QuickTime movie to the Podcast Producer server.
2 If remotely recording audio or video, the recording system submits the recording to the
Podcast Producer server.
13
3 The Podcast Producer server takes the submission and sends it to an Xgrid cluster to be
processed according to the workflow selected in Podcast Capture. When finished, the
Xgrid cluster publishes the resulting podcasts. The Xgrid cluster also sends
mail notifications to users with instructions on how to access the podcasts.
4 Users use iTunes and Safari to access the podcasts and download them to their iPhone,
iPod, or Apple TV devices.
The Architecture of the Podcast Producer System
The following figures illustrates the architecture of the Podcast Producer system.
Shared File System
Podcast Capture
query/control/
Recordings
Caches
Approval
submit
Resources
Archive
/usr/bin/pcast
Workflows
Podcasts
Streams
submit
Camera Capture
submit
archive/publish
Web Server
Agent
QTSS Server
Safari
control
sync
Podcast Producer
Server
QuickTime Player
submit workflow
job
iTunes
Safari
post
Weblog
RSS
Xgrid Controller
iTunes
update
iTunes Registry
assign tasks
iTunesU
Xgrid Agents
post
email
Mail Server
Mail
Apple TV
iPhone
iPod
14
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
The Podcast Producer system consists of the following main components:
 “Podcast Producer Server” on page 15
 “Podcast Capture” on page 15
 “Podcast Producer Agent” on page 16
 “Shared File System” on page 16
 “Workflows” on page 16
 “Xgrid” on page 17
Podcast Producer Server
The Podcast Producer server is the central point for the administration of a Podcast
Producer solution.
The Podcast Producer server manages camera capture agents, provides access control
and centralized management, and accepts QuickTime movies to be processed on an
Xgrid cluster.
You can use the Podcast Producer server to:
 Specify a shared folder where QuickTime movies are submitted for processing and
where podcasts are stored
 Specify the Xgrid controller to be used for processing QuickTime movies
 Control and monitor access to cameras
 Control and monitor access to workflows
 Customize workflow properties
Podcast Capture
Podcast Capture (/Application/Utilities) is the application you use to record audio,
video, or screen activity. You can also use Podcast Capture to upload QuickTime movies
for processing by the Podcast Producer server.
Podcast Capture is available on Macs with Leopard and Leopard Server.
For more information about how to use Podcast Capture, see its onscreen help.
The podcast Command-Line Tool
The /usr/bin/podcast command-line tool provides client-side functionality for
recording and submitting QuickTime files. Podcast Capture is a graphical user interface
(GUI) that wraps podcast.
For more information about podcast, see “The podcast Tool” on page 77.
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
15
Podcast Producer Agent
The Podcast Producer agent is a daemon controlled by the Podcast Producer server.
The agent is responsible for the recording of audio and video from an attached camera.
After the recording is done, the Podcast Producer agent uses the podcast tool to
upload the resulting QuickTime movie to the Podcast Producer server for encoding and
publishing as a podcast.
Shared File System
The Podcast Producer server requires a shared file system for:
 Uploading QuickTime movies.
The Podcast Producer agents use the shared file system to upload QuickTime movies
for processing by the Podcast Producer server.
 Keeping a cached copy of workflows.
The Xgrid controller uses the workflows stored in the shared file system to process
QuickTime movies.
 Storing the generated podcasts.
The Xgrid agents use the shared file system to store the generated podcasts.
The supported shared file systems are Xsan and NFS.
Workflows
Workflows are the heart of the Podcast Producer system. A workflow is a template that
defines a set of customizable Xgrid tasks for encoding and publishing podcasts.
When submitting a QuickTime movie to the Podcast Producer server for processing,
you also specify the workflow to use. Podcast Producer makes the necessary
replacements in the workflow based on the configuration information entered in
Server Admin and sends the workflow as an Xgrid job to the Xgrid controller for
processing.
The Podcast Producer server provides a set of sample workflows that define common
encoding and publishing tasks for encoding and publishing QuickTime movies as
podcasts. However, you can modify these workflows to suit your needs, or you can
create your own workflows.
Each sample workflow defines a set of default properties that you can configure using
Server Admin, as described later in this guide. You can also define new properties in
your custom workflows and use the Podcast Producer server to configure their values.
16
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
Xgrid
The Podcast Producer server lets you specify an Xgrid controller for processing
QuickTime movies on one or more Xgrid agents with Leopard.
Using Xgrid agents for processing QuickTime movies allows you to increase the
throughput of the Podcast Producer solution by increasing the number of Xgrid agents.
In addition, using Xgrid allows you to scale your system by increasing the number of
Xgrid agents.
The Podcast Producer Security Model
Podcast Producer is a secure end-to-end solution, as shown in the following illustration.
/usr/bin/pcast
Shared Secret
pcastagentd
Server Admin
ts
Clien
Register
SSL
AES
SSL
shared secret
Podcast
Producer
r
r
v
e
Authentication of
Open Directory
Se
Key Database
users and groups
Beep/Kerberos
SSL
FTP
Shared File System
Xgrid Controller
(owned by Xgrid user)
/Cache
Beep/Kerberos
/Resources
/Podcasts
Xgrid
/Workflows
/Streams
Xgrid Agents
/Archive
/Recordings
Blog
Mail Server
Web Server
ublishing
P
iTunes Podcast Registry
iTune U
QTSS
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
17
Client/Server Communication
To protect sensitive information, the podcast command-line tool and Server Admin use
the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to communicate with the Podcast Producer
server. By default, these SSL connections use the server’s default self-signed certificate,
which comes with the server.
For example, when you specify the passwords for Podcast Producer properties in Server
Admin, Server Admin securely passes the passwords to the Podcast Producer server
using SSL. The Podcast Producer server encrypts these passwords and stores them in its
database.
In addition, the Podcast Producer agent (pcastagentd) uses an Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES)-secured tunnel to communicate with the Podcast Producer server. This
tunnel allows the Podcast Producer server to control the Podcast Producer agent at all
times.
When you bind a camera system to Podcast Producer, the podcast command-line tool
creates a shared secret and sends it to the server using SSL. The server encrypts the
shared secret, stores it in its database, and sends back information including the shared
secret to the podcast tool.
The podcast tool stores the information it receives from the Podcast Producer server in
a property list. When started, the Podcast Producer agent uses the shared stored in its
property list to establish an AES-secured tunnel with the Podcast Producer server.
Authentication
The Podcast Producer server uses Open Directory for user and group authentication.
The Podcast Producer server also uses Open Directory to authenticate users and groups
specified in Access Control Lists (ACLs) defined in Server Admin. The Podcast Producer
server stores these ACLs in the same database it uses to store shared secrets and other
sensitive information.
Xgrid
The Podcast Producer server uses the Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP) and
Kerberos to communicate with the Xgrid controller using the xgrid command-line tool.
The Podcast Producer server uses BEEP and Kerberos to authenticate itself to the
Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC). The server uses the standard method to get
Kerberos tickets from the KDC using the Xgrid name and password supplied in Server
Admin.
The Podcast Producer server uses the ticket it gets from the KDC when sending jobs to
the Xgrid controller.
18
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
As for the Xgrid agent, it authenticates to the Xgrid controller using BEEP and Kerberos.
However, when communicating with the Podcast Producer server, the Xgrid agent uses
SSL. The Xgrid agent calls the Podcast Producer server to obtain property values and
responses to challenges.
For example, if an Xgrid agent tries to post to a blog, the agent gets back a 401 HTTP
error with a challenge. The agent sends the challenge to the Podcast Producer server
and receives a response, which it passes to the blog to be granted access.
The Podcast Producer server and Xgrid controller must belong to the same Kerberos
realm.
Publishing
In the Podcast Producer security model, Xgrid agents have the proper credentials to
publish podcasts. If an agent is asked to respond to a challenge, as in the case of a
blog, the Xgrid agent can securely obtain the response from the Podcast Producer
server and provide the appropriate response.
Podcast Producer Customization
Podcast Producer is an open system that you can customize to meet your needs:
 Workflows are Xgrid jobs, which you can compose using any text editor.
 Podcast Producer leverages Mac OS X technologies like QuickTime and Quartz.
QuickTime provides a rich set of video/audio codecs and is the premier platform for
media data sets. Anything you can do with QuickTime can be done using Podcast
Producer. You can create command-line tools that access QuickTime APIs and use
these tools in workflows.
Quartz is a powerful image composition framework for image manipulation. You can
create tools for adding movie effects and use these tools in Podcast Producer
workflows. An example of such a tool is qc2movie, which ships with Mac OS X v10.5.
This tool is used by some default Podcast Producer workflows and is described in
Chapter 5, “Customizing Workflows.”
 All hosting technology used by Podcast Producer is based on Internet standards like
HTTP, RSS, Podcast, QTSS, and FTP. You can publish content to any hosting server that
supports these standards.
 You can turn virtually any UNIX shell script into an Xgrid job and, therefore, part of a
Podcast Producer workflow.
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
19
Supported Audio and Video Formats
Podcast Producer supports the following video formats:
 MPEG-4
 H.263
 H.264
 DV NTSC and PAL
In addition, Podcast Producer supports the following audio formats:
 AAC (MPEG-4 Audio)
 AMR Narrowband
 QUALCOMM PureVoice (QCELP)
20
Chapter 1 Overview of Podcast Producer
Setting Up Podcast Producer
2
2
This chapter describes how to set up the Podcast Producer
server.
The instructions in this chapter assume that you have installed and configured
Mac OS X Server v10.5. For instructions on setting up Mac OS X Server, see Getting
Started (included on the Mac OS X Server v10.5 installation disc and downloadable at
www.apple.com/server/documentation/).
Hardware and Software Requirements for Podcast Producer
This section describes the hardware and software requirements for providing Podcast
Producer services.
For more information about estimating hardware and software requirements, see
“Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions” on page 65.
For more information about minimum system requirements and other Podcast
Producer topics not covered in this guide, visit the Mac OS X Server Support website at
www.apple.com/support/macosxserver.
Podcast Producer Agent Computer Requirements
Following is a list of the minimum hardware and software requirements for the Mac
used to capture video:
 Mac OS X v10.5
 20 GB of free disk space
 Network connectivity (100 Mbps)
Podcast Server Computer Requirements
Following is a list of the minimum requirements for the Mac running the Podcast
Producer service:
 A Mac with Mac OS X Server v10.5
 Network connectivity (100 Mbps)
21
Xgrid Size and Bandwidth Considerations
Following is a list of issues to consider when deciding the size of the Xgrid and the
amount of bandwidth needed to process QuickTime movies:
 Number of recording systems and manual submissions
 Type of workflows to be used
The type of workflow used determines the time needed to complete the processing
and publishing of podcasts. Also, the type of workflows used determines how many
tasks can be performed in parallel.
 A typical recording day schedule for each recording system and manual submission
 Number of uploading Macs
 Number of compute nodes in the grid
Note: All Xgrid agent computers must have a graphics card that supports Quartz
Extreme.
Before You Set Up Podcast Producer
The instructions in this section assume that you have chosen the Advanced
Configuration option to set up your server. If not, convert your server to an advanced
configuration. For information about converting your server to an advanced
configuration, see Server Administration.
Starting Required Services
Before you configure the services required to set up Podcast Producer, start them. If
DNS, Mail, Open Directory, QuickTime Streaming, Web, and Xgrid services are already
available on your network, you do not need to start them.
To start required services:
1 Launch Server Admin and connect to the server you want to configure.
A sheet appears notifying you that no services are configured on the server.
2 Click Choose Configured Services.
3 Select the following services:
 DNS
 Mail
 Open Directory
 Podcast Producer
 QuickTime Streaming
 Web
 Xgrid
4 Click Save.
22
Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
Configuring the DNS Service
Use the instructions in this section to configure the DNS service.
