Managing K2 software


This chapter provides information about the software components of the K2 Storage System. Topics include the following:

About K2 software

The primary software installations for the K2 Storage System and K2 products are as follows:

This software…
Is distributed on…
With the installation file located at…
Which is installed on…
And is described as follows:
K2 Client
The K2 System Software CD
../K2Client/setup.exe
K2 Media Clients
Provides core functionality for all K2 Media Client models, including SD-only, SD/HD, internal storage, and external storage models.
K2 Server
The K2 System Software CD
../K2Server/setup.exe
K2 Media Servers
Provides core functionality for all K2 Media Servers in all roles.
Control Point
The K2 System Software CD
../ControlPoint/setup.exe
Control Point PCs
Provides remote control and configuration of K2 Media Clients (both internal and external storage) as well as the K2 Storage System.
NetCentral
The NetCentral Manager CD
../ServerSetup.exe
The NetCentral server PC (this can be a Control Point PC)
Provides remote monitoring of all K2 products.

In addition, the following software is installed in special cases:

Software components installed

Each of the K2 installation packages installs software components that provide the functionality for various applications and system tools. Refer to Overview of K2 Storage Tools and to the K2 Media Client System Guide for descriptions. The components installed are as follows:

Software
Components installed
Comments
K2 Client
Core system software
Provides the primary media functionality.
AppCenter user interface
Allows you to operate AppCenter on the local machine.
AppServer
Provides AppCenter functionality. It is accessed by both the remote AppCenter (on a Control Point PC) and the local AppCenter user interface.
Storage Utility
Configures the media storage on internal storage K2 Media Clients only. Do not run Storage Utility on external storage K2 Media Clients.
K2 System Configuration
Installed only on external storage models. Provides to the remotely connected K2 System Configuration application the ability to configure the local machine. You cannot run the K2 System Configuration user interface on the local K2 Media Client.
Multi-Path I/O
Installation files copied to K2 Media Client but software not installed.
K2 Server
Core system software
Provides the primary media functionality.
Storage Utility
Provides functionality for the remotely connected Storage Utility that runs on the Control Point PC. You should not run Storage Utility locally on the K2 Media Server.
K2 System Configuration
Provides to the remotely connected K2 System Configuration application the ability to configure the local machine. You cannot run the K2 System Configuration user interface on the local K2 Media Server.
Control Point
AppCenter user interface
Connects to K2 Media Clients for control and configuration of channels.
K2 System Configuration user interface
Connects to K2 Media Clients, K2 Media Servers, RAID storage, and Gigabit switches for configuration of the K2 Storage System.
Storage Utility
Connects to the K2 Media Server, and through the K2 Media Server to the RAID storage, for configuration of the media file system, media database, and RAID storage.

Installing Control Point software

If you are using the Grass Valley control point PC, it comes from the factory with software installed, so you should not need to install software.

If you intend to use a PC that you own as a control point PC, make sure that you choose a PC that meets system requirements for supporting Control Point software. Refer to Control point PC system requirements. Then all that is required is to install the Control Point software from the K2 System Software CD, as referenced in the preceding section.

Installing K2 software

Except as noted in the preceding sections, when you receive your K2 Storage System, you do not need to install software. The system has the most recent software pre-installed at the factory. If you are upgrading software on a K2 Storage System, refer to the K2 Storage System Release Notes or the K2 Media Client Release Notes for that version of software for specific software upgrade procedures.

Re-installing Grass Valley software

NOTE: Follow these instructions if you need to re-install software. If you are upgrading to a new release version, see the Release Notes for the latest information on installation procedures. For more information on recovery procedures, see Backup and recovery strategies.

In most cases you can re-install the same version of software by simply running the correct setup.exe file from the K2 System Software CD.

At the opening screen of the install wizard, select Repair, then use the following instructions for the type of software you are installing:

K2 Client software

Follow the onscreen instructions, clicking Next on each page.

When you arrive at the Specify Target Type page, select as follows:

Click Next and Finish to complete the installation. When prompted, restart the machine.

K2 Server software

Follow the onscreen instructions. Click Next and Finish to complete the installation. When prompted, restart the machine.

Control Point software

Follow the onscreen instructions. Click Next and Finish to complete the installation.

