I’m wrapping my head around the changes in 2026, especially as they relate to media storage and “Wiring” between machines.
On a couple of test Mac machines, I was able to follow the instructions to create the synthetic.conf file and create a symbolic link between a /mnt/hostname/media folder and the actual location, and then use the NFS exports, auto_master, auto_direct config files to mount each Mac Flame’s media and projects. In the test machines, they could navigate each other’s projects and wire media between each other.
However, I am a little wary about it in a mixed Linux and Mac production environment. Does anyone have any experience implementing this collaboration method?
One thing I’m hung up on is that I would need to rename the RAID storage as the hostname of the computer (to follow the example in the manual). In 2026, even though you can select the project and media folders, it seems like if I renamed the disk, the paths would get messed up and the projects would be inaccessible. Like you wouldn’t have a method to point to the new destination, and relink to the media folders. I’m guessing the supported way to do this is to archive all projects, change the name of the raid storage, then restore the projects to that renamed storage?
To provide context, our facility has 2x Rocky Linux 9.5 Flames, 2x staff Mac based Flames, and a changing number of rental Mac Flames. They have fast DAS RAIDs, a single 10gbe copper ethernet connection to the house network which also has an Editshare to host shared job folders.
Wiring has not been reliable between Mac and Linux for a while, and the artists have been relying on transferring data through archives for a couple of years. Does it seem like we should continue using this archive method to collaborate, or try auto-mounting NFS shares from every other workstation like in the 2026 manual? Save up for a fast SAN and Project Server?
A side question, is there a way to read APFS disks through a Mac in 2026? In earlier versions we had an old iMac set up with an unlicensed Flame installation and the Linux machines were able to navigate to disks mounted on that iMac and conform.