To configure the DNS service:
1 Launch Server Admin and connect to the server you are configuring.
2 From the list of computers and services on the left, select DNS.
3 Click Zones.
4 Click Add Zone > Add Primary Zone (Master).
5 Click the new zone (its name is example.com.).
6 In the Primary Zone field, replace example.com with pcast.private.
7 In the Nameservers field, double-click the ns entry and replace ns with server.
8 In the Mail Exchangers field, click the Add button (+) and complete the following:
a In the Hostname field, enter server.
b In the Priority field, enter 10.
9 Click Add Record > Add Machine (A).
10 Expand the pcast.private. zone by clicking the triangle to its left.
a In the Machine Name field of the first machine entry, enter server.
b Set the server’s IP address to 10.0.0.1.
c In the Machine Name field of the first machine entry, enter client.
d Set the client’s IP address to 10.0.0.10.
11 Click Save.
12 Start the service by clicking Start DNS.
13 To make sure that DNS is running, ping server.pcast.private and client.pcast.private
using Network Utility or from the command line.
Configure Mail
The Podcast Producer service requires Mail service to send notification mails.
To configure Mail service:
1 In Server Admin, select Mail from the list of computers and services.
2 Go to the General tab in the Settings pane.
3 Enable SMTP.
4 Click Save.
5 Start Mail service.
Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
23
Configuring the Open Directory Service
Follow the steps in this section to configure the Open Directory service.
To configure the Open Directory service:
1 In Server Admin, select Open Directory from the list of computers and services.
2 Click Settings.
3 Click General.
4 Click Change.
5 Click Open Directory Master, then click Continue.
6 Enter an administrator username and password for the Open Directory master domain
(record these for later), then click Continue.
7 Verify that you have the correct Kerberos realm and search base and click Continue.
8 Review settings, then click Continue.
9 When a message appears notifying you that service configuration is complete, click
Close.
10 Click Overview and verify that Kerberos is running.
Creating Required Users
Use Workgroup Manager to create the user accounts required by Podcast Producer.
To create the required users:
1 Launch Workgroup Manager (in /Application/Server) and log in to the system hosting
the Open Directory service.
2 Confirm that the Viewing directory is /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1.
3 Click the lock icon (upper-right corner).
4 Enter the administrator username and password for the Open Directory master
domain.
5 Click Authenticate.
6 Create the following users and assign each a password (to create a user, click New User
in the toolbar):
 pcastadmin: Allow this user to administer this server. Also assign this user a mail
address by clicking Info, clicking the (+) button for the email field, and entering the
mail address (pcastadmin@server.pcast.private). If Web service is running on a
different server, make sure this user is also an administrator on the Web server.
 pcastxgrid: Set the home folder for this user to /var/empty.
 pcastuser: Enable mail for this user (by clicking Mail and then clicking Enabled). Also,
give this user a mail address (pcastuser@server.pcast.private). To assign the user a
mail address, click Info, click the (+) button for the email field, and enter the mail
address.
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Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
Configuring Web Service
Follow the steps in this section to configure Web service.
To configure Web service:
1 In Server Admin, select Web from the list of computers and services.
2 Click Sites and select the default site (empty domain name).
3 Click Web Services and select Wiki and blog.
4 Click Save.
5 Start the Web service by clicking Start Web.
Creating a Group Blog
Some workflows require a group blog to post podcasts to.
To create a group blog:
1 Open Directory (in /Applications/Utilities).
2 Choose Directory > Preferences and make sure Authentication is set to Password; then
close the Preferences window.
3 Click (+) (bottom left) and choose New Group.
4 Enter the administrator username and password for the Open Directory master
domain, then click OK.
5 Replace Untitled Group with Podcasts.
6 Click (+).
7 From the People and Groups window, drag the pcastadmin and pcastuser users to the
member list of the Podcasts group.
8 Close the People and Groups window.
9 Click Save.
10 Click Ownership and set the Owner and Contact fields to pcastadmin.
11 Click Services.
12 Select Wiki and Blog (Calendar and Mailing list web archive options are not required).
13 Click Save and quit Directory.
14 Verify that you can access the following URL when logging in as pcastuser:
http://server.pcast.private/groups/podcasts
Important: To ensure that subscribe-to-podcast links in notification emails work,
enable podcasting for the group blog. Go to http://server.pcast.private/groups/
podcasts and log in as an administrator user. Click Settings in the Admin menu. Click
the edit (pencil) button (upper right). Select “Create a podcast for this group’s weblog,”
then give the podcast an iTunes category. Click Save.
Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
25
Configuring Xgrid Service
Follow the steps in this section to configure the Xgrid service.
Important: The Xgrid service must be fully Kerberized.
To configure the Xgrid service:
1 In Server Admin, select Xgrid from the list of computers and services.
2 Click Overview.
3 Click Configure Xgrid Service (bottom right), then click Continue.
4 Select Host a Grid and click Continue.
5 Provide the administrator username and password for the Open Directory master
domain and click Continue.
6 Confirm the configuration settings and click Continue.
7 Click Close.
The Service Configuration Assistant will quit.
Important: Use the Service Configuration Assistant as indicated above to configure
Xgrid to use Kerberos for all types of authentication. To avoid making configuration
mistakes, do not try to manually configure Xgrid for Kerberos authentication.
8 Verify that Xgrid service is running and that Xgrid has configured a Controller and
Agent using Kerberos.
Configuring QuickTime Streaming Service
This section describes how to configure the QuickTime Streaming service.
To configure the QuickTime Streaming service:
1 In Server Admin, select QuickTime Streaming from the list of computers and services.
2 Click Start QuickTime Streaming.
Setting Up Podcast Producer
To start providing Podcast Producer services, you must do the following:
 Configure the Podcast Producer general settings.
 Configure the Podcast Producer default workflow properties.
 Start the Podcast Producer service.
Configuring General Settings
You can use Server Admin to configure the Podcast Producer general settings.
 “Specifying a Shared File System”
 “Specifying an Xgrid Controller”
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Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
Specifying a Shared File System
Podcast Producer lets you specify a shared folder that Podcast Capture and Xgrid
agents can use for uploading QuickTime movies and podcasts. The shared folder can
reside on the server where Podcast Producer is running or it can reside on another
server.
To specify a shared folder:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click General.
5 In the Shared File System field, click Choose.
6 Navigate to the folder and click Choose.
The path to the shared folder appears in the Shared File System field.
7 Click Save.
Specifying an Xgrid Controller
Podcast Producer uses the Xgrid controller specified in the General pane of the Podcast
Producer service to send Podcast Producer workflow jobs.
To specify an Xgrid controller:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click General.
5 In the Xgrid Controller field, enter the hostname of the Xgrid controller.
6 In the Xgrid User Name field, click Choose User.
7 In the Users and Groups window, click Users.
8 From the Users and Groups window, drag a user into the Xgrid User Name field.
9 In the Xgrid User Password filed, enter the Xgrid user’s password.
10 Click Save.
Important: Xgrid agents must be bound to the same Open Directory server used by
Podcast Producer. Xgrid agents must also be Kerberized in the same realm used by
Podcast Producer. In addition, Xgrid agents must have access to the Podcast Producer
shared file system.
Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
27
Configuring the Default Workflow Settings
You can use Server Admin to configure a set of default workflow properties.
To configure default workflow properties:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click Properties.
5 Click the triangle next to Default Properties to display the properties.
6 Set properties as follows:
Property
Value
Administrator Short Name
pcastadmin
Group Short Name
podcasts
Group Administrator User
pcastadmin
Group Administrator Password
pcastadmin’s password
Approval Email List
List of mail recipients of podcast approval requests (for example,
editor@example.com, producer@example.com)
Audience Email List
List of mail recipients of new podcast announcements (for example,
joe@example.com, jane@example.com, freshmen@example.com)
Audience SMS List
List of SMS recipients of new podcast announcements (for example,
5552121234@sms_text_host.com, 4442121235@sms_text_host.com)
To post to iTunes U, enter the appropriate iTunes U values.
For more information about configuring default properties, see “Configuring Default
Workflow Properties” on page 33.
Starting the Podcast Producer Server
You use Server Admin to start the Podcast Producer server.
To start the Podcast Producer server:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Start Podcast Producer.
To stop the Podcast Producer server, click Stop Podcast Producer.
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Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
Binding a Mac to the Podcast Producer Service
After setting up the Podcast Producer service, you can bind the Macs you want to use
for remotely recording audio and video to the Podcast Producer service using the
Podcast Capture application.
To bind a Mac to the Podcast Producer service:
1 If you are using an external video camera, make sure the camera is connected to your
Mac via FireWire and is turned on.
2 Open the Podcast Capture application (in /Applications/Utilities).
3 When prompted, enter a valid username and password.
4 Choose Podcast Capture > Local Camera Settings.
5 Click the lock and authenticate if necessary.
6 From the Video Source pop-up menu choose a local camera.
7 Verify that you see a preview of the camera’s video.
8 From the Microphone pop-up menu choose the audio source.
9 In the Camera Name field enter the name of the camera.
Because Podcast Producer uses the name you enter in this field to identify and control
access to the camera, you should enter a unique, meaningful name to help the Podcast
Producer administrator and Podcast Capture users better identify and determine the
location of the camera. For example, instead of using a name like Camera7, use a name
like Camera007-Eng. Building/Room 304.
10 In the Server field enter the fully qualified name of the Podcast Producer server (for
example, server.pcast.private) or the IP address of the server.
11 Click Bind to bind the camera to the Podcast Producer server.
12 Enter your Podcast Producer administrative credentials and click OK.
Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
29
Verifying Your Setup
You can verify your setup by uploading a QuickTime movie for processing by your
Podcast Producer server.
To verify your setup:
1 On a Mac running Mac OS X v10.5 and connected to the same network that your
Podcast Producer server is connected to, launch Podcast Capture (in /Applications/
Utilities).
2 Log in to the Podcast Producer server as pcastuser.
3 Select File and choose the QuickTime movie you want to submit to the Podcast
Producer server for encoding and publishing.
4 From the Workflow pop-up menu, select a workflow and give the movie a title and
description.
5 Click Publish.
6 To monitor the progress of your submission, use Xgrid Admin.
For more information about Xgrid Admin, see the Xgrid Administration guide.
You should receive a mail notification after your video is ready to be viewed.
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Chapter 2 Setting Up Podcast Producer
Managing Workflows
3
3
This chapter describes how to manage workflows and
configure their default and custom properties in Server
Admin.
Workflows are an essential part of Podcast Producer. Learning how to manage
workflows and how to configure their properties allows you to streamline the podcast
generation process and make the best use of your computing resources.
Controlling Access to Workflows in Podcast Capture
Podcast Producer server lets you specify which workflows users can see (and which are
allowed to be used) in Podcast Capture and the podcast command-line tool.
To control access to a workflow:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Workflows.
4 Select a workflow in the Workflow list.
5 To restrict access to the workflow, click “Allow access to workflow name for the following
users and groups.”
6 Click the (+) button to add users and groups to the list of users and groups that can
access the selected workflow.
In the Users and Groups window, click Users and drag one or more users to the list.
In the Users and Groups window, click Groups and drag one or more groups to the list.
To delete users and groups from the list, select them and click (-).
7 Click Save.
You can also select multiple workflows and configure their access control settings at
the same time.
To allow all users and groups to see the selected workflows in Podcast Capture, click
“Allow access to workflow name for all users and groups.”
31
Monitoring Workflow Usage
You can use the Workflows pane of the Podcast Producer service to see the last time a
workflow was used and by whom.
To monitor workflow usage:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Workflows.
The Last Used column shows the last time a workflow was used. The Last Used By
column shows the short name of the user who last used the workflow.
