Getting Started Installing or Upgrading Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director

First Published: 2018-07-10

Read this module before you perform an initial installation or upgrade of the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software. It includes the following topics:

■Before You Begin

■Hardware Prerequisites

■Overview of the Installation and Upgrade Process

Before You Begin

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

■Refer to the Release Notes for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.1 for the latest information about hardware and software requirements, changes, important notes, and caveats for your software release.

■Determine if you have compatible media player models and firmware versions available.

The media player firmware images are not bundled with the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software. Download the firmware image separately. For more information about supported firmware versions, see the Release Notes for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director, Release 6.1.

■Be sure that you have a supported browser installed for access to Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director as documented in the Release Notes.

■Verify that the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server is connected to the network using the Ethernet port eth0.

■To access the Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) for the software installation on a Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) server, be sure the following requirements are met:

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

–You have a laptop connection with access to the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server network.

–You have the IP address of the CIMC interface on the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server.

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

Note: It is difficult to recover from an interrupted installation process if the installation shell is accidentally closed or the network drops. We strongly 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 Vision Dynamic Signage 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

■Assess your installation environment and see Overview of the Installation and Upgrade Process for more information and to find out what modules in this guide you should follow.

Hardware Prerequisites

You can install Release 6.1 on your own server to run the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage 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 Vision Dynamic Signage Director

■VMware vSphere Tested Versions for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director

■Restrictions for Virtual Server Support

Minimum Virtual Machine System Requirements for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director

Be sure that your configuration meets the minimum system requirements. Smaller-scale Cisco Vision Director deployment requirements are show in Table 1.

Table 1 Minimum System Requirements for a Virtualized Environment Running Smaller-Scale Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director
System Component
Minimum Requirement
Processor
Two processors each equivalent to an Intel Xeon Processor E5-2640
(15 MB cache, 2.50 GHz clock, 7.20 GT/s Intel® QPI)
Forward write (fwrite) operations per second
2,500
Virtual CPUs 1
4-6, depending on capacity
Virtual Disk Space
225 GB
Virtual RAM (VRAM)
8 GB 2

1.Hyperthreading can be used. Be sure that the BIOS is properly configured to enable it.

2.Reserve a minimum of 8 GB VRAM to install and operate the Smaller-Scale Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director system. Allow additional storage for the ESXi OS.

Be sure that your configuration meets the minimum system requirements in Table 2 and supports a VMware virtual machine environment with a compatible vSphere version (See VMware vSphere Tested Versions for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director).

Note: Install Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director servers close to the DMPs that they operate with, such as at the remote venue edge. Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director communicates to the players over a LAN.

To maintain software licensing compliance, Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director servers must be installed in the following manner:

■The Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server is installed in a data center or in an enterprise data closet, or the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software is installed on the customer’s choice of hardware that supports a VMware virtualized environment.

■The Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software is installed on the customer’s choice of hardware that supports a VMware virtualized environment, or the remote server hardware is installed in a data center or in an enterprise data closet..

Table 2 Minimum System Requirements for a Virtualized Environment Running Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director
System Component
Minimum Requirement
Processor
Two processors each equivalent to an Intel Xeon Processor E5-2640
(15 MB cache, 2.50 GHz clock, 7.20 GT/s Intel® QPI)
Forward write (fwrite) operations per second
10,000
Virtual CPUs 3
24
Virtual Disk Space
900 GB
Virtual RAM (VRAM)
32 GB 4

3.Hyperthreading can be used. Be sure that the BIOS is properly configured to enable it.

4.Reserve a minimum of 32 GB VRAM to install and operate the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director system. Allow additional storage for the ESXi OS.

Table 3 provides additional information about the tested VM hardware and OS specifications to use when configuring a virtual machine to support Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director.

Table 3 Virtual Machine Hardware and OS Specifications Tested for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director
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 Vision Dynamic Signage Director

Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director has been tested with VMware vSphere version 5.5. Other versions should work, but they have not been tested.

Note: Any VMware license that does not allow your virtual machine to be set to the minimum requirements described in Table 2 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 Vision Dynamic Signage Director:

■Migrating to a virtualized environment on your existing Platform 3 servers is not supported. For more information, see Important Migration and Upgrade Notes of the Release Notes for Cisco Visio Dynamic Signage Director, Release 6.1.

■When using a virtual server environment, Cisco Technical Support only provides support for the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software. No support is provided for third-party hardware or the virtual OS environment installed by the customer.

■We recommend a dual virtual server environment to support a primary and backup server using the standard Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director backup/restore and failover tools.

■Cisco has not tested and does not provide support for any VMware tools in a Cisco Vision Director system. If your site chooses to use backup, recovery or other tools outside of the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software to manage your virtual servers, 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 Vision Dynamic Signage Director server for software Release 6.1 depending on your current server environment:

■Installing on a Virtual Server for the First Time

■Upgrading an Existing Server Already Running Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director

Installing on a Virtual Server for the First Time

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

■Verifying that your virtual server meets the requirements listed in Table 2 or Table 2.

■Configuring the virtual machine specifications according to the tested specifications with Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director provided in Table 3.

■Installing VMware client software.

Note: Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director has been tested with VMware vSphere version 5.5. Other versions should work, but they have not been tested.

Any VMware license that does not allow your virtual machine to be set to the minimum requirements described in Table 2 is not supported.

■Loading the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software full ISO.

■Running the installation.

■Upgrading the media player firmware.

For detailed information, see Installing Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director for the First Time.

Upgrading an Existing Server Already Running Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director

Note : Always check the current Release Notes for the release from which you are updating. The upgrade paths and Service Pack information is always there and may be more current than a manual.

Upgrading From Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.0

The upgrade process from an existing Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.0 system involves the following tasks:

■Upgrading the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software

■Upgrading the media player firmware

See Using the Software Manager to Upgrade Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Software, Language Packs, and Fonts and Upgrading the DMP Firmware.

Upgrading From Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 5.0

Note : Always check the current Release Notes for the release from which you are updating. The upgrade paths and Service Pack information is always there and may be more current than a manual.

You can upgrade an existing server already running Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software in the following sequences:

■5.0.0-526 (Service Pack 2) > 5.0.0-605 (Service Pack 3) > 5.0.0-709 (Service Pack 4) to > 5.0.0-820 (Service Pack 5) > 5.0.0-909 (Service Pack 6) > 6.0.0-740

■5.0.0-820 (Service Pack 5) > 6.0.0-740

■5.0.0-909 (Service Pack 6) > 6.0.0-740

Use an upgrade ISO image file available from Cisco.com and using the upgrade option from the Software Manager in the web browser interface.

Note: The upgrade process has specific prerequisite tasks that must be followed to support a successful upgrade. Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.1 does not support Cisco DMP 4310G devices, Flash files, or GAR files. The Cisco DMP 4310G devices and any Flash content must be removed from your system prior to upgrade, or the upgrade ISO to Release 6.0 will not proceed. Flash content includes legacy ticker files, and any Flash from external content or generic data sources.

Any legacy GAR files remaining in the system will not cause an upgrade to Release 6.0 to abort. However, the GAR files will no longer be accessible in the system so it is highly recommended that any GAR files also be removed.

The upgrade process from an existing Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 5.0 system involves the following tasks:

■Preparing your Release 5.0 system for upgrade to Release 6.0.

■Upgrading the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software.

■Upgrading the media player firmware.

See Using the Software Manager to Upgrade Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Software, Language Packs, and Fonts and Upgrading the DMP Firmware.