Contents
- 1 Device Groups
- 2 Device Status Icons
- 3 Adding Devices and Groups
- 4 Adding Devices Automatically
- 5 Device and Group Properties
- 6 Group Properties
- 7 Imagestore Properties
- 8 FTP Server Properties
- 9 Local Folders
- 10 Deleting Groups and Devices
- 11 Navigating the Hierarchy
- 12 Manipulating the Hierarchy
- 13 Saving the Hierarchy
- 14 Integration with Commander-IS
- 15 Error Logging information
When Mediant is started, it shows the main window called the Device Manager. The top half of the Device Manager shows a hierarchical view of Imagestore devices installed, and the bottom half is used to display error and status logging information. You can drag the divider between the two areas to adjust their relative sizes.
Device Groups
The hierarchy of devices and device groups is entirely configurable. This allows you to construct a hierarchy to reflect the physical – or logical – arrangement of devices within your facility. The device groups allow a particular device to be quickly found in a large installation, and also simplify the task of distributing media to multiple devices. Groups can contain other groups, and there is no limit to the depth of the hierarchy.
Device Status Icons
Each device in the group is shown with an icon indicating the device’s type. The device ‘name’ and IP address are also shown. The name will default to that retrieved from the device, but can be overridden in Mediant. If Mediant cannot establish communications with the device, it is shown with a flashing warning triangle
If the device is busy performing an operation for Mediant, then a rotating ‘beach ball’ icon is shown on the device. The ‘busy’ status should not impact on the use of the device under automation control – the Imagestore will handle and prioritize multiple simultaneous sources of control.
Some devices (e.g. IS2 and IS3) can monitor their health and report this back to Mediant. If certain parameters go beyond the specified limits, a flashing red Fault icon will be shown.
The Fault icon will also appear on a Device Group if any device within the group has a fault. Pausing the mouse pointer over the device or group will show a small ‘hint’ window giving details of the fault.
Adding Devices and Groups
The device hierarchy can be constructed entirely manually, by adding individual devices and groups one at a time to the tree. The IP address and a simple descriptive name must be added for each device entered, while groups require just a descriptive name.
Devices and groups are added by right-clicking in the Device Manager window to call up the ‘context menu’, then selecting one of the Add… menu options. Groups and devices are placed as children of the currently selected item in the hierarchy. The Add… menu options not will be enabled if you have a device instead of a group currently selected.
When you add a new group or device, you will be shown the relevant “properties” screen, which allows you to specify IP addresses, names and other information. The information shown for each type of device is shown in the section starting on page 14.
You can also add and remove devices using the same commands in the Edit menu.
Adding Devices Automatically
Mediant has a network-scanning tool that can automatically detect all imagestores based on the first three numbers of the IP address. To use this, select Scan Network from the Tools menu.
The default subnet is the Imagestore Subnet set up within the Preferences dialog, but you can override that at this point – useful if your Imagestores are not all on the same subnet. The last number of the IP address will be zero, and cannot be changed.
For example, if all your Imagestores have IP addresses of the form “192.174.1.nnn”, then you should set the Imagestore Subnet to be “192.174.1.0”.
When you click Fast Scan…, Mediant will scan for devices on the selected subnet, showing its progress as it goes. Any Imagestores found fill be shown in green, with other network devices (e.g. PCs shown in yellow). The scanning speed is determined by the Ping timeout set in the Preferences dialog.
On certain systems, Fast Scan may fail to locate all devices successfully. If this happens, please try the Slow Scan command instead.
A list of Imagestores discovered is shown at the base of the dialog. You can uncheck individual Imagestores to prevent them from being added to Mediant. If you now enter a new subnet, and press Fast Scan… again, further devices will be looked for and added to the list.
When you click OK to close the dialog, the new devices discovered will be added in the top level of the hierarchy, and will be assigned default names. You can then simply drag them into the correct place within the hierarchy. Scanning the network will not affect the settings of any Imagestores already known in the device hierarchy.
Device and Group Properties
You can view and alter device and group properties by double-clicking on a device, or selecting “Properties” from the popup menu. The properties dialog allows you to settings relating to a specific device. You can also view various diagnostic information.