Filtering Workflows
You can use the search field in the Workflows pane of the Podcast Producer service to
specify a search criteria for listing workflows.
To filter workflows:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Workflows.
4 To search for workflows by keywords, from the Search pop-up menu, choose Workflow
and enter the keywords.
Only workflows whose names contain the specified keywords appear in the list.
5 To search for workflows by filename, from the Search pop-up menu, choose Workflow
File Name and enter the name of the workflow file.
Only the workflow whose file name is specified in the Search field appears in the list.
6 To list the workflows that were last used by a particular user, from the Search pop-up
menu, choose Last Used By and enter the short name of the user.
Displaying Workflow Information
You can display information about a workflow using its corresponding information
button.
To display workflow information:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Workflows.
4 Select a workflow in the Workflow list.
5 Click the information button.
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Chapter 3 Managing Workflows
The Workflow Information window appears. This window displays information about
the workflow, including the workflow’s filename and location on the Podcast Producer
server, a description of what the workflow does, and any notes that were added to the
workflow file.
Configuring Workflow Properties
Server Admin allows you to configure default and custom workflow properties.
 “Configuring Default Workflow Properties” on page 33
 “Configuring Custom Workflow Properties” on page 35
Configuring Default Workflow Properties
You can use Server Admin to configure a set of default workflow properties, which are
used by all Podcast Producer workflows that ship with Mac OS X Server version 10.5.
The following table describes these properties.
Property Name
Description
Administrator Short Name
The short name of an admin user that Podcast Producer sends
automatic mail notifications to.
Approval Email List
Workflow approval request mail is sent to this address.
Approval Folder
Content files requiring workflow approvals are stored in this
folder.
Archive Root
The path to the folder in the Podcast Producer shared file system
where the Podcast Producer server stores backup copies of
uploaded QuickTime movies.
Audience Email List
A list of mail recipients of new podcast announcements from the
Podcast Producer.
Audience SMS List
A list of SMS recipients of new podcast announcements from the
Podcast Producer.
Copyright
The copyright notice to apply to all podcasts as an annotation.
Exit Video Path
The path to a QuickTime movie in the shared file system to add at
the end of podcasts.
Group Short Name
The short name of the group that receives blog announcements
about new podcasts from Podcast Producer.
Groups Administrator Password
The password of the administrator group specified by Group
Short Name.
Groups Administrator Username
The short name of the administrator user who is the group’s
owner and can post blogs on behalf of normal users. This user
must also be an administrator on the system running the Web
service used by Podcast Producer to post blogs.
Groups Web Server URL
The base URL of the web server where group blog
announcements about new podcasts are published.
Chapter 3 Managing Workflows
33
Property Name
Description
Intro Transition Duration
The transition duration (in seconds) between the introduction
video and the main content.
Introduction Video Path
The path to a QuickTime movie in the shared file system to add at
the beginning of a podcast.
iTunes U Posting Credentials
The credentials of a user that can post content to an institution’s
iTunesU site.
iTunes U Shared Secret
The communications secret shared between an institution and its
iTunes site.
iTunes U Site URL
The URL of the iTunes site to post podcasts on.
iTunes U Tab ID
The ID of the table view of the iTunes site where podcasts are
posted.
Notification Language
The language used when sending mail and blog announcements
about new podcasts.
Organization
The name of the organization to be added to the introduction
video.
Postflight Script Path
The path to a script on the shared file system to run as the last
script in a workflow.
Preflight Script Path
The path to a script on the shared file system to run as the first
script in a workflow.
QTSS URL
The base URL of the QuickTime Streaming Server used to stream
new podcasts.
Quartz Composer Filter
The name of the Quartz Composer filter used by workflows for
applying filtering compositions to podcasts.
Quartz Composer Introduction
The name of the Quartz Composer transition used by workflows
Transition
that apply transition compositions between the introduction
video and the main content.
Quartz Composer Exit Transition
The name of the Quartz Composer transition used by workflows
that apply transition compositions between the main content
and the exit video.
QuickTime Streaming Media Root
The QuickTime Streaming Server media folder on the shared file
system where podcast streams are stored.
SMTP Server
The hostname of an SMTP mail server used by workflows to send
mail notifications.
Watermark Image
The path to an image on the shared file system used by
workflows that apply watermarks to podcasts.
Web Document Root
The web server root folder on the shared file system where new
podcast streams are published.
Web URL
The base URL of the web server where podcasts are published.
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Chapter 3 Managing Workflows
To configure default workflow properties:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click Properties.
5 Click the triangle next to Default Properties to display the properties.
6 To change the value of a property, double-click the property’s value and enter a new
value.
7 Click Save.
Configuring Custom Workflow Properties
You can modify the sample Podcast Producer workflows and define customizable
properties. You can then add the properties to the list of Custom Properties in Server
Admin and change their values as needed.
Adding Custom Workflow Properties
You can use Server Admin to add custom workflow properties.
To add a custom workflow property:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click Properties.
5 Click the triangle next to Custom Properties to display the custom properties.
6 Click the (+) button to add a custom property.
7 Double-click the name field of the property and enter its name.
8 Double-click the value field of the property and enter its value.
9 Click Save.
Chapter 3 Managing Workflows
35
Deleting Custom Workflow Properties
You can use Server Admin to delete custom workflow properties.
To delete custom workflow properties:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click Properties.
5 Click the triangle next to Custom Properties to display the custom properties.
6 Select the property to delete and click the (-) button.
7 Click Save.
Modifying Custom Workflow Properties
You can use Server Admin to modify custom workflow properties.
To modify custom workflow properties:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Settings.
4 Click Properties.
5 Click the triangle next to Custom Properties to display the custom properties.
6 To change the value of a property, double-click the property’s value and enter a value.
7 (Optional) To encrypt a property, click the property’s checkbox.
8 Click Save.
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Chapter 3 Managing Workflows
Managing Cameras
4
4
This chapter describes how to manage and monitor camera
usage.
The Podcast Producer server allows you to control and monitor camera usage.
 “Controlling Access to Cameras in Podcast Capture” on page 37
 “Removing Cameras” on page 38
 “Filtering Cameras” on page 38
Controlling Access to Cameras in Podcast Capture
The Podcast Producer server lets you specify which cameras users can choose in
Podcast Capture.
To control access to a camera:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Cameras.
4 Select a camera in the Cameras list.
5 To restrict access to the camera, click “Allow access to camera name for the following
users and groups.”
6 Click the (+) button to add users and groups to the list of users and groups that can
access the selected camera.
In the Users and Groups window, click Users and drag users to the list.
In the Users and Groups window, click Groups and drag groups to the list.
To delete users or groups from the list, select them and click (-).
7 Click Save.
You can also select multiple cameras and simultaneously configure their settings.
To allow all users and groups to see the selected camera in Podcast Capture, click
“Allow access to camera name for all users and groups.”
37
Removing Cameras
The Podcast Producer server lets you remove cameras from the list of cameras in Server
Admin.
To remove a camera:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Cameras.
4 Select a camera in the Cameras list.
5 Click Remove Camera.
6 Click OK.
Filtering Cameras
You can use the search field in the Cameras pane of the Podcast Producer service in
Server Admin to specify a filtering or search criteria for listing cameras.
To filter cameras:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Cameras.
4 To search for cameras by keywords, from the Search pop-up menu, choose Camera and
enter the keywords.
Only the cameras whose names contain the specified keywords appear in the list.
5 To list cameras that were last used by a specific user, from the Search pop-up menu,
choose Last Used By and enter the short name of the user.
6 To list cameras based on their status, from the Search pop-up menu, choose Status and
enter the name of the status.
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Chapter 4 Managing Cameras
Customizing Workflows
5
5
This chapter describes workflows and shows you how to
customize or create your own.
The workflows that ship with Mac OS X Server v10.5 are examples of the type of back-
end processing you can perform on input QuickTime files.
Before you customize workflows, make sure you understand how workflows work.
The Structure of a Workflow Bundle
A workflow is a self-contained bundle that stores all files needed by the workflow.
By default, workflows are stored in the /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows
folder. However, Podcast Producer also checks for workflows in /Library/
PodcastProducer/Workflows. If the same workflow is present in both folders, Podcast
Producer uses the workflow in the /Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows folder.
The reason for giving precedence to workflows in /Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows
is that workflows in /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows can be overwritten
without warning during a software update.
Important: To protect your modifications from being overwritten by the system during
a software update, do not store your customized workflows in the /System/Library/
PodcastProducer/Workflows folder. Instead, copy the contents of the /System/Library/
PodcastProducer/ folder to the /Library/PodcastProducer/ folder and make your
changes there.
39
Global Encodings and Resources
Podcast Producer uses the following folders to store global encodings and resources
available to all workflows:
 /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Encodings
 /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Resources
The following figure shows the contents of a workflow bundle:
The following table describes the contents of a workflow bundle:
Element
Description
Info.plist
Contains information about the workflow bundle, including the name of the
workflow as it appears in Server Admin and in the workflow’s description.
(Name and description strings are localizable.)
LICENSE
Contains the terms for using the workflow.
Resources
Contains all local resources used by the workflow. Global workflow resources
are stored in /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Resources.
version.plist
Contains workflow version information.
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
The following table describes the contents of the Resources folder:
Element
Description
Compositions
Stores the Quartz compositions referenced by the workflow.
.lproj folders
Contain the localizable strings used in the workflow. For example, en.lproj
contains the English strings used in the workflow.
InfoPlist.strings
Contains the name and workflow descriptions that appear in Server Admin.
Localizable.strings
Contains the localizable strings used in the workflow.
Images
Contains images used by the workflow.
Movies
Contains movies used by the workflow.
template.plist
The workflow template that specifies the tasks to execute and the order of
execution.
Templates
Contains templates used by the workflow. By default, this folder contains a
mail template and a template for posting to blogs. If your custom workflows
use special templates, store them in this folder.
Tools
Contains command-line tools used by the workflow.
The Structure of a Workflow
A workflow template is a property list (plist) containing tasks that Xgrid agents must
execute. A workflow consists of the following first-level elements:
Element
Description
artConditions
These elements allow you to score Xgrid jobs. You can tell the Xgrid
artSpecifications
controller to run certain jobs on certain Xgrid nodes and to prefer
certain Xgrid nodes.
For more information about these elements and how to configure
them, see the Command-Line Administration guide or the xgrid
man page.
name
This entry specifies the name of the Xgrid job.
When the Podcast Producer server receives a job submission, it
replaces the value of this key ($$Xgrid Job Name$$) in the
corresponding workflow with a name it assigns to the job before
sending it to the Xgrid controller.
notificationEmail
This key specifies the mail address the Podcast Server uses to notify
the administrator about the status of workflow jobs submitted to
the Xgrid controller.
Podcast Producer replaces the value of this key ($$Administrator
Email Address$$) with the administrator’s mail address before
sending the job to the Xgrid controller.
taskSpecifications
This is the most important entry. It specifies the tasks to be
executed by Xgrid agents.
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
41
Workflow Task Specifications
The taskSpecificiations entry consists of one or more task specifications, as shown in
the following example. In this example, the taskSpecifications section lists 20 tasks. The
name of the first task is annotate, the name of the second task is archive, and so on.
Each task represents a UNIX shell script command and consists of the following
elements:
Element
Description
arguments
Lists the arguments required by the command.
command
Specifies the command to run (including the path).
dependsOnTasks
(Optional) Lists the tasks that must be completed before this command runs.
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
For example, the encode_wifi task runs the following command after the preflight task
is completed:
/usr/libexec/podcastproducer/tasks/pcastaction encode
--basedir=$$Base Directory$$
--input=$$Content File Basename$$-final.mov
--output=$$Content File Basename$$-wifi.mp4
--encoder=h264_hint_server
When Podcast Producer receives a job submission, it replaces the $$ property keys in
the workflow template with the corresponding values before sending the job to the
Xgrid controller.
