Getting Started Installing or Upgrading Cisco StadiumVision Director

First Published: May 16, 2016

Read this module before you perform an initial installation or upgrade of the Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1 software. It includes the following topics:

Before You Begin

Be sure that you understand and have met the following prerequisites before you begin to install or upgrade the Cisco StadiumVision Director software:

The media player firmware images are not bundled with the Cisco StadiumVision Director software. You must download the firmware image separately. For more information about supported firmware versions, see the Release Notes for Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1.

  • Be sure that you have a supported browser installed for access to Cisco StadiumVision Director as documented in the Release Notes.
  • Verify that the Cisco StadiumVision Director server is connected to the network using the Ethernet port eth0 on the rear panel.
  • To access the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) for the software installation on a Platform 3 server, the following requirements are met:

– Your computer meets the minimum browser and Flash player requirements for Cisco StadiumVision Director, and also has Java 1.6 or later installed.

– You have a laptop connection with access to the Cisco StadiumVision Director server network.

– You have the IP address of the CIMC interface on the Cisco StadiumVision Director server.

– You have the CIMC interface login credential. The default credential is admin and password.

Note Due to the difficulty in recovering from an interrupted installation process if the Linux shell is accidentally closed or the network drops, it is highly recommended that you use a server console connection method that does not pose a risk to the success of upgrade completion if the session breaks during upgrade. You also can use a monitor and keyboard that are directly connected to the Cisco StadiumVision Director server to log into the TUI.

To learn more about the KVM console and the CIMC interface, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Integrated Management Controller Configuration guide that corresponds to your server release at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-integrated-management-controller/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html

Hardware Prerequisites

You can install Release 4.1 on a Platform 3 server, or use your own server to run the Cisco StadiumVision Director software. Follow the requirements in this section to be sure that your virtual environment meets the minimum and tested specifications.

This section includes the following topics:

Minimum Virtual Machine System Requirements for Cisco StadiumVision Director

Be sure that your configuration meets the minimum system requirements in Table 1 and supports a VMware virtual machine environment with a compatible vSphere version (See “VMware vSphere Tested Versions for Cisco StadiumVision Director” section.).

Note Cisco StadiumVision Director servers are meant to be physically located close to the DMPs that they operate with, such as at the remote venue edge, and communicating to the players over a LAN. For information about installation-related licensing compliance, see the “Installation Requirements for Licensing Compliance” section of the Release Notes for Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1.

 

Table 1 Minimum System Requirements for a Virtualized Environment running Cisco StadiumVision Director
System Component
Minimum Requirement

Forward Write (fwrite) in operations per second (ops)

10,000

Hard Drive Capacity

900 GB

Note The hard drives must be configured as a single logical volume. A RAID volume is strongly recommended.

Processor

Dual processor equivalent to an Intel Xeon Processor E5-2460 (15 MB cache, 2.50 GHz clock, 7.20 GT/s Intel® QPI)

Virtual RAM (VRAM)

32 GB

Virtual CPUs

24

Table 2 provides additional information about the tested VM hardware and OS specifications that you should use when configuring a virtual machine to support Cisco StadiumVision Director.

 

Table 2 Virtual Machine Hardware and OS Specifications Tested for Cisco StadiumVision Director Server
System Component
Specification

VM Hardware

Version 8

Guest Operating System

RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 (64-bit)

Network Adapter

E1000

SCSI Controller

LSI Logic Parallel or LSI Logic SAS

Disk Provisioning

Thick

VMware vSphere Tested Versions for Cisco StadiumVision Director

Cisco StadiumVision Director has been tested with VMware vSphere version 5.1 and 5.5. Other VMware vSphere versions cannot be guaranteed to work with Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1.

Note Any VMware license that does not allow your virtual machine to be set to the minimum requirements described in Table 1 is not supported.

