MySQL external db vs. symbolic links

Hi,
I'm have 2 computers with xbmc installed one them (now i'm installing xbmc on the third).
In order to share the media between them in Camelot, I used Symbolic links on the userdata, video and music folders.
Actually it worked quite well although it looks like a hack.
Now I'm making some experiments with the Dharma version and I decided to give the MySQL method a chance (it looks like a "clean" solution, not like symbolic links hack).
Although, in the beginning, I had some problems to make the MySQL server work with the XBMC, it looks like I did it at last and currently it is working.
I tried to use xbmc profiles but it seems that it is not working quite well with the MySQL method.
I also noticed that there is a problem to "share" local media (I solved it by sharing using smb, even on local drives) and of course a problem with the thumbnails cache (which I solved with a symbolic link.
My question is what should be the motivation to port my setup to use the MySQL method instead the Sybolic links method?
What are the pros and cons for each method?

The mysql worked quite well for me - until i moved media to another harddisk, and edited the samba address!
Somehow that seemed to flush the db.

dora Wrote:and of course a problem with the thumbnails cache (which I solved with a symbolic link.
My question is what should be the motivation to port my setup to use the MySQL method instead the Sybolic links method?
What are the pros and cons for each method?

dora,

I guess the MySQL method is more suited to potential multiple updates of the database whereas the default sqlite database probably is not.

Would you care to share your method of sharing the thumbnail cache? Did you just have a symbolic link to a SMB share for the cache? I am trying to do the same but it is the thumbnails that are giving me trouble.

hitman Wrote:dora,
Would you care to share your method of sharing the thumbnail cache? Did you just have a symbolic link to a SMB share for the cache? I am trying to do the same but it is the thumbnails that are giving me trouble.

Sure,
I used a simple symbolic link. Both systems are Windows 7.
Let's assume that the original Thumbnails folder is shared on \\HOST\xbmc\userdata\Thumbnails.
1. Enter your other pc and make sure you can access this shared directory.
2. Open cmd.
3. Go to XBMC_folder\userdata.
4. Delete Thumbnails folder (you can also do it by using windows explorer)
5. use this commmand: mklink /d Thumbnails \\HOST\xbmc\userdata\Thumbnails.
I hope it helped.
Let me know if you still encounter problems.

I did the same thing with my three (all Windows 7). They have a symbolic link to a shared Thumbnails cache, but the music and video databases are MySQL (on an Ubuntu server).

I did a similar thing on all my Linux "clients". The thumbnails are all symbolically linked to a nfs mounted filesystem which holds the central Thumbnails cache.

For some reason Ubuntu doesn't auto mount the nfs filesystem reliably so I have added the mount command to /etc/rc.local. Seems to work apart from occasionally the mount happens a little later, so initially the main screen doesn't show the thumbnails in the recently added videos.

Is there a problem with doing a symlink at the level of %AppData%\XBMC to a shared folder on my NAS? I'm doing that and as long as I run only one XBMC at a time, things work great and stay synced perfectly. I'm also running all Gig Ethernet on my network, so things run really smoothly.

dora Wrote:What are the pros and cons for each method?

Links are certainly easy, but the SQLLite database is not intended to be shared between multiple clients. If you have two or more instances of XBMC using it at the same time you risk database corruption.

JR