Plasmon's AllStor NetReady server

Plasmon sent us a network appliance, called the AllStor NetReady, that is basically a Unix server with no keyboard and just two SCSI and one Ethernet connectors on the back. It attaches to the jukebox unit via an ordinary SCSI cable. The unit, which costs $7,995, is simple to set up. We were able to set up the box by setting an IP address and shared network drives in about 10 minutes.

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How we did it
The software side of DVD jukeboxes
Alphabet soup - A guide to the various disc formats
Interactive Scorecard and NetResults
Archive of Network World reviews
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The device comes with its own built-in Web server, so all configuration is done via an ordinary browser. The user interface is somewhat clunky, especially when compared with the Point management software, and requires a screen with 1,024- by 768-pixel resolution to view the various menus.

Plasmon's NetReady server also included its own management software, but the software controls weren't particularly good. Although the NetReady server made installation easy, day-to-day management was not as good as that provided by the PointSoft product.

For example, if you want to convert a DVD disc from Plasmon's proprietary format to UDF, you have to go to the Disk Import menu, even though the disc is already inside the jukebox. We had some trouble keeping the unit running reliably and had to reboot the server a few times during our tests and have it rescan all the DVDs in the jukebox before we could continue. We also lost track of media more often with NetReady than with any of the Point management software tools. We found that NetReady delivered unacceptable performance when compared with the Point/NT systems, too; it couldn't easily handle more than two or three attached users. However, NetReady has an advantage in that you can share your jukebox across both NT and Unix users on your network, something the Point solution doesn't offer. And NetReady is really designed to be used with the Plasmon jukebox, although Plasmon also claims that the NetReady server also supports jukeboxes from many other vendors.

Strom was the founding editor in chief of Network Computing magazine and published his own essays called "Web Informant." He can be reached at david@strom.com.

How we did it
Our testing methods revealed.

Interactive Scorecard and NetResults
See how we scored various DVD-RAM jukeboxes - and check how the results would change if you adjust the importance of various criteria.

The software side of DVD jukeboxes
A DVD jukebox is only as good as the software that drives it, so you'll want to try a few different jukebox management software products before you move your library onto the production network.