Restrictions for Virtual Server Support

Be sure that you consider the following restrictions before you configure a virtual server environment for Cisco StadiumVision Director:

  • Migrating to a virtualized environment on your existing Platform 3 servers is not supported. For more information, see the “Important Migration and Upgrade Notes” section of the Release Notes.
  • When using a virtual server environment, Cisco Technical Support only provides support for the Cisco StadiumVision software. No support is provided for third-party hardware or the virtual OS environment installed by the customer.
  • The recommended configuration is for a dual virtual server environment to support a primary and backup server using the standard Cisco StadiumVision Director backup/restore and failover tools.
  • Cisco has not tested and does not provide support for any VMware tools in a Cisco StadiumVision system. If your site chooses to use backup, recovery or other tools outside of the Cisco StadiumVision Director software to manage your virtual servers, then you accept the risks and responsibility associated with securing your data.

Overview of the Installation and Upgrade Process

There are different tasks required to install or upgrade your Cisco StadiumVision Director server for software Release 4.1 depending on your current server environment:

Migrating From Platform 2 Servers to a Virtual Environment

Note The Platform 2 server is not supported in Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1.

Migration of an existing Cisco StadiumVision Director environment on a Platform 2 server to a virtual server so that you can run Release 4.1 involves the following phases:

  • Preparation of the production server environment.
  • Preparation of a virtual machine, which includes loading of a Cisco StadiumVision Director full ISO image.
  • Migration from the physical server to a virtual server.
  • Promotion of the virtual server.
  • Creation of another virtual server instance.

For detailed requirements and tasks, see the Migrating From Platform 2 Servers to a Virtual Environment.

Installing on a Virtual Server for the First Time

The installation process for a virtual server running Cisco StadiumVision Director software for the first time involves the following tasks:

  • Verifying that your virtual server meets the requirements listed in Table 1 .
  • Configuring the virtual machine specifications according to the tested specifications with Cisco StadiumVision Director provided in Table 2 .
  • Install VMWare client software.

Note Cisco StadiumVision Director has been tested with VMware vSphere version 5.1 and 5.5. Other VMware vSphere versions cannot be guaranteed to work with Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1.

Any VMware license that does not allow your virtual machine to be set to the minimum requirements described in Table 1 is not supported.

  • Load the Cisco StadiumVision Director Release full ISO.
  • Run the installation.
  • Upgrade all media player firmware.

Installing a Platform 3 Server for the First Time

The installation process for a new Platform 3 server running Cisco StadiumVision Director for the first time involves the following tasks:

  • Confirmation of CIMC/BIOS version and upgrade as required.
  • Installation from CIMC of a full ISO image file that runs an installation program with configuration prompts for your network information.
  • Disabling DMP failover for all Cisco DMP 4310Gs.
    (Disabled is the default)
  • Upgrading the media player firmware.

For detailed information, see the Installing Cisco StadiumVision Director for the First Time.

Upgrading an Existing Cisco StadiumVision Director Server Already Running Cisco StadiumVision Director

You can upgrade an existing server already running Cisco StadiumVision Director software using an upgrade ISO image file available from Cisco.com and using the upgrade option from the Software Manager in the Cisco StadiumVision Director web browser interface.

Caution If your Release 4.0 system is configured for retention of a single backup file only (the default), then you will no longer have access to any 4.0 data after the first 4.1 backup is completed. If for some reason you must revert to Release 4.0, contact Cisco Technical Support and provide them with your SSR file to help you restore it.

To help avoid any need to fall back to Release 4.0, be sure to follow carefully all recommended best practices and post-upgrade tasks as documented in this guide, including thoroughly testing your system to your site requirements before failing over and upgrading your backup server to Release 4.1.

The upgrade process for an existing Cisco StadiumVision Director server involves the following tasks:

  • Upgrading the Cisco StadiumVision Director software.
  • Upgrading the media player firmware.

For detailed information, see the Using the Software Manager to Upgrade Cisco StadiumVision Director Software, Language Packs, and Fonts.