Steinberg Nuendo 4 Networking Manual

							Networking 
						

							Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part 
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Release Date: September 14, 2007
© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2007.
All rights reserved. 
						

							Table of Contents 
						

							4
Table of Contents
5Networking
6Introduction
6What can I use the Networking functions for?
6About the technology
7Getting started - selecting a user name and basic 
procedure
9Setting up a network
11Sharing projects
17Joining projects
19Working with shared projects
22Chatting with other users on the network
22Opening projects with network settings
22The Network dialogs
25Index 
						

							Networking 
						

							6
Networking
Introduction
This document describes how you can use Nuendo’s net-
working technology to collaborate with other users of Nu-
endo in a peer-to-peer network.
The “owner” of a project can share it with any number of 
users via LAN (Local Area Network) connections and/or 
WAN (Wide Area Network) connections via standard net-
work protocols.
This allows several separate users to work on a project si-
multaneously and coordinate their efforts, as well as ex-
change ideas and suggestions.
Using Nuendo to collaborate in a network requires that:
 All users have the same version of Nuendo.
 All computers are either connected via LAN or via the Internet 
through IP addresses.
What can I use the Networking 
functions for?
The networking technology in Nuendo allows collaboration 
with, and exchange of, MIDI, video and audio data – i.e. it 
is possible to exchange and edit MIDI, video and audio. 
Marker and Instrument tracks are also included in a shared 
project. As of this writing, it is not possible to exchange 
any mixer settings.
Even though the networking technology allows for collab-
oration via WAN connections over the Internet, it is prima-
rily designed for use in a LAN workgroup.
If you intend to use it for collaboration over the Internet, 
bear in mind that communication is considerably slower 
over the Internet, and that there are also other factors 
(such as security issues and firewall problems) involved 
which can complicate matters (see below).
About the technology
In addition to TCP/IP, the Nuendo networking technology 
uses the standard network protocol UDP (User Datagram 
Protocol - primarily used to broadcast messages over a 
network).
Since the technology uses the standard protocols and 
calls of the operating system, no special hardware or driv-
ers are required to use it, aside from a working NIC card.
Nuendo uses three ports in your system for establishing 
communication, broadcasting messages and transferring 
data between users: UDP port 6990, TCP port 6991 and 
TCP port 6992. These ports need to be open for network 
communication to be possible.
Considerations for Internet use
As previously mentioned, the Nuendo networking technol-
ogy is designed mainly for use in local area networks, but 
it is also possible to use it over the Internet.
If you intend to use it for collaborating with other users 
over the Internet however, there are a few things to keep in 
mind and some system settings you may need to make:
•If a network is to be created with any users connected 
via the Internet, all users need to know the respective IP 
addresses of the other computers in the network, and use 
these to establish the connection.
See “Setting up WAN connections” on page 9 for details about how to 
use the IP address of a computer to establish network communication 
with it in Nuendo.
There may also be issues that need to be resolved re-
garding firewalls and/or computers connected to the In-
ternet via private subnets. If a computer is protected by a 
firewall or is in a subnet, the user may need to perform the 
actions described below.
If your computer is behind a firewall
In a LAN, Nuendo uses the UDP port 6990 to establish 
communication with the other computers. Over the Inter-
net however, Nuendo does not use this port. Instead, con-
nection and communication is established and handled via 
TCP/IP messages sent to the TCP ports 6991 and 6992. 
						

