VIA Media Manager Version 1.6

VIA Media Manager

User’s Guide

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

The Concept

How it is done

Upgrade notes for Version 1.6

SETUP & INSTALLATION

Installing the Via Media Manager

Hardware configuration

Required components

Installing the software

Special note to those upgrading from Version 1.5 to Version 1.6:

Performing the Version 1.6 installation

Installing the Via Server

Completing the configuration information

NETWORK CONFIGURATION

Laying out the network topology

Adding Locations

Adding Contacts

Adding players

Create custom categories (if desired)

Adding the player records

Field descriptions:

If you are using ONLY the Enseo player in your network

MANAGING CONTENT

The Library

Editing and Checking content into the Library

Removing Expired items

Cleaning up the Library index

Transferring Files

Choosing destinations

Choosing Content

MONITORING THE NETWORK

Handling problems at a remote node

REPORTS

PLAYLISTS

SCHEDULES

Scheduling content for display

Scheduling conflicts

VIA Media Manager Version 1.6

INTRODUCTION

The Via Media Manager is a powerful but simple to use Content Manager designed specifically for managing the distribution of rich media files from a central location to multiple remote players. Those players may be geographically dispersed across the globe or resident on the same local LAN segment, and even the same PC as the Media Manager.

The Concept

The basic idea behind the Via Media Manager is to allow you to gather all of the files that make up the content to be displayed in your network into a single location and distribute those files to the player or players that you choose. The Media Manager makes it simple to manage a large number of remote players and content files without the user having to know the details of every file.

How it is done

First, the content...
Files are collected from the various content providers (either outside vendors or your own staff) into a centrally managed store called simply "The Library". The Library holds all of the content files and certain key information (metadata) that theprogram can use to manage the file effectively. Once a file has been 'checked-in' to the library it can be managed. You do not HAVE to check files into the library for the Media Manager to work with them but it is highly recommended because the Media Manager cannot track or report on files that are not checked in.

Then the players...
All of the media players in your network must be defined for the Media Manager. Information such as the IP address, owner information, location and contact information is all gathered for each player. The Media Manager will check that each active player is at least accessible and responsive to remote commands on a regular basis. The status of all players is continuously displayed on a tree structure similar to the Windows Explorer folder panel. If a player that you expect to be active and running is not responding you will see it immediately. Players can be categorized into up to five levels of hierarchy that can be displayed in the player tree. Choosing groups of players is greatly simplified since entire tree branches can be selected as target destinations - for example, choosing all of the players in Phoenix can be accomplished through a single drag-and-drop operation.

Finally, moving that content...
Placing content files on each player is simply a matter of choosing the content you want to move, choosing the players you want to move it to, and clicking a button. The files can be sent immediately, the default, or scheduled for a later time if needed. The Media Manager tracks all of the file transfers to ensure that all of the files make it to their destinations. If the files already exist at the destination they will not be transferred again. This simplifies your work because you can simply choose to send everything every time, if that is easier, and the Media Manager will sort out what really needs to be sent.

The fancy stuff...
Files do not have to travel directly from the library to each player. For larger networks, or networks where there are several players on the same remote LAN segment, it makes sense to split the work of transferring files between several paths. The Media Manager can be configured to route files through a path that includes intermediate nodes. Those intermediate nodes may or may not be players and can act as distribution points to multiple remote destinations, thus relieving the Media Manager PC of the extra work.

Upgrade notes for Version 1.6

There are a couple of special tasks that must be done to upgrade from Version 1.5 to Version 1.6

  • Protect your existing database file before uninstalling the previous version. Carefully follow the instructions in the “Installing the Software” section to protect your data from accidental loss.
    This is a one time procedure for this version.
  • Fill in new fields in the player record
    A new field for the Player Group is now included that enables better handling of symbolic URI’s and future upgrades to message routing. See the section on ‘Adding players’ for details about how to fill in this information.

SETUP & INSTALLATION

Installing the Via Media Manager

The Via Media Manager is provided with a very simple installer that will create the basic structures and files that you need. The Media Manager also requires that a Via Server be running on the same machine. The installer will install both products on this PC.

