Administering a Video Portal Appliance

Revised: October 8, 2007

This chapter explains how you can use AAI to administer a Video Portal appliance. Topics are organized in these sections:

•Starting and Using AAI

•Performing Routine Administrative Tasks

•Selecting the Video Formats to Support

•Naming or Renaming Your Video Portal

•Changing the Network Settings for an Appliance

Starting and Using AAI

To start AAI from the appliance login prompt, enter the username admin and enter the password that you specified for the admin account when you completed the checklist of tasks in Chapter 2, "Setting Up and Configuring a Video Portal Appliance."

To see options or change selections in AAI, do any of the following:

•To highlight an option or to navigate through the list of options, press the Up/Down arrow keys.

•To select or deselect a highlighted option, press Spacebar.

•To save your changes to an option that you selected for editing and let your take effect, press Enter.

Performing Routine Administrative Tasks

Topics in this section tell you how to perform routine tasks:

•Viewing Appliance System Information

•Obtaining or Transferring a Copy of the System Log

•Changing the Appliance Administrator Password

•Patching or Updating Appliance Software

•Restarting an Appliance

•Shutting Down an Appliance

Viewing Appliance System Information

To see system information for the appliance, log in, select SHOW_INFO, then press Enter.

Backing Up an Appliance

You can back up an appliance.

Step 1 Log in, select APPLIANCE_Control, then press Enter.

Step 2 To back up DMM, select BACKUP_APPLIANCE, press Enter.

Step 3 To back up to a USB drive, select USB, then press Enter.

Obtaining or Transferring a Copy of the System Log

You can save a copy of the appliance log file to a USB drive that you attach directly to your appliance, or you can transfer a copy of the log to any SFTP-enabled server.

Step 1 Log in, select APPLIANCE_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select GET_SYSLOG, press Enter, then do one of the following:

•To transfer a copy of the log to an attached USB drive, select USB, then press Enter.

•To transfer a copy of the log by SFTP to a reachable server:

a. Select SFTP, then press Enter.

b. Enter the SFTP server IP address or routable DNS name, then press Enter.

c. Enter the username that you use when you log in to the SFTP server, then press Enter.

d. Enter the password that you use when you log in to the SFTP server, then press Enter.

A system message in AAI tells you if the SFTP file transfer was successful.

Changing the Appliance Administrator Password

You can change the appliance administrator password. The password that you enter must contain at least 6 characters.

Step 1 Log in, select APPLIANCE_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select RESET_PASSWORD, then press Enter.

Step 3 Enter the new password, then press Enter .

Step 4 To confirm that you typed the password correctly, enter it again, then press Enter.

Note You must also enter the new password in the Web-based graphical user interface for DMM.

Step 5 Log in as an administrator to DMM, then select Video Portal Module from the untitled list at the top far-right of the page.

Step 6 Select Setup > Deployment Locations, then scroll down to the bottom of the page.

Step 7 In the "Video Portal Metadata" area, enter the new password in the Login password text box.

Step 8 Click Save Deployment Locations.

Patching or Updating Appliance Software

You can install a software patch or a software update.

Step 1 Log in, select APPLIANCE_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select SOFTWARE_UPDATE, then press Enter.

Step 3 Insert the CD-ROM, then press Enter.

Restarting an Appliance

You can restart an appliance.

Step 1 Log in, select APPLIANCE_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select REBOOT, then press Enter twice.

Shutting Down an Appliance

You can shut down an appliance.

Step 1 Log in, select APPLIANCE_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select SHUTDOWN, then press Enter twice.

Selecting the Video Formats to Support

Perform the following steps to configure Video Portal Control.

Step 1 Log in, select VP_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select SUPPORTED_MEDIA, then press Enter.

Your video portal supports one or more video formats that you can choose or change. The Windows Media and Flash Video format options are enabled by default when Cisco manufactures the appliance, but you can select other options if you prefer.

Step 3 Select the formats that your portal should support, then save your work. See Starting and Using AAI.