							7
Networking
This means that the TCP ports 6991 and 6992 must be 
open on all computers. Firewalls may block messages to 
these ports, thus making connection impossible. Consult 
the documentation for your firewall (or operating system) 
for information about how to open ports – or contact your 
network administrator.
If your computer is in a subnet that uses NAT
If your computer resides in a subnet that uses NAT (Net-
work Address Translation), all computers in the subnet 
share the same external IP address, while the individual 
computers in the subnet have internal IP addresses.
In this case, you must set up a port mapping from the ex-
ternal ports 6991 and 6992 to your internal ports 6991 
and 6992 - i.e. the actual ports on your computer, as op-
posed to the ports of the subnet.
If computers are in different NAT subnets
If you want to collaborate with users whose computers re-
side in different subnets that use NAT (see above), it 
might be a good solution to set up a VPN (Virtual Private 
Network). A VPN allows secure communication between 
networks, using the Internet for transferring data.
It is beyond the scope of this document to go into any de-
tails on how to set up a VPN, but make sure that your VPN 
will act as a single network and that the ports 6991, 6992 
and, if possible, 6990 are open.
Getting started - selecting a user 
name and basic procedure
The following is a quick summary of how to use Nuendo’s 
networking technology - how to enter a user name, and 
the basic procedure for sharing a project with other users. 
In other words, it’s a quick guide for getting down to busi-
ness and sharing a project, but you will probably want and 
need to read the rest of this document as well for more in-
depth descriptions of procedures and functions.
When your computer meets the criteria for communicating 
with other computers (see above), this is how you quickly 
go about establishing network communication and share a 
project with others:
1.Launch Nuendo.
2.Activate the network by opening the Network menu 
and checking the “Active” item.
This establishes network communication and introduces your computer 
to any computers already present in the network. Your computer now 
needs to have a unique ID for identification (see below).
3.A dialog opens in which you can enter a unique user 
name to identify your computer in the network.
This is the name that will be displayed in all the network dialogs to iden-
tify you to the other users in a network.
ÖEach user in a network must specify a user name, or 
network name, in order to be identified in the network.
You can also change the name later (see “Selecting a user name - alter-
native method” on page 8). 
						

							8
Networking
4.Click “Yes” to enter your user name.
A dialog opens in which you can enter your user name.
If you don’t enter a user name at this point, the network 
will not be activated.
5.Click in the text box, type in a name of your choice and 
click “OK”.
If the network has already been created, the original creator - or adminis-
trator - may have already decided on user names for all participants. If so, 
ask the administrator if a name already exists for you and enter that. See 
“Creating a permission preset” on page 11 for more information about 
selecting user names for other participants.
ÖIf a name you enter is already in use for another com-
puter in the network, you will be prompted to select an-
other name.
6.When you have entered a user name, load or create a 
project that you want to share with the other users.
7.Open the “Project Sharing and Permissions” dialog 
from the Network menu and activate the “Share Project” 
option.
The project is now shared and all other users have full access to it. See 
“Sharing projects” on page 11 for more details about sharing projects 
and what you can do in this dialog.
Now everyone can collaborate on the project, contribute 
new tracks, edit existing data and commit the changes to 
the other users.
The above procedure is a short and sweet summary of the 
basic usage, but the Nuendo networking technology offers 
far more options. For instance, you can specify which us-
ers in a network should have access to a project, whether 
they should have complete access or only partial access, 
and much more.
On the following pages we will also describe how to join 
projects shared by others, and describe in detail how you 
go about working with shared projects.
Selecting a user name - alternative method
As previously stated, each user in a network needs to 
specify a unique user name, or network name, in order to 
be identified in the network.
If you didn’t specify a user name or if you need to change 
it, proceed as follows:
1.Open either the User Manager dialog or the Shared 
Projects dialog from the Network menu.
In the top left corner of both dialogs you will find the Network Name text 
field.
Entering a network name in the User Manager dialog…
…and in the Shared Projects dialog.
2.Click in the text field, type in a name of your choice 
and press [Return].
This is the name that will be displayed in all the network dialogs to iden-
tify you to the other users in a network.
Once you have entered a user name and this has been es-
tablished in the network, it shouldn’t be changed unless 
absolutely necessary! To use an analogy, this is similar to 
registering for an Internet service or discussion forum – 
once you have registered under a specific name, you can’t 
log in under another name, unless you create a new ac-
count.
!Note that the following user names are reserved and 
can’t be used: “Guest”, “Administrator”, “Admin” and 
“Anonymous”. 
						

							9
Networking
Setting up a network
The following is a description of how to set up a network 
with both LAN and WAN connections.
 For LAN connections, all computers must be part of the same 
network and communicate properly.

