Upgrading the Cluster Software Version

You can upgrade the software version (*.cmp file) of Media Components through the Cluster Manager. You can use any of the following upgrade modes:

■

Manual: Upload the file to the Cluster Manager and then manually restart the Media Component. When the Media Component re-connects to the device after restarting, it automatically loads the new file from the Cluster Manager. The benefit of this mode is that you can choose the Media Component to upgrade. The method also maintains the Media Component's current transcoding sessions, by transferring them to other available Media Components (assuming they have sufficient DSP resources).

■

Hitless: (Default) The Cluster Manager sequentially upgrades all Media Components to maintain active transcoding sessions. Only Media Components whose current software version is different from the one loaded from the Cluster Manager are upgraded. Once a Media Component loads the software version file, the Cluster Manager transfers all the Media Component's current transcoding sessions to other available Media Components. If any sessions cannot be transferred due to unavailable DSP resources on other Media Components, the Cluster Manager waits a user-defined "graceful" period. Upon expiry of the period, the Cluster Manager tries again to transfer these transcoding sessions. Transcoding sessions that still cannot be transferred after this period are terminated. The Media Component then restarts to apply the new software version. Once it has restarted and connectivity between the Cluster Manager and Media Component is restored, the Cluster Manager allocates transcoding sessions to the Media Component as usual and then does the same hitless upgrade to the next Media Component, and so on. If the upgrade process of a Media Component fails (the Cluster Manager attempts three times), you can restart the Media Component and restore the Media Component to its previous software version.

■

Immediate: This mode is similar to the Hitless mode, except that it is service-affecting, blocking new transcoding sessions and terminating all current transcoding sessions. This makes the upgrade process much faster than the Hitless method. Only once connectivity between the Cluster Manager and Media Components are restored after restart, does the Cluster Manager allocate new transcoding sessions to the Media Components.

●

During Immediate and Hitless upgrade, you cannot perform any administrative actions on Media Components (e.g., lock) until all Media Components have been upgraded. For Manual upgrade, this applies only to the Media Component that you are upgrading.

●

You can only perform an upgrade when the cluster is in "Full HA" status. For example, if the cluster is still synchronizing, upgrade is blocked and a message is displayed to notify you of this.

●

For Hitless upgrade, you can stop the upgrade process at any time. If you stop the process, you may end up with a situation where some Media Components may have already successfully completed their upgrade.

●

Whenever the Cluster Manager establishes a new connection with a Media Component (e.g., after a restart), the Media Component automatically upgrades its software version if the Cluster Manager has a later version for the Media Component.

●

The .cmp file name for the device (Cluster Manager) and Media Components are different. Upgrading the Media Transcoding Cluster doesn't automatically upgrade the device.

●

If you need to upgrade the software version of both the device and the Media Components, do the following:
1) Upgrade the device using the Software Upgrade Wizard, as described in Software Upgrade.
2) When the device's upgrade process completes, upgrade the Media Components using the Hitless mode as described below.

➢

To upgrade Media Components:

Open the Cluster Manager Settings page (Setup menu > IP Network tab > Media Cluster folder > Cluster Manager Settings).

Under the Image Repository group, do the following:

From the 'Media Components Type' drop-down list, select the type of Media Component (i.e., MC).

Click the Load File button, and then select the software version file (.cmp) on your computer.

The currently installed software version is displayed in the 'Current MC Image Filename' read-only field.

When you add a new Media Component, it automatically installs this loaded software version file to the Media Component (if the file is a later version than the one currently installed on the Media Component).

If you want to upgrade a specific Media Component, restart the Media Component, as described in Resetting Media Components; otherwise, skip this step.

For Immediate or Hitless upgrade modes, select the relevant mode:

●

Immediate Mode: Media Components are upgraded at the same time.

●

Hitless Mode: Media Components are upgraded sequentially.

For more information on the upgrade modes, see the beginning of this section.

If you selected Hitless Mode in the previous step, configure the graceful timeout (see Configuring Graceful Timeout); otherwise, skip this step.

Click the Start Upgrade button; the Cluster Manager begins upgrading the Media Components. You can view the status of the software upgrade process, as described in Viewing Cluster Activity Logged Messages.

To stop the Hitless upgrade, click the Stop Hitless Upgrade button.