TelVue HyperCaster® User Manual

Page 104

TelVue HyperCaster

User Manual / v5.0 / October 2014

is a registered trademark of TelVue Corporation 800-885-8886 / www.telvue.com

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These are not the “primary” verification files meant for final processing, but are meant to serve as an
additional copy of what each individual HyperCaster did in case any data is ever lost or needs to be
double checked.

One directory level above the client specific directories are the verification files created by each non-
warm-spare HyperCaster. Any server that is meant to serve as a backup to a primary server should be
designated a “warm spare” on the Config > System tab. Warm spare servers will continue to write
their verification data to its own serial number specific directory, but will not write to the primary
verification file. In the event of a primary server failure, the secondary server’s warm spare
designation should be removed manually before use as a primary server.

HyperCaster File Structure

Each HyperCaster contains the same directory structure and files that are written to the schedule
remote server under the //vol1/import directory. These are meant to serve as a backup in case
network connectivity or some other problem prevents transfer of information to the remote server.

In addition to the above directories each HyperCaster also contains the following directory:

//vol1/import/GDP

This is the location of the HyperCaster’s import hot folder. Any schedule files dropped into this
directory will be imported roughly every 5 minutes. In an emergency, or in the event of a temporary
communication failure with the CMP parent, any .SCH files can be manually copied here to import to
individual HyperCasters.

Verification File Export

Verification files are also part of the CCMS GDP standard. They contain a log of playouts with a
corresponding status code (completed, missed, partial, etc). They are named identically to their
original SCH file, but with a .VER extension. The VER file format is outlined in Appendix I.

It’s important to note that not only will VER files be located in two places on the schedule remote
server, but each child server also creates and saves its own copy of its VER file. This is useful to know
when we’re experiencing connectivity problems.

Note also warm spares DO NOT write to the top level VER file (but still to their serial number specific
directory).

A quick refresher of the verification file locations:

•

Each unit writes a VER file locally, always, in vol1/import/GDP/verification.

•

Each unit sends that VER file to the schedule remote server, in
vol1/distribute/GDP/verification/[serial number]. Every serial number is unique for every
HyperCaster.

•

If the unit is NOT marked as a Warm Spare on its Config->System page, it also writes its VER
to vol1/distribute/GDP/verifications on the parent, this is an effort to give you a single target
to draw VER files for all the primary servers.

•

The units do not have any way to know if they are suppose to be a warm spare or not (they
do not heartbeat each other, for instance), so in the event of failover, you should change the
checkbox under Config->Server yourself.

You can access all three locations via FTP or SMB. The serial number of each unit can be seen on its
dashboard, when you log into the web user interface.

Tasks Tab

The tasks tab on the HyperCaster contains information about all the background jobs that support
CCMS Plus.

For each SCH file import, there will be a corresponding “CMP Event Import” job with a date, time, and
filename