Group Properties
The only configurable property of a group is its name.
Imagestore Properties
General Tab
From the General tab, you can view or modify the network IP address, and specify a Name and brief description for the unit. You can also modify the image displayed for the device by right-clicking on the image, and selecting a new image from the menu. Changing the image displayed does not affect Mediant’s use of the device at all.
The Enabled checkbox allows you to temporarily disable a device from Mediant’s fault reporting and browsing. Disabled devices appear faded-out, and do not show offline status or faults. If a device is removed from service, you can disabled it within Mediant and simply re-enable it when it is available.
This tab also displays the current software version, if this information is available
Disk Space Tab
The Disk Space tab allows you to view the amount of free disk space on the logical Imagestore disks. Bear in mind that the Imagestore’s library size also restricts the number of images allowed. This dialog simply shows the actual disk space available. The number of partitions shown will depend on the model of Imagestore. Linux-based Imagestores show just a single partition.
Licenses Tab
The Licenses tab shows the optional licenses installed within the Imagestore, as well as the Imagestore name, serial number and version information. This is not available on Imagestore 1 units.
System Health Tab
The System Health tab shows the Imagestore’s internal voltages and temperatures. Any values outside the predefined limits are shown in yellow. These limits can be set up in the Mediant Preferences dialog. This information is only available for Imagestore 2 and 3 family devices.
Error Log Tab
The Error Log tab shows the Imagestore’s error log information. There is usually a brief pause while this is retrieved from the Imagestore. Each line is prefixed with a time and date stamp, and the most recent entries will appear at the bottom of the list. This information is only available for Imagestore 2 and 3 family devices.
FTP Server Properties
Mediant can manage content stored on devices which support the standard FTP protocol.
To configure access to an FTP server, you need to enter the Hostname or IP Address, and a valid username and password. You should also specify the directory on the server that you want to connect to with Mediant. Mediant does not allow navigating the directory tree, so only the specified directory will be accessible.
You can specify the format that image files will be converted to when they are copied onto the server. This is useful when the server systems require images to be in a specific format. Most of the common broadcast video formats can be selected. Note that formats like .JPG cannot contain key data, so this will be lost in the conversion.
Local Folders
Mediant can also be used to manage files stored on folders accessible via the standard Windows file system. This can be useful for performing automated format conversions when files are moved from folder to folder.
Specify a ‘friendly name’ for the folder, and use the directory browse button to locate the required directory. As with FTP servers, Mediant can automatically convert image files as they are copied into the folder. A useful technique is to set up a number of “local folders” with different conversions, and place them within a Mediant group. When you drop an image onto the group it will generate copies in each folder in all the required formats.
Deleting Groups and Devices
To delete a Group or device, first select them and then choose Delete Group or Delete Device from the Edit menu or the context menu.
When you have several groups in your hierarchy, you can expand or collapse each group by clicking on the plus/minus button to the left of the group. As the hierarchy grows, a scroll bar will appear to the right of the window. Note that if a group is collapsed, any device in the group that would display a warning icon will cause the group itself to also display a warning icon.
Manipulating the Hierarchy
You can drag and drop devices and groups within the device manager to reorder the list or move devices and groups to different locations in the hierarchy. It is possible to place devices in exactly the order you require.
Saving the Hierarchy
The device hierarchy and configuration is automatically saved whenever you exit the Mediant application, or add and remove devices. You can also save it directly, by selecting Save from the File menu.
Integration with Commander-IS
Mediant integrates with Rascular’s Commander-IS control software, giving fast control of any Imagestore. Select an Imagestore in the Mediant Device Manager, and choose Commander from the popup menu. The Commander-IS application will be started automatically to control the specified Imagestore. If the Commander menu selection appears greyed out, this means that Mediant has not located your Commander installation. Check that the Commander-IS Location specified in Mediant’s preferences matches the location of commander installed on your computer.
Error Logging information
The lower part of the Imagestore Manager shows errors and status messages produced during the running of Mediant. This error log can be saved to an HTML file by right-clicking in the logging window, and selecting Save Log from the menu. You can clear the log window at any time by selecting Clear Log from the same menu. You can show and hide the logging window by Selecting View Log from the View menu.
