Using calibre with a LAN Windows 7 x64

Cindy Smith · 03-13-2019, 03:54 AM

Good day
I'm hoping someone can help me...otherwise I will need to search through many posts and the user guide. Perhaps I am being a bit lazy!

I have been volunteering at a small not for profit university in Zambia to help them get their e-Library (e-books, articles, etc) organized so that the students and faculty can all use their digital library. I have installed Calibre for Windows (64bit) on about 15 computers which are all running Windows 7 64 bit). The install on the Librarians computer is working great...the e-Library is wonderful and the Librarian in very happy with the product.

I put the e-Library in the public folder on the Librarians computer and set up sharing of public folders. The 15 computers are connected to a LAN.

I then installed Calibre for Windows 7 x64 on the other computers, and then I ran into a big problem. When I open the Calibre e-Book manager on the computers, I immediately get an error message that it can't find the library on u:/ and a long path is displayed.

When I try and connect the Calibre e-Book manager to the e-Library on the Librarians computer (which is in the Public Folder), I select the Library folder and then I receive an error message saying that the library seems to be corrupted. Do I want Calibre to re-build it?

I have answered no, and obviously that doesn't solve my problem.
I have also tried answering yes - and the attempt to rebuild the library begins, but it never finishes...I literally waited hours.

The interesting thing is, when I open Calibre e-Book manager on the Librarians computer, the library is fine...no error messages about corrupt files.

I really need help.
1. Am I installing the software and library correctly for use on a LAN?
2. How can I connect Calibre on the individual computers to the Library on the Librarian's computer? The objective is that we have one master library, which is viewable on individual computers on the LAN.

The university does not have a server.

Has anyone deployed Calibre e-Boook across a LAN? Can you help me with my dilemma?

pdurrant · 03-13-2019, 04:48 AM

I've moved this post here, as I suspect that Cindy needs to use calibre in server mode.

HarryT · 03-13-2019, 04:58 AM

Calibre is not "network safe". Attempting to use a Calibre library on a shared network drive is asking for trouble, and will inevitably lead to the library being corrupted. As stated, you need to use the Calibre server.

BetterRed · 03-13-2019, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cindy Smith

Good day
I'm hoping someone can help me...otherwise I will need to search through many posts and the user guide. Perhaps I am being a bit lazy!

I have been volunteering at a small not for profit university in Zambia to help them get their e-Library (e-books, articles, etc) organized so that the students and faculty can all use their digital library. I have installed Calibre for Windows (64bit) on about 15 computers which are all running Windows 7 64 bit). The install on the Librarians computer is working great...the e-Library is wonderful and the Librarian in very happy with the product.

I put the e-Library in the public folder on the Librarians computer and set up sharing of public folders. The 15 computers are connected to a LAN.

I then installed Calibre for Windows 7 x64 on the other computers, and then I ran into a big problem. When I open the Calibre e-Book manager on the computers, I immediately get an error message that it can't find the library on u:/ and a long path is displayed.

When I try and connect the Calibre e-Book manager to the e-Library on the Librarians computer (which is in the Public Folder), I select the Library folder and then I receive an error message saying that the library seems to be corrupted. Do I want Calibre to re-build it?

I have answered no, and obviously that doesn't solve my problem.
I have also tried answering yes - and the attempt to rebuild the library begins, but it never finishes...I literally waited hours.

The interesting thing is, when I open Calibre e-Book manager on the Librarians computer, the library is fine...no error messages about corrupt files.

I really need help.
1. Am I installing the software and library correctly for use on a LAN?
2. How can I connect Calibre on the individual computers to the Library on the Librarian's computer? The objective is that we have one master library, which is viewable on individual computers on the LAN.

The university does not have a server.

Has anyone deployed Calibre e-Boook across a LAN? Can you help me with my dilemma?

I suggest skimming the FAQ's would be worth the effort ==>> Frequently Asked Questions. Especially this one: I am getting errors with my calibre library on a networked drive/NAS?

Quote:

Do not put your calibre library on a networked drive.

A shared drive is a networked drive.

I also suggest you read the section on The calibre Content server. It doesn't need a high-end server class computer - an old laptop, or a headless Raspberry Pi would do for starters, providing it has enough disk space. Probably best to use a file synch tool to do periodic one-way synchs (e.g. daily) from the librarians computer to the 'server' computer.