Property Keys
Workflow templates use keys (strings enclosed by “$$” ) to represent default and
custom workflow properties.
Podcast Producer defines a set of default properties that are used by the workflows
that ship with the product. In addition, Podcast Producer allows you to define custom
properties for use in your custom workflows. You can modify the values of properties
and create new properties in Server Admin.
When Podcast Producer receives a job submission from Podcast Capture, the Podcast
Producer server replaces the property keys in the specified workflow with the
appropriate values defined in Server Admin before submitting the Xgrid job for
processing.
For example, the Podcast Producer server replaces the $$Group Short Name$$ key with
the value of the Group Short Name default property you defined in Server Admin.
Important: Podcast Producer also uses protected property keys (strings enclosed by
“##”) in some workflows. For example, Podcast Producer replaces ##Groups
Administrator Username:Groups Administrator Password## with a one-time password
for authentication challenges. Protected property keys are intended for use by Podcast
Producer and should not be modified.
Default Property Keys
To represent a default property in workflow templates, Podcast Producer encloses the
name of the property as it appears in Server Admin by “$$” characters. For example, the
Archive Root property appears as $$Archive Root$$ in workflows.
Podcast Producer does not store passwords in the workflow template because the
workflow jobs are XML files and are not encrypted.
Instead, the Podcast Producer server encrypts and stores the passwords you enter in
Server Admin in a special database for maximum protection, as described in “The
Podcast Producer Security Model” on page 17.
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
43
Server-Generated Property Keys
The Podcast Producer server replaces the following property keys with the appropriate
values.
Property Key
Matching Property Name
$$Administrator Email Address$$
The mail address of the Podcast Producer administrator.
$$Administrator Full Name$$
The full name of the Podcast Producer administrator.
$$Base Directory$$
The base directory that Podcast Producer creates for
storing submitted recordings (for example,
<Shared_File_System>/Recordings/<UUID>).
$$Content File Basename$$
The name of the submitted recording.
$$Content File Extension$$
The name of the file extension of the submitted
recording.
$$Content File Name$$
The combination of Basename and Extension. For
example, if Content File Basename is MyMovie and
Content File Extension is .mov, Content File Name is
MyMovie.mov.
$$Date_YYYY-MM-DD$$
The date of the workflow submission.
$$Global Resource Path$$
The same as $$Workflow Resource Path$$ except that it
refers to <Shared File System>/Caches/Resources.
$$Podcast Producer URL$$
The URL of the Podcast Producer server.
$$Server UUID$$
The UUID of the Podcast Producer server.
$$Shared Filesystem$$
The top level of the shared file system.
$$Title$$
The title of the workflow job submission specified in
Podcast Capture or podcast.
$$User Email Address$$
The mail address of the user who submitted the job.
$$User Full Name$$
The full name of the user who submitted the job.
$$User Home Directory$$
The home directory path of the user submitting the job.
$$User ID$$
The ID of the user who submitted the job.
$$User Short Name$$
The short name of the user who submitted the job.
$$Workflow Bundle Path$$
The path to the top level of the workflow bundle on the
shared file system (for example, <Shared File System>/
Caches/Workflows/Blog.pwf ).
$$Workflow Resource Path$$
The path to the workflow’s Resources folder.
$$Xgrid Job Name$$
The name that Podcast Producer assigns to the job it
submits to the Xgrid controller.
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Task Dependencies
A workflow task specification can specify one or more tasks as dependencies. This helps
the Xgrid controller determine the order of task execution.
The following illustration shows an example of task dependencies.
preflight
unpack
annotate
archive
encode_ipod
encode_mp4_audio_high
iTunesU_ipod
iTunesU_mp4_audio_high
template_mail
mail
postflight
In this example, The unpack task won’t run until the preflight task completes
successfully. Also, the template_mail task won’t run until iTunesU_ipod and
iTunesU_mp4_audio_high tasks complete successfully.
In addition to specifying the order of task execution, task dependencies help the Xgrid
controller determine which tasks can run in parallel. In the above example, the tasks at
the same level (for example, the encode_ipod and encode_mp4_audio_high tasks) can
be run in parallel if two Xgrid agents are available.
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
45
Workflow Commands
Podcast Producer provides a rich set of workflow commands or tasks that you can use
in custom workflows. However, you can always write your own commands or use
commands from third parties.
The following is a description of the pcastaction commands you can use in workflows.
Command
Description
pcastaction annotate
Adds annotations to the input movie.
pcastaction approval
Submits content for approval.
pcastaction archive
Archives the input movie at the specified location.
pcastaction encode
Encodes the input movie using the specified codec.
pcastaction iTunes
Instructs the iTunes store to check the specified RSS feed for new
episodes.
pcastaction iTunesU
Posts the input video at the specified iTunes U tab.
pcastaction groupblog
Posts to a group’s wiki blog.
pcastaction mail
Sends a notification mail to the specified user using the mail
template in the workflow’s Resources/Templates folder.
pcastaction merge
Merges two movies with a fade transition between them.
pcastaction preflight
Runs the preflight script (System/Library/PodcastProducer/
Resources/Tools/preflight_script) with the specified arguments.
pcastaction postflight
Runs the postflight script (System/Library/PodcastProducer/
Resources/Tools/postflight_script) with the specified arguments.
pcastaction publish
Publishes the input file to a web or QTSS server.
pcastaction shell
Runs the specified shell script with the specified arguments.
pcastaction template
Processes a web or mail template into a localized content block to
be used in mail or web postings.
pcastaction title
Adds the supplied title to the input video.
pcastaction unpack
Unpacks folder archives prior to running the main part of any
workflow.
pcastaction watermark
Superimposes the specified image as a watermark over the input
video.
You can also use the qceffect command to export the specified Quartz Composer
composition to the input movie by adding a track containing this composition.
For more information about the pcastaction command, see the Command-Line
Administration guide.
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Podcast Producer Default Workflows
Podcast Producer ships with the following workflows:
 “Blog without archive,” as described on page 48
 “Blog,” as described on page 49
 “Blog and iTunes with watermark,” as described on page 50
 “Blog and iTunes with intro,” as described on page 51
 “Blog and iTunes with intro and effects,” as described on page 52
 “Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for tv,” as described on page 53
 “iTunes U,” as described on page 54
 “iTunes U with intro,” as described on page 55
 “Blog with streaming and no archive,” as described on page 56
 “Blog with streaming,” as described on page 57
 “Blog with streaming and intro,” as described on page 58
 “Blog with streaming, intro and effects,” as described on page 59
 “Submit for Approval,” as described on page 60
As mentioned earlier in this guide, these workflows are provided as examples. If these
workflows meet your needs, you can use them without modifications. However, for
some workflows you’ll need to replace the sample resources that come with Podcast
Producer (for example, the intro and exit video) with your own resources.
To customize workflows, see “Customizing Workflows” on page 60.
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
47
Blog without archive
The “Blog without archive” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/
Blog without archive.pwf ) encodes the submitted QuickTime movie to video and audio
iPod formats, publishes the results to a group’s blog, and sends an announcement mail
to users with instructions on how to access the published content.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
annotate
encode_audio
encode_ipod
encode_iphone
encode_iphone_cellular
publish_audio
publish_ipod
publish_iphone
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail
mail
postflight
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Blog
The Blog workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/Blog.pwf ) archives
and annotates the submitted QuickTime movie. Then this workflow encodes the
annotated movie to video and audio iPod formats, publishes the results to a group’s
blog, and sends an announcement mail to users with instructions on how to access the
published content.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
annotate
archive
encode_audio
encode_ipod
encode_iphone
encode_iphone_cellular
publish_audio
publish_ipod
publish_iphone
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail
mail
postflight
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
49
Blog and iTunes with watermark
The “Blog and iTunes with watermark” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/
Workflows/Blog and iTunes with watermark.pwf ) archives the submitted recording. It
also annotates and adds a watermark to the recording. Then, it encodes the recording
to video and audio iPod formats. Finally, it publishes the resulting podcasts to the
group’s blog, notifies the iTunes podcast directory of the new episode, and sends an
announcement mail to users with instructions on how to access the podcasts.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
watermark
archive
annotate
encode_audio
encode_ipod
encode_iphone
encode_iphone_cellular
publish_audio
publish_ipod
publish_iphone
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail
iTunes
mail
postflight
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Blog and iTunes with intro
The “Blog and iTunes with intro” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/
Workflows/Blog and iTunes with intro.pwf ) archives the recording. It also annotates and
adds a watermark to the recording. It then adds a title and intro to the recording
followed by an exit movie. After that, the workflow encodes the recording to video and
audio iPod formats. Finally, it publishes the resulting podcasts to a group’s blog, notifies
the iTunes podcast directory of the new episode, and sends an announcement mail to
users with instructions on how to access the published podcasts.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
archive
title
watermark
intro
exit
annotate
encode_iphone
encode_iphone_cellular
encode_audio
encode_ipod
publish_iphone
publish_audio
publish_ipod
template_groupblog
groupblog
iTunes
template_mail
mail
postflight
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
51
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects
The “Blog and iTunes with intro and effects” workflow (/System/Library/
PodcastProducer/Workflows/Blog and iTunes with intro and effects.pwf ) is the same as
the “Blog and iTunes with intro” workflow except that this workflow applies a custom
Quartz Composer filter to the recording before adding the watermark.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
archive
title
custom_QC
watermark
intro
exit
annotate
encode_iphone
encode_iphone_cellular
encode_audio
encode_ipod
publish_iphone
publish_audio
publish_ipod
template_groupblog
groupblog
iTunes
template_mail
mail
postflight
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for tv
The “Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for tv” workflow (/System/Library/
PodcastProducer/Workflows/Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for tv.pwf ) is the
same as the “Blog and iTunes with intro and effects” workflow except that this workflow
also encodes the submitted recording to Apple TV format.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
archive
title
custom_QC
watermark
intro
exit
annotate
encode_appletv
encode_iphone
encode_iphone_cellular
encode_audio
encode_ipod
publish_appletv
publish_iphone
publish_audio
publish_ipod
template_groupblog
groupblog
iTunes
template_mail
mail
postflight
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
53
iTunes U
The iTunes U workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/iTunes U.pwf )
archives the recording. It also annotates the recording before encoding it to video and
audio iPod formats, publishes the resulting podcasts to iTunes U, and sends an
announcement mail to users with instructions on how to access the published
podcasts.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
annotate
archive
encode_ipod
encode_mp4_audio_high
iTunesU_ipod
iTunesU_mp4_audio_high
template_mail
mail
postflight
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
iTunes U with intro
The “iTunes U with intro” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/iTunes
U with intro.pwf ) is the same as the iTunes U workflow with a few additions. This
workflow adds intro and exit movies to the recording and then archives a copy of the
processed video before encoding takes place.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
watermark
title
archive
intro
exit
annotate
encode_ipod
encode_mp4_audio_high
iTunesU_ipod
iTunesU_mp4_audio_high
template_mail
mail
postflight
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
55
Blog with streaming and no archive
The “Blog with streaming and no archive” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/
Workflows/Blog with streaming and no archive.pwf ) archives the recording. It also
annotates the recording encoding and publishes a stream via QTSS on a group’s blog.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
annotate
encode_wifi
publish_stream
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail_to_computers
mail_to_computers
postflight
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Blog with streaming
The “Blog with streaming” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/
Blog with streaming.pwf ) modifies the “Blog with streaming and no archive” workflow
by providing computers and 3GPP-compatible telephone streams via QTSS on the
group’s blog.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
annotate
archive
encode_wifi
encode_edge
publish_stream
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail_to_computers
template_mail_to_phones
mail_to_computers
mail_to_phones
postflight
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
57
Blog with streaming and intro
The “Blog with streaming and intro” workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/
Workflows/Blog with streaming and intro.pwf ) modifies the “Blog with streaming”
workflow by watermarking and adding a title to the submitted recording, adding intro
and exit movies to it, and archiving the resulting movie.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
archive
watermark
title
intro
exit
annotate
encode_wifi
encode_edge
publish_stream
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail_to_phones
template_mail_to_computers
mail_to_phones
mail_to_computers
Postflight
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Blog with streaming, intro and effects
The “Blog with streaming, intro and effects” workflow (/System/Library/
PodcastProducer/Workflows/Blog with streaming, intro and effects.pwf ) modifies the
“Blog with streaming and intro” workflow by applying a custom Quartz Composer filter
to the submitted recording before adding the watermark.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
preflight
unpack
archive
custom_QC
title
watermark
intro
exit
annotate
encode_wifi
encode_edge
publish_stream
template_groupblog
groupblog
template_mail_to_phones
template_mail_to_computers
mail_to_phones
mail_to_computers
Postflight
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
59
Submit for Approval
The Submit for Approval workflow (/System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/
Submit for Approval.pwf ) submits content to the Approval folder on the shared file
system and notifies reviewers that new content needing approval has been posted.
