Connecting Mezzmo "desktop" to Mezzmo Media Server installed on 2 different machines

[IronAddict]

Good Morning,

I'm not sure if this has been covered. I am running a dedicated machine (Windows 7 Ultimate) for mezzmo media server -- call it machine #1. I generally use a laptop, also running Windows Ultimate 7 to do most 'computer' work call it machine #2, the question is : Is it possible to simply run Mezzmo -- the desktop app -- from my laptop, Machine #2, to connect to the media server machine, i.e. machine #1 -- or must/can mezzmo desktop only run on the same machine as mezzmo media server --- I tried several "tricks" such as naming the target server with the IP of the media server -- no go ... I tried appending the IP to the port number of the server -- no go (doesn't allow the period). Any ideas ? suggestions ? or just live with doing the remote desktop connection into the media server i.e. machine #1 ?


Thanks in advance for all your help ...

namaste

marc

[Coises]

The key information is here:

http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/2155-Adding-an-admin-interface?p=11767#post11767

I’ve been doing that without problems.

First, install Mezzmo on both machines. On the server machine, if you want to move the Mezzmo database:
http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/2853-Move-db-files-out-of-AppData-Local-Mezzmo?p=14264#post14264
do that next. Set up a network share to the database folder. On the non-server machine, set the Mezzmo server not to start and make the changes indicated in the first post cited above so that the desktop application will access the Mezzmo database on the server.

You will need to refer to all media folders and files using network paths that resolve identically from both machines; neither the desktop application nor the server will resolve names as if it were on the other machine. So media files on the server machine still have to be in folders that are on a network share, because that’s the only way you’ll be able get to them from the application running on the other machine.

Note that you won’t be able to start and stop the Mezzmo server from the application on the other machine. In any case, if you haven’t already, it’s probably worth setting up the server for remote desktop so you can log into it when you need to control things directly.

[IronAddict]

Coises,

Excellent thanks very much .. those were exactly the details i was trying to figure out ... i appreciate your time to reply ...

Have a great evening.

namaste

marc

[smitbret]

So, I've got it set up to be administered remotely, but the strange thing is that when I pull up Mezzmo from the remote PC, my library folder(s) in the Mezzmo interface are completely empty. The playlists load properly, but the folders themselves appear to have nothing in them. Logging in from the same, remote location via Remote Desktop works fine. All info is on the WHS machine with the folders showing all of the info.

I'm also unable to do anything with <Maintain Library>. I can access the menus but it just goes to a status of Finalizing Maintenance and doesn't actually tidy anything up.

[Coises]

Did you specify the folders as network paths (e.g., "\\WHSMachineName\MediaFolders\Folder1") or as local paths (e.g., "D:\MediaFolders\Folder1")?

Local paths will not work; each installation of Mezzmo resolves paths according to the machine it is running on, not based on where the server is running or where the database is located.

Even if you add folders using remote desktop to access Mezzmo on the WHS machine, you must use network paths; if you use local paths, what you described will happen: the WHS copy of Mezzmo will see them, but a copy running on a different machine will not.

[smitbret]

Did you specify the folders as network paths (e.g., "\\WHSMachineName\MediaFolders\Folder1") or as local paths (e.g., "D:\MediaFolders\Folder1")?

Local paths will not work; each installation of Mezzmo resolves paths according to the machine it is running on, not based on where the server is running or where the database is located.

Even if you add folders using remote desktop to access Mezzmo on the WHS machine, you must use network paths; if you use local paths, what you described will happen: the WHS copy of Mezzmo will see them, but a copy running on a different machine will not.

I changed the "MezzmoMediaServer.ini" file on the local Win 7 PC to look at <\\HOMESERVER\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Con ceiva\Mezzmo\mezzmo.db>, the network path to the database on the WHS machine.

It sees the library because the custom playlists are all there along with any metadata when I pull up Mezzmo on the local PC. It's just the folders and library maintenance that come up with nothing.

[smitbret]

Did you specify the folders as network paths (e.g., "\\WHSMachineName\MediaFolders\Folder1") or as local paths (e.g., "D:\MediaFolders\Folder1")?

Local paths will not work; each installation of Mezzmo resolves paths according to the machine it is running on, not based on where the server is running or where the database is located.

Even if you add folders using remote desktop to access Mezzmo on the WHS machine, you must use network paths; if you use local paths, what you described will happen: the WHS copy of Mezzmo will see them, but a copy running on a different machine will not.

I changed the "MezzmoMediaServer.ini" file on the computer to look at \\HOMESERVER\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Con ceiva\Mezzmo\mezzmo.db, the network path to the database on the WHS machine.

It sees the library because the custom playlists are all there along with any metadata when I pull up Mezzmo on the local Win 7 PC. It's just the folders and library maintenance that come up with nothing.

[Coises]

I changed the "MezzmoMediaServer.ini" file on the computer to look at \\HOMESERVER\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Con ceiva\Mezzmo\mezzmo.db, the network path to the database on the WHS machine.

It sees the library because the custom playlists are all there along with any metadata when I pull up Mezzmo on the local Win 7 PC. It's just the folders and library maintenance that come up with nothing.

Yes, but the folders themselves... did you add them as network paths or local paths? Even though they are local to the HOMESERVER machine, they aren’t local to the copy of Mezzmo running on the other machine. As far as I can tell, when you look at a folder in the Mezzmo desktop application, the program just blindly looks at the path that’s been specified for that folder... it doesn’t take into account what machine runs the server or contains the database. So, if you specify a local path, like "D:\Media\Movies" it will look for "D:\Media\Movies" on whatever machine it’s running on—it won’t look on HOMESERVER just because that’s where the server and the database are. (I’m fairly sure it could not be programmed any differently—you can only access a different machine’s files through network shares.)

