I'm migrating to a master/slave backend setup because I've ran out of space in my front/back for capture cards. I've read through the wiki and the linhes documentation and I think I get all of it.

MBE
1. Edit hosts
2. Edit exports (export /myth)
3. Edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf (on master)
4. Create a /mnt/sbe directory (edit fstab to mount this using nfs)

SBE
1. Edit hosts
2. Edit exports
3. Edit /etc/mythtv/mysql.txt (to direct it to MBE)
4. Create a /mnt/mbe directory (edit fstab to mount this using nfs)

Now, the part where I get hung up is the fact that the instructions state to make a directory in /mnt on each machine. After creating those directories we'll mount the /myth directory from the other machine to it. So we have the following:

After that the instructions say to create symbolic links on the SBE from /mnt/mbe/tv to /mnt/tv and then record things there. This makes sense so that any new recordings will be recorded and saved on the MBE. But, if I do this then the hard disk space on the SBE will not be utilized.

The setup that I want to run is:

What I want to do is to utilize the hard disk space in the slave and record the HD stream there; while also recording HD on my MBE. Then I'd like to use the master backend (which is also my frontend for playback) to watch recordings off of both boxen. Can I do this or am I stuck keeping all of the storage in the master and then just using the slave for holding extra capture cards?

How would I change the nfs mounts to accomplish this?

Thanks,
IK632

Remove the NFS exports & mounts completely. The MBE will record stuff in its /myth/tv, and the SBE will record its stuff in its local /myth/tv.

When you watch stuff that was recorded on the SBE, the recorded table will have the SBE hostname in it, so your frontend will contact the SBE's backend to stream the recording to your frontend.

The only problems with this setup are:

1) You need to keep both boxes on if you want to be able to watch all of your recordings, and

2) if your disk recording usage isn't balanced, SBE /myth/tv drives could be full (and thus will need to delete old recordings to make way for new ones), while the MBE isn't. In this situation, 'Delete Recordings' will not show 100%. You will need to occasionally look at the 'Machine Status' page.

_________________
| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

NFS mounts are required to share /myht/music and /myth/video

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R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

Thanks for the info guys. I think I'm going to push down the road of having each box store it's own recordings and then see how to optimize the space as things progress. For now the MBE will have the majority of storage space and the SBE will have the smaller storage amount.

You may be interested in the work the MythTV devs are doing with Storage Groups - http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/changeset/12151 ...

Usually, but in this situation, the frontend is on the MBE (i.e.the SBE doesn't need anything except somewhere to record its TV to)

_________________
| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

Yes. With a more recent frontend/backend, you can specify a list of volumes.
I haven't tried it with NFS cross mounts/shares from different machines, though.

The thought of what happens at boot or restart time scares me

_________________
| Nigel Pearson, nigel.pearson.au@gmail.com
| "Things you own end up owning you" - Tyler, Fight Club

I haven't braved it yet either (still running R5D1 + 0.20). I suspect the directories defined in a Storage Group will be used when available, but I have no hands-on experience with it.

Storage groups only works w/ SVN, not 0.20.

Understood, was pointing out why I had not played with Storage Groups yet (still running 0.20)