The following illustration shows the order of task execution and task dependencies in
the workflow.
submit_for_approval
template_mail
mail
Customizing Workflows
There are several ways to customize workflows:
 Change the values of the default workflow properties.
This level of customization is very basic and gives you limited choices. For more
information, see “Configuring Default Workflow Properties” on page 33.
 Modify the resources used in workflows.
 Duplicate a workflow and modify it by replacing default property keys with custom
keys and adding these properties to the list of custom properties in Server Admin, as
described in “Configuring Custom Workflow Properties” on page 35. Then, change
the values of these custom properties in Server Admin.
Although this level of customization gives you more flexibility, it still is limited by the
number of default properties you customize.
 Duplicate and modify existing workflows by adding, removing, or modifying
workflows tasks. This also includes adding custom properties.
This level of customization gives you complete control over what workflows do.
Tools for Editing Workflows
A workflow template is a plist file. Therefore, you can edit it using any text editor or
Property List Editor.
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
Modifying Workflow Resources
You can modify the resources used by workflows by replacing them with new ones.
To modify global resources used by all workflows:
m Add resources to the appropriate folder in /Library/PodcastProducer/Resources.
For example, to change the default Watermark.png image, add the new image to
/Library/PodcastProducer/Resources/Images.
To modify workflow-specific resources:
m Add resources to the appropriate folder in /Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows/
<workflow_name>/Contents/Resources.
Adding Custom Properties
There are cases when you want to use the same workflow but you want to change the
value of certain properties based on who is using the workflow.
For example, you may want to use the same workflow for the Physics and Biology
departments, but you want one workflow to post to the Physics department’s blog and
another to the Biology department’s blog.
In this case, if you change the value of the Web URL property in Server Admin to the
posting URL of the Physics department’s blog, all workflows using this property will
post to the Physics department’s blog, which is a problem.
To solve this problem, you make multiple copies of a workflow and rename them to
reflect their use (for example, Blog with streaming_Physics.pwf and Blog with
streaming_Biology.pwf ), create new custom properties to be used in the new
workflows, and set the values of the new properties.
To add custom properties:
1 Duplicate the workflow bundle you want customize and store it in
/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows.
The default workflows are stored in /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows.
2 Replace the appropriate property keys in the <workflow_name>/Contents/Resources/
template.plist file with new keys.
For example, to specify a different posting web URL, replace $$Web URL$$ with
$$Biology Web URL$$.
3 Add the new properties to the Custom Properties list in Server Admin.
For more information about adding custom properties, see “Configuring Custom
Workflow Properties” on page 35.
4 Configure the value of the new properties in Server Admin.
Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
61
5 If you need to change the resources used in the workflow, store the modified resources
in the appropriate folder in /Library/PodcastProducer/Resources or relative to the
workflow bundle resources (as defined by $$Workflow Resource Path$$).
6 For every new workflow:
 Change the value of the CFBundleName property in the <workflow_name>/
Contents/Info.plist file to the name of the new workflow bundle.
 Change the value of the CFBundleIdentifier property in the <workflow_name>/
Contents/Info.plist file to the appropriate value.
 Change the Name and Description properties in the <workflow_name>/Contents/
Resources/<language>.lproj/InfoPlist.strings file as appropriate.
7 Verify that you can see the new workflow in Server Admin.
Duplicating and Modifying Workflows
To create your own workflow or modify one, duplicate the workflow and make the
necessary modifications.
To modify a workflow or create your own:
1 Duplicate a workflow bundle and store it in /Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows.
2 Add, delete, and modify tasks and custom properties as needed.
For information about workflow tasks, see “Workflow Task Specifications” on page 42.
3 Configure the value of the new properties in Server Admin.
4 If you need to change or add resources, store them in the appropriate folder in
/Library/PodcastProducer/Resources.
5 Verify that you can see the new workflow in Server Admin.
Adding Localized Strings
Podcast Producer workflows are designed to allow you to add localization support for
other languages.
To add localization support for a workflow:
1 Create an .lproj folder in the workflow’s Resources folder.
For example, to provide Italian support, create the folder Italian.lproj.
2 Copy InfoPlist.strings and Localizable.strings from the en.lproj folder and paste them
into the new .lproj folder.
3 Open these files and replace the English strings with the corresponding strings in the
language of your choice.
4 Save and close the InfoPlist.strings and Localizable.strings files.
In the Server Admin, Podcast Producer displays the localizable strings based on the
Mac’s selected language.
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Chapter 5 Customizing Workflows
The Podcast Producer Shared
6
File System
6
This chapter describes the structure of the Podcast Producer
shared file system.
Podcast Producer defines a shared file system that is used for storing uploaded and
finished podcasts. It is also used for storing the files that Xgrid agents need to access
when processing submitted recordings.
Podcast Producer supports Xsan and NFS shared file systems.
Specifying a Shared File System
You specify a shared file system using Server Admin, as described in “Configuring
General Settings” on page 26.
The Structure of the Shared File System
The following illustration shows the structure of the Podcast Producer shared file
system.
Shared File System
Podcast Producer
Approval
User
Archive
Xgrid Agents
Caches
Podcasts
Web/Wiki/Weblog
Podcast Capture/Agent
Recordings
Streams
QTSS Server
63
The following table describes the elements of the Podcast Producer shared file system.
Element
Description
Approval
The Approval folder stores content that requires approval.
Archive
The Archive folder stores copies of the submitted or processed recordings for
archival purposes.
Caches
The Caches folder stores any file that Podcast Producer needs to process a workflow
submission.
When you set up Podcast Producer, the shared file system does not include this
folder. This folder is created. only after the first workflow submission.
The Podcast Producer server keeps the contents of the Caches folder in sync with
the corresponding contents of the /Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows and /
System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows folders on the system running the
Podcast Producer.
When synchronizing these folders, Podcast Producer checks the
/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows folder first. If the folder does not contain the
files it needs, it checks the /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Workflows folder.
Podcast Producer copies any global resources required by submitted workflow jobs
from the /System/Library/PodcastProducer/Resources folder on the Podcast
Producer server’s Mac.
Podcasts
The Podcast folder is where Podcast Producer stores the finished podcasts.
Recordings
The recordings folder stores the submitted QuickTime movie recordings. These
QuickTime movies remain in this folder until the corresponding workflow job is
completed successfully.
Streams
The Streams folder stores the QTSS streams produced by Podcast Producer.
Using an NFS Shared File System
The Podcast Producer server requires the ability to run the chown and chmod commands
as root on the shared file system. However, by default NFS is configured to map the
root user to the nobody user.
To use an NFS shared file system, configure NFS to map root to root.
For more information about configuring NFS, see File Services Administration.
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Chapter 6 The Podcast Producer Shared File System
Deploying Scalable Podcast
7
Producer Solutions
7
This chapter describes how to plan the deployment of
Scalable Podcast Producer solutions.
Podcast Producer is designed for scalability. However, several factors determine how
easy it is to scale your system and whether it is feasible. This chapter discusses the
different scalability aspects and provides planning tips.
Resource Planning
Depending on your application, setting up Podcast Producer can require a serious
investment in computing, storage, and network resources, as shown in the following
illustration.
Manual submission
systems
Recording systems
Internal network
External network
Podcast Producer Server
Podcast Producer
Shared File System
Xgrid agents
Publishing servers
65
Manual Submission Systems
You use manual submission systems to upload QuickTime movies using Podcast
Capture or the podcast command-line tool.
These systems do not need to be dedicated systems because Podcast Capture is
available in Mac OS X v10.5. Users with systems running Mac OS X v10.5 can upload
video content using their systems.
Any system capable of running Mac OS X v10.5 with enough hard disk space can be
used for a manual submission system.
Video Recording Systems
Video recording systems are dedicated systems running Mac OS X v10.5 with a video
camera connected to them. A typical video recording system is a headless Mac Mini
with 40 to 60 GB of free hard disk space. These systems are remotely controlled by
other systems using Podcast Capture or podcast.
For example, a professor could use Podcast Capture to start and stop recording on the
video-recording Mac from the podium computer, which could be a MacBook. You can
even write a small web application to non-Mac podium systems to control the
video-recording Macs.
The number of video-recording systems depends on your needs. For example, a school
might have a requirement that every classroom be equipped with a video-recording
system.
Although deciding the number of systems might be a matter of policy, keep in mind
the cost of acquiring and maintaining these systems. In addition, consider the impact
on your network when all these systems start uploading recorded content.
Recording Quality
A very important factor to consider when planning a Podcast Producer deployment is
the recording quality.
The recording quality you choose has an impact on the following:
 Storage requirements for the recording system
 Storage requirements for Podcast Producer’s shared file system
 Network traffic
 Processing power
Although you can’t use Server Admin or Podcast Capture to specify the recording
quality, you can instead use the podcast --presets command. For more information
about using podcast to specify recording quality, see the Command-Line Administration
guide.
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Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
Recording at the Best Quality
Recording audio, video, or screen activity at the Best quality results in large QuickTime
files, which require more resources to store, upload, and process. Recording video at
the Best quality (DV) generates 13 GB/h. Screen recording at the Best quality can result
in even bigger files because the screen resolution can be much higher than the DV
resolution.
For example, a 2-hour recording at the Best quality requires more than 26 GB of free
hard disk space on the recording system. In addition, while the first recorded movie is
being uploaded, your recording system must have enough disk space to store a second
recording or more. Otherwise, you can’t use the recording system until the first movie
has uploaded successfully.
To overcome this limitation, you can customize your recording systems to be
connected to an Xsan system so that recordings are directly stored on the Xsan system,
which provides greater storage capacity that is scalable.
Also, if the uploaded movies must be archived on the Podcast Producer’s shared file
system, your storage needs will increase drastically as the number of submissions
increases.
In addition, the traffic on your network will increase when recording at the Best quality.
At 1 Gbit/s, it takes about 3.5 minutes to upload a 26 GB movie, assuming the network
has enough bandwidth to support additional traffic. However, if the upload speed is
100 Mbit/s, the upload time is about 36 minutes under ideal circumstances. Consider
the impact on the network if you have several systems uploading large files at the
same time. Your network might not be able to handle such a load.
Recording at a lower Quality
As shown in the previous section, recording at the Best quality can require a significant
expenditure in computing and networking resources. This is why many organizations
prefer recording at a lower quality.
By default, Podcast Capture (and podcast) record at the Better quality (H.264 single-
pass live recording at 1 GB/h for video).