Hardware configuration

The Media Manager is the central site controller for your network and is therefore a key component of your infrastructure. We recommend that at least the following minimum configuration:

  • Pentium III or equivalent
  • A high speed disk drive with enough capacity to hold at least twice the amount of data that you expect to keep in the library at any given time
  • A high speed network connection
  • 512 MB of Ram
  • At least a 17" monitor with a minimum of 800x600 resolution

Required components

  • Windows/XP or Windows 2000
  • Microsoft .net Framework 1.1 (available for free download at

Installing the software

Special note to those upgrading from Version 1.5 to Version 1.6:

The installer will require that you uninstall the previous version of the Via Media Manager before installing the new version. Unfortunately the uninstall will also delete the database file where the player, contact and location information is stored. If you have created any player, contact or location information you need to save the current database file and restore it after the installation of Version 1.6.

Procedure for saving your database file:

  1. If you used the recommended default installation location for Version 1.5 we have provided a simple tool to save and restore your database file
  2. Insert the Via Media Manager version 1.6 CD and open the root folder of that CD in windows explorer.
  3. Double-click the file named “saveDB.bat”. The .bat file simply copies the database file to a safe location where the uninstaller will leave it alone. Depending on your settings you may just see a brief flash as the .bat file opens and closes a command shell window.
  4. If you installed the Via Media Manager in a non-standard location then you will need to copy the database file manually.
  5. The file name is ViaMediaManager.mdb and is found in the folder named ‘database’ in the location you chose for your installation. Copy that file to any other name and record it for later.

Performing the Version 1.6 installation

  1. Insert the Via Media CD or copy the Via Media Installer directory onto the PC where the Via Media Manager will reside.
  2. Using Windows Explorer, Open the Via Media Installer folder and double-click on the Setup.exe icon.
  3. Select the "Via Media Manager" radio button
  4. Select the folder where the Via Media Manager will be installed. We recommend that you use the default location.
  5. Follow the on screen prompts to complete the installation.
  6. Follow the steps under 'Completing the configuration information'.
  7. If you saved your database file before the installation, restore it now.
    If you used the saveDB.bat file to save the file you can use the “restoreDB.bat” file on the installation CD to put it back. Simply double-click the “restoreDB.bat” file item in Windows explorer.
    If you saved it manually or specified a non-standard location for the Via Media Manager you need to copy it back by hand. The file should copied to:
    ”<install directory>\database\ViaMediaManager.mdf”, where <install directory> is the location you picked.

Installing the Via Server

The Via Server must be installed on each PC that the Media Manager need to send files to. The Via Server is a very lightweight distributed server application that manages the movement of files between the various networked players (but it can do much more).

  1. Insert the Via Media CD or load the Via Media Installer directory onto the PC where the Via Media Manager will reside.
  2. Using Windows Explorer, Open the Via Media Installer folder and double-click on the Setup.exe icon.
  3. Select the "Via Server only" radio button
  4. Select the folder where the Via Server will be installed. We recommend that you use the default location.
  5. Follow the on screen prompts to complete the installation.
  6. Follow the steps under 'Completing the configuration information'

Completing the configuration information

If this is an upgrade from a previous version you can skip this step.

The Via Media Manager and Via Server use a configuration file to hold variable information that is specific to a computer. That file must be altered for each installation.

  1. Open a command prompt by using the Start Menu, clicking "run", then entering "cmd" and clicking the OK button.
  2. enter "ipconfig" and record the IP address of the machine.
  3. type "exit" to close the command prompt window
  4. Navigate to the directory where you installed the Via Server (c:\viamedia\bin\Server1.6) if you used the default.
  5. Edit the file "vconfig.xml"
  6. Enter the IP address obtained from the ipconfig command between the <UPDATE_URL> and </UPDATE_URL> tags appending the port number value to the address. The line should look something like this:
  7. If you are behind a firewall you need to follow your firewalls procedure for routing port requests to the correct PC. The values in the PORT and UPDATE_PORT records reference port numbers that must be routed to the PC where the Via Media Manager or Via Server is running. Any attempts to access this port through your firewall will then be handled by the Via Server software. Since the Via Server will only accept connections from other valid Via Servers your network will not be accessible by an unfriendly program through these ports.
  8. Change the <NODE_ID> value to contain the name that PC is known by on the network. You can find that information by clicking the "system information" link in the My Computer window. Click on the "computer name" tab and use the 'full computer name'. Note that you can choose another name but to make management of the nodes easier we recommend keeping just one name.