The reason this is happening for folders but not playlists is because the content of playlists is determined by what’s stored in the database; by definition, the content of a folder is re-determined each time you look at it by scanning the file system. Maintenance, similarly, has to see the file system. If you specify the locations of your media files and folders by local paths, only the machine on which you added them will be able to find them.

As an aside, note that (as far as I know) this isn’t strictly a supported way to use Mezzmo, so we shouldn’t be surprised that there are some quirks.

[smitbret]

Yes, but the folders themselves... did you add them as network paths or local paths? Even though they are local to the HOMESERVER machine, they aren’t local to the copy of Mezzmo running on the other machine. As far as I can tell, when you look at a folder in the Mezzmo desktop application, the program just blindly looks at the path that’s been specified for that folder... it doesn’t take into account what machine runs the server or contains the database. So, if you specify a local path, like "D:\Media\Movies" it will look for "D:\Media\Movies" on whatever machine it’s running on—it won’t look on HOMESERVER just because that’s where the server and the database are. (I’m fairly sure it could not be programmed any differently—you can only access a different machine’s files through network shares.)

The reason this is happening for folders but not playlists is because the content of playlists is determined by what’s stored in the database; by definition, the content of a folder is re-determined each time you look at it by scanning the file system. Maintenance, similarly, has to see the file system. If you specify the locations of your media files and folders by local paths, only the machine on which you added them will be able to find them.

As an aside, note that (as far as I know) this isn’t strictly a supported way to use Mezzmo, so we shouldn’t be surprised that there are some quirks.

Gotcha, so I need to drag the folders into the remote Mezzmo? I am seeing the folders in the tree on the top left, already but they are empty. If I drag the same folder and rename it with a Network Hypehnation, will that cause duplications in the playlists? e.g. I have the "Movies" folder, and I Drag the "Movies" folder in a second time and rename the duplicate as "Movies - Network"?

[Coises]

Gotcha, so I need to drag the folders into the remote Mezzmo? I am seeing the folders in the tree on the top left, already but they are empty. If I drag the same folder and rename it with a Network Hypehnation, will that cause duplications in the playlists? e.g. I have the "Movies" folder, and I Drag the "Movies" folder in a second time and rename the duplicate as "Movies - Network"?

No... at least, I don’t think that will work. The problem is that this needs to be done using network paths from the beginning. To get it to work correctly when you already have a library set up, you would need to remove all the folders from the library, do a library maintenance to remove everything from the playlists (the definitions for smart and active playlists can stay unchanged, but the content has to be removed so it can be re-added referencing network paths), and then start over.

The other thing you have to do is make sure that everything is accessible via network paths. So, if you have some files in "D:\Media\Movies" you must make sure that at least one of "D:\" or "D:\Media" or "D:\Media\Movies" has a network share that is accessible from each machine on which you will want to run the Mezzmo desktop application. For example, let’s assume you have shared "D:\Media" as "ServerMedia" and that your server machine is named HOMESERVER.

Now, when you go to create a "Movies" folder, instead of adding "D:\Media\Movies" you add "\\HOMESERVER\ServerMedia\Movies"; then all computers will see the same thing.

It might work to right-click an existing folder in Mezzmo, select Properties... and change the Folder from a local path to a network path, then run library maintenance; but I have not tried that and I can’t promise that it will work, or that it won’t cause new problems. If you want to try it, I suggest backing up your Mezzmo database first.

[smitbret]

No... at least, I don’t think that will work. The problem is that this needs to be done using network paths from the beginning. To get it to work correctly when you already have a library set up, you would need to remove all the folders from the library, do a library maintenance to remove everything from the playlists (the definitions for smart and active playlists can stay unchanged, but the content has to be removed so it can be re-added referencing network paths), and then start over.

The other thing you have to do is make sure that everything is accessible via network paths. So, if you have some files in "D:\Media\Movies" you must make sure that at least one of "D:\" or "D:\Media" or "D:\Media\Movies" has a network share that is accessible from each machine on which you will want to run the Mezzmo desktop application. For example, let’s assume you have shared "D:\Media" as "ServerMedia" and that your server machine is named HOMESERVER.

Now, when you go to create a "Movies" folder, instead of adding "D:\Media\Movies" you add "\\HOMESERVER\ServerMedia\Movies"; then all computers will see the same thing.

It might work to right-click an existing folder in Mezzmo, select Properties... and change the Folder from a local path to a network path, then run library maintenance; but I have not tried that and I can’t promise that it will work, or that it won’t cause new problems. If you want to try it, I suggest backing up your Mezzmo database first.

Yeah, I had an "A-HA" moment right before you posted this.

I backed up the database and changed the folder location to network instead of local and unfortunately, you do lose the metadata when you do that. Guess I've gotta decide how badly I want to redo it vs. how much I'd like to administer remotely.

[Paul]

Mezzmo v3.3 has been released and you can now change paths for existing files in your Mezzmo library whenever you relocate them to another folder or drive on your computer or NAS. Go to the Maintain Library dialog and click on the Tools tab.

[JohnM]

Sounds pretty complicated. I have tried VNC http://www.realvnc.com/ you can get the free version and try it out. It basically sends your desktop tot he other machine. It allowed my wife to fire up Mezzmo from her MAC.