Mirror Two Video Servers 

   Backup Video Server Media to Windows File

       System

 Ethernet Connectivity

    SQL Server Database 

Preservation of media assets through use of redundant servers is a valuable tool for organizations that depend on timely presentation of those assets.

In a non-automated environment, redundancy is achieved in the simplest form by manually executing a File Transfer Procedure for every piece of material to achieve duplication of material between the two servers, and manually deleting material in both servers when material has expired.

Armir will automatically copy material from a primary video server to a secondary server and delete material in the secondary server based on deletion from a primary server.  Armir will eliminate mistakes resulting from re-use of House Names or Clip Names, where old material can exist with the same name as new material.

Armir displays complete video server inventory, assisting in assignment of unused House Names, selection of material for air or presentation, and searching for expired material.

►Performance

The Armir performs mirroring based on the following:

1. Two servers may be mirrored at any one time.
2. In the basic Armir, mirroring will not discriminate on the basis of type of material; all material will be mirrored, and the two servers should have the same amount of storage.
3. In the high volume Armir, mirroring is based on folders within the server, and all material within one or more named folders will be mirrored.
4. Two servers must have material encoded in the same format the same bit rate.
5. One of the two servers must be named as the primary server at any one time.
6. Ingest and deletion must be performed only on the server designated as primary.
7. If the number of items to be deleted in the secondary server exceeds a limit, operator confirmation is required to commence deletions.
8. If the primary server is taken out of service, and ingest or deletion is required, the secondary server must take over the position of primary server until after the mirroring to the restored server is complete.
9. Material can be copied to or from a computer running Microsoft XP or Vista.

►Content List Report Benefits

Sorting the list by House name is useful for assigning House Names for new material.  Sorting by Title or Duration is useful in the selection of material.  Sorting by Creation Date is helpful in searching for expired material that can be deleted.

►Process

Periodically the contents of the Secondary Server will be compared to the contents of the Primary Server and material will be added to or deleted from the Secondary Server.  The frequency of the process should be such that new material added into the Primary Server should start being duplicated in the Secondary Server within one minute of completion of an addition to the Primary Server. Processing is automatic while the service is active.

Access of server contents is done via Ethernet connection, reserving the RS422 ports for playout, ingest and deletion.

Comparison of server contents are based on House Name (file name in the server) and creation date.  Copies from one server to the other have different creation dates, depending on the time that copies were made to the second server.

Discovery of material with the same House Name but with creation dates differing from the original dates, as a result of changing the primary server and then replacing a clip with a new version with the same House Name, will cause replacement of the older material with the newer material.   This resolves the problem, for example, caused by creation of new promotions or news teases during the day when the same House Name is used for different material.

►Hardware and Software Requirements for Armir

The Armir application runs on a standard PC, using the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and .Net Framework Version 2. 

See the section on Installation for instructions for downloading the no-charge .Net version 2.