You can select any number of, and any combination of, these formats:

•WMV — Windows Media

•FLV — Flash Video

•QT — QuickTime

•RM — Real Media

Step 4 If you selected:

•Two or more formats — AAI prompts you to specify the format to deliver by default to a client system that meets all requirements to use every format. Select the default format, then press Enter.

•Three or more formats — AAI prompts you to specify the alternative format to deliver to a client system that meets all requirements to use every format except the one format that you made the default. Select the alternative format, then press Enter.

•Four or more formats — AAI prompts you to specify the format to deliver to a client system that meets the requirements to use every format except the default and alternative formats. Select the tertiary format, then press Enter.

Step 5 When AAI shows you the order of precedence for the formats that it will deliver to client systems, press Enter.

Naming or Renaming Your Video Portal

You must specify a name for your video portal. You can change the name at any time.

Step 1 Log in, select VP_CONTROL, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select INSTANCE NAME, then press Enter.

Step 3 Enter the name.

The name that you enter will be visible in the public HTTP URL that points to your Video Portal.

Step 4 When AAI shows you the name that you entered, press Enter.

Changing the Network Settings for an Appliance

Note•We recommend that you never change the static IP address that you assign to your Video Portal appliance.

•We recommend that you do not use DHCP to obtain the IP address for your appliance, due to the sometimes unpredictable expiration of IP addresses in DHCP systems and the administrative overhead of reconfiguring other devices to reestablish disrupted connections (for deployments or any other purpose).

•If you use your Video Portal appliance as one of your deployment locations — even though we strongly recommend that you never do — and if you used IP addresses instead of hostnames when you specified your deployment locations (in DMM-VPM at Setup > Deployment Locations), any changes that you make now to the Video Portal appliance IP address will cause some of your entries in DMM-VPM to become invalid. You must reenter all such values manually, including the IP addresses that you specified for deployment locations, video parts, videos, and programs. Until you correct the invalidated IP address in every location where you entered it, the corresponding deployments, video parts, videos, and programs will not run.

•If your network uses a DNS server, you must reassociate the resolvable DNS hostname for your Video Portal appliance each time that you change its IP address.

You can change network settings for an appliance.

Step 1 Log in, select NETWORK_SETTINGS, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select the type of network setting to change. The options are:

•HOST_NAME—To change the appliance hostname, select this option.

•TCP_IP—To change how the appliance obtains its IP address (DHCP or static), select this option. We recommend that you do not select DHCP.

•DNS—To change the primary or secondary DNS server for the appliance, select this option.

•AUTO_NEGOTIATION—To change NIC speed and duplex settings for the appliance, including whether the speed and duplex should be autonegotiated, select this option.

•NETWORK_TOOLS—To troubleshoot the network, select this option.

Step 3 Press Enter.

Step 4 Enter or select the new settings, then select the options to confirm each individual change.

Step 5 Confirm the combination of all the network settings that you changed:

•If everything is correct, press Enter.

•If anything is incorrect, select No, then press Enter to enter different settings.

Changing the Date and Time Settings for an Appliance

You can configure the date and time settings for an appliance.

Step 1 Log in, select DATE_TIME_SETTINGS, then press Enter.

Step 2 Select the type of setting to change. The options are:

•TIME_ZONE — To change the appliance time zone, or to enable or disable the appliance system clock to use UTC, select this option.

•DATE — To change the year, month, or date for the appliance, select this option.

•TIME — To change the hour, minute, or second for the appliance, select this option.

•NTP — To enable or disable the appliance to use an NTP server, or to change which NTP server the appliance uses, select this option.

•SHOW_TIME — To see what time setting is in effect on this appliance, select this option.

Step 3 Press Enter.

Step 4 Enter or select the new date and time settings, then select the options to confirm each individual change.

Step 5 Confirm the combination of all the date and time settings that you changed:

•If everything is correct, press Enter.

•If anything is incorrect, select No, then press Enter to enter different settings.