Pre-installed software

The following software is pre-installed on K2 products when you receive them from the factory. This load of pre-installed software is referred to as the “golden drive”.

K2 Media Client pre-installed software

K2 Media Server pre-installed software

Grass Valley Control Point PC pre-installed software

Backup and recovery strategies

On the Level 1 RAID Storage device and on the K2 Media Server, there are three partitions on the system drive to support backup and recovery strategies as follows:

When you receive a Level 1 RAID Storage device or a K2 Media Server from the factory, the machine has its own default factory image stored on the E: drive. This image is specific to the individual machine. It is not generic for all machines of similar model. It contains all the system specific information, such as a unique hostname, Windows key, and MAC addresses. From this image you can restore the machine to the same state as when it leaves the factory.

You receive a recovery CD with your Level 1 RAID Storage device or K2 Media Server. This recovery CD does not contain a disk image. Rather, the recovery CD is bootable and contains the Acronis True Image software necessary to create and restore a disk image. You also receive a similar recovery CD for K2 Media Clients, but it is specifically for the desktop Windows operating system (Windows XP), rather than for the server Windows operating system (Windows 2003 server) which runs on the Level 1 RAID Storage device and the K2 Media Server. You cannot interchange these recovery CDs.

After your Level 1 RAID Storage device or K2 Media Server is installed, configured, and running in your system environment, you should create new recovery disk images for the machine to capture settings changed from default. These “first birthday” images are the baseline recovery image for the machine in its life in your facility. You should likewise create new recovery disk images after completing any process that changes system software or data, such as a software upgrade. In this way you retain the ability to restore to a recent “last known good” state.

For the highest degree of safety, you should create a set of disk image recovery CDs, in addition to storing disk images on the E: partition. Since system drives are RAID protected, in most failure cases the disk images on the E: partition will still be accessible. But in the unlikely even of a catastrophic failure whereby you lose the entire RAID protected system drive, you can use your disk image recovery CDs to restore the system.

NOTE: Recovery disk images do not back up the media files themselves. You must implement other mechanisms, such as a redundant storage system or mirrored storage systems, to back up media files.

The recommended recovery disk image process is summarized in the following steps.

At the K2 Media Server first birthday…

  1. Boot from the Recovery CD.
  2. Create a set of disk image recovery CDs. These CDs contain the C:, D:, and E: partitions.
  3. Create a disk image, writing the disk image to the E: partition. This disk image contains the C: and D: partitions.
  4. Copy the disk image from the E: partition to another location, such as a network drive.

At milestones, such as after software upgrades…

  1. Boot from the Recovery CD.
  2. Create a disk image, writing the disk image to the E: partition. This disk image contains the C: and D: partitions.
  3. Copy the disk image from the E: partition to another location, such as a network drive.

If you need to restore the K2 Media Server…

  1. Boot from the Recovery CD.
  2. If the E: partition is accessible, read the image from the E: partition to restore the C: partition, restore the D: partition, or restore both partitions.
  3. If the E: partition is not accessible, do the following:
    1. Read the disk image from your set of CDs and restore all three partitions.
    2. Restart into Windows.
    3. Copy your most recent disk image to the E: partition.
    4. Boot from the Recovery CD.
    5. Read the image from the E: partition to restore the C: partition, restore the D: partition, or restore both partitions.

Plan a recovery strategy that is appropriate for your facility, then refer to the following procedures as necessary to implement your strategy.

Creating a recovery disk image for storing on E:

Do the following at the local K2 Media Server to create a disk image of the C: partition and the D: partition and store the image file on the E: partition:

  1. Make sure that media access is stopped and that the K2 Media Server on which you are working is out of service.
  2. If you have not already done so, connect keyboard, monitor, and mouse to the K2 Media Server.
  3. Insert the Recovery CD and restart the machine.
  4. The machine boots from the disc. The Acronis True Image program loads.
  5. In the Acronis True Image main window, double-click Create Image.
  6. The Create Image Wizard opens.
  7. On the Welcome page, click Next.
  8. The Selecting Partitions to Image page opens.
  9. Select the System (C:) and the Database (D:) partitions and then click Next.
  10. The Image Archive Creation page opens.
  11. In the tree view select the Backup (E:) partition and then enter the name of the image file you are creating. Create the file name using the K2 Media Server hostname and the date. Name the file with the .tib extension. For example, if the hostname is K2Server1, in the File name field you would have
    E:\K2Server1_20051027.tib. Click Next.
  12. The Image Archive Splitting page opens.
  13. Leave the selection at Automatic and then click Next.
  14. The Compression Level page opens.
  15. Leave the selection at Normal and click Next.
  16. The Image Archive Protection page opens.
  17. You can leave the password fields blank, so that no password is required to restore from the image file. Click Next.
  18. The Comment page opens.
  19. If desired, enter image comments, such as the date, time, and software versions contained in the image you are creating. Click Next.
  20. The “…ready to proceed…” page opens.
  21. Verify that you are creating images from the C: and D: partitions and writing to the E: partition. Click Proceed.
  22. The Commit Pending Operations page opens and displays progress.
  23. When a “The image was successfully created” message appears, click OK.
  24. Exit the Acronis True Image program.
  25. The K2 Media Server restarts automatically.
  26. Remove the Recovery CD while the K2 Media Server is shutting down.
  27. Upon restart, log on to Windows.
  28. Open Windows Explorer and find the image file on the E: partition.

Creating a recovery disk image CD set

Do the following at the local K2 Media Server to create a disk image of the entire system drive, which includes the C:, D:, and E: partitions, and store the image file on a set of CDs:

  1. Make sure that media access is stopped and that the K2 Media Server on which you are working is out of service.
  2. If you have not already done so, connect keyboard, monitor, and mouse to the K2 Media Server.
  3. Insert the Recovery CD and restart the machine.
  4. The machine boots from the disc. The Acronis True Image program loads.
  5. In the Acronis True Image main window, double-click Create Image.
  6. The Create Image Wizard opens.
  7. On the Welcome page, click Next.
  8. The Selecting Partitions to Image page opens.
  9. Select Disk 1 to select the System (C:), the Database (D:), and the Backup (E:) partitions and then click Next.
  10. The Image Archive Creation page opens.
  11. In the tree view select CD-RW Drive (F:) and then enter the name of the image file you are creating. Create the file name using the K2 Media Server hostname and the date. Name the file with the .tib extension. For example, if the hostname is K2Server1, in the File name field you would have
    F:\K2Server1_20051027.tib. Click Next.
  12. The Compression Level page opens.
  13. Leave the selection at Normal and click Next.
  14. The Image Archive Protection page opens.
  15. You can leave the password fields blank, so that no password is required to restore from the image file. Click Next.
  16. The Comment page opens.
  17. If desired, enter image comments, such as the date, time, and software versions contained on the image you are creating. Click Next.
  18. The “…ready to proceed…” page opens.
  19. Remove the Recovery CD and insert a blank CD.
  20. Verify that you are creating an image from Disk 1 and writing to the CD-RW Drive (F:). Click Proceed.
  21. The Commit Pending Operations page opens and displays progress.
  22. Remove and insert CDs as prompted. As you remove each burned CD make sure you label it correctly to show the sequence of CDs.
  23. When a “The image was successfully created” message appears, click OK.
  24. Exit the Acronis True Image program.
  25. The K2 Media Server restarts automatically.
  26. Remove any CD that is still in the CD drive while the K2 Media Server is shutting down.

Restoring from a recovery disk image on E:

The following procedure can be used on a K2 Media Server that needs its image restored.