The advantage of recording at this quality is that it significantly improves the efficiency
of your system without compromising quality. The Better quality is almost identical to
the Best quality, but the difference in size is significant, especially if you plan to use
multiple recording systems on a daily basis.
The other big advantage of recording at the Better quality is that after a movie is
uploaded, the Podcast Producer system can process and publish a high-quality podcast
in a short period of time. The encoding of a 1-GB movie takes much less time than the
encoding of a 13-GB movie.
Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
67
If quality is not an issue, you can record at the Good quality, which results in even
smaller files.
Network Bandwidth
When planning Podcast Producer deployment, consider using a private 1 GB/s network
for submitting QuickTime movies to the Podcast Producer server. Doing so provides
faster upload speed and shields the main network from traffic slowdowns when
multiple systems are uploading content at the same time.
Also consider controlling the upload bandwidth at the switch level to prevent the
network from being overwhelmed.
Publishing Systems
Although you can use one server to provide Podcast Producer services, including Web,
Mail, and other services for users to access podcasts, consider using dedicated servers
for publishing podcasts for increased reliability and better performance.
Also consider using proxy servers (for example, a proxy server for every building’s
network) to improve the scalability of your system.
Take into account the size of the podcasts or movies that your workflows will generate.
The size of the podcasts helps you determine the number of servers you need and how
much network bandwidth to allocate.
For example, the average file size for 1 hour of video encoded for iPod is 250 MB and
for Apple TV is 800 MB. If you plan to serve iPod and Apple TV podcasts at an average
of 400 MB per user to 1,000 users per day, you’ll need servers to handle about
390 GB/day of throughput. You also need to factor in the cost per GB.
Storage
Ideally, you should use RAID arrays and Xsan to provide a scalable high-availability,
high-performance storage solution for your Podcast Producer system.
In very small deployments, you can use the Podcast Producer server’s hard drives for
storing podcasts. However, in medium to large deployments, your storage needs can
grow very large, requiring terabytes of hard disk space.
Also, the more Xgrid servers you have in your Podcast Producer system, the more data
communication bandwidth you’ll need. This is why Xsan is an ideal solution because it
provides the necessary bandwidth to process the data.
Xgrid Agents
When planning your Podcast Producer solution, you’ll need to figure out how many
Xgrid agents you should deploy to provide adequate computing power and to
maximize efficiency.
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Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
To determine the number of Xgrid agents needed, test the workflows you’ll be using
and come up with benchmarks. In many workflows, only few tasks take most of the
processing power. In addition, not all tasks can be run in parallel. More Xgrid agents
does not always mean better performance.
Although it might take few tries to get your system configuration right, you can always
add Xgrid agents when needed to address increased computational needs.
Workflows
Workflows are very important in planning the deployment of a Podcast Producer
solution. They dictate what resources will be needed and whether a deployment is
feasible.
Workflows determine how submitted QuickTime movies are processed. The more
processing the movies require, the more computing power and resources you’ll need.
Although workflows allow you to perform batch processing for QuickTime movies,
you’ll need to plan your workflows based on the resources available to you.
For example, you might choose to create simplified workflows that produce only audio
podcasts of conference presentations. Also, you can create workflows that do not
archive the submitted QuickTime movies to save storage.
Workflow Benchmarking
When you design a workflow, test the workflow and establish benchmarks to help you
plan your deployment.
Design your workflows to maximize the use of Xgrid agents and increase efficiency.
When benchmarking workflows, identify the bottleneck tasks, those that consume
most of the CPU cycles available to the workflow.
Deployment Scenarios
This section discusses common deployment scenarios and describes their scalability.
Small Deployment
A small deployment is a kind of all-in-one deployment. This type of deployment is
suitable for testing or for small organizations with limited computing resources and
limited podcasting needs.
In a small deployment, your Podcast Producer solution can consist of the following:
 One or more recording systems
 A Podcast Producer server, which also provides storage and publishing services
Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
69
This type of system is not easily scalable. To scale it up, you’ll need to do the following:
 Reconfigure your Podcast Producer settings
 Migrate the data from the old shared file system to a new one
 Possibly update your workflows to take advantage of additional processing power
 Possibly reconfigure your publishing services
Partially Scalable Deployment
The minimum configuration for a scalable deployment is the following (assuming that
DNS, Mail, Open Directory, and Web services are already available):
 1 Xserve server with Podcast Producer
 1 Xgrid system (controller and agent)
 1 Metadata Controller (MDC) and 1 RAID array for the Xsan system
In this configuration, you set up the metadata within the data storage pool using
RAID 5 and leave two drive modules as hot spares, as shown here.
Metadata
Hot spare
and data
This configuration allows you to scale the computing elements easily by adding new
Xserve systems with Xgrid agent enabled and Xsan component installed.
However, the storage element in this configuration does not scale because the
metadata is set up within the data storage pool. This configuration optimizes the
maximum usage of storage space on one RAID array but does not provide the highest
scaling flexibility.
To scale the storage element of this configuration, you’ll first need to migrate the data
from the old RAID array to a new system where the storage area network (SAN)
metadata pool and the SAN data pool are separate. Then, you can add logical unit
numbers (LUNs) to the storage pool to increase the storage size and get better
performance. You’ll also need to reconfigure your Podcast Producer shared file system
settings.
This configuration is a good starting point for organizations that do not have all the
resources needed for a highly scalable deployment. It should handle a good amount of
Xgrid nodes before slowing the entire system.
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Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
Highly Scalable Deployment
The perfect minimum setup that gives you maximum flexibility for scaling the
computing and storage element for your Podcast Producer solution is the following
(assuming that DNS, Mail, Open Directory, and Web services are already available):
 1 Xserve server with Podcast Producer
 1 Xgrid system (controller and agent)
 1 MDC and 2 RAID arrays for the Xsan system
In this configuration you set up the metadata separately from the data storage pool
using RAID 1, and you use RAID 5 for the data storage pool with three drive modules as
hot spares, as shown here.
Metadata
Data
Hot spare
To scale your solution, just add very new Xgrid and RAID systems as needed.
Case Study
To better understand the importance of planning and the resource demands of a
Podcast Producer solution, this section discusses a sample deployment.
This case study takes the following into consideration:
 Network bandwidth
 Content uploading
 Typical recording-day schedule with different workflow benchmarks
In addition, this case study provides charts to illustrate the results of the study.
Note: The charts in this section were generated by a special tool developed by Apple
engineers. The numbers in these charts are based on established benchmarks for a set
of custom workflows. These numbers may not apply to your setup.
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Recording System Configuration
The Podcast Producer system discussed in this case study has the following
configuration for recording video:
 4 recording systems (no manual submission systems) to record and upload content
 A default network bandwidth of 100Mbit/s from the recording systems to the
Podcast Producer server
 A recording quality of H.264 (1 GB/h)
Workflow Benchmarks
This sample deployment uses four workflows. The following table lists the benchmarks
established for these workflows after testing them:
Workflow
Description
Ratio CPUs In (MB/h)
Out (MB/h)
1
This workflow takes in a 720x576 movie (less
100%
2
250
500
than 90 minutes long) and produces three
podcasts:
 AAC Audio
 iPod video (H264)
 High-quality video (H264/native resolution)
2
This workflow is the same as workflow 1
150%
2
250
500
except that it takes in a movie more than 90
minutes long.
3
This workflow takes the same input and
100%
4
250
1,050
generates the same output as workflow 1, but
also generates additional podcasts.
4
This workflow is the same as workflow 3
150%
4
250
1,050
except that it takes in a movie more than 90
minutes long.
The Ratio column in the table lists the ratio of recording time to processing time. For
example, if the recording time is 1 hour, a ratio of 150% means that it takes 1.5 hours to
produce and publish the podcast. The CPUs column lists the number of CPUs (not
systems) required by the workflow for best performance. The In column lists the size
per hour of the recorded movie and the Out column lists the per hour size of the
resulting podcasts.
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Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
Recording Schedule
A typical recording day (from 7 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.) for this case study is illustrated below.
Room
Recording Times ( in Half Hour Increments)
7
8
9
10
11
12
1
2
3
4
5
6
106
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
110
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
112
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
114
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
The numbers in the colored cells represent the workflow being used. In this example,
workflow 1 is used to record the first sessions in all rooms, workflow 2 is used for
recording the following sessions in all four rooms, and so on.
The colored cells help you see the recording pattern.
Performance
With one system for uploading the recorded movies to the shared file system and three
Xgrid nodes, this section describes the performance of the system.
Daily Data Upload
The following chart illustrates the daily upload times.
In this case, the size of recorded movies and the spacing of recording times allows for a
smooth uploading pattern of 15 minutes per submission.
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73
CPU Usage
The following chart illustrates the CPU usage pattern when using three Xgrid nodes.
In the chart above, the blue line shows the instant computing need if unlimited
computing resources were available. The orange line shows the actual CPU usage
based on the number of Xgrid nodes available. In this case, there are three Xgrid nodes,
each with four CPUs.
As show in the chart above, at 3:00 in the morning, all workflows completed and all
content was published.
Note: From a mathematical point of view, the area under the blue line is equal to the
area under the orange line.
If the number of Xgrid nodes is now four (16 CPUs), the performance will improve as
shown in the following chart.
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Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
However, using only two Xgrid nodes will do the job if fast delivery of content is not
required, as shown in the following chart.
As indicated in the chart, all podcasts will be available six days after the recording
started.
The choice of how many Xgrid nodes to use depends on delivery time requirements
and cost.
Storage Usage
The following shows the required Xsan setup for an academic year (40 weeks) to
accommodate the recording schedule used in this case study:
 Uploaded data per day: 8,500 MB
 Processed data per day: 35,700 MB per day
The estimated total storage need for 40 weeks is 8,840,000 MB, or about 8.6 TB.
Summary
Based on this case study, the following factors play a big role in the planning and
deploying of a Podcast Producer solution:
 Number of recording and manual submission systems
 Type of workflows to be used
 Typical recording-day schedule for each recording and manual submission system
 Estimated time to complete a workflow job under best conditions
 Number of Xgrid nodes and number of CPUs that can be used in parallel
 Required delivery time and system optimization needed to meet requirements
 Required Xsan storage
 Required Xsan bandwidth per Xgrid agent to ensure that tasks execute at full speed
 Required network bandwidth
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Chapter 7 Deploying Scalable Podcast Producer Solutions
Podcast Producer
8
Command-Line Tools
8
This chapter describes Podcast Producer command-line tools.
Podcast Producer command-line tools provide you with the flexibility you need to
customize Podcast Producer for your needs. This chapter provide a high-level overview
of these commands.
For more information about the Podcast Producer command-line tools, see the
Command-Line Administration guide or the corresponding man page.
The podcast Tool
The /usr/bin/podcast tool provides complete scriptable control over Podcast Producer
client-side functionality. It allows you to perform any function that Podcast Capture
offers, and more. For example, you can use podcast for listing and setting audio, video,
and screen recording quality.
The following are ways in which you can take advantage of the podcast tool:
 Wrapping the podcast tool.
You can wrap the podcast tool to add a layer of functionality.
For example, you can write a GUI application that authenticates users and provides
only one option for starting and stopping screen recording.
 Creating Podcast Producer widgets.
For example, you can create a widget for viewing Podcast Producer presets.
 Scheduling recording jobs.
You can create cron jobs to automate the recording and submission of audio and
video content to the Podcast Producer server.
For example, you can write a cron job to record lectures. You can also write cron jobs
for submitting daily Podcast Producer jobs after 11:00 p.m.
77
The pcastconfig Tool
This is the server configuration command-line tool (/usr/bin/pcastconfig). It provides
all the functionality offered by the Podcast Producer service in Server Admin.
The pcastctl Tool
Use the /usr/sbin/pcastctl tool to start, stop, and restart the Podcast Producer server
or agent. Also use this tool to display the status of running daemons.
