Apple Final Cut Server - Manual (Page 15)

Chapter 1 Overview of Final Cut Server 15
I
Building a Final Cut Server System
A Final Cut Server system requires a Macintosh computer, such as an Intel-based Xserve
or a Mac Pro computer, with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard or Mac OS X Server v10.5
Leopard Server or later installed. In general, while Leopard provides sufficient
administration tools for smaller Final Cut Server systems, Leopard Server is
recommended for most installations. This is because it has many more administration
tools and is better suited for providing for general server needs.
For the best performance, the computer used as the server should not be used for
other duties. Managing assets, particularly transcoding the assets and creating the
proxy files (low resolution versions of the original asset), can require significant
computer resources. You can, however, use the server computer for other tasks,
including using the Final Cut Studio applications, if needed. You just need to keep in
mind that the computer’s performance is affected by any Final Cut Server activity.
Additionally, you may find that configuring Spotlight to avoid searching the folders you
are using as devices can improve your performance. This is especially true for the
Proxies and Edit Proxies devices, which can have a lot of activity, causing Spotlight to
spend a lot of time trying to keep up with the changes. You can use the Spotlight pane
in System Preferences to identify which folders and volumes to make private.
The media that Final Cut Server manages requires access to a large amount of storage
space. You can use the computer’s internal and external drives as well as many
supported network devices and file formats for this purpose. Larger facilities may use
an Apple Xsan storage area network (SAN) for asset and production storage. See
“
Storage Device Strategy ,” next, for more information.
You can run Final Cut Server clients on the following computers and operating systems:
 Any computers with Mac OS X v10.4 or later installed
 Any computers with Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista installed
See Part I of this manual, “ Installation and Configuration ,” for details on installing and
setting up your Final Cut Server system. Also see the Before You Install Final Cut Server
document, located on the Final Cut Server installation disc, for details on supported
computers and operating systems.