  1. Make sure that media access is stopped and that the K2 Media Server on which you are working is out of service.
  2. If you have not already done so, connect keyboard, monitor, and mouse to the K2 Media Server.
  3. Insert the Recovery CD and restart the machine. If there is a problem restarting, hold the standby button down for five seconds to force a hard shutdown. Then press the standby button again to startup.
  4. The machine boots from the disc. The Acronis True Image program loads.
  5. In the Acronis True Image main window, double-click Restore Image.
  6. The Restore Image Wizard opens.
  7. On the Welcome page, click Next.
  8. The Image Archive Selection page opens.
  9. In the tree view expand the node for the E: partition and select the image file, then click Next:
  10. The Verify Archive Before the Restoring page opens.
  11. Leave the selection at No, I don’t want to verify and then click Next.
  12. The Partition or Disk to Restore page opens.
  13. Select System (C:) and then click Next.
  14. The Restored Partition Location page opens.
  15. Select System (C:) and then click Next.
  16. The Restored Partition Type page opens.
  17. Leave the selection at Active and then click Next.
  18. The Restored Partition Size page opens.
  19. Leave settings at their defaults. The size reported in the upper pane is the size detected of the actual C: partition. This should be the same as that reported in the Partition size field in the middle of the page. Free space before and Free space after should both be reported at 0 bytes. Click Next.
  20. The Next Selection page opens.
  21. Depending on the partitions you are restoring, do one of the following:
    • If you are restoring only the C: partition, select No, I do not and then click Next.
    • The “…ready to proceed…” page opens.
      Skip ahead to step 18.
    • If you are also restoring the D: partition, select Yes, I want to restore another partition or hard disk drive and then click Next.
    • The Partition or Disk to Restore page opens. Continue with the next step in this procedure.
  22. Select Database (D:) and then click Next.
  23. The Restored Partition Location page opens.
  24. Select Database (D:) and then click Next.
  25. The Restored Partition Type page opens.
  26. Leave the selection at Primary and then click Next.
  27. The Restored Partition Size page opens.
  28. Leave settings at their defaults. The size reported in the upper pane is the size detected of the actual D: partition. This should be the same as that reported in the Partition size field in the middle of the page. Free space before and Free space after should both be reported at 0 bytes. Click Next.
  29. The Next Selection page opens.
  30. Select No, I do not and then click Next.
  31. The “…ready to proceed…” page opens.
  32. Verify that you are restoring the correct partition or partitions. Click Proceed.
  33. The Commit Pending Operations page opens and displays progress.
  34. Insert CDs as prompted. If a red X error message is displayed, you can safely click OK and continue to insert CDs as prompted.
  35. When a “The image was successfully restored” message appears, click OK.
  36. Exit the Acronis True Image program.
  37. The K2 Media Server restarts automatically.
  38. Remove any CD currently in the CD drive while the K2 Media Server is shutting down.

Restoring from a recovery disk image CD set

The following procedure can be used on a K2 Media Server that needs all three partitions on the system drive restored.

  1. Make sure that media access is stopped and that the K2 Media Server on which you are working is not being used.
  2. If you have not already done so, connect keyboard, monitor, and mouse to the K2 Media Server.
  3. Insert the Recovery CD and restart the machine. If there is a problem restarting, hold the standby button down for five seconds to force a hard shutdown. Then press the standby button again to startup.
  4. The machine boots from the disc. The Acronis True Image program loads.
  5. Insert the last CD (volume) in your recovery disk image CD set. For example, if there are three CDs that make up the disk image, insert the third CD.
  6. In the Acronis True Image main window, double-click Restore Image.
  7. The Restore Image Wizard opens.
  8. On the Welcome page, click Next.
  9. The Image Archive Selection page opens.
  10. In the tree view expand the node for the CD ROM drive and select the image file, then click Next:
  11. The Verify Archive Before the Restoring page opens.
  12. Leave the selection at No, I don’t want to verify and then click Next.
  13. The Partition or Disk to Restore page opens.
  14. Select Disk 1 to select all three partitions and then click Next.
  15. The Restored Partition Sizing page opens.
  16. Select No, I don’t want to resize source partitions and then click Next.
  17. The Restored Hard Disk Drive Location page opens.
  18. Select Disk 1 and then click Next.
  19. The Non-Empty Destination Hard Disk Drive page opens.
  20. Select Yes…delete all partitions… and then click Next.
  21. The Next Selection page opens.
  22. Select No, I do not and then click Next.
  23. The “…ready to proceed…” page opens.
  24. Verify that you are restoring partitions. Click Proceed.
  25. The Commit Pending Operations page opens and displays progress.
  26. Insert CDs as prompted. If a red X error message is displayed, you can safely click OK and continue to insert CDs as prompted.
  27. When a “The image was successfully restored” message appears, click OK.
  28. Exit the Acronis True Image program.
  29. The K2 Media Server restarts automatically.
  30. Remove the Recovery CD while the K2 Media Server is shutting down.

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