An unexpected surge in data and enthusiasm for using Perforce at Pixar prompted the development of solutions to automate Perforce server setup and manage growing storage needs. The solutions, developed using Python, bash scripts, and Perforce APIs, have been deployed for a few years at Pixar to support film production work. The scalable solutions are relevant for film studios, game developers, and any company storing binary data in Perforce, and rely on technologies like VMWare, Linux, Oracle, Netapp, EMC storage, and Dell servers.

1. Scaling
Servers
and
Storage
for
Film
Assets
Mike
Sundy,
David
Baraff,
Pixar
Animation
Studios
ABOUT THE PRESENTATION
Problem: What motivated you to do the work you will describe in this presentation?
An unexpected explosion of data and enthusiasm for Perforce at Pixar.
Solution: How did you solve the problem?
We figured out how to automate P4 server setup and manage storage growth.
ABOUT YOUR SOLUTION
To which users and/or tasks is your solution relevant?
Film studios, game developers and any company that stores binary data in Perforce.
How long has your solution been deployed?
A few years.
What programming languages and/or software development tools did you use to develop your solution?
Python, bash shell scripts.
Which Perforce tools and/or APIs did you use?
P4Python. Perforce Benchmark Results Database.
On what hardware/OS/configuration is your solution deployed?
VMWare ESX, RHEL 5, Linux 2.6 kernel.
What other software or hardware does your solution depend on?
Oracle, Netapp, VMWare, EMC SAN, Apache, Dell servers.
Full presentation available at slideshare.net/perforce.