DxO PhotoLab cache and database for concurrent access over network

DxO PhotoLab Windows topics
1

Situation: networked computers and remote access to photo library folders. I keep my photos on a large disk of a desktop computer, and want to edit from laptop or desktop.

What is the recommended setup for the database file and the cache file with networked computers and file servers. Digital asset management should be common, regardless of computer used.

Assuming cache files are local on each computer

  • Is there a way to force coherency between the local cache files ?
  • when multiple computers access the same photos, could there be any problem with caching ?

Common or unshared database files ?

  • Should each computer have its own unshared database file ?
  • Should a common database file be shared on the common file server ?
  • If changes are made using one computer, will the changes be spreading to the other computer databases.
2

One question - why? Managing concurrency is hard enough between multiple threads on the same computer, let alone over a network.

Caching over a network is going to be a lot slower than on the same computer.

Imagine being in the middle of an edit when someone else suddenly makes a change from another computer

3

The database is a single user database only so each computer should have its own database. Not sure about cache files but I guess these should not be shared either.

4

DxO Photolab seems to handle network shares differently than local drives, but I didn’t yet find official documentation about it.

I simply delete the Photolab database each time before working on shared images.

Before I did so, I got virtual copies for the “external” edits detected by Photolab, which can be extremely annoying.

5

See revised descriotion