Starting and Stopping the Via Server

The Via Server is started by using the command line prompt.

  1. Open a command prompt by clicking on:
    Start -> run -> enter “cmd” -> click “OK”
  2. Change directory to the location where the Via Server is installed. The directory name is \bin\Server_1.6 in the directory you chose for your installation. For the standard location type:
    ”cd c:\viamedia\bin\Server_1.6”
  3. Start the server, type:
    ”via”

To stop the Via Server you cab enter “ctrl-C” in the command line window.

NETWORK CONFIGURATION

The single most important aspect of your system design is how your media network will be configured. There is no single "right" answer for all cases. Unless your network is very simple and your bandwidth requirements are very low we recommend that you consult with a computer network expert for this step. Via Media can provide consultation for network layouts.

Laying out the network topology

The Via Media Manager allows you to define a logical network that uses the resources of your physical network and the INTERNET. In other words, you define the logical routing of the data transfers over the network so you have control over what resources are used by the media network.

There are two major categories for configuring how your files will be transferred.

  • Single hop
    In this layout the files are transferred directly from the Media Manager PC to the destination PC similar to the way FTP works. The destination PC (player) and the Media Manager PC must be able to connect directly over the network in order for this to work. The advantages of the single hop scheme is that the files will get to the destination faster and fewer PC's may be required. The downside is that the Media Manager will be have to send the files to each of the destinations individually and there is little concurrent transfer of data.
  • Multiple Hop
    In a multiple hop configuration the files are copied from the Media Manager PC to one or more intermediate nodes before reaching the final destination PC. This configuration would be used for larger networks that require concurrent file transfers to be running over several network segments or for cases where there are several destination PC's at a single site and it would be faster and cheaper to send the files over the Wide AreaNetwork (WAN) to just one of those PC's and let it copy to the other local PC's. The diagram below shows a network where the path to each player travels from the Media Manager PC, called the "Distribution Server", then through an intermediate node, called a "Routing Server" before reaching the Player PC.

    Note that a Player can also act as a Routing Server. In this example all of the PC's are behind firewalls to protect them from unwanted INTERNET access.

The topology is applied by defining the node where each player gets its content. In the above picture, the two players on the left would have the local Routing server as the content provider. Both Routing servers would have the Distribution Server as their content provider. If you send content to all of the players in this setup each file would be copied from the Distribution Server (where the Media Manager is installed) to the Routing Servers. Each Routing Server would then copy the files to the players that are local them. The result is that each file travels over the INTERNET twice (once copy for each Routing Server). The remaining network activity will occur on the local networks where it will likely be much faster and more reliable.

New with Version 1.6:
All players must now be assigned to a “Player Group” with a name that you choose. A Player Group is a set of PC’s that have direct access to each other on a local network. In other words, all of the PC’s in a Player Group have network connectivity that allows them to resolve the names of the other PC’s in the group into IP addresses. Normally this will be all of the players behind any given firewall. In the above figure there will be three Player Groups:

  1. The Distribution Server will be in it’s own group
  2. The three PC’s in the upper left will be in another group
  3. The four PC’s in the lower right will be in the third group.

Each Player Group must have it’s own name and again, the names are anything you like but you have to be consistent since the Media Manager cannot validate the values for you.

Adding Locations

Each player is assigned to a location. A location has the typical attributes as you can see in the screen shot below...

For each location where you will have a network node, either a Routing Server or a Player, you will need to create a Location record.

For each new location follow this process:

  1. Click on "New Location"
  2. Fill in the form with appropriate information
  3. Click on "Save"
  4. If there are more locations to add, return to step 1 and repeat, otherwise click "Close"

Adding Contacts

Since you are likely to have PC's at remote locations you will probably need a person that can access each of those locations in case of problems at the PC itself. Those people are recorded in the contact database and each location is assigned a primary contact person. To add a contact simply click on the "More Contact Info..." button on the Locations Form to reach this screen...