DaVinci Resolve Project Server - Challenges

My Objective: Run the Resolve Postgres database in the cloud, because our team is distributed.

I have seen 2 YouTube videos that show you how to create a Windows compute instance with AWS or Azure, setup the Resolve Project Server, and then make a lot of configurations to firewalls to allow others to connect to it.

My Concerns with this approach: Resolve is using such an old version of Postgres, that none of the cloud providers offer it anymore. I would much prefer to use a recent version of Postgres.

What I've Tried:
- I've installed the Resolve Project Server, created a project server, then using PgAdmin III, exported the project database that Resolve had created.
- Next, I installed a recent version of Postgres, and restored the database that Resolve had created on Postgres v13.
- When I first try to connect to this project server from Resolve, I get an error:

pg_connect(): Unable to connect to PostgreSQL server: SCRAM authentication requires libpq version 10 or above.

I fixed this by modifying the pg_hba.conf file and changed scram-sha-256 with trust.

- When I tried to connect again, I got the following error:

[0x00000d78] | DbCommon2 | INFO | 2021-05-03 22:05:52,034 | SELECT "SM_User_id", "Name", "LastLoginTime", "Privileges" FROM "SM_User" WHERE = ACTIVE ORDER BY "Name" <> 'admin', "Name" <> 'guest', "Name" ASC -- ERROR: syntax error at or near "="
LINE 1: ...astLoginTime", "Privileges" FROM "SM_User" WHERE = ACTIVE O...
^
(42601) QPSQL: Unable to create query

QUESTION: Is there any way to get Resolve to connect to a recent version of Postgres? Or do I need to use the Windows instance + Postgres 9.5 + Firewall hack as a stopgap measure until a future release of the project server supports a more current Postsgres version?

Thanks!!
~Michael

Yes, you can run an unqualified version of PostgreSQL but then if you experience any issues it will be difficult to tell where the problem may lie. We've been using 9.6 for three years on V15 without an issue.

You don't need any Blackmagic software on the backend. You can increase reliability and decrease cost if you run it on Linux. Debian works very well for this kind of thing.

One thing you can't do easily when the Resolve seats are not in the same LAN is to facilitate the collaboration mode. If you search here you will find some recent discussion on the subject. In order to collaborate Resolves need to be in the same subnet.

PostgreSQL server latency can be a huge problem. At 5 ms I can feel the lag in the UI. At 30 ms Resolve is almost unusable and DB bound operations can take a very long time.

Thank you for your reply...

Is the latency only a problem if you are trying to use Live Save?

I'm thinking as a compromise I will try using a cloud-based Project Server, have editors disable 'Live Save', and see how that works... And to avoid any complications, I'll just stick with BlackMagic's current Project Server + Postgres 9.5.

It's definitely a problem with the live save feature. I have only tested this with live save feature enabled.

It could be an issue even with live save disabled. By inducing artificial latency on the PSQL server I have been able to cause the Resolve UI to freeze even when not making any changes in the timeline that would require saving to the DB.

Also, I think the live save buffers to RAM before writing to the DB. There is a very easy to observe relationship between the PSQL server latency and the UI responsiveness. All this makes me think that you'd experience the same issues with live save off. It's fairly easy to test in a LAN before you deploy a cloud based server.

I was able to get the Resolve Postgres Server running on an Azure Postgres instance. Here are the steps I took:

- Installed the BM Project Server Locally
- Created a Project DB
- Exported it
- Created a Postgres 9.6 instance in Azure (AWS also offers it)
- Added my user account to the postgres role (important)
- Created an empty DB then restored the one created by Resolve
- Turned off SSL by default (important)
- Added my IP address to the OK list
- Disabled 'Live Save' in Resolve
- Added this new server to Resolve on startup

With Collaboration mode turned on, Resolve is useless. But if I turned it off, then I could work just find. Loading the project page was slower (20 seconds?), and saving was slower, too. (~15 seconds)

So as a way to have a distributed team share a project server, this works fine. I still need to test out project locking, and save times for more complex projects. I'll try to remember to share my experience of using this setup after a few weeks.

I was able to get the Resolve Postgres Server running on an Azure Postgres instance. Here are the steps I took:

- Installed the BM Project Server Locally
- Created a Project DB
- Exported it
- Created a Postgres 9.6 instance in Azure (AWS also offers it)
- Added my user account to the postgres role (important)
- Created an empty DB then restored the one created by Resolve
- Turned off SSL by default (important)
- Added my IP address to the OK list
- Disabled 'Live Save' in Resolve
- Added this new server to Resolve on startup

With Collaboration mode turned on, Resolve is useless. But if I turned it off, then I could work just find. Loading the project page was slower (20 seconds?), and saving was slower, too. (~15 seconds)

So as a way to have a distributed team share a project server, this works fine. I still need to test out project locking, and save times for more complex projects. I'll try to remember to share my experience of using this setup after a few weeks.

Thank you for sharing your setup. I'm justing seeing this thread. Currently, I'm considering a similar setup to provide remote editing for a client. I was interested in seeing how this setup worked out for you. Where you able to address the latency issue? What instance type did you use for your Azure Postgresql DB instance?