Cd-Rom Jukebox Management Software

Emedia Professional, March, 1999 by David Doering

On the other hand, the future may belong to integrated thin server solutions. We may see, for example, MDI offering a SCSI Express server with jukebox, or Ornetix tacking its HyperLinq server on-board a 100-disc DVD-RAM subsystem. The software now becomes just part of a hardware buying decision. We'll let you know in a year.

note:

Meridian Data declined to participate in this roundup. Although their product, CD Net, has proven a competent jukebox software package in the past, Meridian stated that its product had not been refreshed since a year ago while several products here (including PoiNT and SmartCD DVD) are recent upgrades.

Thin Server Alternatives

Many administrators are concerned about adding jukebox support on their NT or NetWare servers. The added burden of I/O processing with jukeboxes is one concern. Another is the increasing complexity of servers. Installing, configuring, and maintaining a software-based server jukebox might be the straw that breaks the camel's back on a system that shouldn't slow or go down.

Two vendors, Ornetix and Ten X Technology, offer hardware-based solutions incorporating thin servers to provide jukebox access. Ornetix offers the HyperLinq server while Ten X offers the eponymous TenXpert CD-ROM server. Both have similar feature sets including support for mixed NT and NetWare networks, remote console management, and 10/100BaseT Ethernet support. Both offer caching of some or all the contents of heavily-used titles. Currently, both units are also limited to IS09660 formatted discs (CD or DVD).

The two differ, though, in their corporate background. Ornetix is a company with lengthy experience in networking CD-ROM. Ten X is a much younger company, and strikes you as the Avis of jukebox thin servers--number two and trying harder. The Ornetix HyperLinq ships with extensive documentation and the opportunity to use their stellar CD Commander title management software. The TenXpert ships with a thin manual of 40 or 50 pages and only the simple remote management tool (which is Win95 and not browser-based).

Both provided exceptionally easy access to our test jukeboxes when we had the latest firmware in the units. However, when we initially tried the TenXpert with a Sony CDL1100, the unit failed to recognize the jukebox even though the system was on the approved list. To Ten X's credit, they promptly shipped us a newer unit which did support the CDL1100 right from the start. So it may be worthwhile to verify ahead of time which jukebox you will use to obtain the right unit. An interesting feature of the TenXpert is its recording capability. While the HyperLinq is strictly a read-only device, the TenXpert will queue up a CD-R image file into its onboard hard disk cache, then send it to the first available blank CD-R disc. It isn't sophisticated, and does require the use of an older version of Adaptec's EasyCD for Windows 95 which is supplied by Ten X. (Newer versions don't support a network drive as the destination for an image file.) But it does work, and could be a handy extra to add with the system's main purpose of networking read-only media.