The pcastaction Tool
The /usr/bin/pcastaction tool is used in workflows and provides a rich set of
commands for processing and producing audio and video podcasts.
For example, the pcastaction watermark command imposes a watermark image on
the input video. Also, the pcastaction encode command outputs an encoded version
of the input file.
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Chapter 8 Podcast Producer Command-Line Tools
Monitoring Podcast Producer
9
9
This chapter describes how to monitor and troubleshoot
Podcast Producer issues.
Podcast Producer provides several ways for monitoring Podcast Producer activity.
Viewing Podcast Producer Logs
You can use the Logs pane of the Podcast Producer server to view Podcast Producer
logs.
The logs help you monitor and troubleshoot Podcast Producer issues. You can even
write scripts that look for certain log entries to alert you of possible issues.
Podcast Producer provides the following logs:
Log
Description
Podcast Producer Server Log
Records Podcast Producer server (pcastserverd) activity.
Podcast Producer Server Error Log
Records error messages generated by the Podcast Producer
server.
Podcast Producer HTTP Access Log
Records all requests processed by the Apache server
instance (httpd) used by Podcast Producer.
Podcast Producer HTTP Error Log
Records HTTP error messages generated by Podcast
Producer’s httpd instance.
Podcast Producer Application Log
Records external HTTP requests to the Podcast Producer
server.
To view Podcast Producer logs using Server Admin:
1 Open Server Admin.
2 In the Computers and Services list, select Podcast Producer.
3 Click Logs.
4 From the View pop-up menu, choose the log to view.
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Monitoring Movie Transfers
Podcast Capture users can monitor the progress of movie submissions to the Podcast
Producer server using the Transfers window, as described in the onscreen help for
Podcast Capture.
You can also look at the system log on the Podcast Producer server for Podcast
Producer uploader entries.
Monitoring Xgrid Job Progress
The Podcast Producer server sends a notification message when a Podcast Producer
Xgrid job completes successfully, but you may want to actively monitor the progress of
an Xgrid job.
Using Xgrid Admin
To actively monitor Xgrid job progress, use Xgrid Admin. Xgrid Admin shows you the
progress of Xgrid jobs and whether they succeeded or failed, as shown in the following
figure.
In the figure above, Xgrid Admin shows that the job titled History 1, which was
submitted by Anne Johnson, has been completed. The text between parentheses is the
name of the workflow selected by her in Podcast Capture before submitting the job.
Also in the figure, Xgrid Admin shows that the job submitted by John Clark is still
running and is about 40% done. This job has 22 tasks and is currently using 12.40 GHz
of CPU power.
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Chapter 9 Monitoring Podcast Producer
In addition to monitoring job progress, you can use Xgrid Admin to see the status of
Xgrid agents, as shown below.
For more information about Xgrid Admin, see Xgrid Administration and High
Performance Computing.
Using the Command Line
You can use the Xgrid command-line tool to monitor Podcast Producer Xgrid job
progress.
For example, when the Podcast Producer server submits a job to the Xgrid controller,
an entry similar to the following appears in the Podcast Producer Server Log:
Thu Aug 23 13:20:33 -0700 2007 -- Wrote Xgrid job batch file: /var/pcast/
server/xgrid_jobs/9A93EA1B-1A59-43DE-B786-1537EC0CD479_job.xml
This entry tells you that the Podcast Producer server created an Xgrid job file based on
a workflow template and stored it in the /var/pcast/server/xgrid_jobs/ directory.
Following this entry is another entry indicating the job number:
Thu Aug 23 13:20:34 -0700 2007 -- Kicked off Xgrid Job: 594 for Podcast
Producer Job: 598
In this example, the job’s ID is 594.
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81
You can then use the Xgrid command-line tool to find out the results of running the
tasks specified in the job using the job’s ID, as in the following example:
$ xgrid -h private.example.com -auth Kerberos -job results -id 594
Page created at: http://private.example.com/groups/podcasts/blog/68912
Running /Volumes/Podcast/Caches/Resources/Tools/preflight_script
You can even narrow the Xgrid job’s status results to show a specific task:
$ xgrid -h private.example.com -auth Kerberos -job results -id 594 -tid
groupblog
Page created at: http://private.example.com/groups/podcasts/blog/68912
In this example, the output indicates that the groupblog task created a page at the
specified URL.
You can also view Xgrid job status as in the following example:
$ xgrid -h private.example.com -auth Kerberos -job attributes -id 594
{
jobAttributes = {
activeCPUPower = 0;
dateNow = 2007-08-23 13:34:01 -0700;
dateStarted = 2007-08-23 12:22:52 -0700;
dateStopped = 2007-08-23 13:23:10 -0700;
dateSubmitted = 2007-08-23 12:22:52 -0700;
jobStatus = Finished;
name = "History 1 by Anne Johnson (Blog and iTunes with intro and
effects)";
percentDone = 100;
taskCount = 22;
undoneTaskCount = 0;
};
}
For more information about using the Xgrid command-line tool, see Command-Line
Administration.
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Chapter 9 Monitoring Podcast Producer
y
Glossary
Glossar
AFP Apple Filing Protocol. A client/server protocol used by Apple file service on
Macintosh-compatible computers to share files and network services. AFP uses TCP/IP
and other protocols to communicate between computers on a network.
address A number or other identifier that uniquely identifies a computer on a network,
a block of data stored on a disk, or a location in a computer memory. See also IP
address, MAC address.
administrator A user with server or directory domain administration privileges.
Administrators are always members of the predefined “admin” group.
alias Another email address at your domain that redirects incoming email to an
existing user.
Apple Filing Protocol See AFP.
automount To make a share point appear automatically on a client computer. See also
mount.
bit A single piece of information, with a value of either 0 or 1.
Bonjour A protocol developed by Apple for automatic discovery of computers,
devices, and services on IP networks. This proposed Internet standard protocol is
sometimes referred to as “ZeroConf.” For more information, visit www.apple.com or
www.zeroconf.org. To see how this protocol is used in Mac OS X Server, see local
hostname.
client A computer (or a user of the computer) that requests data or services from
another computer, or server.
command line The text you type at a shell prompt when using a command-line
interface.
command-line interface A way of interfacing with the computer (for example, to run
programs or modify file system permissions) by entering text commands at a shell
prompt.
83
daemon A program that runs in the background and provides important system
services, such as processing incoming email or handling requests from the network.
DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. A protocol used to dynamically distribute
IP addresses to client computers. Each time a client computer starts up, the protocol
looks for a DHCP server and then requests an IP address from the DHCP server it finds.
The DHCP server checks for an available IP address and sends it to the client computer
along with a lease period—the length of time the client computer may use the
address.
directory Also known as a folder. A hierarchically organized list of files or other folders,
or probably both.
directory domain A specialized database that stores authoritative information about
users and network resources; the information is needed by system software and
applications. The database is optimized to handle many requests for information and to
find and retrieve information quickly. Also called a directory node or simply a directory.
DNS Domain Name System. A distributed database that maps IP addresses to domain
names. A DNS server, also known as a name server, keeps a list of names and the IP
addresses associated with each name.
DNS domain A unique name of a computer used in the Domain Name System to
translate IP addresses and names. Also called a domain name.
DNS name A unique name of a computer used in the Domain Name System to
translate IP addresses and names. Also called a domain name.
domain Part of the domain name of a computer on the Internet. It does not include
the Top Level Domain designator (for example, .com, .net, .us, .uk). Domain name
“www.example.com” consists of the subdomain or host name “www,” the domain
“example,” and the top level domain “com.”
domain name See DNS name.
Domain Name System See DNS.
drop box A shared folder with privileges that permit other users to write to, but not
read, the folder’s contents. Only the owner has full access. Use only AFP to create drop
boxes. When a folder is shared using AFP, the ownership of an item written to the folder
is automatically transferred to the owner of the folder, thus giving the owner of a drop
box full access to and control over items put into it.
everyone Any user who can log in to a file server: a registered user or guest, an
anonymous FTP user, or a website visitor.
84
Glossary
export In the Network File System (NFS), a way of sharing a directory with clients on a
network.
file server A computer that serves files to clients. A file server may be a general-
purpose computer that’s capable of hosting additional applications or a computer
capable only of serving files.
file system A scheme for storing data on storage devices that permits applications to
read and write files without having to deal with lower-level details.
File Transfer Protocol See FTP.
FTP File Transfer Protocol. A protocol that enables computers to transfer files over a
network. FTP clients using any operating system that supports FTP can connect to a file
server and download files, depending on their access privileges. Most Internet browsers
and a number of freeware applications can be used to access an FTP server.
group A collection of users who have similar needs. Groups simplify the administration
of shared resources.
guest user A user who can log in to your server without a user name or password.
home directory A folder for a user’s personal use. Mac OS X also uses the home
directory, for example, to store system preferences and managed user settings for
Mac OS X users.
host Another name for a server.
host name A unique name for a server, historically referred to as the UNIX hostname.
The Mac OS X Server host name is used primarily for client access to NFS home
directories. A server determines its host name by using the first name available from
the following sources: the name specified in the /etc/hostconfig file
(HOSTNAME=some-host-name); the name provided by the DHCP or BootP server for
the primary IP address; the first name returned by a reverse DNS (address-to-name)
query for the primary IP address; the local hostname; the name “localhost.”
Internet Generally speaking, a set of interconnected computer networks
communicating through a common protocol (TCP/IP). The Internet (note the
capitalization) is the most extensive publicly accessible system of interconnected
computer networks in the world.
Internet Protocol See IP.
IP Internet Protocol. Also known as IPv4. A method used with Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP) to send data between computers over a local network or the Internet. IP
delivers packets of data, while TCP keeps track of data packets.
IP address A unique numeric address that identifies a computer on the Internet.
Glossary
85
IP subnet A portion of an IP network, which may be a physically independent network
segment, that shares a network address with other portions of the network and is
identified by a subnet number.
Kerberos A secure network authentication system. Kerberos uses tickets, which are
issued for a specific user, service, and period of time. Once a user is authenticated, it’s
possible to access additional services without retyping a password (this is called single
sign-on) for services that have been configured to take Kerberos tickets. Mac OS X
Server uses Kerberos v5.
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. A standard client-server protocol for
accessing a directory domain.
Line Printer Remote See LPR.
local hostname A name that designates a computer on a local subnet. It can be used
without a global DNS system to resolve names to IP addresses. It consists of lowercase
letters, numbers, or hyphens (except as the last characters), and ends with “.local” (e.g,
bills-computer.local). Although the name is derived by default from the computer
name, a user can specify this name in the Network pane of System Preferences. It can
be changed easily, and can be used anywhere a DNS name or fully qualified domain
name is used. It can only resolve on the same subnet as the computer using it.
LPR Line Printer Remote. A standard protocol for printing over TCP/IP.
Mac OS X The latest version of the Apple operating system. Mac OS X combines the
reliability of UNIX with the ease of use of Macintosh.
Mac OS X Server An industrial-strength server platform that supports Mac, Windows,
UNIX, and Linux clients out of the box and provides a suite of scalable workgroup and
network services plus advanced remote management tools.
mount (verb) In general, to make a remote directory or volume available for access on
a local system. In Xsan, to cause an Xsan volume to appear on a client’s desktop, just
like a local disk.
Network File System See NFS.
network interface Your computer’s hardware connection to a network. This includes
(but isn’t limited to) Ethernet connections, AirPort cards, and FireWire connections.
NFS Network File System. A client/server protocol that uses Internet Protocol (IP) to
enable remote users to access files as though they were local. NFS exports shared
volumes to computers according to IP address, rather than user name and password.
86
Glossary
nfsd daemon An NFS server process that runs continuously behind the scenes and
processes read and write requests from clients. The more daemons that are available,
the more concurrent clients can be served.