For WAN connections, all computers must have a working In-
ternet connec
tion and a public IP address.
If your intended network meets these criteria, follow the 
procedures described below to set things up.
Setting up LAN connections
If you want to connect to other users via a LAN, you only 
have to make sure all computers actually use the same 
LAN, that they are communicating properly via the TCP/IP 
protocol, and that you have activated the network by 
checking the “Active” item on the Network menu (see be-
low). If the computers are unable to communicate, contact 
your network administrator, or consult the network docu-
mentation for your operating system.
Setting up WAN connections
If you want to connect to other users over the Internet, you 
have to open a WAN connection to each. This requires 
that all users have a working Internet connection and a 
public IP address. See “Considerations for Internet use” 
on page 6 for information about potential problems with 
Internet connections and how to remedy them.
WAN connections are set up in the Shared Projects dia-
log in the following way:
1.Make sure the “Active” item on the Network menu is 
checked.
This initiates network communication with the other participants.
2.Open the Shared Projects dialog from the Network 
menu.
3.Click the “Add WAN Connection” button in the tool-
bar.
A dialog appears, requesting the Domain Name or the IP address of the 
computer you want to connect to. In other words, you either need to 
know the user’s IP address or its Domain Name.
The “Add WAN Connection“ button.
4.Type in the IP address/Domain Name of the computer 
you want to connect to and click OK.
An item called “Global IP Network” now appears in the dialog. This lists 
either the IP 
address of the computer to which you have connected, or the 
domain name of its Internet service provider.
5.Repeat this procedure for every user you want to con-
nect to over the Internet.
ÖNote that if a computer is dynamically allocated an IP 
address by its Internet service provider – as opposed to 
having a permanent IP address – you will have to repeat 
the above procedure each time the computer receives a 
new IP address!
You can remove a WAN connection by selecting it and 
clicking the “Remove WAN Connection” button.
The “Remove WAN Connection” button.
You can remove the entire “Global IP Network” item by 
selecting it and pressing [Delete] or [Backspace].
This will also remove any existing WAN connections. 
						

							10
Networking
Should you be unable to establish a WAN connection, first 
verify that you entered the IP address correctly. Connec-
tion problems may also occur for the following reasons:
Your computer and/or the computer you’re trying to 
connect to is protected by a firewall.
See “Considerations for Internet use” on page 6 for more information 
about how to resolve firewall problems.
Your computer and/or the computer you’re trying to 
connect to doesn’t have the necessary ports open.
See “Considerations for Internet use” on page 6 for information about 
which ports need to be open for network communication.
Updating the network information
If all users in a network are online and have entered user 
names (see “Getting started - selecting a user name and 
basic procedure” on page 7), you can do the following to 
update the network information in Nuendo:
Open the Shared Projects dialog and click the “Rescan 
Network” button to update the network information.
At this point, the following will happen:
 The item “Users in Local Network” should be updated to dis-
play a list of all the online users connected via LAN, along with 
their user names.
 The item “Global IP Network” should be updated to display a 
list of all the online users connected via WAN, along with their 
user names.
If the user list isn’t updated as it should, this is probably 
because the computers in the network aren’t communi-
cating properly, see above.
ÖInformation about users that are offline will not be up-
dated.
Verify Communication
Whenever project information needs to be updated over 
the network, Nuendo will first check if the connection with 
all project participants is still working. This check is per-
formed in the background with a preset timeout period.
When participants do not respond within this timeout pe-
riod, a “Commit Failed” message is displayed. At this 
stage, no further action is performed, as the problem 
might be temporary (e. g. Laptop unplugged). If the prob-
lem persists, however, you can call the “Verify Communi-
cation” function via the Network menu.
When this function is called, a dialog shows the progress 
of the checking process. 
When all project participants are found, a dialog will be 
shown listing all project participants and their response 
times (i. e. the time it took for their computers to respond to 
the check). If the response times were longer than the stan-
dard threshold, or if a participant was not found who you 
know is in fact online and waiting for network information, 
you may want to click on Adjust timer. This will change the 
timeout threshold in Nuendo to a longer setting, allowing 
for participants with slower response times to be found.
If project participants are not found because they are 
offline, a dialog will be shown allowing you to remove 
these users from the workgroup.