BR

wgib · 06-10-2019, 08:23 PM

I suspect that by "not network safe", this means that Calibre will not recognise if the database located on a network drive has become unavailable (network is down or server rebooted etc.). It is best to keep the contents of Calibre and the database on the same locally attached drive. This could be an internal hard drive or an external USB drive, for example. Keeping files on remote servers is problematic with Calibre.

itimpi · 06-11-2019, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wgib

I suspect that by "not network safe", this means that Calibre will not recognise if the database located on a network drive has become unavailable (network is down or server rebooted etc.). It is best to keep the contents of Calibre and the database on the same locally attached drive. This could be an internal hard drive or an external USB drive, for example. Keeping files on remote servers is problematic with Calibre.

I think that it is worse than that. Network drives often do not support the database locking semantics that Calibre assumes, which can lead to database corruption. This is particularly the case if two Calibre installations might try and access the same database as Calibre is not multi-user safe either since it caches a lot of database information in RAM for performance reasons.

theducks · 06-11-2019, 10:23 AM

Calibre also dose 'transactions'.
I creates folders (when needed), then adds files (nFormats, cover,OPF)..
All these are recorded in the DB as they are done. As itimpi noted, the DB may not be written at the same time (and if it is, it does not read back what was there). any network delays could really mess things up, specially when renaming activities are involved.

If you really need Remote control: Use Remote Desktop connection (or similar) to operate the Calibre Server PC. The real calibre work is being done in the server pc. The remote can be any OS and have very little horse power (a great use for ancient hardware that still works) Linux, MAC, Android versions of the RDC client are free at MS (The server does need a windows Pro level license)

03-13-2019, 03:54 AM	#1
Cindy Smith Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2019 Device: windows 7 x64 desktop	Using calibre with a LAN Windows 7 x64 Good day I'm hoping someone can help me...otherwise I will need to search through many posts and the user guide. Perhaps I am being a bit lazy! I have been volunteering at a small not for profit university in Zambia to help them get their e-Library (e-books, articles, etc) organized so that the students and faculty can all use their digital library. I have installed Calibre for Windows (64bit) on about 15 computers which are all running Windows 7 64 bit). The install on the Librarians computer is working great...the e-Library is wonderful and the Librarian in very happy with the product. I put the e-Library in the public folder on the Librarians computer and set up sharing of public folders. The 15 computers are connected to a LAN. I then installed Calibre for Windows 7 x64 on the other computers, and then I ran into a big problem. When I open the Calibre e-Book manager on the computers, I immediately get an error message that it can't find the library on u:/ and a long path is displayed. When I try and connect the Calibre e-Book manager to the e-Library on the Librarians computer (which is in the Public Folder), I select the Library folder and then I receive an error message saying that the library seems to be corrupted. Do I want Calibre to re-build it? I have answered no, and obviously that doesn't solve my problem. I have also tried answering yes - and the attempt to rebuild the library begins, but it never finishes...I literally waited hours. The interesting thing is, when I open Calibre e-Book manager on the Librarians computer, the library is fine...no error messages about corrupt files. I really need help. 1. Am I installing the software and library correctly for use on a LAN? 2. How can I connect Calibre on the individual computers to the Library on the Librarian's computer? The objective is that we have one master library, which is viewable on individual computers on the LAN. The university does not have a server. Has anyone deployed Calibre e-Boook across a LAN? Can you help me with my dilemma?

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03-13-2019, 04:48 AM	#2
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 73,812 Karma: 315126578 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	I've moved this post here, as I suspect that Cindy needs to use calibre in server mode.

03-13-2019, 04:58 AM	#3
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Calibre is not "network safe". Attempting to use a Calibre library on a shared network drive is asking for trouble, and will inevitably lead to the library being corrupted. As stated, you need to use the Calibre server.

06-10-2019, 08:23 PM	#5
wgib Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2019 Device: iPad	I suspect that by "not network safe", this means that Calibre will not recognise if the database located on a network drive has become unavailable (network is down or server rebooted etc.). It is best to keep the contents of Calibre and the database on the same locally attached drive. This could be an internal hard drive or an external USB drive, for example. Keeping files on remote servers is problematic with Calibre.

06-11-2019, 10:23 AM	#7
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,957 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Calibre also dose 'transactions'. I creates folders (when needed), then adds files (nFormats, cover,OPF).. All these are recorded in the DB as they are done. As itimpi noted, the DB may not be written at the same time (and if it is, it does not read back what was there). any network delays could really mess things up, specially when renaming activities are involved. If you really need Remote control: Use Remote Desktop connection (or similar) to operate the Calibre Server PC. The real calibre work is being done in the server pc. The remote can be any OS and have very little horse power (a great use for ancient hardware that still works) Linux, MAC, Android versions of the RDC client are free at MS (The server does need a windows Pro level license)

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