The different editions of Cumulus are designed to meet the needs of anyone who wants to keep track of their digital media. To meet individual workflow needs, Canto has developed a range of additional add-on products. For more information on Cumulus products, see Canto’s website.
The Cumulus Architecture
Cumulus features a client/server architecture in which individual users (or clients) access the server application across a network.
The Cumulus Client/Server Architecture
The overall client/server architecture is simple. The Cumulus Server is installed on a server computer in the network. The Cumulus Clients are then installed on computers that have access to the computer running the Cumulus Server.
The communication between Clients and Server is handled via the Internet-standard TCP/IP, enabling Clients to access Cumulus catalogs from anywhere in the world. Since Cumulus is cross-platform compatible, both Mac OS X and Windows Clients can access catalogs administered by any Cumulus Server. The only restriction is that the Client has to have TCP/IP access to the computer running the Server.
You don’t have to specify which computers are running the Cumulus Client application. The Cumulus Server allows as many Clients to connect as the number of Clients you purchased, no matter where they’re trying to connect from.
The Cumulus Administrator
The Cumulus Administrator has to perform the following tasks:
• Installing the Cumulus Server application on a server computer in the network. (See the online Installation Guide.)
• Registering your Cumulus configuration and activating the software. (See the online Installation Guide.)
• Configuring the Cumulus Server – employing the Remote Admin utility. (See “Remote Admin”)
The Cumulus Administrator is responsible for the following tasks:
• Providing catalogs to Cumulus Clients by creating new catalogs or adding existing ones to the list of catalogs administered by the Cumulus Server. (See “Providing Catalogs”.)
• Configuring each catalog’s settings to meet the specific needs of the workgroup. (See “Catalog Settings”.)
• Making catalogs available or unavailable to Cumulus Clients and defining individual user permissions. (See “Managing Users”.)
• Maintaining the catalog files themselves, including tasks such as optimizing catalog performance, backing up and restoring catalogs, repairing catalogs, etc. (See “Catalog Maintenance”.)
The permission to perform these tasks can be given to other users. The Cumulus Administrator has all these permissions by default and is the one who is responsible that the permissions are given according to the specific needs of the workgroup.
Cumulus Clients
Cumulus Clients such as Cumulus Web Client or Cumulus Desktop Client access catalogs by logging onto the Cumulus Server and opening catalogs administered by the Server. Once logged on, they have access to all of the functions described in the Cumulus help (provided, of course, that the Cumulus Administrator has not restricted their permissions to use these functions).
The Cumulus Server
Once installed, as default the Cumulus Server is launched “invisibly” every time the computer it’s running on is started up. Most administrative actions can be performed from a Cumulus Desktop Client application logged on as Cumulus Administrator to the Server. Before you can log on from a Client, however, you have to register the Cumulus software and maybe configure the Cumulus Server properties. You configure the properties of a Cumulus Server using the Remote Admin module. For details on the Remote Admin module, see “Remote Admin” ”.