Open Directory The Apple directory services architecture, which can access
authoritative information about users and network resources from directory domains
that use LDAP, NetInfo, or Active Directory protocols; BSD configuration files; and
network services.
open source A term for the cooperative development of software by the Internet
community. The basic principle is to involve as many people as possible in writing and
debugging code by publishing the source code and encouraging the formation of a
large community of developers who will submit modifications and enhancements.
oplocks See opportunistic locking.
opportunistic locking Also known as oplocks. A feature of Windows services that
prevents users of shared files from changing the same file at the same time.
Opportunistic locking locks the file or part of the file for exclusive use, but also caches
the user’s changes locally on the client computer for improved performance.
owner The owner of an item can change access permissions to the item. The owner
may also change the group entry to any group in which the owner is a member. By
default the owner has Read & Write permissions.
password An alphanumeric string used to authenticate the identity of a user or to
authorize access to files or services.
pathname The location of an item within a file system, represented as a series of
names separated by slashes (/).
permissions Settings that define the kind of access users have to shared items in a file
system. You can assign four types of permissions to a share point, folder, or file: read/
write, read-only, write-only, and none (no access). See also privileges.
print queue An orderly waiting area where print jobs wait until a printer is available.
The print service in Mac OS X Server uses print queues on the server to facilitate
management.
port A sort of virtual mail slot. A server uses port numbers to determine which
application is to receive data packets. Firewalls use port numbers to determine whether
data packets are permitted to traverse a local network. “Port” usually refers to either a
TCP or UDP port.
privileges The right to access restricted areas of a system or perform certain tasks
(such as management tasks) in the system.
Glossary
87
process A program that has started executing and has a portion of memory allocated
to it.
protocol A set of rules that determines how data is sent back and forth between two
applications.
QTSS QuickTime Streaming Server. A technology that lets you deliver media over the
Internet in real time.
QuickTime A set of Macintosh system extensions or a Windows dynamic-link library
that supports the composition and playing of movies.
QuickTime Streaming Server See QTSS.
queue An orderly waiting area where items wait for some type of attention from the
system. See also print queue.
server A computer that provides services (such as file service, mail service, or web
service) to other computers or network devices.
share point A folder, hard disk (or hard disk partition), or CD that’s accessible over the
network. A share point is the point of access at the top level of a group of shared items.
Share points can be shared using AFP, Windows SMB, NFS (an “export”), or FTP
protocols.
short name An abbreviated name for a user. The short name is used by Mac OS X for
home directories, authentication, and email addresses.
single sign-on An authentication strategy that relieves users from entering a name
and password separately for every network service. Mac OS X Server uses Kerberos to
enable single sign-on.
SLP DA Service Location Protocol Directory Agent. A protocol that registers services
available on a network and gives users easy access to them. When a service is added to
the network, the service uses SLP to register itself on the network. SLP/DA uses a
centralized repository for registered network services.
TCP Transmission Control Protocol. A method used along with the Internet Protocol
(IP) to send data in the form of message units between computers over the Internet. IP
takes care of handling the actual delivery of the data, and TCP takes care of keeping
track of the individual units of data (called packets) into which a message is divided for
efficient routing through the Internet.
ticket, Kerberos A temporary credential that proves a Kerberos client’s identity to a
service.
Transmission Control Protocol See TCP.
88
Glossary
UDP User Datagram Protocol. A communications method that uses the Internet
Protocol (IP) to send a data unit (called a datagram) from one computer to another in a
network. Network applications that have very small data units to exchange may use
UDP rather than TCP.
UID User ID. A number that uniquely identifies a user within a file system. Mac OS X
computers use the UID to keep track of a user’s directory and file ownership.
URL Uniform Resource Locator. The address of a computer, file, or resource that can be
accessed on a local network or the Internet. The URL is made up of the name of the
protocol needed to access the resource, a domain name that identifies a specific
computer on the Internet, and a hierarchical description of a file location on the
computer.
USB Universal Serial Bus. A standard for communicating between a computer and
external peripherals using an inexpensive direct-connect cable.
User Datagram Protocol See UDP.
user ID See UID.
user name The long name for a user, sometimes referred to as the user’s “real” name.
See also short name.
volume A mountable allocation of storage that behaves, from the client’s perspective,
like a local hard disk, hard disk partition, or network volume. In Xsan, a volume consists
of one or more storage pools. See also logical disk.
WebDAV Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. A live authoring
environment that enables client users to check out webpages, make changes, and then
check the pages back in while a site is running.
WINS Windows Internet Naming Service. A name resolution service used by Windows
computers to match client names with IP addresses. A WINS server can be located on
the local network or externally on the Internet.
Glossary
89
90
Glossary
Index
x
Inde
A
Blog and iTunes with watermark workflow 50
access
Blog without archive workflow 48
ACLs 18
Blog with streaming, intro and effects
camera 37
workflow 59
workflow 31
Blog with streaming and intro workflow 58
ACLs (access control lists) 18
Blog with streaming and no archive workflow 56
administrator 33
Blog with streaming workflow 57
AES (Advance Encryption Standard) 18
Blog workflow 49
agents
introduction 25
Podcast Producer 16
Blog without archive workflow 48
Xgrid 16, 17, 18, 41, 68
Blog with streaming, intro and effects workflow 59
annotations, movie 51, 52, 53, 55, 58, 59
Blog with streaming and intro workflow 58
Apple TV format 53
Blog with streaming and no archive workflow 56
approval 33
Blog with streaming workflow 57
archiving
Blog workflow 49
file system organization 64
browsers, web 14
iTunes U workflow 54, 55
QuickTime movies 49, 50, 51
C
root folder 33
caches, file system organization 64
arrays, disk. See RAID
camera 15, 37, 38, 66
audience, properties for 33
capture, video. See Podcast Capture
authentication 18
clients and secure server communication 18
See also passwords
See also users
clusters, Xgrid 14
B
codecs 19, 51, 53
bandwidth for QuickTime movies 22, 68
command-line tools
batch processing, QuickTime movies 69
podcast 15, 18, 66, 77
BEEP (Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol) 18
tool summary 77, 78
binding, Mac to Podcast Producer 29
workflow tools 46
Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol. See BEEP
Xgrid 18
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for Apple TV
configuration
workflow 53
default workflow 28
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects workflow 52
DNS 23
Blog and iTunes with intro workflow 51
general settings 26, 28
Blog and iTunes with watermark workflow 50
preliminaries 22
blogs. See blog service
services 23, 24, 25, 26
blog service
users 24
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects for Apple
verifying 30
TV workflow 53
workflow properties 33, 35, 36
Blog and iTunes with intro and effects
Xgrid 26
workflow 52
controllers, Xgrid 16, 18, 27
Blog and iTunes with intro workflow 51
copyright notice 33
91
D
Key Exchange Key. See KEK
dependencies, task 45
keys, property 43, 44
directory services 18, 22, 24
disk arrays. See RAID
L
disks. See storage considerations
localization support 62
DNS (Domain Name System) service 23
logical unit numbers. See LUNs
documentation 8, 10
logs 79
Domain Name System. See DNS
LUNs (logical unit numbers) 70
domains, directory, Open Directory 18, 24
M
E
Mac OS X, manual submission systems 66
email. See mail service
mail service 23, 33, 34
email list 33
manual submission systems 66
encodings, workflow 40
movies. See QuickTime movies
encryption 18
N
F
network traffic and recording quality 67
files
notification, email 23, 34, 41
plist files 41, 61
shared secret 34
O
size considerations 68
Open Directory 18, 24
storage considerations 68
file sharing 16, 27, 34, 63, 64
P
filters
passwords 18, 33, 43
camera 38
pcastaction tool 78
workflow 32
pcastagentd daemon 18
folder 33
pcastconfig tool 78
folders
pcastctl tool 78
archive root 33
plist files 41, 61
shared 27, 64
Podcast Capture
web root 34
binding operation 29
computer requirements 21
G
manual submission 66
groups 18, 33
overview 15
shared file system 27
H
verifying setup 30
hardware requirements 21
workflow access control 31
help, using 8
podcast folder 64
hosts. See servers
Podcast Producer
architecture 14, 15
I
customization overview 19
images 19, 34, 52
deployment scenarios 69, 71, 73, 74, 75
iPod formats 51
logs 79
iTunes 14, 34
overview 7, 13, 17
iTunes U with intro workflow 55
resource planning 65, 66, 67, 68
iTunes U workflow 54
starting 28
transfer monitoring 80
J
troubleshooting 80
See also configuration
jobs, Xgrid 16, 41
podcast tool 15, 18, 66, 77
K
properties
custom 35, 36, 61
KDC (Kerberos Key Distribution Center). See Kerberos
list of workflow 33, 35, 36, 60
KEK (Key Exchange Key) 18
publishing, podcast 19, 68
Kerberos 18
92
Index
Q
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. See SMTP
QTSS. See QuickTime Streaming Server
small deployment scenario 69
Quartz Composer 19, 34, 52
SMS (Short Message Service) 33
QuickTime movies
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) 34
archiving 49, 50, 51
software requirements 21
bandwidth considerations 22, 68
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) 18
batch processing 69
storage area networks. See SANs
capabilities 16
storage considerations
manual submission 66
RAID 68, 70, 71
path locations 33
SANs 67, 68, 70, 71, 75
and Podcast Producer 13, 15, 16
workflow options 39
quality and file size 68
and Xgrid 68
Xgrid capacity considerations 22
See also archiving
QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS)
streaming media. See QuickTime Streaming Server
blog workflow options 56, 57, 58, 59
Submit for Approval workflow 60
file storage 64
properties 34
T
setup 26
task specifications
introduction 42, 45
R
iTunes U with intro workflow 55
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) 68,
iTunes U workflow 54
70, 71
Submit for Approval workflow 60
recording
See also blog service
file storage 64
templates, workflow 41, 42, 43
quality of 66, 67
The 78
and resource planning 66, 72
transfers, monitoring movie 80
Redundant Array of Independent Disks. See RAID
requirements, hardware and software 21
U
UNIX shell script 19, 42
S
usernames, group administrator 33
Safari 14
users
SANs (storage area networks) 67, 68, 70, 71, 75
authentication 18
scalable deployment scenarios 69, 71
creating 24
scripts, shared file 34
groups 18, 33
Secure Sockets Layer. See SSL
posting credentials 34
security
secure communication 18
access control 18, 31, 37
authentication 18
V
overview 17, 18, 19
video capture system. See Podcast Capture
passwords 18, 33, 43
videos. See QuickTime movies
SSL 18
Server Admin 18
W
servers
watermarks 34, 50, 51
computer requirements 21
web browsers 14
hosting 19
web server 33, 34
Podcast Producer 13, 15
web services 25
secure communication 18
See also blog service
web 33, 34
workflows
See also QuickTime Streaming Server
access control 31
setup procedures. See configuration
benchmarking of 69, 72
shared files. See file sharing
bundle structure 39, 40
shared secret files 34
commands list 46
shell scripts 42
customizing 60, 61, 62
Short Message Service. See SMS
default settings 28
short name 33
default types 47
Index
93
deployment planning 69
X
editing tools 60
Xgrid
encodings 40
agents 16, 17, 18, 41, 68
management of 31, 32, 33, 35, 36
capacity considerations 22
overview 16, 22
clusters 14
pcastaction tool 78
controllers 16, 18, 27
properties 33, 35, 36, 60
jobs 16, 41
resources 40, 61
setup 26
storage options 39
and storage considerations 68
templates 41, 42, 43
task dependencies 45
See also task specifications
workflow overview 16
Workgroup Manager 24
xgrid tool 18
Xsan 67, 68, 71, 75
94
Index
Document Outline
- Podcast ProducerAdministration
