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About external storage
Any IP VCR folder (including the root) can be configured to link to an external Network File System (NFS) location.
Recordings in a folder configured to link to an NFS location can either physically be stored on the IP VCR or in the NFS
location. The set of recordings associated with that folder will be the combined set of those physically stored on the IP
VCR (and configured to be in that folder), and those in the external location (which is linked to that folder). Recordings
in the specified NFS location will be visible to the IP VCR and will be able to be played and streamed.
For each folder that you link to an NFS location, you can choose to "Export internal recordings" or not (refer to Adding
and updating folders). When "Export internal recordings" is selected for an NFS link for a folder:
• newly-created recordings in that folder will be exported to the NFS location when they are complete
• newly-uploaded recordings in that folder will be exported to the NFS location when the upload is complete
• existing recordings in that folder on the internal disk of the IP VCR will be exported to the NFS location
• recordings physically stored in the NFS location are visible, and can be played, streamed, and recording details
can be edited (renamed, given new PIN etc)
• HD recordings that will be transcoded for streaming will be transcoded before being exported to the NFS
location
Note that there must be sufficient space for new recordings on the IP VCR, because the recording will be made onto the
IP VCR in the first instance, and then exported to the NFS when complete. The Status > Recording page displays the free
disk space of the IP VCR.
When "Export internal recordings" is not selected for an NFS link for a folder:
• recordings physically stored in the NFS location are visible, and can be played, streamed, and recording details
can be edited (renamed, given new PIN etc)
Recordings stored externally (and/or automatically exported) are in the .codian file format only. You can copy .codian
files into the external location and they will be "seen" by any IP VCR folder linked to that external location. Multiple IP
VCRs can have access to the same external location (or set of external locations). The recordings stored in the external
location can be played back via the IP VCR in the usual ways, or downloaded to a PC and converted into MPEG or
Windows Media Video formats using the Codian Converters (available on www.codian.com).
Consistency of file information across multiple IP VCRs
To ensure that multiple IP VCRs listing a single recording show consistent information, that is PIN, Numeric ID, and
Name, each exported recording consists of two parts:
• a .codian file
• an associated (by filename stem) XML "sidecar" file. This "sidecar" file is not required in order to play back the
recording (whether that play back is an H.323 viewing, web-based streaming, or processing by an application
such as a Codian Converter) but is required so that if the information relating to that recording (that is the PIN,
Numeric ID, or Name) has been changed by one IP VCR then the new information is seen by any other IP VCR